In case there’s anybody out there in the big wide world who still cares —
UN approves fresh sanctions against Iran
Telegraph UK ^ | 2:39am GMT 04/03/2008 | David Blair, Diplomatic Editor
Posted on 03/03/2008 11:06:28 PM CST by fishhound
The United Nations has escalated the pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme by imposing more economic sanctions on Teheran.
The Resolution, passed by 14 votes to nil in the Security Council with one abstention, was the culmination of months of diplomatic effort by America and Britain.
The UN Security Council, which approved fresh sanctions against Iran The UN Security Council imposed the new sanctions because Iran has continued to enrich uranium
This was the third round of UN sanctions to be imposed on Iran.
The Resolution places travel bans and asset freezes on 12 Iranian individuals and 13 companies linked to the nuclear programme.
It also introduces monitoring of two state-owned banks, Melli and Saderat.
The Security Council took this step because Iran has continued to enrich uranium in breach of three earlier Resolutions.
This procedure could be used to make weapons-grade uranium, the essential material for a nuclear weapon.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said the Resolution should send a “very clear message” that the “world community is not turning its back on Iran”. advertisement
If Teheran stopped enriching uranium, there was “economic, scientific, technological cooperation on offer, on the table, ready to deliver benefit for the Iranian people,” he said.
Mr Miliband added: “There are those who said the international community would fracture or blink. In fact it hasn’t because everyone’s very worried about the prospect of this issue continuing to haunt the Middle East.”
But opposition from China and Russia, who both have close commercial links with Iran, delayed this Resolution for months.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1980018/posts
Another ‘Catch-and-Release’ exercise in the Kingdom...
28 Al-Qaeda Militants Arrested in Kingdom
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
JEDDAH, 4 March 2008 — Saudi Security forces have arrested 28 militants, who were involved in rebuilding the Al-Qaeda network in Saudi Arabia to launch another campaign of terror across the Kingdom, an Interior Ministry spokesman said in a statement.
The militants had been collecting funds on the pretext of supporting the needy in Pakistan and Afghanistan — money that was, in fact, being used “to finance their criminal activities,” said the spokesman.
One of those arrested was carrying a recorded message of Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahri on the memory card of a cell phone. “The bearer of this message is one of our trusted brothers, therefore, please give him your donations to help hundreds of families of captives and martyrs in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Al-Zawahri said in the audio recording aired by the Kingdom’s state television.
The Interior Ministry spokesman added that a person visiting Makkah had brought the recording to the Kingdom.
56 Arrests Since December
The latest arrests bring the total number of militants detained by Saudi authorities since December 2007 — when 28 people were arrested over alleged plans to attack sites outside the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah during the Haj season — to 56.
The Interior Ministry statement added that the 56 men were of different nationalities and included the head of the group. The men had reportedly been close to establishing hide-outs for their cells, forging travel documents and launching a media campaign through the Internet to spread their deviant ideology.
The spokesman said investigations proved that the newly detained militants belonged to Al-Qaeda and had been in contact with its leadership abroad. Those arrested were also recruiting young men and sending them to different regions of the Kingdom to participate in activities that undermine the security of Saudi Arabia.
Clampdown on Al-Qaeda
The latest arrests indicate that Al-Qaeda and other terrorist and extremist organizations are still trying to destabilize the Kingdom, the world’s largest oil supplier. A major sweep last April netted 172 militants, including pilots trained to carry out attacks on oil refineries using civilian planes.
The Kingdom has orchestrated a heavy crackdown on Al-Qaeda since 2003. It has also been building a 35,000-strong rapid reaction force to protect oil installations after a failed Al-Qaeda attack in 2006 on the world’s largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq in the Eastern Province.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has stressed that Saudi Arabia will root out terrorists from the country and has praised security forces for their work against militants.
Interior Minister Prince Naif said his forces had foiled 95 percent of attacks and that 58 police officers have so far died in anti-terror operations
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1980042/posts