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LEBANON rejects a draft UN Security Council resolution which aims to brings about a ceasefire with Israel, and wants the text to be amended, a government source said overnight. "The Lebanese government is opposed to the Franco-American draft and has sent Lebanon's representative to the UN, Acting Foreign Minister Tarek Mitri, an amended text which includes Lebanon's demands," the source said.

Saturday, August 5, 2006 Filed under: Iran Watch by Chad Evans at 3:10 pm EDT According to Iran Press News and translated at Regime Change Iran, Iran has taken steps to blackmail members of the Security Council from imposing sanctions upon Iran. Oil might have something to do with it, but Iran has specifically stated they will execute all political prisoners it holds if the Security Council votes for sanctions. The Islamic Republic has now specifically announced that should their nuclear dossier be voted for referral by the United Nations Security Council for sanctions in the August round of voting,...

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — President Bush has signed off on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending fighting in the Mideast and is "happy with the progress being made," his spokesman said Saturday. But the president knows there could be a long road before violence stops, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "I don't think he has any delusions about what lies ahead," said Snow, accompanying Bush on his vacation to his private ranch. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley arrived at the ranch Saturday to consult with Bush as the full...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 5 — France and the United States reached agreement Saturday on a Security Council resolution to halt the fighting in Lebanon and lay out plans for a permanent cease-fire and a long-term political settlement, a French official said Saturday.Heavy fighting continued in Lebanon, with Israeli warplanes striking dozens of targets into the early morning hours on Saturday, and an Israeli commando raid in Tyre turning into a fierce gun battle. And Hezbollah unleashed a flurry of rockets late in the day, firing 140 of them into Israel in one 90-minute stretch. Under the terms of the diplomatic...

After days of negotiations, the U.S. and France reached agreement Saturday on a U.N. Security Council that calls for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah but would allow Israel to defend itself if attacked, officials said. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton and French President Jacques Chirac's office confirmed that agreement had been reached. An official with knowledge of the document said the draft calls for a "full cessation of violence" between Israel and Hezbollah, but would allow Israel the right to launch strikes if Hezbollah attacks it. "It does not say immediate cessation of violence," the official said,...

UNITED NATIONS - The United States and France reached agreement Saturday on a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending the fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. Bolton refused to comment on the text, but an official with knowledge of the document said the draft calls for a “full cessation of violence” between Israel and Hezbollah, but would allow Israel the right to launch strikes if Hezbollah attacks it.

The UN Security Council should be scrapped for trying to make Iran halt its atomic work while failing to stop Israel's offensive against Lebanon, a senior Iranian clerical politician said on Friday. The comments by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the constitutional watchdog the Guardian Council, confirmed Tehran's defiance in the face of a UN resolution ordering it to stop making atomic fuel by the end of this month. "They must close down this United Nations and its Security Council, what kind of a Security Council is this?" Jannati asked Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran. Jannati lambasted Israel for brutal...

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry reminded Iran that, as a UN member, it has to implement Security Council resolutions. Russia and another veto-wielding member of the Security Council, China, have so far resisted Western proposals for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. (AP)

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran reacted angrily to a UN Security Council resolution ordering it to freeze sensitive nuclear work by the end of the month, one top official branding the text as "worthless". ADVERTISEMENT UN Resolution 1696, adopted on Monday, warned the Islamic Republic that it might face sanctions unless it halts uranium enrichment and other work that could help build a nuclear bomb. "While the Security Council does not dare to condemn the Qana massacre (in south Lebanon) ... it feels alarmed by Iran's nuclear activities and adopts a resolution that is worthless in the eyes of people," parliament...

Iran says it will deliver response Aug. 22 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Iran said Thursday it would formally respond on Aug. 22 to a Western package of incentives aimed at resolving the standoff over its suspect nuclear program — the first time the Islamic republic has set a specific date for its reply. The Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security decision-making body, also threatened that the country would reconsider its nuclear policies if sanctions were imposed by the United Nations. The council did not elaborate, but Iranian officials repeatedly have suggested that Tehran may withdraw from...

The U.N. Security Council on Monday delivered another threat, after its fashion, to Iran. Stop enriching uranium by Aug. 31, it declared, or we'll talk at you some more. In what has become an old story, Russia and China balked at automatically imposing economic and political sanctions if Iran failed to comply. ...The U.N.'s uselessness is also on display in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has flouted a Security Council resolution to disarm it and has been using U.N. observers as cover, with tragic results. ... Hezbollah will back down only before well-armed forces that are ready to fight, not just observe....

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that would give his nation until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment. Instead, Ahmadinejad insisted Tehran would pursue its nuclear program. "My words are the words of the Iranian nation. Throughout Iran, there is one slogan: 'The Iranian nation considers the peaceful use of nuclear fuel production technology its right,'" Ahmadinejad said. The Security Council passed a resolution Monday calling for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Ahmadinejad said Iran will not give in to threats...

U.N. gives Iran until the end of AugustUNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Monday giving Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions. The draft passed by a vote of 14-1. Qatar, which represents Arab states on the council, cast the lone dissenting vote.

Israel's UN ambassador on Thursday ruled out major UN involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon, saying more professional and better-trained troops were needed for such a volatile situation. Dan Gillerman also said Israel would not allow the United Nations to join in an investigation of an Israeli air strike that demolished a post belonging to the current U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Four UN observers were killed in the Tuesday strike. "Israel has never agreed to a joint investigation, and I don't think that if anything happened in this country, or in Britain or in Italy or in...

The United Nations is working toward a new diplomatic arrangement between Israel and Lebanon that will be based on implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty, and the deployment of the Lebanese army to southern Lebanon. The arrangement will be based on principles concluded at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg earlier this week, which include the unconditional return of the abducted Israeli soldiers, cessation of rocket attacks against Israel, an end to the Israeli assault on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and the release of Hamas officials arrested by...

Despite Arab calls for an immediate cease-fire, the UN Security Council on Monday put off a response to the escalating attacks by Israel and Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrillas to wait for the results of a UN mission now in the Mideast trying to defuse the conflict. But the 22 Arab nations issued a statement after a meeting late Monday expressing concern at the council's failure to act and urging the UN's most powerful body to pass a resolution immediately demanding a comprehensive cease-fire and the lifting of Israel's blockade on Lebanon.

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Security Council 5490th Meeting (PM) SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA'S MISSILE LAUNCHES, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1695 (2006) Demands Suspension of All Related Ballistic Missile Activity;Urges Country to Return Immediately to Six-Party Talks Without Precondition The United Nations Security Council today condemned the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's recent test-firing of a series of missiles, and demanded that the North-East Asian country suspend all ballistic missile related activity and reinstate its moratorium on missile launches. Acting "under its special responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security", the Council unanimously adopted resolution 1695 (2006), by the...

THE UN Security Council has again rejected pleas that it call for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon after the United States objected, diplomats said overnight. Washington argued in closed-door talks that the focus for Middle East diplomacy for now should be on the weekend summit in St Petersburg of the Group of Eight industrialised nations, council diplomats said. It was the sole member of the 15-nation UN body to oppose any council action at all at this time, they said. "We would expect much more from the Security Council," Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud told reporters after...

ALARM - the North Korea rejects the resolution of UNO aiming it New York (the United Nations) - the North Korea firmly rejected Saturday the constraining resolution of the Security Council of the United Nations condemning it for its recent shootings of test of missiles.