December 29, 2006

ABBAS SAYS MEETING WITH OLMERT OPENS DOORS OF DISCUSSION. U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL IMPOSES SANCTIONS DESIGNED TO STOP IRAN'S NUCLEAR EFFORTS. SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SENTENCE UPHELD. President Mahmoud Abbas said that his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is a good start for resuming the peace process. The President remarks came during his arrival to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem to participate in Christmas celebrations. He congratulated the Christians for Christmas, wishing peace and security for the Palestinian people. Saudi Arabia handed a new donation of usd100,000 to the Palestinian Ministry of Information to cover the costs of activities and programs showing the suffering of Palestinian children and families. The Saudi permanent representative to the Arab league Ahmad Qattan today delivered to the General Secretariat of the Arab league a check of usd100,000 to the order of the Palestinian information ministry representing the Kingdom's donation announced during the Arab Information Ministers Conference in its 38th session. The head of the Arab League said efforts to reach a solution to Lebanon's political crisis have not succeeded but did not rule out future negotiations among rival factions. Amr Moussa also urged rival Lebanese leaders to avoid triggering further escalation of the tension and warned that Lebanon was at «a dangerous crossroads.» «I leave to the factions in Lebanon a table full of proposals to find a solution to the crisis,» Moussa told reporters in the capital, Beirut, after four days of talks with allies aligned with Hezbollah group and the U.S.-backed government. «I can't say that we have succeeded, but also we did not fail,» he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. Moussa said the Arab League initiative had produced «a framework for understanding on sticking points.» «Therefore, solutions are there and the road is clear,» he said, urging rival factions to resume talks. Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry received here today Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Dr. Abdulaziz Khojah. During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and internal developments in Lebanon Iran's top nuclear negotiator said the country will push forward immediately with efforts to enrich uranium after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions designed to stop the nuclear efforts, a newspaper reported. «We will begin activities at Natanz site of 3,000-centrifuge machines _ and we will drive it with full speed. It will be our immediate response to the resolution,» the Kayhan newspaper quoted Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, as saying. The Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, increasing international pressure on the government to prove that it is not trying to make nuclear weapons. Iran immediately rejected the resolution. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in response to the resolution, Iran was more determined to continue its nuclear activities. «Our response to the resolution is continuation of peaceful nuclear activities in a more concrete, more decisive and more organized manner than before,» Hosseini told reporters. Larijani was quoted by the paper as saying, «We have said many times before that if the Westerners want to use the Security Council as an instrument, it will not affect our will. And it will make us more decisive in realizing our nuclear aims.» He said the Security Council had discredited itself by approving the resolution. The result of two months of tough negotiation, the resolution orders all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also freezes the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs. If Iran refuses to comply, the council warned it would adopt further nonmilitary sanctions, but the resolution emphasized the importance of diplomacy in seeking guarantees «that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.» Iraq's Appeals Court has upheld the death sentence against ousted President Saddam Hussein. The court rejected an appeal by Saddam Hussein's lawyers. The appeal was launched after an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein to death on 5 November for the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town Dujail.