Economic Sanctions

Airline flights. Phone service. Money transfers. Those are among enticing new or expanded business opportunities seen ahead for U.S. companies with Monday's loosening of the U.S. embargo with Cuba. "This is a big deal; it's a significant change in U.S. policy," said former Ambassador David A. Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy and a partner at law firm Wiley Rein.

The Obama administration announced Monday that it would permit unlimited travel to Cuba by Cuban Americans and lift limits on transfers of money to relatives on the Caribbean island while keeping in place many long-standing U.S. trade restrictions. Obama's moves make good on a campaign promise and seek to take advantage of shifting winds in Havana as Raul Castro, who formally took over from his ailing brother Fidel a year ago, adopts limited reforms.

Key world powers agreed Wednesday on a draft of a United Nations resolution that would sharply increase export and financial sanctions against North Korea as punishment for its recent nuclear weapons and missile tests. After more than two weeks of debate, the United States, Britain and France joined North Korea's traditional protectors, China and Russia, in signing off on the draft. The full 15-member U.N.

The Bush administration Wednesday imposed financial sanctions on a satellite television operation in Syria that has outraged U.S. officials with broadcasts of attacks on Americans troops and calls to violence. The administration also imposed sanctions on the Iraqi businessman who owns the station, along with a top general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard and two men accused of directing terrorist attacks. All were accused of committing or promoting violence in Iraq. The sanctions freeze any U.S.

Sanctions weren't supposed to hurt Majid Taleghani. But the Iranian book publisher says they have forced him to increase prices and scale back the number of titles he issues. "In the past few weeks, the price of South Korean paper has soared at least 25%," Taleghani complained, chain-smoking nervously. "Why? South Korean banks refuse to open letters of credit. They won't work with Iranian banks anymore." President Bush's recent tour through the Middle East was meant in part to rally U.S.

The collapse of Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday altered the region's political and security landscape as suddenly as it changed the fortunes of Palestinians who poured out of the enclave to stock up on goods made scarce by an Israeli blockade.

The Security Council on Friday began to consider tougher sanctions on Iran that were agreed to by six major powers, including a travel ban on officials involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs, a halt to trade in sensitive nuclear technology and "vigilance" on transactions with two banks. The new draft resolution lacked most of the harsh economic sanctions and the arms embargo that the United States wanted.

Malah abu Lashin lay in the intensive care unit of Nasser Children's Hospital here Sunday, her frail 20-month-old body attached to a ventilator, an oxygenator and an intravenous pump. The lifeline that kept those devices functioning was equally fragile: a tenuous flow of electricity from a generator with just enough diesel in the tank to last 10 hours. "If the power goes off, we can pump those machines by hand," said Anwar Sheikh Khalil, the hospital's director.

President Bush ordered new sanctions Wednesday to punish officials in Syria, saying Damascus undermines stability in Iraq and meddles in Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy. Bush, in an executive order, said he was expanding penalties against senior Syrian officials and their associates deemed to be responsible for, or to have benefited from, public corruption. The order did not name the officials. The White House said Wednesday's order built on one Bush issued in May 2004 that banned all U.S.

Britain and France formally introduced a Security Council resolution Thursday calling for a third round of sanctions against Iran over its failure to suspend uranium enrichment. The United States pushed hardest for the sanctions, but China and Russia, the other permanent members of the 15-nation council, have been in general agreement on them.