国际英语新闻：UN Security Council lifts sanctions against Iraq

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution to lift the Saddam-era sanctions against Iraq, which were imposed in 1991.

In the new resolution, the 15-nation council decided to lift most international sanctions imposed on Iraq under the rule of former President Saddam Hussein.

The resolution was adopted unanimously at an open meeting of the Security Council, chaired by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, whose country holds the rotating Council presidency for December.

The Security Council also adopted two other resolutions to end the oil-for-food program and the restrictions on the import of civilian nuclear technology to Iraq, and called on the Iraqi ratification of the inspection protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Before the starting of the open meeting, representatives of the Security Council members stood for a moment of silence to mourn the death of late top U.S. diplomat Richard Helbrooke, who died on Monday at 69. Holbrooke was the former U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent a letter of sympathy to the family of Holbrooke, saying the former U.S. UN ambassador " was a giant and a legend in his time," a UN statement said here Tuesday.