UN to end Saddam-era sanctions on Iraq

The UN Security Council will today end a swathe of Saddam Hussein-era sanctions against Iraq in a sign of the changes in the country, diplomats said.
US Vice President Joe Biden will chair a Security Council meeting that will lift the international penalties mainly dating from Saddam's 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait that set off the first Gulf War.
While international worries persist over attacks on Iraq's Christians and other minorities, and no definitive post-war agreement has been reached with Kuwait, US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said it is time for international recognition of the "very real progress" made in Iraq.
Before the US-led invasion in 2003, Iraq was the target of the toughest sanctions regime in UN history with a near total trade and financial embargo.
One resolution to be passed on Wednesday would lift sanctions imposed in 1991 to stop Iraq building the feared nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that were never found after 2003.