Wednesday, July 01, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iranian-based firm for its alleged ties to North Korea’s missile proliferation network.The firm, identified as Hong Kong Electronic, located in Iran’s Kish Island, provided support to North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID).Those two North Korean entities had been designated by the United States and the United Nations Security Council for nuclear proliferation activities.“North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings, making it nearly impossible for responsible banks and governments to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate North Korean transactions,” said Stuart Levey, Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.The Treasury Department said that Hong Kong Electronics has since 2007 transferred millions of dollars of “proliferation-related funds” on behalf of the two North Korean entities and has “facilitated the movement of money from Iran to North Korea on behalf of KOMID.”It said that Tanchon had been involved in financing ballistic missile sales from KOMID to Iran’s Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which is the Iranian organization responsible for developing liquid-fueled missiles.Tanchon has also maintained an active relationship with Iran’s Bank Sepah, said the Treasury Department. “The U.S. has reason to believe that the Tanchon-Bank Sepah relationship has been used for North Korea-Iran proliferation-related transactions.”
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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