‘Oil for Food’ Deal With Iraq Extended

The Security Council voted unanimously to approve a six-month renewal of its “oil for food” deal with Iraq to ease the plight of civilians who have been under crippling sanctions for nearly seven years. The United States and Britain supported the measure despite their complaints that the U.N. is not monitoring the distribution of supplies carefully enough. Under the deal, Iraq can sell $2 billion worth of oil to buy food, medicine and other necessities to help alleviate the effects of embargoes in force since Baghdad’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait that led to the Gulf War.