World powers slapped a fourth set of UN sanctions on Iran with widening military and financial restrictions in a continued effort to solve the Iranian nuclear standoff. The vote in the 15-member UN Security Council was in favor of the US-drafted resolution, with Lebanon abstaining and Brazil and Turkey voting against.

The Obama administration says the new economic sanctions against Iran adopted by the UN Security Council are the toughest ever against that country's military and financial interests. The resolution imposes binding new restrictions on Iran's import of conventional arms. States are prohibited from selling to Iran eight categories of heavy weapons, including battle tanks, attack helicopters, and missile systems.

At the United Nations in New York the Security Council appears to have reached a consensus over US-led draft sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program. And crucially that agreement includes permanent members Russia and China – who have previously balked at signing up for sanctions.

The announcement came just a day after Brazil and Turkey worked out a fuel swap deal with Iran which the government in Tehran felt could be a step toward ending its years-old standoff with the West.

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In today's net check we get Chinese reaction to the unrest in nearby Thailand. Dozens of people there have been killed in the battles between red shirt protesters and the military.

The bloodshed followed a more than two month stand-off between thousands of protesters and the authorities in Bangkok. The anti-government red shirts have been calling for fresh elections and what they call 'real democracy'.

The military crackdown began on Wednesday morning after weeks of negotiations failed to disperse protesters, many of whom are followers of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. Soldiers clashed with militants, some of whom were armed with assault weapons.

As our Media Watch team has been reporting this week, the huge protests by the Chinese community in Paris have been causing a stir here in China.

That's right. Thousands of French-Chinese protesters took to the streets on Sunday following a spate of violent robberies and attacks targeting Chinese people in the French capital.

Police said around 8,500 people took part in the protests. The Chinese media reported that the number was closer to 20,000. Whatever the actual numbers, no-one disputes that this was the largest demonstration that the Chinese community has ever held in France.

Reports say a violent robbery at a Chinese wedding sparked the protests. A man at the wedding opened fire on the thieves and was later arrested. The thieves got away.

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