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F-16 sale to Pakistan draws bipartisan flak

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers accused the Bush administration Thursday of rushing a sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, saying Congress' role in approving arms sales had been compromised. Opponents acknowledged they could do little stop the $5-billion deal.

Democrats and Republicans lashed out at the State Department for giving them only 30 days to consider the deal; that period runs out next week. The administration, they say, failed to provide a traditional extra 20 days.

The compressed timetable "represents a deliberate and wholly inappropriate maneuver by the State Department to diminish the Congress' lawful oversight of arms sales," said GOP Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

Draft on Iran uranium enrichment goes to council

UNITED NATIONS - Key European nations circulated a draft Security Council resolution Thursday that would put legal force behind demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment and clear up suspicions about its nuclear program.

The draft, sent to the 15-nation council, is the followup to a July 12 promise by the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States to refer Iran back to the council for not responding to an offer of incentives to suspend enrichment.

The draft, proposed by Britain, France and Germany and backed by the United States, would make binding earlier demands from the council and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran stop uranium enrichment.

If Iran does not comply, the draft says, the council will follow up under Article 41 of Chapter 7 in the U.N. Charter, which allows punishments that do not involve armed force.

The United States had hoped to have the Security Council pass the resolution by the end of this week, but diplomats were occupied with the Lebanon crisis and there was no indication that a split with Russia had been bridged.

Ethiopian troops provide security in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Hundreds of Ethiopian troops in armored vehicles rolled into Somalia on Thursday to protect their allies in this country's virtually powerless government from Islamic militants who control the capital.

The move could give the U.S.-backed Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 23:41:01]