WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Representative Charles Rangel said on Tuesday he was not resigning in the face of ethics charges and asked for an expedited resolution of his case before he has to face voters in November elections.

“I am not going away. I am here,” Rangel, a Democrat, said to some applause during a lengthy, rambling speech on the floor of the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Four U.S. senators have
written to Britain’s Foreign Secretary curtly demanding more
information to help clear up the “public pall” over the release
of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya.

In an accusing tone rarely used with the United States’
closest ally, the senators said it appeared British trade
interests with Libya had “won out over justice” in last year’s
release of the man convicted of the 1988 bombing of an airliner
over Lockerbie, Scotland.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama must show greater commitment to modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal to gain Republican support for an arms control treaty with Russia, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican said on Wednesday.

Senator Jon Kyl denied setting a price to support the strategic arms reduction pact known as the “new START.” But he told reporters the commitment he was seeking could cost up to $10 billion more than the amount the administration has pledged to modernizing U.S. nuclear weapons.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate committee on Tuesday delayed a vote on the new START nuclear arms control treaty with Russia to at least mid-September, after senators asked for more time to study the document.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democratic Senator John Kerry, had wanted the committee to vote on the strategic arms treaty before the August recess that starts at the end of this week, so that the full Senate could vote on ratification this autumn.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congress on Tuesday approved funding to pay for President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan troop increase despite growing skepticism among some lawmakers over the course of the nine-year-old war.

The final action came as the House of Representatives approved the measure by a vote of 308 to 114.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senators postponed a hearing on whether British oil giant BP Plc influenced the release of the Lockerbie bomber, saying on Tuesday key witnesses had “stonewalled” the investigation by refusing to appear.

Senator Robert Menendez announced the postponement of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing set for Thursday and said it would be rescheduled “in the near future.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration scrambled on Monday to manage the explosive leak of secret military records that paint a grim picture of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and raise new doubts about key ally Pakistan.

The release of some 91,000 classified documents is likely to fuel uncertainty in the Congress about the unpopular war as President Barack Obama sends 30,000 more soldiers into the battle to break the Taliban insurgency.

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) – British oil major BP Plc
(BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) behaved in a “perfectly normal and legitimate” way in
lobbying the British government in 2007 over a prisoner
transfer agreement with Libya, British Foreign Secretary
William Hague said in a letter to a U.S. lawmaker.

In the letter to U.S. Senator John Kerry, Hague reiterated
the British government’s position that there is no evidence BP
had any connection to the Scottish authorities’ release last
year of the man convicted of the 1988 bombing of an airliner
over Lockerbie, Scotland.