Day: August 26, 2006

A U.S. diplomat was charged on Friday with accepting trips with exotic dancers, jewelry and entertainment in exchange for issuing visas to 21 people linked to an international jewel distributor.

AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato

Republican Sen. John McCain flip-flopped on the Iraq war again Friday, saying he now supports the U.S. mission in Iraq days. This latest chance in stance came just days after faulting the Bush administration for misleading Americans into believing it would be “some kind of day at the beach.”

The Bush administration may be on the verge of getting what it has long sought: United Nations sanctions on a defiant Iran over its accelerated nuclear program. That may not be much of a victory.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the three-term Democrat whose independent campaign for re-election is being seen as a referendum on the Iraq war, said Friday he would consider taking a look at a fellow lawmaker’s proposal for a timeline for troop withdrawals.

The pharmaceutical industry quietly footed the bill for at least part of a recent multimillion-dollar ad campaign praising lawmakers who support the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, according to political officials.