WASHINGTON

Lawmakers agree on tough new sanctions against Iran

A new package of severe sanctions on Iran’s energy, shipping and financial sectors gained strong congressional support Tuesday as lawmakers sought to ratchet up the economic pressure in hopes of halting Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons program.

House and Senate negotiators reached agreement late Monday on legislation that builds on the current penalties directed at financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank. The new bill would impose sanctions on anyone who mines uranium with Iran; sells, leases or provides oil tankers to Tehran; or provides insurance to the National Iranian Tanker Co., the state-run shipping line.

Iranian officials quickly labeled the economic pressure “warfare” and promised to retool the country’s oil-dependent economy.

U.S. lawmakers were determined to punish Iran while sending a strong signal of support to Israel amid fears about the Iranian threat. President Barack Obama also used his executive authority to impose fresh sanctions on foreign banks in China and Iraq that the U.S. says help Iran evade the penalties.

SEATTLE

Crop circles near huge dam elicit curiosity, but no aliens

Mysterious crop circles have appeared in an eastern Washington wheat field — not far from the nation’s largest hydropower producer — but local farmers preparing for the summer’s harvest find the distraction more amusing than alarming.

“You can’t do anything other than laugh about it,” said Cindy Geib, who owns the field along with her husband, Greg. “You just kind of roll with the theory it’s aliens and you’re special because aliens chose your spot.”

Friends called the Geibs on July 24 when the pattern of flattened wheat was spotted off Highway 174, about five miles north of the town of Wilbur. The field is about 10 miles south of the Grand Coulee dam, which the Bureau of Reclamation says is the largest hydropower producer in the United States.

The circles resemble a four-leaf clover and remind Cindy Geib of Mickey Mouse ears. The design knocked down about an acre of their wheat. Some of it could be salvaged by combines when the harvest starts in a week or two, she said, but some will be lost.

“Of course, we don’t have alien insurance,” she said.

NEW YORK

U.S. judge allows Chevron to fight Ecuadorean claim

A New York judge has allowed energy company Chevron to move forward with its claims that an $18 billion environmental judgment against it in Ecuador was unjustly obtained.

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said Tuesday some of the actions involving courts in Ecuador “unquestionably were tainted” but it’s too soon to say the judgment cannot be enforced in New York. He once tried to ban enforcement of the judgment worldwide, but a federal appeals court said he could only do so in New York state.

A spokeswoman for Ecuadoreans who sued Chevron over damage to their lands from oil exploration called it a victory that the judge didn’t immediately rule in Chevron’s favor.

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron Corp. said through a spokesman the judge’s findings are favorable.

JERUSALEM

Military draft to include ultra-Orthodox Jewish men

In an step that could intensify a major rift among Israelis, the defense minister on Tuesday ordered the army to prepare for a universal draft of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.

Many in the insular and rapidly growing community say they would rather go to jail than comply with an end to the decades-long draft exemptions that have caused increasing outrage in the country.

Ehud Barak gave defense officials a month to craft a plan to put the new draft procedure into practice, trying to buy time in a last-ditch effort to find an agreed solution.

Ultra-Orthodox leader Meir Porush, a former lawmaker, said drafting his people would unleash a “civil war.”

— From news service reports