NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Promotions Held Up Over Sex Abuse Case

The promotions of more than 4,000 Navy and Marine Corps officers are on ice because a Senate panel is demanding to know whether any of the candidates were involved in a 1991 sexual harassment case, Pentagon and congressional sources said. The move by the Senate Armed Services Committee appears to have effectively stalled the traditional summertime job changes within the senior ranks of the two services. Two probes found that at least 26 women--half of them naval officers--were assaulted by drunk and rowdy Navy and Marine Corps pilots at a Las Vegas convention.