AFP: A US Senator has taken the extraordinary step of blocking more than 70 of US President Barack Obama’s nominees amid a dispute over a lucrative US Air Force tanker deal, senate aides said Friday.

Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, placed a blanket “hold” in part because of the feud pitting Airbus parent EADS and its partner Northrop Grumman against Boeing, his office said.