The US Congress by an overwhelming margin on Thursday approved nearly US$80 billion to finance the war in Iraq, reward key allies, bolster anti-terrorism efforts and help struggling airlines.
The Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate passed similar versions of the emergency spending package that gives the Pentagon some US$60 billion to fight the war, after Republicans deflected most efforts by Democrats to add billions more to tighten domestic protections against terrorism.
The Senate vote was unanimous, while the House vote was 414 to 12.
In key amendments, the House backed US President George W. Bush by supporting US$1 billion for aid to Turkey which Washington is trying to coax to be a more cooperative ally in the war with Iraq.
On another vote, it passed a measure the White House lobbied against to bar money in the bill from going to companies in France, Germany, Russia or Syria to help rebuild Iraq as lawmakers said they should not get business from a war they resisted. The Senate bill did not have that measure.
Lawmakers intend to work out differences between the House and Senate measures, and send Bush a final bill by April 11.
The House voted 315 to 110 to reject a bid to strip the aid by conservatives who argued that Ankara should be punished for refusing to let the US invade Iraq from Turkish soil, denying it a northern front in the war.
Trying to avoid a threat to US-Turkish relations, White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appealed to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, a Republican, to fight to preserve the aid in the bill he was shepherding through the House.
"Despite the recent difficulties, the president is devoted to maintaining the strategic partnership," Rice said in a letter to Young.
By a voice vote, the House agreed to bar money in the bill from going to companies from France, Germany, Russia or Syria, despite State Department lobbying against the measure.
Representative George Nethercutt, a Republican, called those countries the "coalition of the unwilling," while Representative Mark Souder, a Republican, said they "gave aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein."
But Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the measure would force the US to bear "a disproportionate share of costs" for Iraqi relief and rebuilding and would undermine efforts to liberalize trade.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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