For the first time since it began, most US citizens believe the Iraq War is not part of the war on terrorism, as US President George W. Bush keeps insisting, a New York Times/CBS News poll published yesterday found.
Fifty-one percent of the 1,206 adults surveyed between Aug. 17 and Aug. 21 believed the two wars were separate, while 44 percent saw a link. In June the opinion was split evenly at 41 percent.
Going to war in the first place was considered a mistake by 53 percent, up from 48 percent last month; 62 percent said US efforts to stabilize Iraq were going badly; 65 percent were disappointed in how Bush was handling the situation.
And 46 precent said Bush had focused too much on Iraq and not enough on terrorists elsewhere, while 42 percent said the balance was about right.
Despite the warning the apparent rejection of the administration's Iraq policy sends to Republican lawmakers, Bush's job approval rating in the poll remained unchanged at 36 percent (57 percent disapprove) from last month.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll on Tuesday found Bush's approval rating had jumped five points to 42 percent following the arrest in Britain of 24 suspects in a foiled bomb plot against US-bound jetliners.
How Bush handled the war on terrorism met with the approval of 55 percent of respondents in the Times/CBS poll. In other key policy issues, such as the economy and foreign policy, Bush's disapproval rating neared the 60 percent mark.
The poll found that despite the recent Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement, 70 percent of Americans believed that lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would never come, against 26 percent who said it would.
A majority of 56 percent said it was not the US government's business to broker a peace between Israel and its neighbors; 39 percent believed it was.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
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FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
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