The United States Senate has approved additional funding of $162bn (Ј82bn) for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. British death toll in Afghanistan reaches 100 ...
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The bill includes significant extra funding for US war veterans' education and unemployment benefits.
It is a victory for President Bush, and does not include any timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, something Mr Bush vigorously opposed.
With the new funding, the total US budget for Iraq and Afghanistan now stands at more than $800bn (Ј400bn).
The bill allows the Pentagon to pay for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until mid-2009.
It also envisages a significant increase in college education benefits for returning soldiers and help for US unemployed and flood victims in the Midwest.
If brings to more than $650bn (Ј330bn) the amount provided by Congress for the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Some Democrats criticised the bill for not setting deadlines for pulling out US troops from Iraq.
Congress did attach two conditions to the funds - prohibiting the construction of permanent US military bases in Iraq and requiring Baghdad to match any US reconstruction aid.
(BBC)
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