The National Defense Authorization Act allows about five percent more military spending than last year.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment of nearly $50 billion, donates some $5 billion annually to global causes. The foundation says it has spent $54.8 billion since 2000 on malaria, polio, ebola and other programmes.
Dubbed as an “anti-separatism” bill, the law is widely seen as anti-Islam as its introduction is driven by fears of Muslims creating sub-communities in rejection of secular laws and values embedded in the French identity.
The aid package aims to deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths.
The measure bans choke holds, restricts officer immunity, combats racial profiling and establishes a database to track police misconduct. It now faces a showdown in the Senate where Republican leadership has no intention of passing it.
"Terry passed away after a long, extremely brave but always good-humoured battle with a rare form of dementia," his family says.
Carrie Lam is in Beijing for talks with Li and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It's her first visit to Beijing since pro-democracy candidates swept local Hong Kong elections last month.
Critics have called the proposed law anti-Muslim, and some opposition parties have also pushed back, arguing citizenship cannot be granted on the basis of religion.
China in reaction said it resolutely opposes the US House of Representatives' bill requiring the Trump administration to toughen its response to what the bill called China's crackdown on ethnic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
The bill also extends to employees of foreign funded NGOs with rights group warning it is aimed at throttling journalism.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam sorry for crisis sparked by planned and then postponed extradition bill that led to massive protests and demands for her resignation.
The legislation approved temporary funds for several federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to keep them operating through February 8 without the $5 billion demanded by Trump to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.
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