Under one bill approved on Friday, Utah would issue a two-year work permit to illegal immigrants who could prove that they had been living and working in the state.
That bookish aide, Haruhiko Kuroda, was approved on Friday to become the next Bank of Japan governor, one of the most thankless jobs in a country plagued for decades with economic problems.
Syrian officials said Damascus would also take part in the joint effort, which was approved on Friday at an Arab meeting in Cairo, possibly by sending troops to one of the tiny emirates at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that have been worried that they, too, might be invaded by Iraq.
The bill, approved on Friday, now moves to Gov. Pat Quinn's desk to await his signature.
The changes are due to be formally approved on Friday and take effect on March 7.
The bill, which covers spending through Sept. 30, seemed likely to be approved on Friday.
Those concerns were underlined when Russia released its new military doctrine, approved on Friday by President Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The bank is expected to collect up to 76 percent of its claims under the plan approved on Friday.
The distribution approved on Friday is the single-biggest return of MF Global customer money to date.
The settlement was approved on Friday by Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. of Federal District Court in Manhattan.
But the plan was approved on Friday by national incident commander Thad Allen and energy secretary Steven Chu.
