Education, defense bills passed

The Upper House passed the bill to amend the education law to instill patriotism in schools and another one to turn the Defense Agency into a ministry after opposition parties made a last-ditch attempt Friday to stop the floor vote with no-confidence motions against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2006/nn20061216a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='172'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Prime Minister Shinzo Abe –

and his Cabinet bow after the Lower House plenary session voted down an opposition-proposed no-confidence motion against them Friday. KYODO PHOTO

The passage of the two contentious bills effectively ends all substantial deliberations for the remainder of the current Diet session, which was scheduled to end Friday.