Extract:The U.S. would cut off funding to the UN Human Rights Council under a bill passed by the Senate on Thursday. The Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for 2008 passed with an amendment stating that none of the U.S. contributions to the UN would be made available to the council. The House passed a similar amendment in June. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who introduced the amendment in the Senate, called the rights council a platform for "shielding human rights-violating regimes from scrutiny," such as Myanmar and North Korea, while "launching spiteful attacks against Israel." Since its creation last year, the council has only criticized one country - Israel. (AP)