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CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit with China cost 2.3 million American jobs between 2001 and 2007, the Economic Policy Institute said on Wednesday in a report likely to fuel debate about free trade ahead of November elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled to Islamabad and confronted senior officials with evidence of ties between Pakistan's spy agency and militants operating in that country's tribal areas, the New York Times reported in Wednesday editions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that aims to protect college students from aggressive lenders moved closer to passage on Tuesday when U.S. House and Senate negotiators reconciled their differences on the measure.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida employers cannot bar their employees from keeping guns locked in their cars at work but businesses can stop customers from keeping firearms in cars while shopping, a U.S. judge has ruled.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Liu Jielian isn't exactly impressed with the facelift the government gave her home in central Beijing as part of efforts to spruce up the city for the Olympic Games next month.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan said on Tuesday that after the Pakistani prime minister made a commitment to U.S. President George W. Bush to secure the border with Afghanistan, it was now time for Pakistan to take action.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The body of a Brazilian priest who floated out over the ocean suspended by hundreds of helium-filled party balloons, has been found off the coast of southeastern Brazil, police have confirmed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A biopsy conducted on skin taken from the face of U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain showed no skin cancer, medical authorities said on Tuesday.

MELNIKOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Yevgeny Kalashnikov's hulking frame dominated the manager's office on the second floor of a hospital in Siberia. Looking up from his desk littered with papers, he said: "Things have got so much better."

Euclid, OHIO (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday again called on Congress to pass legislation that would give energy companies access to billions of barrels of oil in U.S. waters where energy exploration is now banned.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Hamas warned its Fatah rivals on Tuesday that a crackdown against the Islamist group by forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could spark a revolt in the occupied West Bank.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - About 200 ex-soldiers occupied former military buildings in northern Haiti on Tuesday to demand the reinstatement of the disbanded army and 14 years of back pay, the group's leader and witnesses said.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Christians and Muslims mistrust each other so much that a few terrorist attacks could trigger dramatic and violent religious tensions, a Jordanian prince told an interfaith conference on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic senators called on Tuesday for the resignation of Stephen Johnson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying he sided with polluters instead of fighting global warming and other ecological problems.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Africa said on Tuesday that an increasing number of countries want the International Criminal Court, in the interest of peace in Darfur, to halt any genocide indictment of Sudan's president.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida employers cannot bar their employees from keeping guns locked in their cars at work but businesses can stop customers from keeping firearms in cars while shopping, a U.S. judge has ruled.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno said on Tuesday he was worried about a possible plan to send U.N. troops to Somalia when it is unclear who controls militants on the ground.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate lawmakers remained deadlocked on Tuesday over legislation to rein in excessive energy speculation, as they haggled over adding amendments to the bill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush urged China's leadership on Tuesday to use the Beijing Olympics to show a commitment to human rights, the White House said, as he nudged his Chinese hosts about U.S. concerns 10 days before attending the games' opening ceremonies.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama agreed on Tuesday that Washington must restore confidence in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Obama's spokesman said.