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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to strengthen U.S. tools to enforce trade agreements is unnecessary and could invite retaliation against U.S. farm exports to China, a top U.S. trade official said on Thursday.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Four people were killed and close to 5,000 forced out of their homes amid heavy rain and flooding in central and southern Chile, and the evacuation figure could rise further, the government said on Thursday.

PALO ALTO (Reuters) - The United States will aggressively impose more sanctions on Iran as long as it refuses to give up sensitive nuclear work and uses the world's financial system for "terrorism," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

PALO ALTO (Reuters) - The United States will aggressively impose more sanctions on Iran as long as it refuses to give up sensitive nuclear work and uses the world's financial system for "terrorism," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

UNION CITY, California (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain opened a new line of attack against Democratic front-runner Barack Obama on Thursday, taking aim at Obama's lack of military service.

GAZA (Reuters) - A suicide truck bomb at one Israeli checkpoint and violence at a rally by Hamas at another on Thursday highlighted frustrations in the Palestinian enclave at slow progress in efforts to secure a ceasefire with Israel.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate joined the House on Thursday to override President George W. Bush's veto of the $289 billion farm bill, enacting it as law except for the trade section, which was deleted through a clerical error.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposed bill to strengthen U.S. tools to enforce trade agreements is unnecessary and could invite retaliation against U.S. farm exports to China, a top U.S. trade official said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Thursday approved an additional $165 billion to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year after lawmakers blocked proposed timetables for withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman told Congress on Thursday that crude oil prices have reached record-high levels of $135 a barrel because global oil production has failed to keep up with demand.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Police said on Thursday they had jailed 19 people suspected of burning to death 11 elderly Kenyan men and women accused of being witches in a case that has horrified the east African nation.

PARIS (Reuters) - French unions staged nationwide protests on Thursday against pension reform plans, while fishermen blocked ports in a battle over fuel costs.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Afghan army could by early next year be leading the vast majority of military operations against enemy insurgents in the country, the U.S. soldier in charge of training them said on Thursday.

ROME/PARIS (Reuters) - High food prices are here to stay for the foreseeable future, potentially forcing millions more people into hunger, two reports from the United Nations and the OECD showed on Thursday.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A top Canadian official blamed for triggering the leak of a memo that cast doubt on the sincerity of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama will quit his job soon, Canadian media reported on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lead U.S. and North Korean nuclear negotiators are expected to meet in Beijing next week, a diplomatic source said on Thursday, in a sign Pyongyang may be closer to making a declaration of its atomic programs.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Thursday he would return home on Saturday ahead of an election run-off against President Robert Mugabe.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police said on Thursday they had released two men who had been held on suspicion of planning to sabotage a nuclear power station.

DOHA (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict that had threatened to push the country to a new civil war.

BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi police said on Thursday a U.S. helicopter airstrike killed eight civilians, including two children, but U.S. forces said the six adults killed were militants suspected of links to a bombing network.