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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A $20 billion Medicare refinancing bill, paid for mostly by reducing Medicare's reimbursement of private health plans, was blocked by U.S. lawmakers on Thursday, raising the likelihood a version with smaller cuts will emerge.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Chinese companies will sign a raft of business deals on Monday ahead of high-level trade and economic talks between the two countries, a U.S. business group said on Thursday.

NASHUA, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday it was important to "talk up" the U.S. dollar and short-term steps were needed to strengthen its value.

ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, 71, said on Thursday he backed John McCain, also 71, to be the next U.S. president because if McCain wins, the Italian prime minister won't feel so old.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats pushed an election-year bill through the House of Representatives on Thursday to give more help to unemployed people facing tough job prospects in a stagnant U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks on the North American Free Trade Agreement in the U.S. presidential campaign and in the U.S. Congress are prompting Canada to send out its diplomats to give the 14-year-old pact a boost.

GAZA (Reuters) - An explosion destroyed a Hamas bomb-maker's house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least four people, including a baby, in what Hamas called an Israeli air strike and Israel described as an internal blast.

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A convoy of Pakistani lawyers set off on Thursday on the last leg of a cross-country rally, vowing to lay siege to parliament unless judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf last year get their jobs back.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday against nearly 10,000 victims of human rights abuses during the regime of Philippine ruler Ferdinand Marcos in a dispute over $35 million in an account held by the late dictator.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The two main parties in Kenya's coalition government retained their parliamentary balance on Thursday in by-elections that avoided the violence which erupted after the two sides clashed over a December presidential poll.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain and Malaysia tightened security on Thursday to stop strikes against soaring global fuel prices turning violent, as well as snarling road networks and slowing deliveries of food and raw materials.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday it was feasible an outline agreement in the Doha round of talks could be hammered out by the end of June or the beginning of July.

ENUGU, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian police said on Thursday they had broken a major baby trafficking ring, arresting a doctor believed to have bought infants from pregnant women and sold them at a profit for more than 20 years.

ROME (Reuters) - The United States is evaluating what will be accomplished at a summit Saudi Arabia has called to address soaring global oil prices before a decision will be made on who will attend, a White House official said on Thursday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Former steelworker Bill Hartley doesn't give Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama a ringing endorsement, but his top concern is free trade, so he said he doesn't want another Republican in the White House.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland voted on Thursday in a referendum that will decide the fate of a European Union reform treaty intended to make the 27-nation bloc stronger and more effective.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United Nations and NATO rushed on Thursday to iron out snags in the troubled international security presence for Kosovo, just days ahead of its constitution coming into force.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain promised "zero tolerance" for violence by striking truckers after police cleared picket lines blocking highways during a fuel protest.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon will seek a "mutually agreeable path forward" surrounding a recent agreement on beef trade, which has unleashed a wave of turmoil in South Korea, a trade official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has launched a Web site to dispel rumors about his faith and patriotism and his wife's views on race that have dogged his candidacy for more than a year.