BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A senior Iraqi official on Thursday explicitly backed U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s plans to withdraw combat troops from the country by mid-2010, Baghdad’s clearest endorsement yet of Obama’s exit strategy.

LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – Eleven European politicians sailed to Gaza from Cyprus Friday after saying attempts to get to the Palestinian territory via Egypt failed.

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Russia faces a lingering terrorist threat and cannot drop its guard, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, a day after a suspected suicide bombing killed 12 people.