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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Barack Obama has convinced Arabs and Iranians he will put Israel's interests first if he becomes U.S. president, after a Middle East tour that ended on Thursday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. farmers could support a bigger subsidy cut than proposed by U.S. negotiators this week in world trade talks if countries like China and India improved offers to open their markets, a U.S. farm industry leader said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Shanghai police have broken up an international terrorist group that had planned to attack an Olympic football preliminary match in the city, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.

ROME (Reuters) - When Don Corleone's daughter got married in the film "The Godfather", the guests kissed his hand and he dispensed favours because no Sicilian Mafia boss could refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of Iran's atomic energy organization said on Thursday he was hopeful negotiations could start based on proposals made by Iran and the six powers at recent talks in Geneva.

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday the Bush administration would push the U.S. Congress hard to agree to a civilian nuclear deal with India before President George W. Bush leaves office.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, government officials said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has decided to run for election to the local council of a desolate Arctic region just weeks after resigning as governor.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has invited international experts to inspect its legal system to see whether it is capable of holding trials for war crimes committed in Darfur, the justice minister said on Thursday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Senior negotiators from Zimbabwe's main opposition MDC and the ruling ZANU-PF party began talks on Thursday and a report indicated they were close to reaching a deal on forming a unity government.

BEIJING (Reuters) - At least three powerful aftershocks hit southwest China's quake area on Thursday, killing one elderly person and injuring more than a dozen, the official Xinhua news agency said.

SLEMAN, Indonesia (Reuters) - The pilot of a Garuda Indonesia aircraft that crashed at Yogyakarta airport last year killing 21 people was charged on Thursday with negligence and deliberately causing an accident.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a surprise pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday, at the end of a trip aimed at showing his strong support for Israel.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to replace dozens of regional governors over the next few years in an attempt to increase his influence within officialdom, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Thursday.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific nations on Thursday called for greater coordination in dealing with natural disasters, including deploying military resources, in a region prone to earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis.

GLASGOW (Reuters) - Voters in Scotland went to the polls on Thursday for a parliamentary by-election that Gordon Brown's party is expected to win, but which could dramatically dent the prime minister's standing if it is lost.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan soldiers killed "dozens" of militants, including foreigners, in a clash on a highway in southern Zabul province on Thursday, the defence ministry said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, on his first visit to Washington as Israel's top military officer, said on Wednesday it was crucial to block what he called "Iranian aggression" in the Middle East.