By Terril Yue Jones and Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - A North Korean envoy told China's president on Friday that his reclusive country was willing to take "positive actions" to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, as China steps up diplomatic efforts to bring Pyongyang back to talks. Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, met Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, in the highest-ranking visit by an official from Pyongyang in about six months. ...

By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's security services faced questions on Friday over whether they could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a busy London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers. The two suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28 and Michael Adebowale, 22, are under guard in hospitals after being shot and arrested by police after the murder of 25-year-old Afghan war veteran Lee Rigby on Wednesday in broad daylight. They have not yet been charged. ...

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders are nearing crunch time, when they must decide whether to revive long-dormant peace negotiations to end their decades-old conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after two days of meetings, Kerry said he had had "very productive" talks with the two sides and urged them to avoid taking any actions that would jeopardize his shuttle diplomacy. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British Airways plane travelling from London to Oslo was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow on Friday after a technical fault in an engine. "The BA762, Heathrow to Oslo service, returned back to Heathrow shortly after take-off due to a technical fault," BA parent company IAG said. The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying 75 passengers. "The aircraft landed safely and emergency slides were deployed and we are currently caring for our customers. Emergency services attended the aircraft," IAG added. ...

By Yoshiyuki Osada OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) - Two elderly South Korean women forced to work in Japanese war-time military brothels canceled a meeting on Friday with the mayor of the city of Osaka after he refused to withdraw remarks asserting the brothels were "necessary" at the time. The mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, an outspoken populist who has often stirred controversy, sparked a storm of criticism at home and abroad when he said last week that the military brothels had been needed, and Japan has been unfairly singled out for wartime practices common among other militaries. ...

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel's government on Friday to prevent further settlement construction where possible to help revitalize Middle East peace hopes, but stressed that the Jewish state and Palestinians alike should remain focused on the larger goal of restarting direct negotiations.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government has agreed "in principle" to attend a conference proposed by Russia and the United States on ending the Arab country's conflict, Russia's foreign ministry said Friday.

BEIJING (AP) — A top North Korean envoy delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

GENEVA (AP) — International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The 25,000 people at the soccer stadium and the millions more watching at home waited 90 minutes before the Australian evangelical preacher got to the message he had come to Communist-ruled Vietnam to deliver.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - The United States on Friday called into question the credibility of Iran's presidential election next month, criticizing the disqualification of candidates and accusing the government of disrupting Internet access. Iran's Guardian Council, the state body that vets all candidates, had struck former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and others from the roster in the June 14 ballot. "The Council narrowed a list of almost seven hundred potential candidates down to the sort of...officials of their choice, based solely on who represents the regime's interests," U.S. ...

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger's government spokesman told The Associated Press that the jihadists who attacked a military installation in the town of Agadez on Thursday had never taken any hostages, unlike their earlier statements.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Barack Obama's speech on the use of drones and the fate of Guantanamo prisoners was largely welcomed Friday in two key countries affected by the policies— Pakistan and Yemen.

CANNES, France (AP) — Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

MOSCOW (AP) — World stocks stabilized on Friday, a day after global markets dropped sharply on concerns global growth is slowing and the Federal Reserve could start scaling back its monetary stimulus.

By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African nations have backed a request by Kenya for charges of crimes against humanity by its president to be referred back to the east African country, African Union documents show. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, are both facing trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC), accused of masterminding ethnic bloodshed in post-election violence five years ago that killed more than 1,200 people. Both deny the charges. ...

ROME (AP) — Silvio Berlusconi's figure looms large over Rome's mayoral elections this weekend, even though the former premier isn't among the 19 candidates running.

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's divided opposition leaders have failed to back a plan by their outgoing leader for President Bashar al-Assad to cede power gradually to end the country's civil war, highlighting the obstacles to international peace talks expected next month. The 16-point plan proposed by Moaz Alkhatib, who resigned as head of the Western-backed opposition National Coalition in March, urges Assad to hand power to his deputy or prime minister and then go abroad with 500 members of his entourage. ...

LONDON (AP) — Britain is bracing for clashes with right-wing extremists and possible copycat terror attacks after the brutal slaying of a young soldier.

BEIJING (AP) — China told a top North Korean envoy Friday it wants a peaceful, denuclearized Korean Peninsula, and said the emissary warned there is "no guarantee of peace" but that his country was willing to hold talks with all sides.