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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. But Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made no offer to abandon North Korea's nuclear program. The United States insists North Korea takes meaningful steps on denuclearization before there can be dialogue. ...

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. ...

KABUL (Reuters) - Several large explosions rocked a busy area in the center of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday with Reuters witnesses describing shooting in the area. There were at least four blasts interspersed by heavy shooting, a Reuters witness said. The first blast was a suicide car bomb and occurred at about 4 p.m. (1130 GMT) near an intersection in the district of Borj-e Sharahah, said Hashmatullah Stanikzai, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief. A Reuters witness described seeing two wounded policemen, though there was no official word on casualties. ...

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. ...

By Rhys Jones and Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - A British Airways plane with 80 people on board made an emergency landing at London's Heathrow airport on Friday after the right engine burst into flames shortly after take-off and the casing ripped away from the left. The British carrier, part of IAG, said all 75 passengers and five crew members were safe after having been evacuated from the aircraft down emergency chutes on landing. Video footage taken on board the plane as it came into land revealed the silver internal components of the engine. ...

CONAKRY (Reuters) - The official death toll from Thursday's clashes between Guinean opposition protesters and police and government supporters rose to four on Friday, meaning at least 22 people have now been killed in unrest since March. The opposition, which held a rally against plans for a June election that it fears will be rigged, said three protesters were shot dead and a fourth beaten to death at the march. ...

Carpenters are installing a railing along a rebuilt boardwalk, intent on getting it ready for the Memorial Day weekend. The smell of fried food hangs in the air as vendors fire up their fryers for funnel cakes and French fries. Almost everywhere, painters are trying to cover rusty spots outside concession stands selling T-shirts and offering games of chance.

It is hard to imagine bloggers and tweeters in most parts of the world working themselves into a lather of intellectual excitement about ?constitutional government.?

Buddhist families from Bangladesh are quietly crossing the border into Myanmar, where local Rakhine Buddhist groups and government agencies are helping them resettle. The move has created pressure on the minority Rohingya Muslims, who have long alleged persecution by the Buddhists to leave.

Because he was a professional baseball player, Dave Valle figured the eight boys crowding around him after a winter league game in the Dominican Republic years ago just wanted his autograph.

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.