BBC World Service

Militant leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar masterminded the two suicide bombs in Niger on Thursday which killed 20 people, a Mauritanian news agency reports.

An intimate love story between two young women receives rave reviews in Cannes as the film festival draws to a close.

The wife of a soldier murdered in south-east London on Wednesday says she expected her husband to be safe in the UK.

A North Korean envoy visiting China meets President Xi Jinping and hands him a letter written by Kim Jong-un, state media reports.

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President Obama defends the use of drones as a "just war" of self-defence against deadly militants, and a campaign that has made America safer.

The lawyer leading the UN's inquiry into drones welcomes President Obama's speech as a "significant step towards increased transparency".

British Airways cancels its short-haul flights to and from Heathrow after one of its planes makes an emergency landing.

British number one Laura Robson faces former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the French Open first round.

London Market Report

Former QPR boss Mark Hughes is contacted by Stoke City after emerging as a leading contender to replace Tony Pulis.

Rain delays the start of the second Test between England and New Zealand at Headingley, with an early lunch taken.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde is questioned by French prosecutors for a second day over a payout to a tycoon when she was French finance minister.

Sally Bercow says she is "surprised and disappointed" that the High Court has ruled a tweet by her about Lord McAlpine to be libellous.

Russia says the Syrian government has agreed "in principle" to attend an international peace conference set to be held in Geneva in June.

In an age when "extremely violent and sadistic imagery is two clicks away", school sex education is struggling to keep pace, suggests a study.

The government defends security services against criticism they missed signs which might have helped prevent the murder of a soldier in London.

The Stockholm fire brigade tackles fires at at least two schools on a fifth night of rioting in the Swedish capital.

Russia's most popular social network, VKontakte, is temporarily blacklisted by mistake - and some users find it blocked.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sacks his chief of staff Mark Towhey as he fights claims he has been caught smoking crack cocaine on camera.