By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition in exile met on Thursday to decide whether to attend a peace conference that the United States and Russia see as a crucial path to ending two years of civil war. Under international pressure to swiftly resolve internal divisions, the Syrian National Coalition began talks in Istanbul to elect a coherent leadership and decide on the conference which could take place in Geneva in the coming weeks. ...

By Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating the murder of a soldier hacked to death on a busy London street were looking on Friday into whether the two suspected killers, British men of Nigerian descent, were part of a wider conspiracy. The two suspects, aged 22 and 28, are under guard in hospitals after being shot and arrested by police following the murder of 25-year-old Afghan war veteran Lee Rigby on Wednesday in broad daylight. They have not yet been charged. ...

By Arshad Mohammed JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry held separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Thursday and acknowledged there was considerable skepticism that the two sides would resume peace negotiations. There were no signs of any breakthrough as Kerry visited Israel for the fourth time in his four months in office to try to revive a peace process that has been moribund for more than two years. ...

By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell to one-month lows on Friday and the yen rebounded broadly as extreme volatility in the Nikkei kept investors on edge. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.4 percent and reached levels not seen since April 19, extending Thursday's 2.2 percent fall. Australian shares underperformed, sliding 1.6 percent. "There's a lot of volatility... from Japan, which is not good for market stability or confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne. ...

By Jessica Wohl (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co on Thursday brought back A.G. Lafley to run the world's largest household products maker, replacing Bob McDonald immediately in the midst of a major restructuring. Lafley is taking on the roles of chairman, president and chief executive officer, effective immediately, while McDonald is set to retire on June 30 after 33 years at P&G. The move comes as some investors have pushed for faster improvements from the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors. P&G unveiled a $10 billion restructuring program in February 2012. ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday. The source said that it was unlikely that the Federal Trade Commission had sent out civil investigative demands in relation to the probe, which would be the sign of a formal and more serious investigation. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Police say actress Amanda Bynes has been arrested in midtown Manhattan after she heaved a marijuana bong out of a window.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is co-hosting NBC's "Today" on Friday morning as part of a campaign to proclaim that the state's shore is ready for business seven months after being devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

CANNES, France (AP) — Paolo Sorrentino has a thing about food — appropriately enough, for the director of a sumptuous feast of a film, "The Great Beauty."

DETROIT (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks began the year with a record-breaking start.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jonathan Quick saved his best save for the final minute, sliding deftly across his crease and snagging Joe Pavelski's shot from point-blank range to the grateful gasps of the Los Angeles Kings' sellout crowd.

NEW YORK (AP) — During a sluggish first period, a difficult second period, and a tense third period, there were few signs the New York Rangers would be able to hold off the Boston Bruins and extend their season for at least one more game.

Barack Obama has hit the reset button with the most far-reaching national security address of his presidency

Saying it's time "to fight terrorists without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing," President Barack Obama invited Congress in a speech on Thursday to help him scale back the country's 12-year conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates. "America is at a crossroads. We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else [...]

President Barack Obama's planned counterterrorism speech was temporarily derailed several times on Thursday when activist Medea Benjamin shouted criticisms of the administration's use of drones and operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Benjamin, co-founder of peace activist group Code Pink, was seated in the audience at National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where Obama [...]