LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it hoped the new Iranian government would make efforts to reach a negotiated settlement on its nuclear program following the election of Hassan Rohani. British foreign secretary William Hague said efforts to reach a settlement would be met "in good faith" by Britain, adding that Iran should not doubt British resolve to prevent nuclear proliferation. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his counterparts from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed in Warsaw on Sunday to deepen cooperation in the field of energy, including nuclear power and renewables. In a statement issued after the first-ever summit between Japan and the so-called Visegrad Group of Eastern European nations, they also agreed to strengthen national security ties by holding a seminar, possibly by year-end, and confirmed the significance of holding regular talks at the leadership and foreign ministerial levels.

North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the US aimed at discussing nuclear weapons programmes and easing of tension on the peninsula, state media said Sunday. "We propose high-level talks between the North and the US to secure peace and stability in the region and ease tension on the Korean peninsula," the North's powerful National Defense Commission said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, called on North Korea to get rid of its nuclear weapons and agreed not to recognize the North as a nuclear-armed state, Obama's national security adviser said on Saturday.