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By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition resumed talks on Saturday aimed at closing their fractious ranks, crucial to launching an international peace conference, and government forces pressed an onslaught on a rebel-held town to try to gain the upper hand in civil war. Failure of the opposition to unite could weaken the hand of conference co-sponsors Russia and the United States in ending Syria's conflict, which has killed 80,000 people, threatens to spill across borders and whip up wider sectarian conflict. The U.S. ...

By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested a man under anti-terrorism laws at BBC headquarters after an interviewee said security services tried to recruit one of the two men arrested after a soldier was hacked to death in a London street. Michael Adebolajo, 28 and Michael Adebowale, 22, are under armed guard in hospital after being shot and arrested by police on suspicion of the murder of 25-year-old Lee Rigby, a veteran of the Afghan war, on Wednesday. ...

By Justin Palmer LEEDS (Reuters) - England lost Jonathan Trott and Alastair Cook to successive balls just before lunch as New Zealand rallied on the second day of the second and final test at Headingley on Saturday. The hosts had recovered from the early dismissal of Nick Compton with Cook and Trott sharing a half-century stand before both fell late in the session to leave England 67 for three after the first day was lost to rain. ...

REUTERS - David Beckham was not included in Paris St Germain's squad for their final Ligue 1 game of the season at Lorient on Sunday as the former England captain headed into retirement. The 38-year-old midfielder had expected as much after his special send-off in Paris last weekend, saying he did not think he would play on the artificial pitch at the Brittany side because the surface could aggravate previous Achilles injury problems. Beckham was not among the 19-man squad named by manager Carlo Ancelotti on Saturday on the Ligue 1 champions' website (www.psg.fr). ...

By Jan Harvey LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices are looking even more vulnerable after April's price crash, as rampant inflation expected from successive rounds of monetary easing fails to materialise. The idea that record-low interest rates would damage paper currencies and boost inflation was a key factor pushing gold to record highs in the wake of the financial crisis. Ultra-loose monetary policies are still in vogue, but gold prices have slid nearly 20 percent since the start of the year and are on track for their biggest quarterly drop in more than 15 years. ...

By Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saddled with Middle East problems ranging from Iran to Syria and beyond, President Barack Obama now faces one that is both old and new: Iraq. Unresolved sectarian tensions, inflamed by the raging civil war in neighboring Syria, have combined to send violence in Iraq to its highest level since Obama withdrew the last U.S. troops in December 2011, U.S. officials and Middle East analysts say. A Sunni Muslim insurgency against the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government has also been reawakened. ...

By Jeffrey B. Roth PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest of the U.S. Civil War, a survivor of that fight marched 200 miles (320 km) from Pittsburgh to the site of the battle for a reunion attended by both Union and Confederate veterans. On Sunday, another veteran, Jim Smith, 70, of Hempfield, Pennsylvania, will start out on the same trek as part of the observation of Memorial Day, when Americans honor their war dead. ...

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's military has freed a number of women and children held hostage by Islamist sect Boko Haram, the army said on Saturday, after its offensive in the northeast of the country overran three of the insurgents' camps. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video earlier this month that the group had kidnapped several women and children in retaliation against security forces who, it says, detained the wives and children of its members without cause. ...

By Jason Bush MOSCOW - Interpol has refused to include UK-based fund manager William Browder on its international search list after deciding that Russia's tax evasion case against him is "of a predominantly political nature". The decision is the latest twist in a long-running battle between the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Browder, whose investment company Hermitage Capital was once the largest investor in Russia's equity market. ...

ROME (Reuters) - A Sicilian priest gunned down by the Mafia twenty years ago outside his home in Palermo was beatified in a seafront ceremony on Saturday attended by an estimated 100,000 people from all over Italy. Father Giuseppe Puglisi was shot in the back of the head in September 1993 in the crime-ridden Brancaccio district of the Sicilian capital where he preached against the Mafia. School parties, local dignitaries and top government ministers braved a stiff wind as the emeritus archbishop of Palermo read out the formal letter of beatification from Pope Francis in Latin. ...

By Tony Jimenez VIRGINIA WATER (Reuters) - Britain's Justin Rose was relieved to feel the sun on his back again at the PGA Championship on Saturday and the world number four took advantage with a three-under-par 69. Most of the players contesting the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth struggled to cope with wintry conditions on the first two days. The eight-degree temperatures and winds gusting up to 20-mph finally gave way to blue skies and warm sunshine in the third round and Rose blossomed as four birdies helped him glide gently through the field. ...

By Julien Pretot PARIS (Reuters) - Old foe Novak Djokovic and damp weather conditions are the most likely obstacles to claycourt machine Rafael Nadal's bid for a record-extending eighth French Open title over the next two weeks. Nadal, who last year beat Bjorn Borg's record of six Roland Garros crowns, has lost only one match on the Paris clay and has already won five titles on the slow surface this year. However, Serbia's Djokovic ended the Spaniard's eight-year reign at the Monte Carlo Masters to show he is beatable on the red dust after all. ...

By Alan Baldwin MONACO (Reuters) - Formula One title contender Kimi Raikkonen has covered up a tribute on his helmet to late champion James Hunt after the lettering was deemed to contravene television regulations. The party-loving Lotus driver, second in the championship at present, is a big fan of Britain's 1976 champion and once entered a snowmobile race under Hunt's name. He has also paid tribute to him in the past with Monaco helmets. This year's had the words 'James Hunt' on the top, positioned to face the camera behind. The regulations do not allow rear-facing messages. ...

Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) The Congress in West Bengal Saturday attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on implementation of the rural jobs programme, saying the state has turned out a poor performer in the 100 days work scheme despite tall claims of the Trinamool Congress government.

Panaji, May 25 (IANS) A decision on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate will only be taken by the party's parliamentary board "when it is appropriate" and not when the national executive meets here next month, a BJP leader said Saturday.

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Demanding a halt in the implementation of the Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia, the BJP Saturday said here that it would work against Indian interests.

Bangalore, May 25 (IANS) Dhruv Sunish, the 13-year old from Maharashtra, capped his fine run with a maiden title triumph in the boys singles of the Karle Infra ATF Under-14 Asian junior ranking tennis tournament here Saturday as he scalped top seed and statemate Siddhanth Jagdish Banthia 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Amid widening ambit of investigations into the IPL-6 spot fixing scam, Law Minister Kapil Sibal Saturday said that the government will soon bring a stand-alone law to deal with malpractices in sports.

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) While the recent controversy around the Indian Premier League (IPL) has revealed a network of betting in cricket, official national crime data shows gambling, in various forms, is rampant in the country, a think tank said Saturday.

Lucknow, May 25 (IANS) Four people died in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district after consuming illicit liquor at a wedding, police said Saturday.

Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) With the met office forecasting "rain or thunder showers likely in some places" in the city Sunday, Indian Premier League (IPL) fans will be fervently praying for the rain gods to spare the Eden Gardens scheduled to host final between two-time champions Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai/New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Embattled BCCI president N. Srinivasan refused to quit Saturday as his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was sent to police custody till May 29 in connection with the raging spot fixing scam in Indian cricket.

Bhubaneswar, May 25 (IANS) Internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik Saturday said he has returned a piece of land the state government had allotted him in Odisha as he was not allowed to construct on it.

New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Mohammad Ahya alias Yusuf, a Bollywood spot boy arrested in the connection of the spot fixing scandal, was in touch with several cricketers apart from the three arrested Rajasthan Royals players, Delhi Police said Saturday.

Panaji, May 25 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become a laughing stock for the country and comments on the active social media world are proof of it, a BJP leader said here Friday.

Shimla, May 25 (IANS) Taking the lead, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday formally launched its campaign for the June 23 Mandi parliamentary by-election in Himachal Pradesh.