ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The African Union on Saturday marked 50 years since the founding of a continentwide organization that helped liberate Africa from colonial masters and which now is trying to stay relevant on a continent regularly troubled by conflict.

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition resumed talks on Saturday aimed at creating a coherent front crucial to a proposed international peace conference, struggling under Western and Arab pressure to close their fractious ranks and elect a viable leadership. Failure of the opposition to unite could weaken the hand of conference co-sponsors Russia and the United States in ending Syria's civil war, which has killed 80,000 people and threatens to spill across borders and whip up wider sectarian conflict. The U.S. ...