World

ISTANBUL – There’s little doubt Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will win this weekend’s parliamentary elections. But observers say his margin of victory could go a long way to determining what that means for democracy in Turkey going forward, along with this longtime pro-Western nation’s relations with the U.S. …

PARIS – Families of surrogate children who have been effectively denied French citizenship are going to the country’s highest court to challenge the law denying papers for babies born abroad. Friday’s case could change how surrogate births are handled in France, where they are illegal. Until now, children born abroad …

BERLIN – A German court says it will not proceed with the trial of a former SS sergeant who served as a medic in the Auschwitz death camp because the 94-year-old is suffering from dementia. The Neubrandenburg state court said Monday that experts had determined that Hubert Z. was unfit …

ISLAMABAD – A spokesman for the international aid group Save the Children says the government of Pakistan has allowed it to reopen its offices. Saeed Ahmed, the group’s spokesman in Pakistan, says authorities removed a lock Wednesday on the gate to the group’s main office in Islamabad. That comes two …

BERLIN – Swiss authorities have approved the extradition of the wartime Bosnian commander of Srebrenica to his home country rather than to Serbia, on whose war crimes warrant he was arrested two weeks ago. Naser Oric was arrested June 10 on a Serbian warrant alleging that he and other members …

RAMALLAH, West Bank – The wife of a prominent Palestinian detainee says he has agreed to end a 55-day hunger strike and in exchange will be released by Israel. Rights groups have warned in recent days that Khader Adnan is near death. Randa Adnan visited her husband in an Israeli …

Syrian government forces retook a neighborhood from Islamic State fighters in a northeastern city on Tuesday, days after it was captured by the extremists, state TV reported. The IS group attacked several government-held southern neighborhoods of the city of Hassakeh last week. The fighting has continued since then, leaving dozens …

MEXICO CITY – A judge in Mexico has ordered the release of the alleged second-in-command of Mexico’s most violent drug cartel, the second time the cartel leader’s son has been released. The Federal Judiciary Council said Wednesday the judge found insufficient evidence to hold Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez over for trial. …

BUCHAREST, Romania – Border police say they have found a 12-year-old Syrian boy and two Syrian men hidden under a truck who tried to illegally enter Romania. Police said in a statement the three Syrians were clinging underneath the truck near the fuel tank early Friday at the Calafat border …

BANGUI, Central African Republic – The director of Central African Republic state radio says armed gunmen surrounded the station and attempted an attack but were repelled by security forces overnight. Eloi Bellonghot said Tuesday that a dozen attackers scaled fences and threatened to take gendarmes hostage, but a gendarme with …