BENGHAZI / AP Libya’s eastern-based parliament has called for elections to be held early next year, after it backed out of a United Nations-brokered peace deal with rival authorities in the capital, Tripoli. The widening split has stoked concerns that violence could escalate in the fractured country. In an open letter to the country’s electoral commission released late Tuesday, …

  RAMALLAH / AP Britain’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country remains “absolutely” committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that obstacles to a deal, including accelerated Israeli settlement building, must be removed. Boris Johnson said he believes it’s still possible to set up a state of Palestine alongside Israel and that the leadership change …

  BERLIN / AP Germany’s foreign minister expressed cautious optimism on Wednesday that Berlin and Ankara may begin to slowly reel diplomatic relations back to normal, following an escalation of tensions that culminated with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Germany of “Nazi practices.” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said talks at a Berlin hotel over breakfast with Turkish Foreign Minister …