5 things to know about the world today

1. California seeks judge’s OK to force-feed inmates 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prison officials with the backing of a federal health care receiver are seeking court permission to force-feed inmates who have been participating in a hunger strike that is entering its seventh week.

Officials say they are concerned about the health of nearly 70 inmates who have refused all prison-issued meals since the strike began July 8.

Prison policy is to let inmates die if they have a legally binding do-not-resuscitate request. But corrections officials and the federal authority who oversees prison medical care filed a motion Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco asking for authority to feed inmates near death.

That authority, if granted, would cover some who asked not to be revived.

Officials could not say how many inmates, if any, are currently near death.

2. Thousands of Syrians flee to Iraq; crisis feared

BAGHDAD (AP) — Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds swarmed across a bridge into neighboring Iraq’s northern self-ruled Kurdish region over the past few days in one of the biggest waves of refugees since the rebellion against President Bashar Assad began, U.N. officials said Monday.

The sudden exodus of around 30,000 Syrians amid the summer heat has created desperate conditions and left aid agencies and the regional government struggling to accommodate them, illustrating the huge strain the 2.5-year-old Syrian conflict has put on neighboring countries.

The mostly Kurdish men, women and children who made the trek join some 1.9 million Syrians who already have found refuge abroad from Syria’s relentless carnage.

“This is an unprecedented influx of refugees, and the main concern is that so many of them are stuck out in the open at the border or in emergency reception areas with limited, if any, access to basic services,” said Alan Paul, emergency team leader for the Britain-based charity Save the Children.

“The refugee response in Iraq is already thinly stretched, and close to half of the refugees are children who have experienced things no child should,” he said, adding that thousands of refugees were stranded at the border, waiting to be registered.

The U.N. said the reason for this flow, which began five days ago and continued unabated Monday, is unclear. But Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria have been engulfed by fighting in recent months between Kurdish militias and Islamic extremist rebel factions with links to al-Qaida. Dozens have been killed.

3. Afghan officials say 32 dead in clashes in west 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Battles between the Taliban and an Afghan security company left 32 people dead over the weekend, officials said Monday, as the country marked its 94th independence day from Britain with a small military parade and folk festivals in the capital.

Abdul Rahman Zhawandai, a spokesman for the provincial governor of western Farah province, said 11 members of the Afghan Public Protection Force and 21 insurgents were killed Sunday in a two separate gun battles. Officials often announce high insurgent death tolls in clashes that cannot be independently confirmed.

He said the Taliban attacked a convoy being guarded by the APPF, a state-run company that provides security for private companies and international organizations, in Farah’s Gulistan district. At the same time the Taliban attacked an APPF base in a neighboring district.

Zhawanda added that 17 APPF officers were wounded in the attacks. He had no further details.

4. Egypt officials: Mubarak could be freed this week 

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian judiciary officials say former President Hosni Mubarak could be freed from custody this week.

They say a court on Monday ordered his release in a corruption case that alleged he and his two sons embezzled funds for presidential palaces.

Mubarak has been ordered released in two other court cases against him — the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that toppled him and another in case, on illegal earnings.

Mubarak is on retrial for the protesters’ killing but cannot be held in custody anymore because of a two-year limit pending a final verdict.

He is also facing trial for alleged acceptance of presents from state newspapers but has already repaid their value.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.