LONDON – Britain’s former prime minister, Tony Blair, is taking a new role in combatting anti-Semitism in Europe, days after stepping down as the international community’s Mideast envoy. Blair revealed Thursday he will chair the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, a group which champions legislation and dialogue on tolerance. …

UNITED NATIONS – United Nations diplomats say Russia and China have blocked sanctions against two Libyans accused by the United States, Britain, France and Spain of undermining peace efforts in the deeply divided north African nation. The four Western countries urged the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Othman …

CAIRO – The foreign minister of Libya’s internationally recognized government says the North African nation is at “crossroads” as it faces mounting political and security crises, including the expansion of extremist Islamic State affiliates along its coast. Mohammed al-Dairi told journalists in Cairo on Monday that parties opposing peace talks …

MOSCOW – Russia’s space agency has reported a glitch at the International Space Station that caused its position in orbit to change. Roscosmos said the engines of a Soyuz spacecraft that is docked at the station unexpectedly started on Tuesday during testing of the radio system that controls the docking …

BEIJING – Police are investigating the apparent suicides of four young siblings aged five to 13 who’d been abandoned by their parents in one of China’s poorest regions. State media report the four were found Wednesday night at home on the outskirts of the city of Bijie after ingesting liquid …

Spelling counts — and sometimes it costs money. A suburban Philadelphia county was victim to an embarrassing misspelling on signage posted around the local community: the word “commissioners” with only one “m” on 26 signs. Montgomery County officials say it will take about 10 days and $4,000 to correct the …

GUECKEDOU, Guinea – West Africa’s fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus. In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea’s tropical southern forests a year ago, …

LONDON – Amnesty International is urging world leaders to radically overhaul refugee policies and create a comprehensive global strategy to deal with the crisis. The human rights watchdog issued a report Monday suggesting that world leaders have abandoned millions of refugees to “an unbearable existence” and left thousands more to …

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia’s trade minister says Congress has only a few weeks left to pass key trade legislation that would clear the way for clinching an Asia-Pacific trade accord. The U.S. House of Representatives last week rejected legislation crucial to U.S. involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which intends to …

LONDON – Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s papers have been donated to the nation in place of 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) in inheritance tax. The documents include a previously unpublished 17,000-word memoir of the Falklands War written in 1983, a year after the conflict. Arts Council England said …