Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | In a World Cup year, African football has plenty to look forward to, but it will open 2018 with a glance back at the achievements of one of its stars. Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is expected to be crowned African Player of the Year in Ghana …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Four young men were stabbed to death in unrelated incidents in London on New Year’s Eve, while a fifth is in a critical condition in hospital, police said Monday. The unusually concentrated spate of violence will add to growing concerns about knife crime in the …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Mali will adopt a law on “national consensus” that may amnesty rebels who took part in a revolt in 2012, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in a New Year’s speech. Keita, in a nationwide message late Sunday, said the law would draw on a so-called …

United Nations, United States | AFP | UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to abide by an agreement to leave power, after at least eight people died in protests against his rule. Kabila, in power since 2001, signed a deal with opposition groups …

Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump lashed out at Pakistan on Monday in his first tweet of 2018, threatening to cut off aid over what he said were its “lies and deceit” in offering “safe haven to terrorists.” “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more …

Washington, United States | AFP | More than 300 top women in Hollywood — from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence to Emma Thompson and Cate Blanchett — unveiled an initiative Monday to tackle pervasive sexual harassment in workplaces, calling special attention to their “sisters” in less than glamorous blue-collar jobs. …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Tens of thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets of the Togolese capital on Saturday, the latest in a series of mass protests against the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe. Anti-government marches have been held across the country nearly every week since August, attracting hundreds of …

President Blue Ivy Carter? New York, United States | AFP | Music power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce have imagined their daughter as a transformative US leader in a new video. Blue Ivy, who turns six on January 7, is depicted as leading an all-female constitutional convention in 2050 in a …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A planned demonstration against Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila organised by Catholics has been banned a day before it was to take place in the capital, Kinshasa’s governor said Saturday. “The city does not have sufficient numbers of police officers to supervise this …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia’s top court on Saturday rejected an appeal by opposition leader Alexei Navalny against a decision to bar him from running in the country’s 2018 presidential election. The Supreme Court agreed with Russia’s Central Election Commission that Navalny cannot register as a candidate due to …