Former star footballer George Weah was named winner of Liberia's presidential election on Thursday, easily beating his challenger in the country's first democratic transfer of power in seven decades scarred by civil wars, political assassinations and an Ebola crisis.

The UN Security Council on Thursday denied international port access to four North Korean ships suspected of carrying or having transported goods banned by international sanctions targeting Pyongyang, diplomats said.

Rio de Janeiro expects three million people to attend New Year's festivities at the famed Copacabana beach, the Brazilian city said on Wednesday.

Atleast 40 people were killed and many others were wounded in multiple blasts near a media outlet and mosque in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, in the latest violence to hit the Afghan capital.

French President Emmanuel Macron came under fire Wednesday over his policy on jobless benefits after a press leak pointed to plans to tighten monitoring of people on the dole.

 A homemade bomb blast at a supermarket in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg injured 10 people Wednesday, officials said, sparking a probe into attempted murder.

Boko Haram jihadists made a failed Christmas Day attempt to attack Nigeria's major northeast city of Maiduguri as they were pushed out by Nigerian soldiers after a prolonged gun battle, military and militia sources said.

North Korea is likely to explore the possibility of dialogue with the United States in 2018 as the state seeks to secure a status as a de facto possessor of nuclear weapons, South Korea's Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.

Liberians go to the polls Tuesday to select either former international footballer George Weah or Vice President Joseph Boakai as their new president, in a vote that analysts say is too close to call.