Washington, United States | AFP |  President-elect Donald Trump announced three important cabinet appointments Friday, for the posts of CIA director, attorney general and national security advisor. The following are thumbnail sketches of the three men: CIA director  Mike Pompeo, the Republican legislator nominated to lead the CIA, is a …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | A British girl who died after a terminal illness won the right to have her body frozen in an unprecedented ruling, the High Court said on Friday. The 14-year-old girl from London had written to a judge explaining she wanted a chance to “live …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP |  Ten people died when an overcrowded ferry on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert capsized in strong winds, local police said. The vessel, with 21 people onboard, was taking passengers from Buliisa to Kagoya, farther south, when the accident happened overnight Thursday, Buliisa police spokesman …

Ankara, Turkey | AFP | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to call a referendum on the future of Turkey’s EU membership bid, while Brussels accuses Ankara of “backsliding” on key commitments. After an already exhausting process of over half a century, could this finally be the end for the …

Lausanne, Switzerland | AFP | Sports leaders are at loggerheads over how to fight the war against performance-enhancing drugs as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) goes into a key reform summit this weekend. Who should control the global doping watchdog? What powers should it have? Who should pay? A welter …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis will create 17 new cardinals from across the globe Saturday in a time-honoured ceremony, elevating them to an elite body that advises and elects popes. Three of them are from the US, while others come from corners of the world where …

New York, United States | AFP |  What if speculation proves correct and Donald Trump decides against settling in Washington and maintains his principal residence in New York? That’s the question the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio raised on Friday. Since his election last week, the real estate billionaire — …

Paris, France | AFP |  An original drawing from “Explorers on the Moon”, widely regarded as one of the two best Tintin adventures, sold for a record 1.55 million euros at a Paris auction on Saturday, auction house Artcurial announced. The 50 cm X 35 cm drawing in Chinese ink …

Nsanje, Mozambique | AFP |  A Malawian man accused of sleeping with more than 100 girls and women in a series of traditional cleansing rituals was on Friday convicted by a court of “engaging in harmful practices”. Eric Aniva — who has said he is infected with the HIV virus …

Marrakesh, Morocco | AFP |  Diplomats from 197 nations wound down a two-week UN conference Friday which started drafting a blueprint for arresting global warming “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels. A rash of recent climate studies have highlighted the stakes.  Record temperatures  Earth is on …