MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberians head to the polls Tuesday for a runoff election between a former international soccer star and the vice president to replace Africa’s first female head of state.

For the first time in more than 70 years, the West African nation founded by freed American slaves will see one democratically elected government hand power to another.

The runoff was contested twice in court, with its original Nov. 7 date delayed after the third-place Liberty Party filed a complaint of fraud that was dismissed.

Nearly 2.2 million voters have the choice between George Weah, 51, a former soccer star and senator, and Joseph Boakai, 73, who has served as vice president of the impoverished nation for 12 years.

Liberians showed up in large numbers for the first-round election on Oct. 10. Economist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is stepping down after two terms in office that brought the country out of back-to-back civil wars.

Weah draws his support from the younger generation. This is his third time running for the presidency, and 60 percent of Liberia’s population is under 30.

Weah leads the ticket for a coalition party, the Congress for Democratic Change, with Jewel Taylor-Howard as his vice presidential running mate. She is the ex-wife of imprisoned former warlord and President Charles Taylor.

Boakai, who leads the Unity Party, has promised to make road reconstruction the center of his development drive.

He also has promised to create 50,000 jobs in the first 150 days.

U.S. says it negotiated $285M cut in United Nations budget

The U.S. government says it has negotiated a significant cut in the United Nations budget.

In a statement Sunday, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations said that the U.N.’s 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by more than $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and support functions.

It was not clear what effect the reduction will have on the U.S. contribution.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said that the “inefficiency and overspending” of the U.N. is well-known, and she would not let “the generosity of the American people be taken advantage of.”

She also said that while the mission was pleased with the negotiations, it would continue to “look at ways to increase the U.N.’s efficiency while protecting our interests.”

20 dead as bus collides with van in the northern Philippines

BAGUIO, Philippines — A passenger bus collided with a van carrying pilgrims to Christmas Mass at a church in the northern Philippines on Monday, leaving 20 people dead and more than two dozen injured, police said.

Police Chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula said all those killed in the pre-dawn collision in La Union province were in the type of van known as jeepneys. Another 10 van passengers, along with the driver and 17 other occupants of the bus, were injured.

The van passengers were bound for Our Lady of Manaoag, a Roman Catholic church in northern Pangasinan province that has long been popular among pilgrims.

Rickety buses and jeepneys and lack of safety signs have been blamed for many of the nation’s road tragedies.

Russian officials bar Navalny from running for president

MOSCOW — Russian election officials on Monday formally barred Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president, prompting calls from him for a boycott of the vote.

The Central Election Commission decided unanimously that the anti-corruption crusader isn’t eligible to run.

Navalny is implicitly barred from running for office because of a conviction in a fraud case, which has been viewed as political retribution. He could have run if he was given a special dispensation or his conviction was canceled.

Incumbent Vladimir Putin is set to easily win a fourth term in the March 18 election.

Navalny, 41 is the most serious challenger that Putin has ever faced, and the court cases have been seen as a tool to keep him from running for office.

LA man says he left box of manure for Mnuchin

The man who dropped a package of horse manure near Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s California home said his gift represented the Trump administration’s tax plan.

Los Angeles psychologist Robby Strong took credit on Facebook for the prank by sharing a copy of the card he left with his delivery Saturday.

The envelope was addressed to “Stevie.”

“Mrs. Mnuchin & Trump, We’re returning the ‘gift’ of the Christmas tax bill. ... Warmest wishes, the American People,” the note read. “PS - Kiss Donald for me.”

Strong was first identified as the prankster by AL.com Monday.

Police were sent to the property after a neighbor found the box. Strong said on Facebook that the Secret Service interviewed him about the stunt. It’s unclear whether he will face criminal charges.

Suicide attack kills 6 civilians in Kabul near key offices

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck outside the Afghan national intelligence agency headquarters near the presidential palace in the capital Monday, killing six civilians, officials said.

The Islamic State militant group asserted responsibility for the attack through its Amaq News Agency.

The bombing comes a week after militants stormed a training center of the agency in Kabul.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said three other civilians were wounded in Monday’s rush-hour attack.

In recent months, Kabul has been repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers with ties to the Islamic State and the Taliban. The Islamic State has been ratcheting up attacks on government buildings and, most recently, Shiite mosques in Kabul, exacting a heavy civilian toll.

Actress Heather Menzies-Urich, who played Louis, the third-oldest of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film, “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 68. Her son, actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that his mother died late Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She recently had been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Philippine firefighters have found all 37 bodies of employees of a U.S.-based company who were trapped in a blaze that gutted a shopping mall in southern Davao city. All the dead were employees at a call center on the top floor of the four-story mall and run by U.S.-based Research Now SSI, which has about 500 employees.