From Washington,this is VOA NEWS.
New demonstrations in Egypt. Mali's government forces advance into the country's northern (territory). I'm David Deforest reporting from Washington.
Egyptian protesters fought today with riot police in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Thousands of demonstrators (gathered) to mark the second anniversary of the uprising that brought down President Hosni Mubarak.
The (skirmishes) began after young protesters tried to approach a concrete wall that security forces had erected to protect government buildings in the area.
French-backed Malian forces are battling Islamist militants in a key town that leads toward the city of Gao,the militants' (stronghold) in the country's north. Residents and security officials say French and Malian forces fought rebels in Hombori today. In another development, the French news agency says Islamic fighters have blown up a strategic bridge near the border with Niger.
For more on this story, take a look at our website VOA news.com.
A senior Japanese envoy visited Beijing this week and met with President Xi Jinping, trying to calm tensions over territorial disputes between the two countries. While the visit was (panned) in the Chinese media, Chinese officials today appeared to be more receptive to trying to improve relations. Shannon Van Sant reports.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei appeared to be more receptive when (briefing) reporters on the meeting with Xi Jinping.
He said that Xi Jinping said China and Japan are important neighbors. He said the breadth and depth of their cooperation has been (unprecedented). Hong Lei said the Chinese government also remains committed to China-Japan relations. With the new administrations in both Beijing and Tokyo, the Beijing meeting this week may be a sign that the two countries are heading towards reducing the nationalist rhetoric that characterized their political transitions in the past year. Shannon Van Sant for VOA NEWS, Beijing.
North Korea is threatening what it calls strong physical counter measures against South Korea if the South directly takes part in a new UN resolution (tightening) sanctions against the North. A statement released today by North Korea's so-called Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland warned that the sanctions mean war. The statement also threatened to end all dialogue on denuclearization.
A Twitter account used by the Somali insurgent group al Shabab has apparently been suspended. That comes days after the group used page to boast about killing a French (hostage). Although Twitter has not confirmed to shut down the account, the message on the Twitter page used by al Shabab in English said the profile you are trying to view has been suspended.
Two car bomb explosions in the Syrian-controlled part of the Gollan Heights killed eight people today as government forces launched new raids in rebel-held areas of Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says most of those killed in the explosions in the Gollan Heights are members of Syria's military intelligence. There was no (claim) of responsibility for the blasts.
India says it is disappointed with the sentence a Pakistani American man was given in a US court. David Coleman Headley rather was convicted for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. India's External Affairs Minister says Headley deserves more than a 35-year prison sentence he got Thursday in Chicago's federal court. And the opposition BJP party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy says Headley should be (extradited) to face trial in India.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy: It was a crime committed in India and it's the time that now Headley should be handed over to India for trial of the rest of the people who were killed in India and (brutally) massacred. The conviction has to take place in India.
Amnesty International is calling the trial of Russian lawyer (allegedly) beaten to death in prison a Kafkaesque travesty. Amnesty is demanding Russian authorities scrap plans to try Sergei Magnitsky. It says putting a dead man on trial and forcing his relatives to testify is a dangerous precedent. Amnesty says it would be a new chapter in what it calls Russia's worsening human rights record. Amnesty says the posthumous prosecution is farcical, deeply sinister and violates Magnitsky's fundamental rights, even in(again) death.
On Wall Street, US stock indexes are up at this hour.
I'm David Deforest, more news on the Internet at VOA news.com.