BBC News with Sue Montgomery
At least 29 people have been killed across Egypt during a day of rival demonstrations to mark the 3rd anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The Health Ministry said most of the deaths were in Cairo where security forces have been fighting opponents of the military backed government. They've been trying to stop the mainly Islamist protesters from reaching Tahrir Square where a huge pro-government rally is being held. The BBC's Sally Nabil is there.
These news about clashes arrests and injuries has no influence whatsoever on the crowds behind me, thousands of people are here in Tahrir Square, celebrating the anniversary of the 25th of January revolution. This place is packed with people who are supporting the army and the Minister of Defence General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. We have his pictures, we have signs saluting him, and others asking him to run for presidency.
Syrian government and opposition delegations have held the first day of face-to-face meetings at peace talks in Geneva. The UN mediator Lakdhar Brahimi said little had been achieved, but he said humanitarian problems in Homs were addressed.
“We discussed at some length the situation in the old city of Homs. And we hope that ultimately, some convoy of aids, goods, both food and nonfood items and some medical supplies will be allowed to go into the old city.”
President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine has offer top government jobs to the opposition in an attempt to resolve the crisis gripping the country. The president said he was prepared to make the opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitaly Klitschko Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. In response, the opposition leaders did not explicitly say whether they accept the offer. They said they would continue to stand by the demand for new presidential election to be held this year.
The French President Francois Hollande has announced that he's separating from his long-term partner Valerie Trierweiler. It follows reports that he'd had an affair with an actress. Here's Hugh Schofield.
Francois said he would clarify the situation, and finally more than two weeks after the revelations in Close magazine he has. To do so,he took the unusual step of personally telephoning the AFP news agency and dictating this blunt statement. “I am letting it be known that I have brought to an end to my shared life with Valerie Trierweiler.”Uses the first person singular. There is no sense at all of this being a joint decision by the couple, and so it never to lead the speculation now about what Valerie Trierweiler's feelings are. She hasn't spoken.
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The government of South Sudan has accused rebels of breaking a ceasefire agreement, hours after it came into effect. The two sides agreed to a truce after five weeks of fighting, that killed thousands of people. Philip Aguer, a spokesman for South Sudan's army, the SPLA
“We will continue defending ourselves, since want to self-defence. So the SPLA will continue to protect itself,its * its units and its personnel. I cannot continue planning and then telling why the delegations of the government from which we've received an order has signed something in Islamabad, we'll only fight in self-defence.”
An explosion at an arms depot in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now known to have killed more than 20 people. The UN Peacekeeping Commission in DRC said that many houses were destroyed in the blast at an army base near the main market in Mbuji-Mayi. A government spokesman said the incident on Friday was caused by lightning.
Police in the United States say 3 people have been shot dead at a shopping center in Columbia, north of the capital Washington. One of the dead was thought to be the attacker. A local police chief Bill McMahon told reporters that the mall was still a crime scene.
“We do not have the identities of the victims yet. We do not have a motive of the shooting. We are still trying to secure the mall to make sure that there is no one else injured.”
Pro-democracy activists in Cuba say a leading dissident Jose Ferrer has been arrested after meeting European diplomats in Havana. They said they did not know where Mr.Ferrer had been taken. Activists have also reported other arrests and intimidation from the Cuban authorities ahead of a regional gathering of heads of state in Havana next week. Mr.Ferrer was planning to attend on an unauthorized meeting of dissidents during the summit. He's spent 8 years in prison after a major crackdown on opposition activists in 2003.