From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Liz Parker reporting.

Two members of the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, one American and the other British, were killed in a roadside bomb blast Thursday night, according to U.S. officials. Five others were wounded.

Two U.S. officials speaking anonymously to Reuters said the attack occurred near the city of Manbij in northern Syria.

Fifteen people were killed by Israeli fire as thousands of Palestinians marched to Gaza's border on Friday.

It is the largest such demonstration in recent memory on the first day of what Hamas organizers said will be six weeks of daily protests against a stifling border blockade.

It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 cross-border war between Israel and Hamas.

Russia has ordered the expulsion of more diplomats from Western countries in a tit-for-tat response over the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain.

The retaliatory measure comes a day after Russia kicked out 60 U.S. diplomats and closed the St. Petersburg consulate.

U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman tells VOA there is only one way for this dispute to end.

"There are some broader, longer-term issues about where this goes and what a successful outcome might be. But clearly, a successful outcome would be Russia steps back from its Malign activity and becomes a responsible partner."

A suicide bomb blast in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province has killed at least two people, including a senior provincial member of parliament. The blast also killed a religious scholar.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.

More on voanews.com. This is VOA news.

The Czech Republic has extradited to the United States a Russian citizen accused of hacking the LinkedIn website and stealing 117 million passwords.

Yevgeniy Nikulin arrived in the United States early Friday, according to U.S. officials, and is expected soon to appear before a judge in San Francisco.

Zimbabwean Pastor Evan Mawarire was a vocal critic of former President Robert Mugabe. Now he has decided to run for mayor in Zimbabwe's biggest city, Harare.

He and other independent candidates call their coalition the People's Own Voice.

Some of the issues he wants to address: "Up to today, we still deliver very dirty and very dangerous water to the residents of Harare. We have got potholes, our road network is completely dilapidated and needs to, you know, be revived again."

Sekai Holland, a former senior member of the Movement for Democratic Change, welcomed Mawarire to politics.

"The effort that pastor Mawarire is launching with his colleagues, is very significant. It's middle-class African kids whose absence from politics has caused many problems."

The polls expected this July and August will be the country's first without Mugabe, who resigned under military pressure last year.

Christians are observing Good Friday marking the crucifixion of Jesus.

Robert Berger reports for VOA on events in Jerusalem, where the faithful carried out an ancient holy land tradition.

Pilgrims from around the world packed into the narrow cobblestone alleyways of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem's Old City to take part in the traditional Good Friday procession. They retraced the footsteps of Jesus to the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Gary Osterberg is from Canada. "Oh, it's an honor to be in this land like this. It's been great."

Jewish pilgrims also flocked to Jerusalem to celebrate the start of the week-long biblical holiday of Passover.

That was Robert Berger for VOA.

Good Friday marks the beginning of the last three days of the holy week, culminating with the celebration of what Christians believe was Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The private space company, SpaceX, launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 satellites into orbit on Friday. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The satellites were deployed into low earth orbit about an hour after liftoff.

I'm Liz parker.

That's the latest world news from VOA.