China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a US Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties.

The United States still plans to lead a global fight against the Islamic State movement despite its withdrawal from Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured allies on Wednesday.

The Taliban said Sunday it will send a delegation to Russia for a rare meeting with Afghan opposition leaders, just days after peace talks with the United States that excluded the Kabul government.

Moscow on Tuesday condemned as "illegal" sanctions announced by Washington against Venezuela's state oil company and aimed at crippling embattled President Nicolas Maduro's power base.

The United States on Monday announced criminal charges against China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, escalating a fight with the world's biggest telecommunications equipment maker which denies wrongdoing, and coming days before trade talks with Beijing.

Lamenting that the American Dream and its democracy are under attack in Donald Trump's United States, California Senator Kamala Harris formally declared Sunday her candidacy to become the country's first black female president in 2020.

A top executive from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd can make a good case against being extradited to the United States, in part due to remarks made by US President Donald Trump, Canada's ambassador to China said in comments broadcast on Wednesday.

Winter winds brought extreme cold and ice-slicked roads to the Midwestern and Eastern United States on Monday, with the US Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and an ongoing government shutdown allowing many to heed official advice to stay indoors.

A group of Honduran migrants entered southern Mexico on Friday, joining more than 1,000 people who departed Central America in recent days headed to the United States and putting to the test Mexico's vows to guarantee the safe and orderly flow of people.

China has asked some of the state-run companies to avoid business trips to the United States and its allies, and to take extra care to protect their devices if they need to travel, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

A massive winter storm hit the US Rockies and plains then punched east, with snow set to assault a 1,609 km corridor through the weekend, creating transportation ‘havoc’ in the middle of the country.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday the United States had detained a Russian citizen, a day after Moscow arrested the former US Marine Paul Whelan on suspicion of spying.