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.

The United States issued a pre-emptive warning to Iran on Thursday against pursuing three planned space rocket launches that it said would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution because they use ballistic missile technology.

The United States is demanding the immediate return of a retired US Marine detained by Russia on spying charges, and wants an explanation of why he was arrested, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.

Russia said Monday its security services had detained a US citizen in Moscow accused of spying, the latest in a series of espionage cases between Russia and the West.

Turkey is sending reinforcements to its border with Syria, Demiroren News Agency (DHA) reported on Sunday, adding that some 100 vehicles including mounted pickup trucks and weaponry had made their way to the area.

China warned Canada on Saturday that there would be severe consequences if it did not immediately release Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's chief financial officer, calling the case "extremely nasty."

The United States has dropped a bid to hold a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea's human rights record after failing to garner enough support for the talks, diplomats said Friday.

The United States will send 12 teams of observers and fund thousands of domestic observers to monitor an election in Bangladesh it hopes will be free and fair, a senior official at the US embassy in Dhaka said.