The U.S. and South Korea will postpone joint air drills in an "act of goodwill" towards the nuclear-armed North, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday, after months of deadlocked diplomacy with Pyongyang.

A police officer was struck by an arrow fired by a Hong Kong protester on Sunday, as fierce clashes raged around a campus which has turned into a base for a pro-democracy movement switching tactics as it plunges the divided city deeper into turmoil.

Turkey will use the S-400 missile defence system it has bought from Russia despite the US threat of sanctions, a senior defence official said Saturday.

Paris police fired tear gas on Saturday to push back yellow vest protesters trying to revive their movement on the first anniversary of the sometimes-violent uprising against President Emmanuel Macron and policies seen as favoring the rich.

Police deployed in force around Paris and detained 24 people around the capital by mid-morning. Officers dislodged protesters trying to block the bypass around Paris and sprayed repeated volleys of tear gas at groups gathered near Porte de Champerret, in the northwest, and Place d’Italie in the southeast of the city.

Tourists and residents have been allowed back into St. Mark’s Square in Venice, a day after it was closed due to exceptionally high tidal waters that swept through most of the lagoon city’s already devastated center.

Despite sunny skies, the city remained on edge Saturday due to possibly more wind-propelled high tidal waters during the weekend. The city was struck Tuesday by devastating floods, the worst in decades.

Gunmen fired on buses carrying minority Muslim voters in northwest Sri Lanka on Saturday, police said, as an election official admitted failures to protect vulnerable communities ahead of presidential polls.

Government supporters took to the streets of downtown Hong Kong on Saturday after a chaotic working week saw hardcore pro-democracy activists cause widespread disruption in the city and stretch police resources.

A "Blossom Everywhere" campaign of roadblocks and vandalism across the semi-autonomous financial hub shut down large chunks of the train network and forced schools and shopping malls to close.

One person was killed and others injured in protests that spread across Iran on Saturday after a surprise decision to impose petrol price hikes and rationing in the country hit by US sanctions.

Turkey on Friday vowed there would be no "step back" from Ankara's controversial purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system despite the threat of US sanctions.

Russia on Friday returned two Lithuanians and a Norwegian convicted of espionage to Vilnius while NATO and EU member Lithuania freed two Russians jailed for spying in an exchange reminiscent of the Cold War.