World News Roundup: U.S. ramps up returns of asylum seekers; Airlines avoid parts of Iran-controlled airspace

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Nuclear waste, rising seas and Trump: Marshall Islands struggles to stay above water

The Marshall Islands is literally struggling to stay above water but its President Hilda Heine told Reuters she had saved her breath rather than try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to hear its climate change message. Heine met Trump at the White House last month, along with the presidents of Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia, both of which are also under threat from rising sea levels.

U.S. ramps up returns of asylum seekers to Mexico, adding Cubans

The United States is more than doubling the number of asylum seekers it returns to Mexico in one city and adding groups like Cubans as it rapidly expands a policy to make migrants wait out claims south of the border, Mexican and U.S. officials said. The policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), is being applied to all Spanish-speaking asylum seekers, other than Mexicans, at three U.S.-Mexico border crossings, said a U.S. government official familiar with the program, who asked not to be named.

Pakistan Pashtun activists say leader arrests herald state crackdown

After a deadly clash between troops and activists at a security post in northern Pakistan, organizers of a rights movement that has unnerved the powerful army say a campaign of intimidation against them has intensified, with many top leaders detained. The military denies a crackdown against the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), which campaigns against alleged extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and other ethnic minorities, but says it is acting against lawbreakers.

Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping discussed series of plans for strengthening collaboration: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed a series of plans for strengthening collaboration between their two countries on Friday, North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday. During a luncheon on the second day of Xi's visit to Pyongyang, the leaders talked about the "major internal and external policies" of their respective countries and exchanged views on domestic and international issues of mutual concern, KCNA said without elaborating.

Pence puts off China speech sequel ahead of Trump-Xi talks

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Friday called off a planned China speech that had been cast as a sequel to a blistering broadside he delivered in October to avoid exacerbating tensions with Beijing before summit talks next week, a White House official said. The decision to put off the Monday speech came ahead of what could be a pivotal meeting on the U.S.-China trade war between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, next week.

Airlines avoid parts of Iran-controlled airspace after U.S. regulator's order

Some global airlines are re-routing flights to avoid Iran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, they said on Friday, after the U.S. aviation regulator barred its carriers from the area until further notice. Thursday's emergency order from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) came after Iran shot down a high-altitude U.S. drone with a surface-to-air missile, sparking concerns about a threat to the safety of commercial airlines.

Trump says he aborted retaliatory strike to spare Iranian lives

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate for Iran's downing of an unmanned U.S. drone because it could have killed 150 people, and signaled he was open to talks with Tehran. An Iranian surface-to-air missile destroyed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone on Thursday. Tehran said the drone was shot down over its territory and Washington said it occurred in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.

Police called to disturbance at UK PM candidate Johnson's home

British police were called on Friday to investigate concerns for the welfare of a woman after a neighbor of Boris Johnson, the favorite to be the next Prime Minister, heard a loud altercation. Shortly after midnight on Friday, police were called to an address in south London where Johnson is living with his girlfriend.

Fate of 24 arrested Hong Kong protesters hangs in balance as anger turns on police

Hong Kong protesters have managed to pull off an unlikely victory, forcing the city's Beijing-appointed leader to suspend an extradition bill that would have allowed individuals to be sent to China for trial. But the victory has come at an uncertain cost for 24 people arrested during the largely peaceful demonstrations, with the government saying those at the frontline, charging at police with umbrellas for instance, would be shown no clemency.

Georgia and Russia trade blame over unrest as crisis brews

Georgia and Russia traded blame on Friday for an outbreak of unrest in Tbilisi sparked by the visit of a Russian lawmaker with the Kremlin announcing it would suspend passenger flights between the two countries to protect its citizens. Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili had earlier blamed Moscow for the unrest, suggesting a "fifth column" loyal to Moscow had stirred up trouble, an allegation Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev dismissed as a distortion of reality.