In keeping with a campaign promise, President Trump has been inspecting prototypes for a wall he wants built along the US border with Mexico.

His visit to the site saw protests in both California and Mexico.

Funding and other plans for the final wall remain uncertain, but families and couples separated by the border say the prototypes add to their worries. Also, President Donald Trump has named CIA Director Mike Pompeo as the new US Secretary of State. Replacing Pompeo is Gina Haspel, who's set to be the agency's first female head. The changes come in the wake of Trump's unceremonious firing of Rex Tillerson via Twitter.

Meanwhile, fearing mass shootings, some US schools have turned to armoured equipment. A number of classrooms across the country are now being equipped with bulletproof gear.

And Cubans cast their votes last Sunday in a one-party vote, the last step before a new president is selected next month when 86-year-old Raul Castro steps down. It will be the first time since the 1959 revolution that the island will be led by someone whose last name is not Castro.