BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -China's military has "completed various tasks" around Taiwan but will conduct regular patrols, it said on Wednesday, potentially signalling an end to days of war games but also that Beijing will keep up the pressure against the island.

LONDON (Reuters) -Raymond Briggs, creator of the bittersweet children's book "The Snowman", has died aged 88, his family announced on Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, as he battled growing public anger about his party's longstanding links to the Unification Church that has battered his approval ratings.

Here is an outline of the legal problems Donald Trump might face over his removal from the White House of official presidential records that his son said had prompted an FBI search on Monday of the former president's Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate.

U.S. Republican lawmakers are preparing a crackdown on the U.S. consumer and securities watchdogs in the expectation they will gain control of a key congressional committee following the November mid-term elections, according to a dozen financial lobbyists, congressional staffers and lawmakers.

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Wednesday a supply chain pilot data-sharing project aimed at easing bottlenecks at congested U.S. ports has begun exchanging data and doubled in size.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China has withdrawn a promise not to send troops or administrators to Taiwan if it takes control of the island, an official document showed on Wednesday, signalling a decision by President Xi Jinping to grant less autonomy than previously offered.

(Reuters) -Russian shelling killed 11 people in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Wednesday, as Britain said Russia had "almost certainly" established a major new ground force to support its war.

NAIROBI/ELDORET (Reuters) -Preliminary results from Kenya's presidential election showed a tight race between the two main candidates vying to replace President Uhuru Kenyatta, with citizens praying an announcement of a winner would not unleash violence as in years past.

Finally over his coronavirus infection, President Joe Biden departs on Wednesday to spend most of the next week on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, an oceanfront golf resort that he has visited in the past.