By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump indicated a tougher U.S. approach to China by speaking to Taiwan's president last week, but how far he will push a risky test of wills to wring concessions from Beijing on issues from trade to North Korea is unclear.

By Roberta Rampton and Ben Blanchard WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it had sought to reassure China after President-elect Donald Trump's phone call with Taiwan's leader last week, which the Obama administration warned could undermine progress in relations with Beijing. The statement from a spokesman for U.S.

By Se Young Lee and Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean corporate chiefs told a parliamentary panel on Tuesday that they were not seeking favors when they made contributions to two foundations at the heart of a scandal that appears poised to bring down President Park Geun-hye.

By Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-backed moderate rebels' loss of the eastern half of Syria's largest city Aleppo to Russian-backed government forces would be a defeat for President Barack Obama's efforts to promote democracy and defeat terrorism in the Middle East, U.S. officials conceded on Monday.

By Ellen Francis, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Maria Kiselyova BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government said on Monday it would start talks with Washington on a rebel withdrawal from Aleppo this week as Russian-backed Syrian forces fought to seize more territory from rebels who are struggling to avoid a major defeat.

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - The life of the leader of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu hung in the balance on Monday after she went into cardiac arrest, drawing large crowds to the hospital where doctors were fighting to save the hugely popular former actress.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Monday continued to play down the protocol-bending phone call last week between U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Taiwan's president, with editorials in two newspapers saying the move showed Trump's inexperience.

By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's army and allied militia advanced towards rebel-held areas of Aleppo's Old City on Sunday in an attack which a military source predicted would be over in a matter of weeks.

By Sarah Marsh and Diego Oré SANTIAGO, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro's ashes were encased in a large granite boulder on Sunday in a ceremony that capped nine days of public mourning and aimed to literally set in stone the legacy of one of the 20th century's most influential characters.

By Jeffrey Heller and Arshad Mohammed JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would discuss with Donald Trump the West's "bad" nuclear deal with Iran after the U.S. president-elect enters the White House. Speaking separately to a conference in Washington, Netanyahu and U.S.