By Kiyoshi Takenaka BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be meaningless without U.S. participation, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the pan-Pacific free trade deal.

By Andrew Callus and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - "The polls are still getting it wrong," a friend of deeply unpopular French President Francois Hollande said cheerfully on Monday after the latest voting upset to hit pollsters.

By Hugh Bronstein (Reuters) - Panama can remain a competitive financial center while cracking down on tax evaders and other criminals who have used the country to launder money, according to the panel formed by the government after the "Panama Papers" scandal broke in April.

By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States will not tolerate any pressure from the Chinese government on family members of fugitives to get them to return from America, but can't guarantee it has not happened, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Former Senator Delcídio do Amaral described as "surreal" the notion that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not aware of a giant corruption scheme active during his tenure, in testimony on Monday marking the start of the trial against the man that ran Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru rolled out the red carpet and heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday in a celebration of tightening ties with the Asian powerhouse in the wake of Donald Trump's surprise U.S. presidential victory.

By Jeff Mason LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that chaos in Syria could persist for "quite some time" and that Russian and Iranian support for President Bashar al-Assad's air campaign had emboldened the Syrian leader's crackdown on rebels.

LIMA (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday U.S. President-elect Donald Trump confirmed to him he was willing to mend ties, though he also said he would welcome President Barack Obama in Russia. "The President-elect confirmed he is willing to normalize Russian-American relations. I told him the same. We did not discuss where and when we would meet"

LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke for around four minutes on Sunday at the APEC summit about Syria and Ukraine, in what is likely to be their last in-person meeting before Obama leaves office. The two men met at the start of the summit meeting in Lima, Peru's capital.

By Richard Lough PARIS (Reuters) - Francois Fillon heads into a runoff campaign for France's conservative presidential ticket on Monday as favorite after winning the endorsement of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy whom he ousted from the race after a stunning late surge in polls.