TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. government is considering a plan to jointly produce weapons with Taiwan, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper said on Wednesday, citing three sources. Washington wants to step up production capacity for U.S.-designed arms and speed up their transfer as part of a move to bolster deterrence against China, Nikkei reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday that China would never renounce the right to use force over Taiwan, which it views as its own territory, but that it would strive for a peaceful resolution.

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SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over President Jair Bolsonaro has shrunk to 5 percentage points ahead of a runoff vote set for Oct. 30, a poll by Genial/Quaest showed on Wednesday. Former President Lula has 47% voter support, down from the last week’s 49%, while Bolsonaro gained 1 point to 42%. Pollsters were widely criticized after the first-round vote for significantly underestimating support for Bolsonaro.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s foreign ministry, responding to a question about clashes between Hong Kong protesters and the staff of its consulate in the British city of Manchester on Sunday, said on Wednesday that it had lodged representations with Britain over the incident. During a regular media briefing, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the representations were made over what he described as malicious harassment by lawless elements.

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BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan has asked a Russia-led security bloc to deploy peacekeeping troops at its disputed border with Tajikistan to ensure a ceasefire holds between the two ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, a senior Kyrgyz official said on Wednesday. At least 100 people were killed last month in fighting involving the use of tanks, aircraft and rocket artillery on a disputed section of the border. Although the ceasefire agreed on Sept.16 has held up so far, Tajikistan’s border guard service accused Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday of bringing more military hardware close to the border and building fortifications with “malevolent plans”.

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LONDON (Finacial Times) - Pakistan will ask international lenders for billions of dollars worth of new loans to rebuild the country after calamitous floods uprooted 33mn people and pushed its cash-strapped economy even closer to insolvency. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad was not trying to reschedule its external debt, worth about $130bn, but it did need “huge sums of money” for “mega undertakings” such as rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure damaged or washed away in a deluge scientists have linked to climate change. “We are not asking for any kind of measure [such as] a rescheduling or a moratorium,” Sharif told the Financial Times. “We are asking for additional funds.”