| China Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said another direct phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump could take place again and she urged the self-ruled island's political rival China to step up to its global responsibility to keep the peace as a large nation. Since Trump’s first call with Tsai, he agreed to honor the "one China" policy in February and then hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort earlier this month. China needs to raise its military capabilities to protect its growing overseas interests, its foreign minister said following the launch of China's first domestically built aircraft carrier, while vowing not to pursue expansionism. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said it was pointless discussing Beijing's contentious activities in the South China Sea at this week's Southeast Asian summit, and no one dared to pressure China anyway.
Trade After meeting with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, U.S. President Trump said he would not terminate NAFTA, but would move quickly to begin renegotiating it with them.
Technology Hackers exploited a flaw in Microsoft Word for months while Microsoft investigated. It could seize control of a personal computer with little trace. It was used to manipulate the software to spy on unknown Russian speakers, possibly in Ukraine. Another group used it to steal from millions of online bank accounts in Australia and other countries.
Syria Israeli missiles hit an arms supply hub operated by the Lebanese group Hezbollah near Damascus airport, Syrian rebel and regional intelligence sources said, targeting weapons sent from Iran via commercial and military cargo planes.
Venezuela protests turn violent 
Demonstrator sits next to a fire barricade on a street during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela April 24, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron/File Photo
North Korea China welcomed an apparently softer tone by the United States on the North Korean nuclear and missile crisis but stressed its opposition to a U.S. missile defense system being deployed in South Korea.
France Emmanuel Macron is off to a slower start than far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the last lap of the French presidential election, a recent poll showed.
Business Dow Chemical, which is merging with DuPont, reported a five-fold increase in profit from a year earlier. Ford reported a lower quarterly net profit due to higher costs and investments, plus a slight decline in vehicle sales. United Airlines said it would offer passengers who volunteer to forfeit their seats on overbooked flights up to $10,000 as part of the carrier's efforts to repair the damage from the violent removal of a passenger. The company’s CEO, Oscar Munoz, also answered questions from lawmakers about the incident.
U.S. Trump’s plan to slash business taxes, that would make the federal deficit balloon if enacted, drew a cautious welcome from fiscal conservatives and financial markets. Police at the University of California at Berkeley braced for potential clashes between militant left-wing and right-wing activists, despite conservative commentator Ann Coulter dropping plans to address students at the campus. She left open the possibility of paying a visit to her supporters at the school.
Immigration Migrants who applied for asylum in the United States but then fled north, fearing they would be swept up in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, may have miscalculated in viewing Canada as a safe haven. Their time in the United States could count against them in their requests for asylum. Even if President Trump wins an appeal of a court ruling blocking his executive order on sanctuary cities, arguments made by the government in the case could permanently harm its efforts to cut off wide swaths of federal funding to targeted cities, some legal experts say. | 
