Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• President Trump plunged into Middle East peacemaking in a meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, at the White House .
And Rex W. Tillerson laid out his vision as secretary of state, saying the U. S. had been far too accommodating to emerging nations and longtime allies.
Mr. Trump now prepares to meet with Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, in New York for the first time since a testy phone call in January.
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• No U. S. Navy ship has gone within 12 miles of any of the disputed islands in the South China Sea since President Trump took office, Pentagon officials said.
The decision to avoid the area comes as the Trump administration looks to President Xi Jinping of China for help in dealing with North Korea.
But fundamental strategic differences are likely to undermine any personal ties Mr. Trump says he has forged with the Chinese leader, our correspondent writes.
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• Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution calls for the complete renunciation of war. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced a plan to change it.
Mr. Abe’s plan comes as Japan steps up its show of military force amid concerns over North Korea.
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• “There is a scramble to win over the heart and mind of President Duterte.”
That’s what one analyst said after President Xi Jinping spoke with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines spoke by phone just days after President Trump placed a similar call.
Separately, lawmakers in the Philippines rejected the woman Mr. Duterte appointed as acting environment secretary.
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• Voters in both South Korea and France will head to the polls soon. The final round of voting in the French presidential race happens Sunday. In South Korea, the election is May 9.
The French candidates — the pro-Europe Emmanuel Macron and the far-right populist Marine Le Pen — me t in a televised debate .
Here’s a look at the leading candidates in South Korea. Above, politicians last month in Seoul.
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• From the suburbs of Sydney, we bring you an uplifting story about refugees and a basketball club, the Savannah Pride .
Some of the members, who fled South Sudan’s civil wars years ago, are being recruited to play for elite schools in the U. S.
The gym that hosts the club has become an enclave unto itself. “It’s brought me brothers. It’s brought me fathers, ” said a coach.
• Journalists at two of Australia’s biggest papers began a weeklong strike after Fairfax Media said it would cut 125 jobs at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
• HNA Group, a secretive Chinese conglomerate with ties to the Communist Party, became the biggest shareholder in Deutsche Bank. Here’s what we know about this emerging global deal maker.
• A U. S. auto boom might be history. A fourth straight monthly sales decline is putting a dent in automakers’ shares. “The market is tapped out, ” one dealer said.
• The maiden flight of China’s 158-seat C919 passenger aircraft, the country’s rival to Airbus and Boeing, is scheduled for Friday.
• U. S. stocks were weaker. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
• In Afghanistan, at least eight civilians were killed and three U. S. soldiers wounded when a suicide bomber attacked an American military convoy in Kabul. [The New York Times]
• James B. Comey, the F. B. I. director, said any suggestion he affected the outcome of the U. S. presidential election made him “mildly nauseous.” [The New York Times]
• North Korea confirmed it was holding an American citizen who was detained while trying to leave the country. [The New York Times]
• An Australian man’s detention in the U. S. has been the subject of global attention, but the details are more complicated than first reported. [The New York Times]
• In Perth, a Taiwanese delegation was ejected from a meeting hosted by Australia’s foreign minister after Chinese delegates disrupted proceedings. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
• Another viral video of an airline fracas: An American man who started a fistfight on a flight about to leave Tokyo has been charged with assault. [The New York Times]
• Some judges in India are taking action against their rivals by ordering them to undergo court-mandated mental health evaluations. [BBC]
• A band of Thai protesters stands in the way of China’s plan to blast open more of the Mekong River for cargo ships. [Reuters]
• Feeling intellectually under-stimulated? Here’s how to foster great conversations .
• Fear gets in the way of finishing our pet projects, or pursuing our passions. Learn to work with it.
• Recipe of the day: For diner-style hamburgers, get out a sturdy spatula.
• Women from the Philippines now dominate home care in Israel — but many still feel invisible.
• China’s leaders have beamed about a state campaign to plant trees, but a new study suggests that official estimates overstated its successes, and even mistook shrubs for forests.
• A report found that 125 people or families seeking asylum in the U. S. were turned back at entry points — a violation of international law.
When President Trump appears with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia to honor the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, they’ ll be on the deck of the Intrepid.
Let’s take a moment to examine the battle and the ship, a former Navy aircraft carrier docked in the Hudson River.
Intrepid fought in World War II — scars from Japanese kamikaze attacks led to its nickname, the U. S. Decrepit — but not in the battle being commemorated this week.
The ship later served in the Vietnam War, on NATO missions and as the recovery ship for the Gemini and Mercury space missions. It became a museum in 1982 and a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
In the Battle of the Coral Sea, fought this week in 1942, U. S. and Australian forces drove back the Japanese and stopped an invasion of Australia.
It was the first air-sea battle and a strategic victory for Allied forces.
An American sailor, Otis G. Kight, described the fighting:
“Up to the time of Coral Sea, I had only read in Hemingway’s novels about “the sweet smell of death.
