| U.S. President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end the agency's investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia, according to a source who has seen a memo written by Comey. “I hope you can let this go,” Trump told Comey, according to a source familiar with the contents of the memo. Comey wrote the memo after he met in the Oval Office with Trump, the day after the Republican president fired Flynn on Feb. 14 for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the extent of his conversations last year with Russia's ambassador, Sergei Kislyak. Factbox: Lawmakers want to see Comey memo on Trump meeting Commentary: The leaker-in-chief The dollar has given up all the gains it made following Trump's presidential election win in November, and a pull-back from record highs for world stocks points to investor unease about this week's headlines from Washington. The Trump administration's search for a new FBI director hit roadblocks on Tuesday when two high-profile potential candidates, Merrick Garland, a moderate judge and John Cornyn, a conservative senator, signaled they did not want the job. A spokesman said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will likely expand a ban on larger electronic devices on airplanes. 
FILE PHOTO: An illustration picture shows a laptop on the screen of an X-ray security scanner, April 7, 2017. REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic/Illustration
Besieged by controversy at home, Trump is under pressure to stick to the script and avoid fresh flare-ups when he takes his first foreign trip as president, a nine-day trek to the Middle East and Europe.
North Korea
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said there was a "high possibility" of conflict with North Korea, which is pressing ahead with nuclear and missile programs it says it needs to counter U.S. aggression. The comments came hours after the South, which hosts 28,500 U.S. troops, said it wanted to reopen a channel of dialogue with North Korea as Moon seeks a two-track policy, involving sanctions and dialogue, to try to rein in its neighbor.
Oil Lilis aims to expand production sevenfold this year in America's most active oilfield. The small firm nearly collapsed in late 2015 - amid unrestrained production from OPEC. Now - with prices higher after a November OPEC decision to cut output - Lilis can't grow fast enough.
Autos
A "vending machine" in Singapore is offering up luxury vehicles, including Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis. The 15-story showroom from Autobahn Motors is aimed at making efficient use of space in land-scarce Singapore.
Cybersecurity Chinese state media criticized the United States for hindering efforts to stop global cyber threats in the wake of the WannaCry "ransomware" attack that has infected more than 300,000 computers worldwide in recent days.
U.S.
Johnson & Johnson is required to add new warnings to its diabetes drug, Invokana, about the risk of foot and leg amputations, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army soldier responsible for a massive leak of classified material, will walk out of prison on Wednesday after seven years to find a country that has grown more accepting of her transgender identity but less enamored with the cause that led to her incarceration. The United States and Mexico pledged to step up efforts to beat the growing threat of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate up to 50 times more lethal than heroin blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in recent years, including rock star Prince.
Japan Japanese Princess Mako, the eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, will wed a former college classmate, Japanese media reported, heating up debate on the ever-shrinking royal family since she must become a commoner after marriage. | 
