Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

Your nightly rundown of the day's top stories delivered straight to your inbox. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Tuesday, April 11, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( [Your Tuesday Evening Briefing]( By KAREN ZRAICK AND SANDRA STEVENSON Good evening. Here’s the latest. Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images 1. The White House [accused Russia]( of trying to cover up the Syrian government’s role in last week’s chemical attack. Officials released a declassified [report that details the American intelligence]( on the attack, asserting that the Syrian government was responsible and accusing Russia of using disinformation to obscure the facts. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson [struck a harsh tone]( at a Group of 7 meeting in Italy, saying that President Bashar al-Assad’s reign was “coming to an end.” Now he’s in Moscow, above, for what will be a closely watched meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov. The White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, [caused]( when he contrasted Mr. Assad with Hitler and said incorrectly that Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons. Our podcast “The Daily” [explores]( how Mr. Assad went from mild-mannered ophthalmology student to brutal ruler. _____ Damir Sagolj/Reuters 2. President Trump aimed his Twitter feed at Beijing, which [he said would get a better trade deal]( if it solved “the North Korean problem.” Mr. Trump and President Xi Jinping of China met last week at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, but there was no announcement about their talks on the North Korean nuclear threat. Above, directing traffic in Pyongyang. [In South Korea]( conjecture about a pre-emptive American strike on the North is spreading fast. The government tried to tamp down concern, saying there would be no such attack without its consent. In the latest “[Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss]( we look at foreign policy doctrine, whether California will secede and whether “humanitarian wars” exist. _____ Doug Mills/The New York Times 3. The White House faces another big test this weekend: pulling off the [annual Easter Egg Roll](. With key staff positions unfilled and no on-site first lady, the White House is scrambling to organize the most elaborate public event of the year. Last year’s drew 37,000 people. “This thing is all hands on deck,” said Melinda Bates, who organized eight of them under President Bill Clinton. _____ Audra D. Bridges, via Associated Press 4. United Airlines apologized for the forcible removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight after video of the episode caused widespread outrage. Oscar Munoz, the company’s chief executive, said in a statement that [United would take “full responsibility”]( for the situation and that “no one should ever be mistreated this way.” The company’s stock price had fallen before his statement. The video, in which the passenger is screaming and bloodied as he’s dragged off by security officers, cast a sharp focus on airline overbooking policies. And it was [widely shared in China]( with many people accusing United of racism (the passenger was Asian). _____ Tyler Barrick/Getty Images 5. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [used a secret, off-the-books bank account]( to rent a $21,000 suite at a Nascar race, travel to Las Vegas and donate to the school of one of the agents’ children, according to records and interviews. The Justice Department is investigating the secret account, which was also used to finance undercover operations around the country. The Times [revealed the existence of the bank account]( which was connected to an investigation into cigarette smuggling, in February. _____ Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times 6. London, the metropolis that globalization created, may well be the capital of the world. But [after the “Brexit” referendum]( its future as an international crossroads is far from certain. In a series of stunning photographs and an accompanying essay, we see the city’s iconic locales, and scenes of daily life, through the lens of its current limbo. _____ Lawrence Lool/European Pressphoto Agency 7. What looks like [an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency]( may be a product of overuse of a test and misreading of its results. As a consequence, millions of healthy people think they have a deficiency, and some are taking supplemental doses so high they can cause poor appetite, nausea and vomiting. _____ Tony Cenicola/The New York Times 8. After a long search, a comedian has agreed to perform at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, normally the glittering jewel of Washington’s social calendar. Hasan Minhaj of “The Daily Show” [will step up to the plate]( during a tense year marked by conflict between the new administration and the news media. Mr. Trump is skipping the festivities, the first president to do so since the 1970s, and Vanity Fair and Bloomberg canceled their famed after-party. _____ ABC 9. Finally, in the best of late-night TV: On “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” [John Stamos and Bob Saget]( the former stars of “Full House,” remembered Don Rickles, the famed insult comedian [who died last week](. And we looked at how Stephen Colbert [has made the “The Late Show” great again](. Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing [this version]( of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a.m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s [last night’s briefing](. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at [briefing@nytimes.com](mailto:briefing@nytimes.com?subject=Evening%20Briefing%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT Sponsor a Subscription Inspire the future generation of readers by contributing to The Times’s [sponsor-a-subscription program](. For questions, email sponsor@nytimes.com or call [1-844-698-2677](. FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytimes]( Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Sign Up for the [Morning Briefing newsletter »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Evening Briefing newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018