Your Wednesday Briefing

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, April 12, 2017 [NYTimes.com »]( Europe Edition [Your Wednesday Briefing]( By PATRICK BOEHLER Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images • The White House [accused Russia]( of engaging in a cover-up of the Syrian government’s role in last week’s chemical weapons attack. Moscow emphatically denied the claim. The U.S. also said that it had confirmed that the government of Bashar al-Assad had used sarin gas in the attack. Today, the U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on whether to condemn the assault. [Rex Tillerson]( the U.S. secretary of state, is facing an [icy day of talks in Moscow]( after calling on the Kremlin to drop its support of Mr. Assad. [“The Daily”]( podcast explores how Mr. Assad went from mild-mannered ophthalmology student to brutal ruler. One remark by Mr. Tillerson at his talks in Italy with G-7 foreign ministers might have been more to Moscow’s liking: Why should U.S. taxpayers care about Ukraine, [he]( said to have asked]( his counterparts. _____ Andrew Harnik/Associated Press • Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, caused outrage by [comparing Bashar al-Assad to Hitler]( and saying incorrectly that Hitler had not used chemical weapons. President Trump has been [silent about Syria]( since the U.S. strike on Friday, but he addressed growing tensions in Asia on Twitter. “[North Korea is looking for trouble,” Mr. Trump wrote](. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.” _____ Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times • In Italy, the death of a woman led to soul-searching over what [many describe as modern-day slavery](. Paola Clemente, 49, died of a heart attack in 2015. She had harvested grapes up to 12 hours per day, often for as little as 27 euros. The exploitation of some workers is a measure of the country’s lingering economic crisis, which forces many laborers to accept almost any working conditions. _____ Martin Meissner/Associated Press • In the German city of Dortmund, three explosions [damaged a bus carrying the soccer team Borussia Dortmund]( as it was heading to the Champions League quarterfinal match against Monaco. Marc Bartra, a Spanish defender, was injured. The playoff has been postponed until this evening. On Twitter, some Dortmund fans offered free accommodation for their rival team’s stranded supporters under the hashtag [#bedforawayfans](. (In the other quarterfinal, [Juventus beat Barcelona, 3-0.]( _____ Business [An image from a YouTube video of a man dragged off of an overbooked United Airlines flight in Chicago.]7NEWS24, via YouTube • United Airlines apologized for the forced removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight after a video of the episode [caused a public relations crisis]( and a debate about airline policies. Outrage reverberated globally: Reports of the episode have been [viewed more than half a billion times]( on Chinese social media. • Workers who experience [sexual harassment often don’t file complaints]( because they fear disbelief, hostility or professional retaliation. Their fears are grounded in reality, researchers concluded. • On the uselessness [of job interviews]( A management expert argues that recruiters use the process to try to “get to know” people — and it doesn’t work. • Here’s a snapshot of [global markets](. In the News Doug Mills/The New York Times • Former President Barack Obama plans to re-emerge on the international stage with a visit to Germany in May to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel. The visit will coincide with a Europe trip by President Trump. [[Politico]( • Rakhmat Akilov, the man accused of killing four people by [steering a stolen beer truck into a crowd]( in Stockholm last week, intends to plead guilty, his lawyer said in court. [[The New York Times]( • Three gay men spoke of their persecution in Chechnya, the Russian North Caucasus region. “They constantly threatened to kill us,” one said. [[Radio Free Europe]( • A Spanish court cleared a parish priest who had been accused of molesting an altar boy, ending a sexual abuse case in which Pope Francis had personally urged the plaintiff to pursue his complaint. [[The New York Times]( • A British judge ruled in one case that doctors can withdraw life-support treatment from a sick baby against his parents’ wishes. [[The Guardian]( • Each degree Celsius of global warming will lead to the thawing of 1.5 million of the planet’s nearly six million square miles of permafrost, a new study suggests. [[The New York Times]( Smarter Living Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times • There are many types of meditation. Research shows that the [health benefits vary widely]( among individuals. • Excessive demands are leading to burnout everywhere. What would make things better? [Start with work breaks](. • Here are [nine ways to cook your eggs]( this morning. Noteworthy Tony Cenicola/The New York Times • A small Francophile community [has sprung up in Harlem]( lured by the New York City neighborhood’s storied ties to France. • Fashion forward: Edward Enninful, born in Ghana, was named [the first male editor of British Vogue]( since its founding in 1916. He’s the first black editor of any edition of Vogue. • Every April, thousands of pilgrims trek to a mountaintop shrine in southern Spain. It’s an [occasion for old-world pageantry, parades and dancing](. • And humbling news for our species: Ants figured out farming millions of years before we did, [a study finds](. Back Story The Asahi Shimbun, via Getty Images President Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, was the setting for [the most recent milestone]( in U.S.-China relations, but it was table tennis — a game intended for factory workers — that originally got the ball rolling. It was 46 years ago this week that a 19-year-old American named Glenn Cowan, above, walked onto the Chinese team’s bus at the 1971 World Championships in Japan — [and Ping-Pong diplomacy was born](. After an awkward moment, China’s best player, Zhuang Zedong, welcomed Mr. Cowan and gave him a Chinese silk screen. The next day, Mr. Cowan [gave Mr. Zhuang a red, white and blue T-shirt]( emblazoned with a peace symbol and the Beatles’ lyrics “Let It Be.” Photographers captured the moment, and Mao Zedong, China’s leader, invited the U.S. team for a tour. Three months later, Henry Kissinger secretly visited Beijing, and President Nixon made his historic trip in 1972. “I was as surprised as I was pleased,” Nixon later wrote. “I had never expected that the China initiative would come to fruition in the form of a Ping-Pong team.” Mao, who had called table tennis [China’s “spiritual nuclear weapon”]( as early as 1959, was more enigmatic. “The little ball,” he said, “moves the big ball.” Charles McDermid contributed reporting. _____ This briefing was prepared for the European morning. We also have briefings timed for the [Australian]( [Asian]( and [American]( mornings. You can sign up for these and other Times newsletters [here](. Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. 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