Hello! Here's what you need to know on Wednesday.
1. The United Airlines CEO has finally apologised for the violent removal of a fare-paying passenger from one of the airline's flights. After two poorly received releases that seemed to blame the passenger, Oscar Munoz said sorry to 69-year-old Dr. David Dao who is recovering in a hospital and says "everything" is injured.
2. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says there is "no doubt" the Syrian regime was responsible for the chemical weapons attack. It comes after the White House said that "it is clear the Russians are trying to cover up what happened" in Syria via a "disinformation campaign" following a chemical weapons attack. Despite that Mattis said the situation "will not spiral out of control," following fears of military escalation between Russia and the US.
3. Russian president Vladimir Putin has suggested that the US was behind a "false-flag" attack in Syria in order to frame Assad for using chemical weapons and claims he has information that a "similar provocation is being prepared" in a suburb of Damascus.
4. China reportedly sent 150,000 troops to the border with North Korea and is "ready to take action," according to China’s state-owned newspaper the Global Times. It follows concerns that the North will use a national commemoration on the weekend to conduct its sixth nuclear test.
5. A German soccer club's bus was hit by an explosion prior to Champions League match. One player was injured in the incident and taken to a local hospital.
6. The FBI has reason to believe a former Trump adviser was "an agent of the Russian government." It comes after a FISA warrant was obtained last summer to monitor the communications of Carter Page, who was an early foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
7. A dark horse candidate in the French election is surging in the polls— and he wants to slap a 100% tax on the rich.
8. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Hitler never stooped to the level of using chemical weapons, unlike the Syrian president. He later apologised for his controversial comments after setting off a firestorm of criticism at a press briefing on Tuesday.
9. The world is currently in the midst of an exporters' crisis and we have a map showing the 16 most vulnerable countries. Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia, China and Australia are all on it.
10. German police found nearly a half-ton of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas. While the value of the 384 kilogram shipment was not immediately known, in Europe, a gram of the drug can cost anywhere between 46 and 91 euros.
And finally …
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