Hello! Here’s what’s happening on Thursday.
1. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will expel 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the poisoning. May also froze the accounts of Russians under suspicion in the UK, and cut high-level government contact between the two countries.
2. The White House blamed Russia for poisoning a former Russian agent. Russia has denied involvement in the assassination attempt and warned that its response will “not be long in coming.”
3. The US Senate passed the biggest rollback of Wall Street regulations since the financial crisis. Opponents said it will increase risk in the financial system and could set the industry up for another crisis.
4. A Chinese company signed a huge deal to secure a core component of electric car batteries. China will purchase 50,000 tons of cobalt over three years, which is about half of all the cobalt sold in 2017.
5. Saudi Arabia is moving forward with its nuclear program. This is the first time the country has spoken about the program since it quietly met with the US earlier this month.
6. The Philippines wants to withdraw from the International Criminal Court. Duterte has refused to participate in any investigations, including that of the ICC, into his bloody war on drugs.
7. US Special Forces troops previously killed 11 ISIS fighters in an undisclosed firefight in Niger. Four US soldiers were killed months prior in the same area and questions surrounding the incident remain.
8. Sri Lanka blamed Facebook for spreading calls for violence across the country. Sri Lanka banned Facebook and announced a state of emergency after violence erupted across the country earlier this month.
9. Italy's far-right Eurosceptic League is eyeing a coalition deal with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. No party secured a majority in last week's elections, leaving factions to scramble to form a coalition.
10. The US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes with fraud. The agency said Theranos and Holmes had agreed to resolve the charges against them.
And finally...