Trump-Kim summit: US president blames failure of talks on North Korea's demand for sanctions to be dropped

Here's Holly Baxter for Indy Voices on the latest sexual harassment scandal to embroil the perennially-embattled world leader.

Looking for a reminder of all the women who have accused the president of misconduct? We've got you covered.

Ms Johnson becomes the 21st (!) alleged victim to come forward.

If all this weren't excitement enough, Michael Cohen is testifying this week!

Cohen will appear behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, followed by a public session before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday and the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, again in private.

Donald Trump's former friend and personal attorney is expected to tell US lawmakers Mr Trump asked him several times about a proposed Trump Tower skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination.

Cohen's assertion that his former boss was inquiring about the project as late as June 2016, if true, would show the candidate remained personally interested in a business venture in Russia well into his presidential run. Cohen, scheduled to report to prison on 6 May, has already said he briefed Mr Trump on the project in June 2016.

As FBI special counsel Robert Mueller nears the end of a 21-month probe into whether the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election in collusion with the Trump campaign (an accusation denied by both camps), Cohen is set to offer lawmakers new information about the president's private affairs over the three consecutive days.

He is also expected to give lawmakers "granular details" about Mr Trump's $130,000 (£98,540) hush-money payments to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, in exchange for her silence about an alleged extramarital affair with the real estate magnate turned statesman.

In addition, Cohen will offer new information on Trump's financial statements that "have never been produced before" relating to how Mr Trump represented the values of his assets in financial transactions and other matters, said the source.

Cohen pleaded guilty on 29 November last year to criminal charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. In December, he was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating payments to Ms Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election.

The New York lawyer once said he would "take a bullet" for his employer but has since turned against him. When Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, he implicated the president, who afterward called him a "rat" on Twitter.

Cohen's public testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday will be led by Democratic representative Elijah Cummings, who has said his panel with limit their questioning to avoid crossover with the two intelligence committees inquiring into the Trump camp's Russian ties. 

That will put questions about "any financial or other compromise or leverage foreign actors may possess over Donald Trump, his family, his business interests, or his associates" off-limits for Mr Cummings' committee.

His panel will instead focus on President Trump's debts and payments "relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election," as well as his compliance with financial disclosure, campaign finance and tax laws, it said.

Possible conflicts of interest faced by Mr Trump, including at his Trump International Hotel in Washington, will be targets for the Cummings panel, as will the Trump Foundation and "efforts by the president and his attorney to intimidate Mr. Cohen or others not to testify," the committee said.

A US-China trade war represents the biggest threat to the global economy in 2019, according to research from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Fortunately, the threat posed by such a prospect appears to have been averted for now, after President Trump agreed to extend a truce over $200bn (£153bn) in tariffs on Chinese goods over the weekend.

A viral video clip of Mr Trump publicly contradicting his own trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, over the meaning of “memorandum of understanding” rather overshadowed the breakthrough, which nevertheless boosted markets yesterday.

Here's Caitlin Morrison.

In loosely-related news, Germans are now more inclined to trust China than America after two years of Donald Trump, Clark Mindock reports.

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr has said senators will be in attendance at the Michael Cohen hearing today, a departure from the committee's usual practice, where witness interviews are conducted by staff only. 

Aides will ask questions on their behalf while they observe. He said no topics would  be off limits and Cohen "should expect to get any question from anywhere about anything." 

Senator Burr said committee members know a lot more than they did when they first interviewed Cohen, who later pleaded guilty to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees about abandoning a Trump Organisation business proposal in Moscow in January 2016.

Burr suggested that the committee will take steps to ensure Cohen is telling the truth. "I'm sure there will be some questions we know the answers to, so we'll test him to see whether in fact he'll be truthful this time," he said. 

Another member of the committee, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, said she will also sit in on the interview. She said she wants to see what kind of person Cohen is, and "how honestly he answers questions, how directly he answers questions." 

Representative Elijah Cummings, leading tomorrow's House Oversight Committee grilling of Cohen, had this to say on the prospect, by way of a trailer:

"This is one moment in history. And when you get to my age, and you look back and you realise, these moments are very, very, very significant. It may very well be a turning point in our country's history, I don't know.".

"He's the only person that I know of who has accused this president of a crime," Mr Cummings said of Cohen.

"And so I think it's only fair to the president and to Michael Cohen and to the public that he come forward so that they'll have an opportunity to observe his demeanor, Republicans will be able to ask him questions, just like in a cross examination, and then they can make their own judgements."

A story about Kim Jong-un stopping his slow train across China to take a cigarette break is doing the rounds.

Footage by Japan's TBS TV showed Mr Kim, a habitual smoker, taking a pre-dawn fag break on Tuesday at Nanning train station, hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his summit with President Trump.

The video showed Mr Kim puffing a cigarette and talking with North Korean officials. A woman who appeared to be his sister - Kim Yo-jong, one of the most powerful individuals in North Korea - is seen holding a crystal ashtray. 

Also on the platform is Hyon Song-wol, a North Korean ruling party elite and the leader of the famous girl band Moranbong. Hyon's inclusion in Mr Kim's delegation has raised speculation that cultural events could be part of the agreements reached between Washington and Pyongyang this week as they look for easier steps to improve relations. 

Despite pushing an anti-smoking campaign in North Korea, Mr Kim is frequently seen with a cigarette in his hands.

In July 2017, North Korea's state broadcaster showed him casually smoking in front of one of his liquid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) as it underwent preparations for a test launch. State media also showed him and North Korean officials laughing and lighting up cigarettes following the success of the North's last ICBM test in November 2017.