Daily briefing: Trump-Kim summit, rewriting Marx, eating cake

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From threats and insults to invitations.

Donald Trump is to meet Kim Jong Un within weeks, the first summit between a US president and a North Korean leader, after Pyongyang offered to suspend nuclear and missile tests.

The surprise announcement is a breakthrough in communications after the two leaders traded threats of nuclear war and personal insults over Twitter and television for months. The White House said the time and place was yet to be determined. Shares in the Asia-Pacific region rose on Friday after the news was announced.

Here’s our Asia editor on Trump’s “Nixon in China” moment and here are five things to know about the expected summit. (FT)

In the news

Trump tariffs
The White House formally adopted new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports but gave Canada and Mexico a temporary carve-out as North American Free Trade Agreement talks continue. Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president, took aim at the US tariffs following the bank’s governing council meeting. (FT, ABC)

EU freezes Brexit talks
“Ireland first,” Donald Tusk said after talks with Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister. The UK and the EU are trying to hammer out a legal text on Britain’s withdrawal but the European Council president said any negotiations must come after the Irish border question was agreed. (FT)

Blowback to Musk bonus
Shareholder advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services is opposing Elon Musk’s record-breaking $2.6bn compensation package. Shareholders are due to vote on the proposal in two weeks, and they tend to show steadfast support for Mr Musk despite his mixed record. (FT)

Secrets in the Seychelles
Robert Mueller, US special counsel, is homing in on a secret meeting in the Seychelles just before Donald Trump’s inauguration that evidence suggests was an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming administration and the Kremlin. Speaking of US-Russia meetings, Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, are both touring Africa. But they reportedly won’t meet — and cannot even agree on whether they want to. (WaPo, Bloomberg)

Netflix and chill with Obama
Former president Barack Obama is in advanced negotiations with Netflix to produce a series of high-profile shows that will provide him a global platform. (NYT)

How good is your grasp of the news? Try our weekly FirstFT quiz. Angela Merkel is headed for which term as German chancellor — third, fourth or fifth?

The day ahead

US jobs numbers
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics releases February’s employment report. The unemployment rate is forecast to fall to 4.0 per cent, which would be the lowest since December 2000 when the jobless rate was 3.9 per cent. Non-farm payrolls are expected to have increased by 200,000 jobs for the second straight month. (MarketWatch)

What we’re reading

What made Sergei Skripal an assassination target?
Our reporters in London and Moscow bring you the inside story of how the Russian double agent still had value for western intelligence. According to security officials, the 66-year-old Mr Skripal had not been fully decommissioned. Separately, 21 people have been treated following the poisoning incident. (FT)

Skiing blind
Nineteen-year-old skier Millie Knight is going for gold in the Paralympics in South Korea. She’s blind. She will rely on her guide to talk her down the mountain at speeds of 115km per hour. (BBC)

What would Karl Marx write today?
Two hundred years after the philosopher’s birth, two staunch believers in capitalism rewrite “The Communist Manifesto”. (FT)

Escaping the daily grind on the Eastern Express
The 24-hour sleeper service between Turkey’s capital and the city of Kars, in the country’s far north-eastern corner, has been running for decades. But in the past year, it has had a popularity surge. Thank you, Instagram. (FT)

Stop blaming bots
A new study shows that people are the prime culprits when it comes to the propagation of misinformation through social networks. The research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology gives you a sense of how much of a problem fake news is, both because of its scale and because of our own tendencies to share misinformation. (Science)

Nestlé brews a shake-up
The Swiss company has revamped its Nescafé Gold Blend. Whether coffee drinkers worldwide can — like the FT — identify the fresher aromas of the new blend is crucial for whether the world’s largest food and drinks company can revive growth. (FT)

Eating cake with icing and a cherry on top
From EU politicians to followers of pop star Justin Timberlake, the true meaning of having and eating your cake is being debated. An English professor explains the phrase’s origin and its European equivalents. (Prospect)

Video of the day

New York street artist Alec Monopoly cashes in on success
Street artist Alec Monopoly, known for hiding behind a top hat and face mask, started out criticising Wall Street during the financial crisis. But he now says he’s been absorbed in the dreamworld of yachts and money. (FT)

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