Top story: Surprise deal struck for talks with North Korea

Hello – I’m Warren Murray. News never sleeps, so let’s get you caught up.

Donald Trump has agreed to attend a historic meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator. The pair are predicted to meet by May, with “permanent denuclearisation” on the table, according to South Korea. The initial surprise announcement was made by Chung Eui-yong, Seoul’s national security chief, who recently visited the North to meet Kim.

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Speaking at the White House, Chung said Kim Jong-un had “expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible”. The White House said Trump would meet Kim “at a time and place to be determined” and “in the meantime all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain”. Both statements can be read in full here. Trump tweeted about the “great progress” and added one of his trademark exclamatory sign-offs: “Meeting being planned!”

The reaction of international observers? “This is literally the end of a North Korean movie: North Korea develops nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, compelling the US president to come to Pyongyang,” said nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis, referring (spoiler alert!) to the propaganda series The Country I Saw. Julian Borger writes that in this encounter of two enormous egos, the risks of failure are epic.

So where will it happen? Mar-a-Lago and Pyongyang both seem a long shot – a more likely venue is a third country like South Korea or Japan, or the DMZ on the border of the two Koreas.

‘Poisoned spy’ case widens – Police have searched Sergei Skripal’s house, cordoned off a garage in Salisbury and sealed off the graves of his wife, Liudmila, and son Alexander, both of whom died in recent years. It is a significant widening of the case surrounding former Russian intelligence officer Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were poisoned by what the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has called a “very rare” nerve agent. A total of 21 people have received treatment as a result of the incident, including DS Nick Bailey, who has been described as a “massively dedicated” police officer. Bailey was sitting up in his hospital bed and talking but remained “very anxious, very concerned”, said Wiltshire police. Investigators will be trying to get a pure sample of the nerve agent used, in the hope of it carrying a “chemical signature” revealing where it was made.

‘Latte levy’ falls flat – Ministers have rejected the idea of a 25p surcharge on disposable coffee cups. The Labour MP Mary Creagh is steaming over the decision. Creagh chairs the environmental audit committee, which made the recommendation aimed at reducing waste created by the cups – half a million are thrown away each day in the UK and just one in 400 is recycled. “Our report recommended practical solutions to the disposable packaging crisis,” Creagh said, accusing the government of “warm words but no real action”./ The government wants voluntary action by coffee shops instead.

Stormy relationship – What went on between the now-president and the porn star? One thing is clear – Donald Trump doesn’t want you to know about it.

Tom McCarthy goes through the payoffs, the restraining orders, the Dirk Diggler-esque pseudonyms (“Peggy Petersen” and “David Dennison”) and the secret arbitration, culminating in Stephanie Clifford – AKA Stormy Daniels – suing the president to be allowed to tell her story.

Particular excitement – Nuclear fusion that can power the electricity grid might be just 15 years away, according to the backers of an MIT university project. We’ve heard it all before, but so far fusion reactors have always chewed up more energy than they produce. The MIT researchers plan to use ultra-powerful magnets made with new superconducting materials to smash together atoms of hydrogen – producing helium and releasing energy that could be harnessed. The Italian energy company Eni is putting $50m into the project. “If we succeed, the world’s energy systems will be transformed. We’re extremely excited about this,” says Prof Maria Zuber of MIT.

Lunchtime read: Going, going, Tiangong



Here at Briefing HQ we are self-confessed space junkies. Today our science editor, Ian Sample, takes a detailed look at what might happen when China’s out-of-control Tiangong-1 space station comes hurtling back to Earth – within roughly the next month. All we know is it will land somewhere along a belt of the planet between the latitudes of 43° north and 43° south.

Tiangong-1 ranks as one of the larger manmade objects to re-enter the atmosphere without being deliberately steered towards the ocean. And it may be packing quite a punch – China hasn’t said much, but on board there could be rugged titanium fuel tanks, still loaded with unused hydrazine fuel which is toxic and volatile. The tanks are among parts that might survive re-entry, posing a risk if they land somewhere populated. “The only ones who know what’s onboard Tiangong-1, or even what it’s made of, are the Chinese space agency,” said Stijn Lemmens, space debris expert at the European Space Agency. We are keeping our best eyes on the skies …

Sport

Owen Farrell has been urged by Eddie Jones to bring his confrontational style to the England captaincy and get “in the face” of France, but was warned he must curb his aggression when talking to the referee.

Arsène Wenger complimented his players for at last showing a reaction to the “nightmare” period they have endured with an authoritative 2-0 Europa League win at Milan. Chris Froome has criticised the head of cycling’s world governing body for speaking publicly about his 2017 failed drugs test. One of the many things England’s limited-overs side excel at is finding silver linings and even in the manner of their defeat in the fourth one-day international there were positives with hundreds for Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. And Dejan Lovren has said an attempted break-in at his Liverpool home had a “horrific” impact on his family and affected his performances earlier in the season.

The Winter Paralympics begin today and ski racer Kelly Gallagher, who won Great Britain’s first ever gold at Sochi, will be in Pyeongchang ready to fling herself down yet more mountains at 75mph in search of another medal.

Business

It’s been a very busy day for international trade. First Trump proclaimed his steel and aluminium tariffs and then 11 countries agreed a new Trans Pacific Partnership – the pact thought doomed when the US pulled out last year.

Asian share markets stayed calm and carried on into positive territory, helped by the prospects of better relations on the Korean peninsula. The FTSE100 is set to rise a touch this morning while the pound has been down at $1.38 and €1.12.

The papers

News of the Trump-Kim meeting did not break until after the first editions so papers will have been updated. However for the first draft of history the Sun has the headline “Our lad’s beating Vlad” – which means that the policeman struck down by a nerve agent in Salisbury is recovering in hospital. The Guardian’s picture reflects the nerve agent story, with two people in chemical suits checking out a park bench. But the splash is the prospect of a 6.5% pay rise for NHS staff. The i says 21 people are being treated after the attack on the former spy.

The Times says that Russian state TV is warning “traitors” not to settle in Britain or they risk being killed. While the Mail asks the question: “Should we boycott Putin’s world cup?”. It says ministers are under pressure to order the move. The Telegraph goes big on a health story with the headline: “Give blood pressure drugs to half of UK”. It says the NHS is considering new evidence that could see pills handed out more readily to the population. And lastly the Mirror splashes with “M25 rapist is dead”. The paper tells how a serial sex attacker has died behind bars.

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