Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 28 February – the last day of summer.

Top stories

Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen has cast the president as a “racist” and a “conman” who engaged in criminal activity after taking office as president to cover up an illegal payment to an adult film actor. In explosive public testimony before Congress, Cohen said Trump had prior knowledge of the WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic emails, and was aware of the Trump Tower meeting between members of his presidential campaign and a Russian lawyer. “Today, I am here to tell the truth about Mr Trump,” Cohen said in his opening statement. “I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. I am ashamed because I know what Mr Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.” Cohen’s testimony spells trouble for Trump on two fronts, writes Jon Swaine: Russia and campaign finance violations.

“Love him or loathe him, he has always been a son of Ballarat, and people were proud of his rise to become one of the most powerful men in the world,” says Andrew Collins, the public face of clergy abuse in Ballarat. The church remains an imposing force in the town where Cardinal George Pell grew up and many residents at midday mass on Wednesday, as Pell’s sentencing was taking place, proclaimed his innocence. But the town holds a history of shocking abuse. “As children our tiny bodies were used, abused and cast away,” Collins says. “Our minds were screwed up and nobody believed us. Now we are broken adults and those who speak up are called friends of the devil by the pope.” As Pell awaits a jail sentence for sexual assault, David Marr observed the cardinal’s last moments before being taken into custody.

The Morrison government will persist with its attempted climate policy pivot by promising $50m in grants for businesses and community organisations to embark on energy efficiency projects, and an additional $17m to help building owners benchmark their energy use. As part of the government’s efforts to woo back voters in its small “l” liberal heartland deeply concerned about the Coalition’s record on climate change, Morrison has this week kicked in $56m for the Marinus link, and has flagged further taxpayer underwriting of the “battery of the nation” renewable energy project. The $50m will go towards 2,500 grants to eligible businesses and community organisations to help them save energy.

World

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet in Hanoi. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have begun their second summit, with the US president calling his North Korean counterpart “a great leader” and offering to help give his country a “tremendous future”.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has appealed for talks with India, making reference to both countries’ nuclear arsenals, after a series of tit-for-tat airstrikes that have edged the pair closer to war than at any point in the last 20 years.

Almost 5,000 complaints of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant children in US custody have been filed over the past four years, with allegations ranging from adult staff members abusing minors to forcible touching, government documents show.

The UK Labour party has suspended an MP, Chris Williamson, after he was filmed saying the party had been “too apologetic” about antisemitism. Jeremy Corbyn came under intense pressure to take tougher action, after initially allowing Williamson to remain a Labour member while a series of complaints against him were considered.

The Glastonbury festival has banned plastic bottles in an attempt to stem the waste left in its wake. In 2017 visitors to the festival got through 1.3m plastic bottles.

Opinion and analysis

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters of Pakistan’s Pasban Democratic party celebrate the shooting down of Indian fighter jets. Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

During previous bouts of militarised aggression between India and Pakistan, US presidents used personal diplomacy to convince both sides to pull back from the brink. But with Trump showing scant interest, who will pull them back from the edge this time? The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, examines the contenders.

The economy hasn’t been looking too hot for a while and now the construction industry is showing worrying signs. It has been one of the key sectors for job growth and it looks to be slowing quite drastically, which does not bode well for the unemployment rate. Greg Jericho explains what it means.

Sport

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Striker and now Matildas captain Sam Kerr. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

After the negativity surrounding the Matildas over the last month, the Cup of Nations, the four-team World Cup warm-up tournament which starts today in Sydney, provides a reset for fans and players alike. The star striker Sam Kerr has been handed the captain’s armband, while Steph Catley will be her vice.

Last weekend’s bust-up between the Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and coach Maurizio Sarri was a boon for the marketers who increasingly see Premier League football as a dramatic TV show rather than “merely” a sport, writes Marina Hyde. “Executives at leading clubs speak unabashedly of ‘content’, which might be actual football, but might equally be some made‑for‑Instagram stunt. The biggest club brands consider themselves to be in the entertainment industry.”

Thinking time: The Kid and The Choirboy

Facebook Twitter Pinterest St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Photograph: tupungato/Getty Images/iStockphoto

At some point between his 13th and 14th birthdays, the boy’s enthusiasm for the choir at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s cathedral waned considerably. “Little murmurs, you know? Like, he was tired, you know, of the commitment to getting up early in the morning to practise,” his mother says. In an extract from Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, one boy’s family tells Louise Milligan the cataclysmic effect abuse had on him and his friend. It tells the story of the two teenage boys who were sent on scholarships from what were then Melbourne’s inner suburbs to a Catholic boys’ school – St Kevin’s College – and the priest who would change their lives forever.

The year after he left the choir, the boy got into drugs in a big way. By the age of 30 he was dead of a heroin overdose. “While at age 13 he had sung Handel’s Messiah, clad in a choirboy’s crimson and white robes, eyes cast up to heaven, by his 14th year he was already dabbling in heroin. ‘It’s devastating to watch your child spiral like that,’ Mary says, shaking her head at the memory of anger, frustration, heartbreak that she dealt with in equal parts.”

Media roundup

Almost all the papers again feature George Pell strongly on their front pages, with the Australian reporting that he spent his first night in prison in a solitary cell. The ABC reports that Australia’s first so-called jihadi bride has emerged from Islamic State’s last stronghold, and says the children of Australia’s most infamous terrorist, Khaled Sharrouf, are alive. And the NT News says a business summit has delivered a blunt message to the Northern Territory government that the business community needs help to reinvigorate or risks losing faith in Michael Gunner’s leadership entirely.

Coming up

It is believed that Ita Buttrose will be named the new chair of the ABC today.

The ARL will meet to decide behavioural policy after a string of scandals involving rugby league players during the off season.

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