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Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un at the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, 27 February 2019. Photo credit: The White House on Twitter 

US-North Korea leaders hold talks in Vietnam

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, opened their second summit on nuclear disarmament. Both lowered expectations that an accord would be concluded soon. Trump said: “There’s no rush. We want to do the right deal”. Kim stated: “A lot of patience is needed.” The summit continues today. Reported by the BBC, DW, Guardian and Reuters.

Cohen assails Trump’s character in congressional hearing

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, called the American president a “conman” and a “racist” in testimony to a US House of Representatives committee, but gave no evidence that Trump colluded with Russia to get elected. Cohen was convicted of perjury last year and will start a three year prison term shortly. Reported by DW, the Guardian and Reuters.

Calls for calm, return of pilot in Kashmir dispute

Tensions between India and Pakistan continued, with India calling for the immediate release of its pilot who was captured after being shot down over Kashmir, according to the BBC and Guardian. India had launched air strikes on Pakistani territory for the first time since 1971, saying it was targeting a terrorist group. Pakistan’s PM called for diplomatic talks. Meanwhile, flights between India and Pakistan were cancelled, reported the Economic Times, while international airlines rerouted flights over Pakistan, said the BBC.

Costa ousted from UK government over Brexit amendment

Alberto Costa, a Conservative MP, was forced to resign from his unpaid post as a parliamentary aide to the Scottish secretary. Costa had published an amendment seeking to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in the UK and British citizens in the EU27 in case of a no deal Brexit. Even though the home secretary supported the amendment, Costa broke a convention by introducing it. Reported by the Financial Times, Independent, New European and Telegraph.

Sports shop scraps idea to sell hijab for athletes

The French sporting goods chain Decathlon has dropped plans to carry a “sports hijab” following a backlash from politicians including France’s health minister. Reported by the AFP, Guardian and Sky News.

EU looking for more “Tips” payment system users

According to Reuters, the European Commission and European Central Bank are studying how to get more financial institutions to use its new instant payment system. “Tips” is meant to rival card systems like Visa and American and Chinese tech firms like Paypal and Tencent.

Dutch government takes Air France-KLM stake

Shares in Air France-KLM were down after the Dutch government confirmed it held a 14% stake in the airline and intended to match the 14.3% held by the French government. The Dutch want to gain more influence over the carrier, but apparently did not inform Paris of its plans in advance. Reported by DW, the Financial Times and France 24.

Polestar 2 to take on Tesla 3

Volvo unveiled its Polestar 2 model, the automaker’s first all-electric car, which is meant to compete with the Tesla Model 3. Production is set to begin in 2020. Reported by CNN, Motor Trend and Techcrunch.

Autonomous vehicle researchers made redundant by Apple

Apple said it would lay off 190 employees (out of about 1,200) from its self-driving car programme. Its filing to California regulators also revealed the automotive technologies that Apple has been pursuing for “Project Titan”. Reported by Reuters and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Visit to Facebook moderation centre in Arizona

The Verge profiled Facebook’s (outsourced) content managers and found that a number of them developed mental health problems.

Walk this way 

Police in three Chinese cities have been testing gait recognition technology, software that identifies people based on how the walk, per the South China Morning Post

Fat rat saved in southeastern Germany

German firefighters rescued a male rat who had put on too much “winter fat” and got stuck in a manhole cover, according to DW. ‎The picture is a bit disturbing.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald