this i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story. a second summit is about to get underway in hanoi between the leaders of north korea and the united states. president trump and kim jong—un meet for dinner on wednesday evening — but the main business of the summit will take place on thursday. mr trump is expected to point to vietnam's economic success as a model which north korea could follow. president trump's disgraced formerfixer — michael cohen — has appeared after testifying at a closed hearing in washington to say he welcomes the chance to tell the truth. he will testify in public on wednesday. and this story is trending on bbc.com. rescue workers in germany were called out to deal with a sewer rat, — which got itself stuck halfway out of a manhole. apparently the rodent had put on weight over the winter. it was successfully released.

and the top story in the uk. theresa may has shifted her position on the deadline for brexit, announcing a set of votes that could result in a delay to britain's departure from the eu. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. president trump and kim jong—un are set to meet in hanoi and we learn what they can learn from vietnam's. and high—end focus. we find out why camera maker leica remains the zoomed in on the luxury market. hello everyone and welcome to asia business report, i am rico hizon. the leaders of the us and north korea are set to meet in vietnam's later today in this, their second nuclear summit. donald trump is likely to highlight the

opportunities of opening up the north korean economy to international investors and at the same time, kimjong—un international investors and at the same time, kim jong—un will be taking a close look around him. it's transformed itself since the end of the bear no more. when the vietnam war ended in 1975, the economy was in tatters but today, it is one of asia's fastest growing economies. check out how it's grown over the last three decades. its 2000, the economy has expanded at an average pace of 6.6% and what kim jong—un expanded at an average pace of 6.6% and what kimjong—un may like is this. vietnam's‘s communist party achieved this while retaining absolute power. so how was it done? it opened up its economy in 1986. the reforms were called doi moi, and it led to a big change in the agriculture sector and the country, which used to import rice, is now

one of the world's biggest rice exporters. it went on to set up a foreigner —— foreign investment law, normalise its relationship with a world and privatise many of its state—owned corporations and it paid off, in state—owned corporations and it paid off, “119911, us state—owned corporations and it paid off, in 1994, us president bill clinton lifted the trade embargo against vietnam's. a year later, vietnam'sjoined against vietnam's. a year later, vietnam's joined the association of southeast asian nations and in 2007, vietnam became a member of the world trade organisation. and while kim jong—un has been meeting a lot with chinese president xijinping --xi jinping last year, because of its size, yet narmada beale more releva nt exa m ple size, yet narmada beale more relevant example and china for north korea to learn from. we spoke to the singapore international business school and they said we should look at this summit is another strand in the us —

china trade negotiations. with north korea looking at vietnam's as a model and the us encouraging it in offering incentives and saying, we will work with you, you can become like vietnam's, this is a whole new approach to this whole dynamic in the region about denuclearising north korea. but if this happens, we actually see north korea going down this path, taking in investment from the west, this changes the dynamics of china a little bit and it becomes less dependent on china, becomes more integrated in the overall regional and global economy so this plays into this whole west versus china kind of dynamic. the british pound rallied to a 21— month high against the euro after theresa may promised mps vote on ruling out no deal breaks it. it's amidst the threat of a revolt by

remain, which is the supporting government ministers. meanwhile, the uk government report says there is little evidence businesses are preparing for the possibility of no deal breaks it. it's as food prices are likely to increase in customs checks would cost firms $17 billion yearin checks would cost firms $17 billion year in an ideal scenario. us drug company pfizer says donald trump should fight controls in other countries. the board told a us senate hearing that other nations are free riding on american innovation. the chair of the federal reserve says the central bank is in no rush to make a judgement about changes to interest rates. speaking to the senate banking committee, he said the fed is trying to decipher conflicting signals in the economy, including disappointing retail sales. at&t‘s $85 billion deal to

purchase time warner will go ahead after the us justice purchase time warner will go ahead after the usjustice department said it would not fight an appeals court ruling which approved the buyout. the deal had been criticised by president trump, saying it would harm the consumer. we are set to see three major general elections here in asia this year. the people of thailand are due to vote on sunday, the 24th of march and that will be followed on april the 17th elections in the world's most populous islamic nation, indonesia and the world's biggest democracy, india, is expected to hold its election in april and may stop in total, 1.2 billion people eligible to vote across these countries. earlier, i spoke to the exotics capital group. there are actually two ways where

there is going to be a boost to consumption. firstly, dreamy election campaign itself, the candidates would be spending on their supporters, spending on printing, publishing, and that causes an impact of the domestic economy because there is high consumption of foodstuff, much higher levels of printing, high consumption of other items. of this election spending in these three major economies, how much will this give gdp? it's difficult to immediately quantify the impact on gdp but what we can quantify is the impact it's had on consumption of previous election. in thailand, we saw the upsurge in consumption in the last election campaign amounted to over $2 billion. 0therforms of the economy, other aspects. election

spending boosting economic growth. most of us rely on our smartphones to ta ke most of us rely on our smartphones to take selfies but the camera maker leica is looking at the industry to a different lens. the brandy sharply focused on what it has excelled at and doesn't plan to cater to the new market. first, i feel naked and doesn't plan to cater to the new market. first, ifeel naked without a camera but that's a personal thing. second, this is a leica monochrome for enthusiasts called m246. the sensor can only see black and white. leica was never popular. when you enter a leica store, you are ina when you enter a leica store, you are in a minority but a high—end minority because our market share worldwide is somewhere, 0.8% or something like this so popular, yes, for those people in the knowing but for those people in the knowing but for the border people who do

instagram, probably not. there is no reason for that. the others, you might not call them competitors, the people in this field are doing something. we stick to certain rules midge weans quality, telling the story, doing the right technology, capturing light in the right way to creating the picture out of it as natural as possible. we call this the second digital revolution because the first one, the digital cameras, the second is the smartphone, the consumer camera. 80% of the customers, they don't need the camera. if you want

to go into the art of photography, then you are playing in a different field and that is where we are. we will monitor this, because we will also have a discussion with other companies in the smartphone business but we were ever to get a contract with huawei. if the trade war goes on, we will see what we do. that was the chairman of the camera manufacturer leica. the formal chair of the federal reserve, janet yellen, has sharply criticised donald trump's economic knowledge. in the us interview, she said mr trump doesn't understand economic policy or the purpose of the us

federal reserve. he was a look now the asia—pacific markets which are open for trade. they are currently all headed north at the moment. housing numbers week but consumer spending is strong, which led investors to take a pause on wall street. donald trump and kim jong—un are preparing for their second summit here in the vietnamese capital. donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen is testifying in washington

and says he welcomes the chance to tell the truth. this time last year, the uk was in the frozen grip of the so—called beast from the east, with temperatures dropping to as low as —12. but this year, for the second day in a row, parts of england and wales have seen record—breaking february temperatures, with a new uk winter record of 21.2 in kew gardens in south—west london. that's warmer than some mediterranean cities like barcelona. 0ur science editor david shukman has spent the day at kew. a wonderful display of colour here at kew gardens in west london, and with the air so unusually warm and the sun so dazzlingly bright, it really does feel like summer. and no surprise, this extraordinary spell of weather has set new records for temperatures for this time of year. obviously, a lot of people are out enjoying themselves. these crowds are apparently nearly double the numbers

you would normally get here in february. there's a kind of holiday atmosphere. it's here at kew gardens that weather history has been made with a new record, the highest winter temperature ever recorded in britain. as global temperatures rise, we're going to get more extreme heat events. this is just one example that's happening today. as we go into the future, this sort of thing is going to get more common. so something that's perhaps a one—in—a—thousand event in the 1950s is now a 1—in—15 event. but what does this sudden warmth mean for the natural world? the bumblebees are out, and very busy. and i caught up with one of the experts here, trying to work out what happens if the insects are active too early in the year. often, a lot of solitary bees especially have a very short window where they're active in the year.

it mightjust be a month, a couple of weeks. and if they are to miss much with their food plant, that might be a problem for them to be successful. amid this brief burst of summer, there's something else to be aware of, a problem with air quality. although the sky seems nice and blue, there is a kind of pollution you can't actually see. for the next day or so, we're being warned to take care. and take a look at these pictures from malta where some have been taking advantage of stormy seas for a unique spot of fishing. the fish are literally being washed onto the street before fishermen, who are taking a soaking in the process, pick them up and simply pop them into bags. but authorities have warned some of the fish may not be safe to eat. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: brendan rodgers has been appointed leicester city's new manager, after leaving his job at celtic. all to play for. real madrid host barcelona in the second leg of their copa del rey semi final on wednesday, with the first leg finishing 1—1. and former sri lanka captain sanath jayasuriya has been banned from cricket for two years. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the big footballing story of the day, and the news that brendan rodgers is returning to the premier league. the former liverpool manager has left scottish champions celtic to take charge of leicester city, who were victorious over brighton and hove albion on tuesday, where rodgers watched from the stands. we will get the view from leicester and celtic shortly. but first, here isjoe lynskey on the northern irishman's return. brendan rodgers is the