from the Financial Times in London.

Here are some of the big stories we'll be watching this week.

Historic talks between the US and North Korea

will take place when Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

meet in Singapore.

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates

in the US.

The owner of the Zara fashion brand, Inditex,

reports results.

And the football World Cup kicks off in Russia,

but will FIFA vote for an underdog

to host the 2026 tournament?

Now, just a year ago, Kim Jong Un was a pariah.

North Korea had conducted several missile tests

and US President Donald Trump threatened

to respond with fire and fury.

Until March, the North Korean dictator

had never even been abroad on a state visit.

But this year, things have switched to a more diplomatic

track, and on Tuesday he's due to meet Donald

Trump in a historic summit.

Mr Trump wants to sign an agreement

to denuclearize North Korea and set a new path

for the reclusive regime.

But what is the US likely to get out of this week's meeting?

Here's our chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman.

These are two very unusual and unpredictable leaders.

If you had two kind of normal leaders,

it would be quite easy, I think, to sketch out

the possible outcomes.

It would be very hard to imagine that they would immediately

solve the problem or come up with a breakthrough.

With these leaders, it's possible

that they will stray off script quite sharply

and perhaps come up with something with surprises

us all.

But there's also a downside risk.

And if the two men don't hit it off

or if they have very different expectations,

you could actually see a summit that goes badly wrong

and leads to a return or even perhaps

an increase in concerns about war that so dominated 2017.

And now to the US, where the Federal Reserve's

monetary policy decision is the highlight

of a busy economic calendar this week.

We'll get updates on inflation, manufacturing, and consumer

sentiment in Thursday's retail sales report.

The interest rate decision, which is on Wednesday,

will be presented alongside updates to the Fed's

economic and interest rate projections.

That will be followed by a press conference

with fed chair Jay Powell.

A rate rise is largely considered

a foregone conclusion, as our reporter Mamta Badkar explains.

Markets are anticipating the second rate rise

of the year and the seventh since 2015 amid signs

of renewed strength in the US economy

and as the Fed is getting a bit more confident

about its inflation outlook.

Now, the Fed said last month that inflation has moved closer

to its 2% target, but noted that this is a symmetrical target,

suggesting that modest moves above or below 2%

will be acceptable to the Fed.

Of note, of course, will be at the dot plot of interest rate

projections as markets try to determine

whether 2018 has three or four rate rises on the cards.

Now to Spain, where Inditex, the owner of the Zara fashion

brand, is set to report its first quarter results.

And all eyes will be on the long troublesome gross margin

figure.

The world's largest clothes retailer by sales

has for years seen slipping margins.

This has sparked investor concerns

about the effects of competition from online only rivals.

And in March, the company said that gross margins

had dropped from 57% in 2016 to 56.3% in 2017.

That was the lowest for a decade and worse

than analysts' expectations.

But many analysts are saying that while gross margins may

be down in the first quarter, there

could be signs of stabilisation, which

would reassure the markets.

Inditex has long denied that online sales will lead them

to lower margins.

Earlier this year, it blamed the strong euro, as well as

unseasonal weather.

And finally, to Russia, where the football World

Cup kicks off on Thursday.

The host take on Saudi Arabia in the opening match in Moscow.

But just before the big kickoff, more than 200

of FIFA's member nations will meet

to vote on the host for the 2026 World Cup.

And it's a race between a powerhouse joint bid

by the United States, Canada, and Mexico

and an underdog bid by Morocco.

Much to the surprise of many people

in the world of football, Morocco could win it.

This would be a shock because the North American

bid is offering a projected record $11 billion of profits

to FIFA.

And FIFA's own inspection task force

scored the North American bid very highly on technical merits

and it said there were risks to hosting

the tournament in Morocco.

So what would it mean if Morocco pulls off a surprise victory?

Here's our leisure correspondent, Murad Ahmed.

It seemed to me, at least, by reading

that report that FIFA's inspectors were saying,

don't hold the World Cup in Morocco, at least

in comparison to the North American bid.

So what would it say if Morocco still won?

It would tell you that the political horse

trading of the past that has mired old World Cup votes

has not disappeared, regardless of all the reforms

that FIFA have put in place.

And weirdly enough, a counterpoint,

that money isn't everything, that

in the end, the global image that you set out

has a big part to play when it comes

to voting on these essentially popularity contests.

And that's what the week ahead looks like from the Financial

Times in London.

See you again next time.