Tough talk, porn star payout and health check

Donald Trump. photo / AP

• The African Union has demanded US President Donald Trump apologise after he reportedly called nations on the continent "shitholes". It expressed "shock, dismay and outrage" and said the Trump administration misunderstood Africans.

Trump has denied he was racist, instead blaming the media for distorting his remarks made in a meeting on immigration. Trump has tweeted that his language he used at the private meeting with lawmakers had been "tough". But he added that the words attributed to him were "not the language used".

• Trump's personal lawyer brokered a US$130,000 ($180,000) payment to a porn star to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Trump met Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the name Stormy Daniels in films, at a golf event in 2006 — a year after Trump's marriage to his wife, Melania.

According to the Journal's report, Clifford began talking with ABC News in 2016 for a story involving an alleged relationship with Trump, but reached a US$130,000 deal a month before the election, which prevented her from going public.

Trump's longtime attorney Michael Cohen did not address his role in negotiating the supposed payment but said Trump denies any such relationship with Clifford. The White House issued a statement calling the story "old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election".

• Trump's White House physician says he is in "excellent health" after his first medical check-up as president at Walter Reed military hospital.

He underwent a physical examination amid suggestions in a recent book and by detractors that he's mentally unfit. Trump spent three hours at the Maryland facility for the check-up before departing for Florida for the weekend.