Mr Trump denies 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to a $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to buy the silence of an adult film star just before the 2016 election. She alleges they had an affair; he denies the story.

So how is the historic trial being covered, from Beijing to Rome? We asked our colleagues at BBC Monitoring, which tracks and analyses media around the world.

By Tom Lam, BBC Monitoring China specialist

Chinese media have covered Mr Trump’s trial but it hasn’t featured as prominently on the news agenda as one might expect. Still, it offered the media another opportunity to show what’s seen as the chaos and polarisation of US politics.

English-language reporting focused on facts of the case. State news agency Xinhua’s English-language edition highlighted that Donald Trump was the first former president to stand a criminal trial. It also quoted the accused as describing the trial as “political persecution” and saying the country was “failing”. China Daily, the state-run English-language newspaper, focused on jury selection, during which more than 50 of the 96 first potential jurors were excused after saying that they could not be fair.

Domestic-facing state-affiliated outlet The Paper provided infographics and timelines of the trial, and cited US surveys as showing polarised views on it among US voters. It also zoomed in on conflicting reports about the possible impact on the general election in November.

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