Morning Update: Starbucks Will Close All Its US Locations To Address Racism

A terrifying Southwest flight, a secret North Korea meeting, and Barbara Bush has died. Your BuzzFeed News newsletter, April 18.

The CIA director secretly traveled to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong Un

The meeting between Mike Pompeo and the rogue nation’s leader took place over Easter weekend, reportedly in an effort to set up talks with President Donald Trump.

Trump seemed to allude to the meeting while at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida — he told reporters, “we’ve had talks at the highest level” with North Korea.

Here’s why this is important: Pompeo's meeting with Kim is the highest-level contact between the US and North Korea since 2000, when then–secretary of state Madeleine Albright met with the current leader's father, Kim Jong Il.

If the US is having meetings at such a high level, it suggests that talks about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are progressing.

What comes next: Trump told reporters the US was looking at five different sites for a possible US–North Korea summit. He said that none of the sites were in the US.

Former first lady Barbara Bush has died at 92

Barbara Bush served as first lady during the 1989–93 presidency of her husband, George H.W. Bush. She was the matriarch of a Republican political dynasty that dominated conservative politics for decades. She died Tuesday evening.

Bush spent her years as first lady dedicated to improving literacy rates. In 1989, she founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, which runs literacy programs for low-income families.

She was a staple in US politics as she supported the political careers of her husband and their sons former president George W. Bush and John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, who served as the governor of Florida.

George H.W. Bush held Barbara's hand all day and was at her side as she died, according to the former president's chief of staff.

We remember her legacy and life in photos.

Quick brief:

  • Parents of children who were killed in the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre are suing Infowars host Alex Jones over his claims it was a hoax.

  • The FDA just approved contact lenses that darken in response to sunlight, and no, you won’t look like a demon.

  • Russia is in the process of blocking the messaging app Telegram after the company refused to hand over encryption keys. People are unhappy and making memes about it.

Starbucks will close all of its US locations on May 29 to hold anti–racial bias training

The decision — affecting more than 8,000 locations in total — comes as the company struggles to cope with backlash over the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks earlier this week.

In a now-viral video, the two men could be seen in handcuffs. Witnesses said the pair hadn't ordered anything and were waiting for a friend when the manager asked them to leave and called the police.

Nearly 175,000 employees will take part in the training when the stores close for the afternoon, according to Starbucks. The company says the training will be focused on “preventing discrimination in our stores.”

One person died after an engine exploded on a Southwest flight

The plane took off from New York and was Dallas-bound when it made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after one of its engines failed, investigators said.

The engine exploded, smashing a window, and Jennifer Riordan from Albuquerque, New Mexico, died after being partially sucked out of the cabin. She was reportedly pulled out of the aircraft up to her waist.

A reality of plane incidents in 2018 is that passengers are able to document their experiences on social media — and the posts that came out of this were terrifying.

One passenger wrote on Facebook, “Engine exploded in the air and blew open window 3 seats away from me.”

There are many shocking videos and photos, from both during the flight and after it landed. This tweet from a passenger speaks for itself:

What a flight! Made it!! Still here!! #southwest #flight1380

Twitter

The future of fake news is scary. Here’s how to fight back.

Imagine a future where you could take any public figure and make a convincing video of them saying...anything you want.

Is that future possible? That future is already here. To prove this, Academy Award winner Jordan Peele lent us his best Obama impression, and together we made this bonkers video where you can watch the former president calmly tell you to “stay woke, bitches.”

So that didn’t happen? Nope. The video is a PSA encouraging you to be aware of how far the technology has come.

How was it made? We used something called FakeApp. It’s a free tool that’s recently been used to insert the faces of celebrities into porn videos (seriously). It took roughly 56 hours and was overseen by a video effects professional.

Fifty-six hours is a long time. Sure. But technology only gets better. This is it in its infancy.

Well, that’s scary. Told you. Fear not, though — we put together a handy guide to help you avoid falling for this massive advancement in fake news. Rule #1: Don’t jump to conclusions.

S T A Y W O K E.

This mom had the best response to Beyoncé’s set at Coachella

This story brings a lot of joy to my heart.

Natalie Parker, a student, was asleep when Bey took the stage this weekend at Coachella, so she missed the legendary show that was livestreamed on YouTube.

Not to worry, though — her mom, Kristine, was on it. Natalie woke up to a barrage of texts from Kristine gushing about Beyoncé and the show and how it had absolutely changed her life.

Natalie shared her mom’s massive love texts for Beyoncé, and it went hella viral because people can’t stop relating.

My favorite: “I just kept wondering why I was so lucky to get to watch her for free, I was so confused.” Same, Mom. Same.

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