>> online media in france and around the world. >> hello, everyone. this is "france 24." time for 60 minutes live around the world. donald trump confirms cia director mike pompeo, his new pic for secretary of state, had a secret meeting with the north korean leader, kim jong-un. trump making the announcement, as is his way, by tweet.

weapons inspectors still waiting to get into the syrian city of duma, the site of a suspected poison gas attack from 11 days ago. critics say that ongoing delays mean that any evidence of the strike would now be gone. former first lady barbara bush, to be buried on saturday in a funeral. she died at age 92. the wife and mother of two u.s. presence champion literacy for millions. in thising up for you hour, the french government offers up to 15,000 euros to employers who hire workers from disadvantaged areas. will it help to cut jobless numbers? we will have more in the business update. and an accidental discovery for scientists could be the key to getting rid of some of the masses of plastic choking the world's oceans. more on that on the way, but first our top story, live from paris.

♪ u.s. president donald trump has just confirmed via tweet that the cia director mike pompeo held secret meetings with the north korean leader, kim jong-un . negotiations have picked up since last month, when pyongyang indicated it might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons program. our international affairs editor has been taking a closer look at this and joins me now on the set . what more can you tell us? >> this is being reported in american media and is now confirmed by donald trump himself. i don't oh if we have that tweet ready, but he was saying that mike pompeo met with kim jong-un last week, over easter. he goes on to say the meeting went well and a good relationship was formed and the

details of the summit are being worked out now. denuclearization will be a great thing for the world, but also for north korea. optimism there, i suppose, you could say, but obviously denuclearization is the big problem, because it hasn't really work out very well in the past when efforts were made to denuclearize north korea and as always, the questions are going will what in the return north korea be seeking for denuclearization? will the concessions at once from the u.s. be acceptable in any way to the u.s. administration? and of course on any verification that follows, because north korea is considered by most of the international community to have cheated on a previous verification deal. to give you a sense of the diplomatic sequence going on at this meeting with

trump, there is going to be a face to face meeting with kim jong-un and donald trump, which is obviously going to be an extremely rare event coming late in may or early june. we think previously the highest level contact between the countries was in the year 2000, nearly 20 years ago, when the secretary of state at that time , the father of the current north korea leader. we also have one other piece of this jigsaw puzzle to mention, the north between koreans and the south koreans, which is happening next week, that's a summit planned between kim jong-un and president moon of south korea. that is also being seen as an extremely rare and eventually historic event, because it's only the third summit between these two rivals since the war

that led to the separations of the korean peninsula in the 1950's. we are seeing a whole series of diplomatic steps towards that likely summit between the u.s. and north korean leaders themselves. armen, thanks for that. we are going to talk of bit more about that upcoming summit. first, has there been any reaction so far to either the tweet, which came out a few minutes ago from donald trump, or to the reports of this secret meeting? >> right, the korean media has been reacting over this announcement. for the most part, most koreans, including media, are looking at this significantly, calling this quite historic and saying that maybe real change is underway in the korean peninsula.

of course there are also citizens looking at this and thinking -- this is a form of korea passing, where the u.s. tries to solve the problems on the korean peninsula without consulting the south koreans. >> there is this meeting 10 days from now planned between the south korean president and kim jong-un. how is that shaping up? what is >> hope to come out of that? yes, the leaders of both south and north korea are about to meet next friday and then it will be historic. the last time the leaders of both nations met was in 2007 between kim jong-il and [indiscernible] so next week they are trying to figure out a lot of these details. but if kim jong-un is serious about his ideas for d need -- denuclearization, are there

other plans on the way for south korea and north korea in terms of continuing the dialogue be on the fighting? it has already been announced that 2800 members of the press will be joining this live, when the meeting takes place. it is indeed set to be a historical event and everyone is watching to see what will happen. >> indeed. thank you for that. the cia director, mike pompeo, also the trump picked to replace rex tillerson, who you might remember was recently fired as secretary of state. but he is facing so much opposition from democrats, the panel could be forced to take the unusual step of sending the candidate to the full senate without a full recommendation. turning our attention to syria, 11 days after a suspected poison gas attack, chemical weapons

inspectors are still not allowed in to go check out what the situation is on the ground. neighboring been in damascus since saturday, but many in the west say that the syrian regime and russian allies are stalling to get rid of evidence on the ground. syria and russia continue to deny that any attack took place. >> it's been 11 days since the alleged toxic gas attack on the when they areis beginning their investigation on the ground, contacting reports from syrian state tv that they visited the site on tuesday. western powers believe that evidence is being covered up, while the city -- syrian government says that the delay is down to the -- down to security concerns. >> i have informed you look or that the syrian government has

facilitated all misses her measures for the fact-finding mission. today the security team, the u.n. security team, is in duma. of the opc we head said that investigators had been prevented from going to the scene by syrian and russian authorities. france and the u.k. have said that it is likely the site is being tampered with. moscow denies stalling. >> that is ridiculous. what we have heard today, they made a special statement that andia is doing something that's ridiculous. first of all, russia is a country calling for inspectors to go to syria. >> according to witness reports, over 40 were killed in air trip -- aircraft dropped alms filled with toxic chemicals on the town.

as these substances degrade quickly, the longer they are kept from the site, the harder it will be for them to produce an accurate picture of the events. >> starbucks says that it will close 8000 of its american shops for one day next month to give staff bias training. that's the latest from the fallout over the incident at a philadelphia starbucks this week. two black men were arrested while reportedly waiting for a friend, the arrest romping protest and calls to boycott the coffee giant across the country. >> a public relations battle, the world's largest coffee company is this -- is determined to win. starbucks announced plans to close some 8000 of its outlets for an afternoon in may so that many of its 17,000 employees can be trained in how to prevent racial discrimination. the move follows global outcry at the arrest of two black men as they waited for a friend at a

starbucks in philadelphia. that the men are not doing anything wrong for they are handcuffed and led away for trespassing. the starbucks ceo was quick to accept personal responsibility for the incident. the way theened in incident escalated and the outcome was nothing but reprehensible. and i'm sorry. >> one global analyst is impressed by starbucks damage limitation strategy. need to figure out how to stop it immediately. if it's discrimination against in pay or whatever. you need to educate your employees. we want?o >> justice. >> for customers, it may be sometime before starbucks wins back its reputation. been arrested,

accosted, killed in the streets for walking black and brown. same is happening in an institution that claims to be community oriented. >> the message to boycott starbucks has been spread thousands of times on twitter. >> the funeral service for first lady barbara bush has been set for this saturday. she died at age 92, 1 of only two women to be a wife and mother of u.s. presidents. we have a look back at her life. >> nicknamed the silver fox by her family, to the american public she was a grandmotherly figure. she was the second woman in u.s. history to be both a wife and mother of a u.s. president. >> i had trouble married to the

president. now to see the same fellow i used to drive around in little league carpools and i would yell at to please pick up his room, to see him as president is truly amazing. bush was anady, advocate for literacy and started the barbara bush foundation to promote this goal, raising over $40 million for literacy programs across america. bush, photographed holding an infant with a virus, spreading awareness that transition could .ot occur >> it's an issue with which he became closely associated. showed an unusually compassionate side, certainly for someone from the political realm at that time. >> sharp honk, private -- sharp tongued and private, she kept

her opinion on her husband of the policy to his health, but she revealed she disagreed with him on two issues. her support for legal abortion and opposition to the sale of assault weapons. >> one of the biggest threats to but now as ocean, breakthrough from a team of international scientists could hold the key. >> a happy accident leading to scientific breakthroughs. they were studying bacteria capable of breaking down plastic when they unintentionally mutated it and eats more >> discovering exams i'm is a rare -- amazing. the bacteria that that had and in the lab we can

digest it within days. much quicker than in the environment. 90% oftic accounts for the waste in the sea. polyethylene can survive for years in the ocean. the newly created enzyme can into a small heap within days. the discovery of the classic eating the exterior -- plastic eating bacteria was hailed at the time and now with the new, improved -- improved enzyme, congress hopes they can get one step closer to finding an acceptable solution to the global plastic solution crisis. >> thanks for joining us here on ."rance 24

donald trump confirms cia director mike pompeo, his new pic for secretary of state, had a secret meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un. trumpet made the announcement, as is his way, by tweet. chemical weapons inspectors still waiting to get into the syrian city of duma, the site of a suspected poison gas attack. critics say the ongoing delays mean that any evidence of such a strike would now be gone. its firstset to have president in decades not named castro. lawmakers there are starting a two day session to name the country's new president. .ime for our business news now stephen, you have been looking at how much this raised controversy around starbucks could cost the company. >> the coffee chain is too close 8000 outlets in the united states for half a day next month to provide racial tolerance training to 175,000 staff. that is after the arrest of two blechman waiting in a

philadelphia starbucks cafe. they are using the annual sales figures and the website , saying that revenue will be around $12 million for the company. a pretty small amount when you consider that they took in $22 billion last year. many people are finding it difficult to get access to cash? atm's in thef country ran out of cash and they are set to print more banknotes. some parts of the country were seeing a temporary shortage of cash, but they said there was enough currency in sit -- in circulation. of 2016, reminded many when the government abruptly and are largely due to logistical issues. >> back to france, the government has launched a new scheme aimed at creating jobs in disadvantaged

areas. >> the jobless rate has doubled the national average. they are helping to boost employment in disadvantaged areas by offering subsidies to employers. the previous version of the scheme was deemed too complicated to succeed. >> just 30 kilometers from the center of paris, this neighborhood's unemployment rate is twice as high as the national average. a government scheme is trying to help areas like this. >> the neighborhood was prioritized by the scheme. i was happy about that, benefiting as one of the first with a contract in the area. >> it offers a fixed bonus to the employer for giving a job to someone from these neighborhoods. ,5,000 bonus for a 10 year 15,000 -- for a two-year contract, and a 15,000 euro bonus for a three-year contract. >> the bonus offered in exchange

for a contractor doesn't just allow you to make the decision to take someone on, but whether to give them a temporary or permanent contracts. in the case of stanislaus, we offered a permanent contract and a more generous salary. >> the idea has been tested before. withuel macron hopes that the conditions to qualify, this time it will be a success. the government hopes that between 12000 and 15,000 contracts will be signed this year alone. in the first 18 days of the pilot, 218 contracts were signed. the scheme is set to be rolled in 2020.s france >> checking in on the market now, the new chinese tariffs on u.s. import markets, europe is not too worried about the latest escalation of trade tensions. company results take the cake.

done home, shares are up over 2% after stock gains across the board. one company not having a good day is the making -- maker of , afterts, della rue the seal for a franco dutch company. the company says that it remains ,urprised and disappointed thinking that the new passports would be made by another firm. and a profit warning was issued for the contract of 4 million pounds. news.ebook is back in the tagging through social appearance. the company stop using it six years ago after pressure from regulators. at new data rules next month

will allow europeans to opt in to the service and share the information with facebook. the feature has been controversial in the united states as well. a class action has been taken against the company for storing data without consent. i don't like that fate of thinks it knows what i look like. >> i like it less when it thinks i'm someone else. [laughter] let's now take a look at our press review. allison is with us on the set to take a look at what the papers have been saying. we are going to start with this enormous investigation into the murder of a maltese journalist last october. >> that's right. who killed her? that is what "the guardian" and a dozen other papers around the world are trying to figure out. they are calling this series of boards the daphne project. she was a hugely influential maltese investigative journalist killed by a car bomb back in

october. the project about her is just a first in a series of projects by the group forbidden stories. in international network of journalists dedicating to continue the work of other journalists who have been killed or put in jail, making sure that no story gets silenced. more stories about her and money laundering, coming out of malta. >> and there has been a first wave of revelations that focus on the murder case. tell us about what has been uncovered so far. >> the main allegations is that the maltese government is somehow involved in protecting the identity of the person who was the mastermind. and if you look at their front and despitepolice the fact that the husband says

he believes the mastermind behind the killing is someone close to the government. they also report that the three men currently in custody for her murder seem to have been tipped off before they were arrested, another sort of strange detail. these reports have been making waves since they started coming out yesterday. the economy minister is under and you needed to pursue for libel in court. witnesses told the daphne project that they saw him drinking with one of the murder suspects after it -- after the death but before the suspect was arrested, sort of strange. as you read here, he has. the denied these allegations and says they have no foundation in the truth. the cia director for

secretary of state, the pic from trump, met with kim jong-un a few weeks ago. he satlluded to it as down with the japanese prime minister, saying that there have been talks held at very high levels. they were, indeed, the highest levels since 2000, when madeleine albright met with kim jong-un's father. there have been rumblings over these upcoming summits between north korea and the u.s., north korea and south rio. there is an interesting article about kim jong-un's wife, they report that she is being given a bigger and bigger role as they prepare for these summits. the state news agency used to just refer to her as comrade but now they are beginning to refer to her as respected madam. she's getting pumped up to first lady status and if she attends the summit with him, it will be the first time that the spouses of the leaders from north and

south korea have met. at the previous summits, he didn't bring his wife. lady in theirst news, barbara bush passed away at age of 92. >> big news in the age of 92. "the new york post" is paying almost to her today. calling her first lady, first mom, reference to one of the two women in u.s. history the wife and mother to a u.s. president. her hair started going white when her young daughter was six with leukemia and she decided never to die at. on this old cover of time magazine they called her a silver fox. she said her best political advice was to be yourself. well, maybe someone a little bit nicer.

>> stormy daniels? >> she has been on a media blitz lately. two thorns in the side of the american president. i have a warning for our viewers , this is the first time we have shown a sexually explicit magazine in a press review, but she is on the cover of the upcoming issue of "penthouse." the most wanted woman in america. if she wins her case against the president, she says she plans to donate the 100 $30,000 she received in hush money to planned parenthood, and organization of provides health care for women, feeding into the argument that some had been making that she is becoming an unlikely feminist icon. on the other hand, she is on the cover of open penthouse" magazine, which you could say caters to the male gaze.

a complex figure. >> you can get a closer look at the press review, if you want, on a website, france24.com. the decrepit train system in mozambique has gotten a facelift thanks to the private sector, but not a lot more comfortable for travelers. the ]qçç

♪ music narrator: lima, peru, one of the driest cities on earth. a quarter of the population have no direct access to water. narrator: all over the globe water supplies are dwindling as temperatures rise and glaciers melt. as we head towards an ice-free earth, it will only get worse. everyone will be affected. lonnie thompson: it doesn't matter whether you're living in peru or the united states or china, you will be impacted by this change. narrator: but something can be done. people are already adapting to combat climate