AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Trump says unless NKorea summit ‘fruitful’ he’ll pull out

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that although he’s looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he could still pull out if he feels it’s “not going to be fruitful.”

Trump said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim “got along really well” in their recent secret meeting, and he declared, “We’ve never been in a position like this” to address worldwide concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

But speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after the allies met at Trump’s Florida resort, he made clear that he’d still be ready to pull the plug on what is being billed as an extraordinary meeting between the leaders of longtime adversaries.

“If I think that if it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we’re not going to go. If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful I will respectfully leave the meeting,” Trump told a news conference. He also said that a U.S.-led “maximum pressure” campaign of tough economic sanctions on North Korea would continue until the isolated nation “denuclearizes.”

Abe echoed the sentiment.

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Regulators to require inspections after jet engine explosion

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. airline regulators said Wednesday they will order inspections on engine fan blades like the one that snapped off and triggered a fatal accident on a Southwest Airlines jet.

The move by the Federal Aviation Administration comes nearly a year after the engine manufacturer recommended the additional inspections, and a month after European regulators ordered their airlines to do the work.

Pressure for the FAA to act grew after an engine on a Southwest jet blew apart Tuesday, showering the plane with debris and shattering a window. A woman sitting next to the window died of her injuries. The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

Federal investigators said a blade that broke off in mid-flight was showing signs of metal fatigue — microscopic cracks that can splinter open under the kind of stress placed on jetliners and their engines.

The National Transportation Safety Board also blamed metal fatigue in preliminary findings after an engine broke apart on another Southwest Boeing 737 over Florida in 2016.

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A boom, a whoosh of air and then terror on Flight 1380

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — There was a loud boom, and the plane started shaking violently. Air whooshed through the cabin, and snow-like debris floated down the aisle as oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. Some passengers wondered if they would ever hug their children again. At least one bought in-flight Wi-Fi as the jet descended so he could say goodbye to his loved ones.

A blown engine on a Southwest Airlines jet Tuesday hurled shrapnel at the aircraft and led to the death of a passenger who was nearly blown out of a broken window of the Boeing 737.

The terrifying chain of events on Flight 1380 brought out acts of bravery among the 149 passengers and crew members and drew across-the-board praise for the cool-headed pilot who safely guided the crippled jet to an emergency landing in Philadelphia during the 22-minute crisis.

A BANG, THEN ‘DEBRIS IS FLYING IN YOUR FACE’

Alfred Tumlinson was travelling with his wife back to Corpus Christi, Texas, after attending a Texas Farm Bureau gala in New York City. About 30 minutes after the flight took off from La Guardia Airport, they heard a boom at about 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania, and the plane started descending.

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10 Things to Know for Thursday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

1. ‘A FEW PASSENGERS WERE VERY STRONG’

The terrifying string of events on Southwest Flight 1380 brought out acts of bravery among passengers and crew — and drew praise for the pilot who guided the plane safely to the ground.

2. WHO’LL FOLLOW RAUL CASTRO AS CUBAN PRESIDENT

With the Castro era closing, 57-seven-year-old First Vice-President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez is picked as the sole candidate for the post.

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Former President George HW Bush buoyed by tributes to wife

HOUSTON (AP) — In his first public comments since his wife’s death, former President George H.W. Bush said Wednesday that he used to tease his spouse of 73 years that he had a complex about how much people liked her.

That fact, he said, is buoyed by stories about Barbara Bush’s warmth and wit following her death. Tributes have rolled in from around the world, from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to a U.S. Navy commander, who recalled Mrs. Bush handing out cookies to sailors on a battleship.

“I always knew Barbara was the most beloved woman in the world, and in fact I used to tease her that I had a complex about that fact,” the nation’s 41st president said in a statement released Wednesday.

His wife died Tuesday as their Houston home, where he held her hand, all day, before she died at age 92. They had been married longer than any other presidential couple.

The former president referred to his wife as “The Enforcer,” a term of endearment bestowed by her family as she ran their household while he pursued careers in the Texas oil business and later politics and public service. He said the outpouring of support and friendship toward his wife following her death “is lifting us all up.”

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Brown says agreement reached on California guard deployment

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown said Wednesday that he would join President Donald Trump’s border mission by contributing up to 400 National Guard troops, announcing a deal after a week of uncertainty about how to accomplish a deployment that focuses largely on illegal immigration and honour the governor’s insistence that troops avoid immigration-related work.

Brown said the Guard’s duties include fighting transnational criminal gangs and drug and gun smugglers in an order that reiterates his initial positions that the Guard cannot handle custody duties for anyone accused of immigration violations, build border barriers or have anything to do with immigration enforcement.

The terms are similar to those outlined in a contract Brown proposed last week, which the Trump administration decided not to sign because it was not usual protocol. Brown’s office said the signatures were unnecessary after he secured federal funding for his goals.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brown said some troops may be deployed this month and are expected to stay until at least Sept. 30. They will be assigned to all parts of the state, not just the border.

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Ex-Playboy model settles lawsuit over alleged Trump affair

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with President Donald Trump settled her lawsuit Wednesday with a supermarket tabloid over an agreement that prohibited her from discussing the relationship publicly.

Karen McDougal’s settlement with the company that owns the National Enquirer “restores to me the rights to my life story and frees me from this contract that I was misled into signing nearly two years ago,” she said in a statement Wednesday.

In August 2016, the tabloid’s parent company, American Media Inc., paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship, but the story never ran.

Last month, McDougal filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles asking to invalidate the contract, which she said she was misled into signing. The suit alleged that the company didn’t publish the story because AMI’s owner, David Pecker, is “close personal friends” with Trump. It also charged that Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, had inappropriately intervened and was secretly involved in discussions with AMI executives about the agreement.

Federal agents raided Cohen’s office and residence last week seeking any information on payments made in 2016 to McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels, according to people familiar with the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. The search warrants also sought bank records, records on Cohen’s dealings in the taxi industry and his communications with the Trump campaign, the people said.

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Starbucks incident highlights perils of shopping while black

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — It was a surreal scene that is part of daily life for many black Americans and minorities, an everyday moment gone wrong, ending in complete humiliation.

Two black men were handcuffed and arrested at a Starbucks, setting off a national uproar after the incident was captured on video. A worker complained the men were trespassing, but they maintained they were doing what thousands of people do in the popular coffee shops across the country — waiting to meet a friend.

The exchange was a fresh reminder that, five decades after the end of legal segregation, to be black in America is to be constantly challenged in certain spaces in ways white Americans scarcely have to consider, simply to get through the day without being hassled.

The term used to describe encounters like the one at the Starbucks is “retail racism,” also known as “shopping while black.” It happens when minority customers are treated differently than white customers through a variety of indignities and slights, such as being refused service, falsely accused of shoplifting or reported to security or police over something mundane.

“It is about a perception that black people are undesirable in a given location,” said Princeton University African-American studies professor Imani Perry. “Having to perform being non-threatening … it’s exhausting, and it is a commonplace expectation.”

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First Saudi cinema opens with popcorn and ‘Black Panther’

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The lights dimmed and the crowd of men and women erupted into applause and hoots Wednesday evening as Hollywood’s blockbuster “Black Panther” premiered in Saudi Arabia’s first movie theatre.

Though it was a private, invitation-only screening, for many Saudis it marked one of the clearest moments of change to sweep the country in decades. It’s seen as part of a new era in which women will soon be allowed to drive and people in the kingdom will be able to go to concerts and fashion shows, and tuck into a bucket of popcorn in a cinema.

“It’s a new era, a new age. It’s that simple. Things are changing, progress is happening. We’re opening up and we’re catching up with everything that’s happening in the world,” said Rahaf Alhendi, who attended the showing.

Authorities said the public would be able to purchase tickets online Thursday for showings starting Friday. But there may be delays.

Movies screened in Saudi cinemas will be subject to approval by government censors, and Wednesday night’s premiere was no exception. Scenes of violence were not cut, but a final scene involving a kiss was axed.

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‘That’s how she’s wired’: Pilot lauded for handling crisis

BOERNE, Texas (AP) — The Southwest Airlines pilot being lauded as a hero in a harrowing emergency landing after a passenger was partially blown out of the jet’s damaged fuselage is also being hailed for her pioneering role in a career where she has been one of the few women at the controls.

Tammie Jo Shults, one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, was the captain and piloting the Dallas-bound Flight 1380 when it made an emergency landing Tuesday in Philadelphia, according to her husband, Dean Shults.

One of the engines on the Boeing 737 exploded while the plane was travelling 500 mph (800 kph) at 30,000 feet (9144 m) with 149 people on board. Shrapnel hit the plane and passengers said they had to rescue a woman who was being blown out of a damaged window. The woman later died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso.

Shults calmly relayed details about the crisis to air traffic controllers, and passengers commended her handling of the situation.

In a statement late Wednesday, Shults and First Officer Darren Ellisor said they felt like they were simply doing their jobs.