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G7, Amazon, Russian Explosion: Your Tuesday Briefing

Here’s what you need to know.

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Good morning.

We’re covering a flurry of news from the final day of the Group of 7 summit in France. We also have the global reach of U.S. firearms and a jewelry heist straight out of the movies.


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President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron at the final news conference of the G7.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

One of the biggest developments from the Group of 7 summit in Biarritz, France, came at the end, during the final news conference on Monday.

President Trump said he would “certainly agree” to meeting with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, and he even suggested offering short-term loans to help the country weather its current economic difficulties.

Mr. Trump was responding to an overture by President Emmanuel Macron of France, who said he would try to set up a meeting in the next few weeks in an effort to resolve the intensifying conflict between Washington and Tehran. The meeting would be the first between American and Iranian leaders since the Tehran hostage crisis of 1979.

Go deeper: Mr. Trump embraced global diplomacy over go-it-alone confrontation yesterday, but there were still significant differences between the seven countries’ approaches.

Context: Tensions between Tehran and Washington have flared since Mr. Trump abandoned the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran last year and imposed damaging sanctions.


President Trump, in another surprise, told reporters that Chinese officials had reached out to restart trade talks, and called President Xi Jinping a “great leader” three days after branding him an “enemy.”

But Beijing didn’t confirm any phone calls with the Trump administration, and the editor of a state-run newspaper in China wrote on Twitter that there had been no significant contacts in recent days.

Impact: The president’s apparent efforts to tamp down the trade conflict, capping days of wild fluctuations on the matter, seemed timed to reassure markets. U.S. stocks rose on Monday.

Analysis: Mr. Trump says the U.S. must sever commercial dependence on China. He also says he wants powerful economic growth. He can’t have both, and the trade war threatens to force him to choose.


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An aerial image of the fires in the Amazon rain forest on Sunday.Credit...Victor Moriyama/Getty Images

The Group of 7, after a session on climate, agreed on a $20 million aid package to help Brazil and its neighbors fight the blazes in the rain forest, a crucial absorber of the world’s carbon dioxide. President Trump didn’t attend the session, but a senior member of his administration did.

The group also agreed, in principle, on a long-term forest protection plan, with more details likely to be presented at the U.N. General Assembly next month.

More aid: Earth Alliance, an environmental organization founded by the actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth, pledged $5 million for the Amazon.

Leaders clash: The argument over the Amazon fires quickly turned into a feud between Presidents Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Emmanuel Macron of France, with both taking personal swipes at each other.

Perspective: Farmers in the Amazon say global scorn over a rise in deforestation and fires is unwarranted, backing Mr. Bolsonaro as he strikes a defiant tone. They argue that fire and deforestation are essential to keep them in business, and that the damage is modest.


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Credit...Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

American firearms have poured into neighboring countries and caused record violence, in part because of federal and state laws that make it difficult to track the weapons.

Above, the police conducting a raid in Jamaica, where more than 80 percent of homicides are committed with guns, most of them from the U.S. Drawing on court documents, case files, interviews and confidential data from both countries, The Times examined the trend, tracing a single gun to nine homicides.

Opioid crisis: In the first trial against a drug maker for the public health disaster in the U.S., a judge in Oklahoma ruled against Johnson & Johnson and ordered it to pay the state $572 million.

Tropical storm Dorian: The fourth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season may develop into a hurricane as it nears Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic this week, forecasters said.

Russia: The national meteorological agency named four radioactive particles that were released by a mysterious explosion at a military testing site this month, the latest data point in the Russian authorities’ gradual drip of information about what appears to have been a nuclear accident during a military test.

Science: Human remains found in Croatia provide the earliest genetic evidence of the presence of people from East Asia in Europe.

From Opinion: In a column, Bethany Milton, a former Foreign Service officer, writes about why she resigned from her post: “What of the administration’s policies is there left to defend to foreign audiences, other than a promise that we’re a democracy and that there are future elections to come?”

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Credit...New York Police Department

Snapshot: Above, a jewelry heist in the diamond district in Manhattan that took on the characteristics of an old-school crime movie — disguises, expensive jewels and even a fedora were involved. The robbers struck in broad daylight and then fled with the loot, the police said.

Can plants speak? Dr. Monica Gagliano of the University of Sydney in Australia is spearheading research into plant behavior, signaling and communication. She recalls that an oak tree once told her, “You are here to tell our stories.”

U.S. Open: The tournament is entering its second day in New York. Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic claimed easy first-round wins. Serena Williams crushed Maria Sharapova last night in just 59 minutes, in her 18th straight triumph over her rival.

What we’re reading: This article from Nautilus. Melina Delkic, on the Briefings team, calls it “a personal and a scientific look at how closely intertwined language is — particularly one’s first language — with the sense of self.”

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Credit...Lizzy Johnston for The New York Times

Cook: Southern shrimp scampi is delicious over rice or pasta, or alongside a crusty piece of bread. (Our Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter has more recommendations.)

Go: International tourism is rising in Lebanon, which offers an increasing number of environmentally friendly options for travelers.

Read: Four different booklets in special editions of Taylor Swift’s new album, “Lover,” contain reproductions of handwritten journals that reveal what the artist wants us to see — and what she doesn’t.

Watch: The comedian Margaret Cho impersonates her tattoo-averse mother for T: The New York Times Style Magazine’s “Tell T a Joke” feature.


Smarter Living: Sound homework routines set children up for success in school. The bedrock is organized work spaces and backpacks, so important assignments don’t get lost in clutter. Nightly to-do checklists help them prioritize and plan ahead. And you can help your child deal with three main challenges in studying: procrastinating, feeling overwhelmed and struggling to retain information.

And this week’s Social Q’s column offers advice on the etiquette of refusing a secret bribe from a friend’s mother.

The Egyptians used rice, jasmine and lupine; the ancient Greeks used olive oil; and some Native American tribes used a type of pine needle.

Preventing sun damage has been around for millenniums, but the modern concept of sunscreen began on a mountaintop in Switzerland.

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Coney Island, N.Y., in July.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

After developing a sunburn while climbing Mount Piz Buin in 1938, a Swiss chemistry student set out to invent an effective sunscreen. Eight years later, Gletscher Crème (Glacier Cream) came to market, with what is thought to have been a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of only two.

A World War II airman mixed an early, heavy form of petroleum jelly with cocoa butter and coconut oil into a product that would eventually become Coppertone.

Don’t leave home without it? The American Academy of Dermatology’s official position is that everyone should wear sunscreen to forestall skin cancer, but, as our reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis recently wrote, dark-skinned people may have enough protection from their own melanin.


That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina


Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Remy Tumin, on the briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about an early accusation of sexual assault against Jeffrey Epstein.
• Here’s today’s Mini Crossword puzzle, and a clue: Back talk (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, wrote a cautionary note to the staff, calling attention to a Times article about a campaign led by President Trump’s allies intended to harass and embarrass people affiliated with several leading news organizations.

Melina Delkic writes the Europe edition of the Morning Briefing. More about Melina Delkic

Alisha Haridasani Gupta writes In Her Words for The New York Times. More about Alisha Haridasani Gupta

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