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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Bolsonaro spokesman dismisses ‘colonialist’ wildfire aid offer
Brazil has roundly rejected an offer of $20m from the G7 to help fight record wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. Onyx Lorenzoni, President Jair Bolsonaro’s chief of staff, told a Brazilian news website: “Those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe.” The pledge was made at the urging of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose motives Lorenzoni dismissed as “colonialist and imperialist”. Environmentalists, meanwhile, said the sum was mere “chump change” in the context of such a vast conservation crisis.
Bolivia ablaze. Almost 1m hectares (6,200 sq miles) of farmland and forest have been destroyed by fire in Bolivia, Brazil’s neighbour. After first rejecting international assistance, President Evo Morales has suspended his re-election campaign to coordinate foreign aid efforts.
Empty chair. Donald Trump skipped a key discussion on the climate, biodiversity and tackling the Amazon wildfires at the G7 summit on Monday, leaving his chair conspicuously empty.
Trump defends offer to host G7 summit at his Miami resort
The US is due to host the G7 summit next year, and Trump has just the venue in mind: his own National Doral Miami resort in Florida. During a joint press conference with Macron at the Biarritz summit on Monday, the US president confirmed his 800-acre golf resort was among the potential venues for 2020 – and rejected accusations of seeking to profit from the presidency. “Probably it will cost me anywhere from $3bn to $5bn to be president,” he claimed, adding: “The only thing I care about is this country.”
Cancel the G7. The G7 is unable to coordinate its responses to the biggest issues of the day – and the biggest obstacle is Trump, says Michael H Fuchs. The annual summit ought to be cancelled until he is no longer president.
Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $572m over opioid crisis
A judge in Oklahoma has ruled that Johnson & Johnson ran a “false and dangerous” sales campaign that contributed to the opioids crisis and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $572m in damages. It is the first judgment of its kind against the drug industry, amid accusations that Big Pharma firms pushed false claims about the safety and strength of their painkillers, leading to widespread addiction and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Indian market. While they face litigation and criticism at home, US drugmakers have turned their attentions to India’s booming market in pain, as Sarah Varney reports from New Delhi.
Russian hackers to target Florida in 2020, experts warn
Russian hackers breached two county voting systems and a software vendor in Florida during the 2016 presidential election. And with the swing state still key to the outcome in 2020, cybersecurity experts are warning it will again be a target for foreign interference. The Democrat Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee – which commissioned a study on Russian meddling and election security nationwide – told the Guardian there were “a lot of reasons to be concerned about the security of Florida’s elections”.
New measures. Since 2016, Florida has introduced network monitoring sensors in all counties to detect meddling, and expanded its paper ballot backup systems. But election security experts say there is still more to be done.
Crib sheet
Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, has back-pedalled on holding talks with Trump after the US president suggested the possibility at the G7 summit. Rouhani said no such meeting could take place until the US lifted sanctions on Tehran.
The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, has announced the country will move its national capital from Jakarta to a brand new city to be built in East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, has condemned a fresh round of violent protests that erupted in the city over the weekend, insisting “violence is not the way to resolve problems” and denying she has lost control of the situation.
A study by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine has concluded that optimists live longer than their less cheerful peers and have a better chance of reaching 85 or older.
Must-reads
How Generation Z created an extreme makeup subculture
Many young boys and girls now spend hours in their bedrooms, perfecting extraordinarily intricate makeup designs to share with fellow members of a burgeoning subculture on YouTube and Instagram. “It’s just art, but it’s on your face,” learns Sirin Kale.
How populists sparked a global immigration panic
From Trump to Viktor Orbán, populist politicians across the globe have been winning votes by nurturing an ancient suspicion of outsiders. The west is being destroyed not by migrants, but by the manufactured fear of migrants, as Suketu Mehta reports.
Are Bernie’s attacks on the media fair – or Trumpian?
Bernie Sanders claims his presidential campaign is facing bias against its working-class agenda from the “corporate and billionaire-owned media”. His complaints reflect a broader willingness among Democrats to criticise the press – but, asks Joan E Greve, does he risk sounding too much like the president he hopes to defeat?
Why Taylor Swift can use ‘literally’ figuratively
In her interview with the Guardian last weekend, Taylor Swift said she was “literally about to break” under pressure in 2016. The language police soon pounced on her figurative use of “literally”. But language and meaning evolve, says David Shariatmadari – and literally is a word in the midst of a change.
Opinion
David Koch, the billionaire industrialist and libertarian, donated some of his vast wealth to cancer research. That he did so only after he was diagnosed with cancer himself epitomises the grotesquely selfish mentality that is his legacy, says Alex Kotch.
This is the tragic mindset of many a rightwing oligarch: the toils, the woes, the maladies of humankind are irrelevant – unless they happen to me, or perhaps my close family members.
Sport
Serena Williams thrashed her old rival Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 on Monday to progress to the second round of the US Open, while her sister Venus also went through in two sets – on the same day a statue was unveiled at Flushing Meadows in honour of her tennis forebear, Althea Gibson.
Inter Milan’s $90m signing Romelu Lukaku has scored in his first Serie A appearance since moving to Italy from Manchester United, contributing to his new club’s 4-0 win over Lecce.
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