Brazil, Jeffrey Epstein, U.S. Open: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/briefing/brazil-jeffrey-epstein-us-open.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. Brazil might, after all, accept the $22 million pledged by leaders at the G7 summit.

Under growing international and domestic criticism, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, said he might reconsider his rejection of aid to fight the Amazon fires — if President Emmanuel Macron of France withdrew “insults made to my person,” and any insinuations against Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon.

Mr. Macron’s pressure on Brazil was just one of the ways he used the summit as the perfect stage to position France, and himself, as the candidate to fill the vacancy left by President Trump’s retreat from traditional Western values.

More on forest fires: While the images from the Amazon rainforest have drawn international attention and alarm, Central Africa and parts of Southern Africa are also in flames.

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2. “Justice has never been served in this case.”

That was a quotation from one of 16 women who told stories of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein at a packed, cathartic hearing in a Manhattan federal court. They spoke of the distress they had endured and a criminal justice system they feel failed them. Sarah Ransome, above left, and Virginia Roberts Giuffre, above right, were among them.

The judge had invited the women to speak at the hearing, which was held to formally drop sex-trafficking charges against Mr. Epstein two weeks after his suicide. Prosecutors assured the court that investigations into his activities, death and associates would continue.

We also spoke with two sisters who reported Mr. Epstein’s troubling behavior nine years before any police investigation.

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3. A former star Uber engineer was charged with stealing self-driving car technology from Google, his previous employer.

Federal prosecutors charged the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, one of Silicon Valley’s foremost technologists on self-driving cars, pictured in 2016, with 33 counts of theft and attempted theft of trade secrets. It is not uncommon for tech companies to sue former employees or the firms they join after they leave, but criminal charges against a senior executive for theft are unusual.

In other tech news, children in Britain are about to get much better privacy protections online than those in the U.S. and other countries in Europe. A British baroness is behind the new rules.

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4. Many LinkedIn users welcome connections to strangers. That makes them particularly vulnerable to spy recruiters.

Western intelligence officials say Chinese agents have been using social media, particularly LinkedIn, to recruit foreign spies and assets, including former government officials like Jonas Parello-Plesner, a former Danish Foreign Ministry official, above. Here’s how they do it.

Separately, the Communist Party doesn’t officially exist in Hong Kong, but from the shadows, it is driving a group of activists for what it calls a “life and death” struggle against the pro-democracy demonstrations that are now in their 12th week.

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5. The Cherokee Nation is seeking representation in Congress for the first time in history.

The group is pointing to treaties signed in the 18th and 19th centuries that explicitly promised them a seat at the table. Kimberly Teehee, an official with the Cherokee Nation, the largest of nearly 600 federally recognized Native American tribes, has been nominated to represent the Nation as a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives.

In the presidential race, we look at the campaign of Tom Steyer, the billionaire former hedge fund investor. Whether or not he makes the debate stage in September, the unlikely populist is poised to be a deeply disruptive figure in the Democratic primary.

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6. A federal judge blocked Missouri from enforcing a ban on abortions at eight weeks, a day before the law was to take effect.

Senior Judge Howard Sachs criticized lawmakers’ “hostility” to the Supreme Court precedent on abortion, and also blocked portions of the law that sought to ban abortions after 14, 18 or 20 weeks.

The legislation was enacted by Republican legislators as part of a national campaign to restrict abortion and perhaps prompt the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade.

The normal caution federal courts should apply to delaying state laws, Judge Sachs said, “may be mitigated when the legislation seems designed, as here, as a protest against Supreme Court decisions.”

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7. At Wimbledon, Naomi Osaka said she didn’t enjoy tennis at all. As she begins her U.S. Open title defense, she is hoping to start having fun again.

And she’s well on her way — she won her first-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the afternoon, above. Coco Gauff is playing soon. She’s the rare player whose South Florida training ground is also her birthplace.

Rafael Nadal plays John Millman at 7 p.m. We’ll have live updates here.

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8. Give us your fabulous, your ridiculous, your profane — and more of it.

At the 36th annual MTV Video Music Awards last night, Missy Elliott, above, delighted with a medley of her hits, Miley Cyrus gave a powerful performance and nobody interrupted Taylor Swift. Here are the night’s most notable events.

As for fashion, the event felt “deeply uninspiring,” our chief fashion critic writes, save for statements like the rapper-flutist Lizzo’s strapless gown emblazoned with the word “siren,” and Diplo’s floral cowboy look.

A little more music: Our culture reporter looks at the origins of the dembow rhythm, that boom-ch-boom-chk sound that evokes that singular summer feeling.

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9. Countryside and coasts. Baroque grandeur and bucolic countryside. Puglia has a bit of everything, our 52 Places traveler found.

The Southern Italian region was a good place to go with the flow and re-energize after he passed the halfway mark of his yearlong trip. “Sometimes one’s hazy impressions, disjointed and amorphous, can carry an emotional resonance that will one day draw you back,” he writes.

Fellow travelers may also be considering a scooter or an e-bike as a cheap, easy way to tour urban centers. Our advice: Make sure to follow the safety precautions.

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10. And finally, should you take your shoes off at home?

If you want to keep from tracking dirt in, sure. But if your concern is about microbes, the consensus of experts is: Relax. Considering the benefits of modern-day sanitation, vaccinations and health care, the likelihood of getting sick from our shoes is “infinitesimally small as to almost be unwarranted,” one pediatrician said.

One exception: Chuck the shoes if there are young children crawling on the floors.

Over all, experts emphasized that washing your hands with soap and water remained the most important health practice.

Have a tidy night.

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