Monday, Aug 26, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering another flare-up of violence in Hong Kong, mass detentions in Kashmir and child jockeys in Indonesia.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

U.S.-China tensions shadow G7 summit

President Trump’s flip-flop on his trade war with China hung over the Group of 7 summit in Biarritz, France, dominating headlines and catching America’s closest allies off guard.

Beforehand, the president asserted he had the power to force all U.S. companies to leave China, citing a law meant to isolate criminal regimes. The idea shook markets and was denounced by both Chinese officials and American business leaders.

But Mr. Trump appeared to soften, saying he has “second thoughts about everything.” White House officials said he meant he should have acted even more forcefully against China.

Analysis: Experts say that Mr. Trump does, in fact, have the authority to pressure companies to pull out of China, but that doing so would be both destructive and impractical.

G7 updates: Mr. Trump praised the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson, calling him “the right man” for Brexit and promising a “very big trade deal” with the U.S.

Mr. Trump and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, said they were near a trade deal.

Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, made a surprise visit, at the invitation of France.

G7 leaders appeared to be nearing an agreement on fighting the fires in Brazil’s Amazon rain forest. Follow our live coverage of the G7.

Officers drew pistols during clashes on Sunday. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Hong Kong police escalate response to protests

Six police officers on Sunday drew their pistols and one fired a warning shot after protesters had put their lives in danger, said a police spokeswoman in an overnight news conference.

“The escalating illegal and violent acts of radical protesters are not only outrageous, they also push Hong Kong to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” the police said in a statement.

The police fired rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets and, for the first time since the protests started, used water cannon trucks against protesters, who threw bricks and firebombs.

Related: An employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong, Simon Cheung, who had been detained in China for weeks, has been released, the police said on Saturday. Chinese authorities said Mr. Cheung confessed to unspecified unlawful activities.

Aerial image of a fire in the Amazon rain forest this weekend. Victor Moriyama/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

As Amazon burns, Europe steps up

Fires in Brazil’s rain forest triggered a swift international response, with European leaders leading the charge.

President Emmanuel Macron threatened to kill a major trade deal between Europe and South America and sharply criticized Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change skeptic. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the fires would be a central issue at the G7 summit. Other leaders, environmentalists and celebrities called for a boycott of the country.

A chastened Mr. Bolsonaro, whose administration initially blamed the fires on environmentalists trying to embarrass the country, began sending the military to combat the fires.

Analysis: The E.U. actions against Brazil presented the bloc as the world’s “green superpower,” as one expert put it.

Background: Fires in the Amazon are common this time of year as newly cleared land is readied for crops or cattle-grazing, but Mr. Bolsonaro’s disdain for strict environmental policies has emboldened miners, loggers and farmers. Satellite images show that the number of fires increased sharply this year.

Related: Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, said he would accept international aid to fight record-breaking wildfires in his country, most also believed connected to agricultural clearance.

South Korean military drills add to strains with Japan

The South Korean military on Sunday kicked off its two-day biannual military exercises on the islets of Dokdo. They are also claimed by Japan, which calls them Takeshima.

The drills — aimed at demonstrating South Korea’s control of the islets — began just days after the government in Seoul abandoned an intelligence sharing agreement with Tokyo, exacerbating tensions already in their worst state in years.

Related: North Korea launched two short-range missiles on Saturday — its seventh weapons test in a month.

If you have 8 minutes, this is worth it

India’s mass detentions in Kashmir

Atul Loke for The New York Times

In the days before and after the Indian government revoked the territory’s special status, an estimated 2,000 people — including business leaders, human rights defenders, elected representatives, teachers, and students as young as 14 — were arrested. They have no access to lawyers, and no idea of the charges against them or how long they will be held.

Political analysts say the mass roundup was the final piece of a detailed plan that Mr. Modi’s government set into motion last year.

Here’s what else is happening

Nissan: As the Japanese carmaker builds an increasingly scathing case against its former chief, Carlos Ghosn, it has made public several management failures that provide fodder for investors in the U.S. to sue.

British Airways: The airline said several flights in September had been canceled because of planned strikes, then hours later said the flights wouldn’t be canceled after all, confusing and infuriating customers.

Brexit: Several British companies, including the one behind the popular Peppa Pig character, are still an attractive target for investors, despite the uncertainty around the county’s withdrawal from the E.U.

Iran: Tehran residents, particularly the wealthy, have started hiring ambulances to cut through traffic-choked streets, an illegal trend that has prompted a widespread backlash.

U.S.: Amid increased immigration enforcement, restaurants, which rely heavily on undocumented labor, are facing a fraught choice: fire trusted employees or risk prosecution.

Glasgow University: The university, one of the oldest in Britain, has been exploring its deep links to donors who benefited from the slave trade. Now, “in the spirit of reparative justice,” it has pledged to raise about $24.5 million over 20 years to fund broad research on slavery.

Prince Andrew: Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, whose long friendship with the financier Jeffrey Epstein is under intensifying scrutiny, denied knowing or seeing the sexual trafficking and exploitation of underage girls.

Adam Dean for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, children aged 5 to 10 in a professional race on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. The longstanding use of child jockeys there has been condemned as child abuse.

PGA: Six people were injured when lightening struck a golf course twice during the third round of the Tour Championship on Saturday, prompting organizers to stop play for the day.

Obituary: Sidney Rittenberg, 98, a U.S. soldier who stayed in China for 35 years after World War II, serving as a dedicated aide to Chairman Mao Zedong. After being incarcerated twice on espionage charges, he became disillusioned with Communism and moved back to the U.S., where he advised companies seeking to capitalize on China’s booming economy.

What we’re reading: This from CNN. Lynda Richardson, a Travel editor, writes: “Here’s a fascinating quiz about the most effective — and often surprising — ways that individuals, policymakers and businesses can curb climate change. Even if you get just about everything wrong, you’ll learn a lot.”

Now, a break from the news

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Cook: Chocolate pudding made with oat milk has the plushest texture.

Listen: “Lover,” Taylor Swift’s seventh album, is “a recalibration and a reaffirmation of old strengths,” writes our critic.

Read: “If,” a history of Rudyard Kipling’s first visit to the U.S., in 1889, is among 10 new books we recommend.

Go: Paris’s theaters are quiet in August — but in bars and nightclubs, drag shows are booming.

Smarter Living: The skies are getting bumpier, thanks to climate change. But experts say that severe turbulence remains a very rare occurrence, and airlines try to choose routes to avoid any at all. Still, remain buckled up throughout your flight, and just remember that, as one Delta executive said, “Modern aircraft are developed and tested to sustain any level of conceivable turbulence.”

And we also look at the ups and downs of digitally keeping tabs on your home when you’re on vacation.

And now for the Back Story on …

Territorial purchases

Last week, Denmark’s prime minister dismissed President Trump’s interest in buying Greenland as “absurd.” He didn’t it take kindly.

In fact, the U.S. has acquired a great deal of territory through monetary means, though most of the big buys came long ago. The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 added what we now call Louisiana, and also all or part of 13 other states, including the Dakotas.

United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing hands Danish Minister Brun a draft for $25 million to purchase the Danish West Indies in 1917. Bettmann, via Getty Images

In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, which some Americans denounced as “Seward’s Folly.”

The U.S. bought land from Denmark, too.

During World War I, fears that Germany might secure the Danish Virgin Islands renewed the U.S.’s longstanding interest in them. The Danes had been trying to get rid of the Caribbean islands since the mid-1800s, because their lucrative plantations had collapsed after a slave revolt forced the true enactment of the official abolishment of slavery in the colony.

Denmark resisted a deal without provisions for the population, but agreed to sell after President Woodrow Wilson’s secretary of state implied the U.S. might occupy the islands.

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

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Will Dudding, an assistant in the Standards Department, 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 introduces “1619,” a new audio series.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Clumsy Disney dog (5 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The New York Times’s R&D Team shared their research on smart speakers on the Times Open site, which collects accounts from those making our digital products.