Tuesday, Aug 27, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning.

We’re covering a flurry of news from the final day of the Group of 7 summit in France. We also have a long overdue appreciation of Venus Williams and a look at the secret language of plants.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

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

Trump open to meeting with Iran

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 his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, and even suggested offering short-term loans to help the country weather its current economic difficulties.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would try to set up the 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.

Context: Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have soared since Mr. Trump abandoned the 2015 global nuclear agreement with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions.

Trump also pivoted on China. Again.

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 newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party 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.

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

G7 spotlights fires in the Amazon

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 the 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 two other philanthropists, Laurene Powell Jobs and Brian Sheth, pledged $5 million for the Amazon.

Impact: It’s unclear how far $20 million or $25 million can go to douse tens of thousands of fires currently burning in the Amazon. President Sebastián Piñera of Chile suggested that affected countries in the area needed specialized aircraft and specially trained fire brigades.

Macron vs. Bolsonaro: The argument over the Amazon fires quickly turned into a feud between the presidents of Brazil and France, with both taking personal swipes at one another.

If you have some time, this is worth it

Did Venus Williams ever get her due?

Mickalene Thomas for The New York Times

The lives of the Williams sisters have been studied repeatedly to decode how they rose from the gang-ridden neighborhood of Compton, Calif., to become two of the greatest tennis players of all time, transforming not just the game but also the idea of what’s possible for women in sports.

But Serena’s blinding light makes it easy to lose sight of what a star Venus is, our Magazine writes. Currently ranked 52nd in the world, Venus was out front, alone, paving the way for Serena, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend, Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff.

Here’s what else is happening

U.S. Open: The first day of matches is underway in New York City. Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic claimed easy first-round wins. And, in a few hours, Serena Williams goes head-to-head with Maria Sharapova. Follow live updates here.

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.

Indonesia: President Joko Widodo proposed building a new capital on the island of Borneo to replace Jakarta, a polluted city of 10 million. The project would cost an estimated $33 billion.

Australia: Dozens of wallabies have been found dead in the past week near the northern city of Cairns. Rescuers suspect foul play, and a toxicology report is expected in the next few days.

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 Russian authorities’ gradual drip of information about what appears to have been a nuclear accident during a military test.

Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, an Afropunk festivalgoer in Brooklyn, New York, this weekend. Every year in cities around the world, the music festival draws people from the African diaspora to celebrate and champion blackness in all of its expressions.

Can plants speak? Dr. Monica Gagliano, currently at 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.”

Modern Love: Two lovers who met in college decided to go their separate ways and then meet up again in five years to see if they were The One for each other.

Inside The Times: Here are 12 Instagram accounts to follow for a peek into life as a Times journalist around the world and at the New York Times headquarters in Manhattan.

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.”

Now, a break from the news

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.)

Watch: “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” a Netflix film based on the TV show, will expand on the story of Jesse Pinkman.

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

Read: “Half Gods,” a debut story collection by Akil Kumarasamy set in the shadow of the Sri Lankan civil war, explores how “traumatized people piece their shattered lives back together,” writes our reviewer.

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.

And now for the Back Story on …

Sunscreen

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 begins on a mountaintop in Switzerland.

Coney Island, New York, in July this year. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

After suffering 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 2.

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 individuals may have enough protection from their own melanin.

That’s it for this briefing. Thanks to the readers who pointed out that we made a mistake in Monday’s back story. The number of states that were eventually created, wholly or in part, from the Louisiana Purchase was 15, not 14.

See you next time.

— Alisha

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 our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Bird whose extinction was caused by humans (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 story about a campaign led by President Trump’s allies intended to harass and embarrass individuals affiliated with several leading news organizations