10 things you need to know today: August 27, 2019

1. G-7 leaders offer aid for Amazon fires, but Brazil rejects it

Group of Seven leaders on Monday agreed to provide $20 million to help fight fires devastating the Amazon rainforest. Much of the money was earmarked to provide Brazil with "technical and financial help" to fight the fires, said French President Emmanuel Macron and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. The Amazon produces about 20 percent of the planet's oxygen. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned promising to open the Amazon up for mining, logging, and other businesses, was slow to react to the fires, which environmentalists and researchers said were started by cattle ranchers and loggers. Bolsonaro's office rejected the money. "We appreciate [the offer], but maybe those resources are more relevant to reforest Europe," Onyx Lorenzoni, Bolsonaro's chief of staff, told Brazilian media.

The Associated Press AFP

2. Poll shows three-way tie for lead in Democratic field

A new national Monmouth University Poll released Monday placed longtime 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden in a three-way tie with progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Former Vice President Biden's support fell from 32 in a June Monmouth poll to 19 percent in the new poll, while Warren and Sanders both rose several percentage points to 20 percent. Patrick Murray, who runs Monmouth's polling institute, said the tightening of the race showed that the primary is heating up as Democrats try to narrow a field that still includes 23 candidates. "The main takeaway from this poll is that the Democratic race has become volatile," Murray said, adding that moderate voters seem to be "expressing doubts about Biden."

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The New York Times

3. Brazilian prosecutors investigate slow response to Amazon fire threat

Brazilian prosecutors in the Amazon state of Pará are launching an investigation into why IBAMA, Brazil's environmental agency, ignored warnings that farmers, businessmen, and land-grabbers planned on setting fires around the town of Novo Progresso. Prosecutors say that on Aug. 5, a farmer told a local newspaper that on Aug. 10, they planned on setting fires to "show the president that we want to work," saying that they could only clear the land by cutting down trees and burning everything down. IBAMA finally responded two days after the fires were set, and said police had to leave the area because it was dangerous. This month, there have been more than 26,000 fires reported in the Amazon, which produces about 20 percent of the world's oxygen.

The Guardian

4. France, U.S. reach compromise on French digital tax

Officials from France and the United States have reportedly reached a compromise on a new French tax on digital services provided by large internet companies like Google and Amazon. The new agreement stipulates that France would repay companies the difference between its digital tax and whatever taxes come from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's planned mechanism. French President Emmanuel Macron praised the agreement, while maintaining that France will nix its national tax if and when his preferred method of an international tax system is implemented. President Trump had previously repeatedly threatened to tax French wine if Paris moved forward with its approved three percent tax on digital services.

CNN Reuters

5. 19 states, D.C. sue to block Trump push to extend child migrant detentions

A coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia, led by California and Massachusetts, filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block the Trump administration's effort to scrap a court agreement that limits the detention of migrant children to 20 days. The Trump administration has proposed rescinding the Flores settlement agreement and extending the detentions indefinitely while asylum-seeking families' cases are pending in immigration courts. "This new Trump rule callously puts at risk the safety and well-being of children," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement. "No child deserves to be left in conditions inappropriate and harmful for their age." Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced the change last week but acknowledged it would face court challenges.

The Hill USA Today

6. Weinstein pleads not guilty to 2 new sexual assault charges

Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Monday to two new predatory sexual assault charges. The trial had been scheduled to take place next month, but the judge delayed it until Jan. 6. The case involves allegations by The Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra that Weinstein raped her in 1993. Weinstein has been accused of sexual assault and rape by dozens of women. He already has entered not-guilty pleas on five other felony charges stemming from two other sexual assault allegations. Weinstein's lawyers are trying to get the case moved out of New York City because they say he would not get a fair trial in the city, which is where Sciorra says the alleged assault against her occurred. Weinstein is free on $1 million bond.

NBC News CNN

7. Judge orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million over role in opioid crisis

A judge on Monday ruled that Johnson & Johnson contributed to Oklahoma's opioid crisis, and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $572 million to help address the damage. The decision from Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman was the first to hold a drug maker responsible for the excessive distribution of the powerful and addictive painkillers starting in the late 1990s, and the national epidemic of addiction and overdose deaths that has resulted. The ruling in the first state trial was considered likely to affect legal strategies on both sides as more than 40 states prepare to take on the pharmaceutical industry in court. Johnson & Johnson denied wrongdoing and vowed to appeal. Two other companies named in the suit — OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals — settled with Oklahoma before the trial for $270 million and $85 million, respectively.

The Washington Post

8. U.S. agency tries to prevent ransomware attacks on voter databases

The federal government is preparing to launch a program to protect voter registration databases from cyber-attacks in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, Reuters reported Monday, citing current and former U.S. officials. The systems, used to validate voter eligibility, were targeted by Russian hackers in 2016, and intelligence officials are concerned hackers could try to compromise them again to manipulate or destroy data. "We assess these systems as high risk," said a senior U.S. official, citing the connection of the systems to the internet. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Homeland Security Department, has warned the databases could face ransomware attacks like the ones that have hobbled municipal computer networks across the nation with computer viruses.

Reuters

9. Puerto Rico declares emergency as Tropical Storm Dorian approaches

Tropical Storm Dorian neared the Windward Islands early Tuesday. Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines were under a tropical storm warning as some of the islands began feeling the storm's winds and heavy rains overnight. Forecasters predicted the storm would pass through the islands on the eastern edge of the Caribbean as a strong tropical storm, but strengthen into a weak hurricane over the open waters of the Caribbean. Some of the islands could face flooding from up to 10 inches of rainfall. Dorian is expected to next approach Hispaniola and Puerto Rico as a Category 1 hurricane. Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez Garced declared an emergency. The storm is expected to pass along the U.S. territory's southwest side Wednesday.

CNN The Weather Channel

10. Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova as U.S. Open gets underway

Serena Williams on Monday won her first match at the U.S. Open since her loss in last year's final, beating Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1. Williams won the match in just 59 minutes, blasting serves that clocked at up to 115 miles per hour. She has now defeated Sharapova in 19 straight meetings. Sharapova, who has five major singles titles under her belt, came into the match ranked 87th, as an injury to her right shoulder caused her to miss much of the season. Williams has 23 major singles titles, and has won the U.S. Open six times. Other winners on Day 1 of the Open included Novak Djokovic, who defeated Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-1, 6-5, and Venus Williams, who beat Zheng Saisai 6-1, 6-0.

The Associated Press