A4 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019
The World
MOSCOW — A Russian
state weather agency named
for the first time Monday four
specific radioactive particles
released by an explosion at a
military testing site earlier this
month that left at least seven
people dead and has remained
shrouded in secrecy weeks af-
ter the incident.
The Russian meteorological
agency identified them as iso-
topes of strontium, two types
of barium, and lanthanum but
asserted that radiation levels
are now normal in cities near
the accident, which occurred
Aug. 8 in the country’s north.
All four particles form from
radioactive gases released dur-
ing nuclear fission, outside
specialists said, and might be
expected to drift far from the
site of their release.
While shedding little light
on the device that exploded
earlier this month — or the po-
tential risk to people living
nearby — the announcement
did offer hints that other still
undisclosed heavier elements
could have been released clos-
er to the blast site.
The statement came as the
latest data point in the gradual
drip of information released
by Russian authorities, who
have been slow to acknowl-
edge a nuclear accident during
a military test.
NEW YORK TIMESRussia releases details of nuclear accident
HONG KONG — Hong
Kong police on Monday de-
fended pulling out their guns
and firing a warning shot
during antigovernment pro-
tests over the weekend, and
lawmakers on each side of the
city’s political divide said the
other side bears responsibili-
ty for the violence.
Assistant Police Commis-
sioner Mak Chin-ho said one
officer fired into the air and
six held up their revolvers af-
ter protesters charged them
repeatedly with metal poles,
long sticks, and road signs on
Sunday night.
‘‘Their use of force was in-
deed necessary and reason-able,’’ he said at a news con-
ference at police headquar-
ters. Progovernment
lawmakers condemned the
acts of protesters who
blocked streets, threw gaso-
line bombs, and assaulted
several police officers.
Prodemocracy members of
the Legislative Council coun-
tered that the government
and the police need to take
responsibility, the former for
introducing the extradition
legislation that sparked the
protests and the latter for
what they say is selective en-
forcement of the law target-
ing government opponents.
ASSOCIATED PRESSHong Kong police defend warning shot
BEIRUT — An Israeli drone
struck a Palestinian militia
base in eastern Lebanon on
Monday, Lebanon’s National
News Agency said, the fourth
time in three days that Israel
has been accused of attacking
Iranian-backed forces across
the Middle East.
The string of attacks — only
one of which Israel has
claimed responsibility for —
has heightened tensions and
raised fears that what has so
far remained a shadow war be-
tween Iran and Israel and
their respective allies could es-
calate into a more direct con-
flict.
The strike on Monday hit
the base of an Iranian-backed
Palestinian militia, the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Pal-
estine-General Command, in
the eastern Bekaa Valley. On
Sunday, a drone exploded
south of Beirut, shattering the
windows of an office belonging
to Hezbollah, another Iranian-
backed group.
Lebanese politicians across
the spectrum condemned the
attacks and accused Israel of
pushing the country toward
conflict. The Israeli military
declined to comment on either
strike.
NEW YORK TIMESLebanon accuses Israel of drone strike
SYDNEY — Three dozen
wallabies have been found
dead in a sports field near
Cairns, Australia, and officials
suspect foul play. Local au-
thorities are investigating, and
a toxicology report is expected
in the next few days.
In the meantime, rescuers
are conducting their own in-
formal inquiry, and as is often
the case in the age-old battle of
humans and their housing ver-
sus habitat, the clues keep
pointing to humans.
There’s history, for one. In
January 2018, in the same
Cairns suburb of Trinity
Beach, 17 wallabies were
killed in the span of two days.
Police said at least five of them
seemed to have been shot with
a rifle. Then there are the eyes.
Some of the dead wallabies
have milky white eyes, hinting
at possible poisoning.
What’s clear, though, is
that strong feelings about the
wallabies are not likely to sub-
side. In October, there will be a
court hearing about whether
to move the wallaby popula-
tion to two locations farther
outside the city.
Rescuers say that housing
development has taken away
the wallabies’ bushland, and
they need to be brought fur-
ther away.
NEW YORK TIMESWallaby deaths puzzle Australian town
Daily Briefing
By Michael D. Shear
and Peter Baker
NEW YORK TIMES
BIARRITZ, France — Presi-
dent Trump suggested Monday
that he plans to host next year’s
Group of 7 summit for world
leaders at his Doral luxury golf
resort near Miami, once again
raising ethical issues about the
mixing of his businesses and
presidency.
If he follows through, the
spectacle of the annual gather-
ing of heads of state at a Trump-
owned property would be the
highest-profile example of the
president’s willingness to flout
the boundaries that have his-
torically constrained such pres-
idential activities.
As he completed this year’s
summit, Trump shifted the tone
on his trade war with China yet
again, expressing confidence
the two sides can reach a deal
and calling President Xi Jin-
ping a “great leader” three days
after branding him an “enemy.”
He told reporters Chinese of-
ficials had reached out by tele-
phone and that negotiators
would restart trade talks after
the latest escalation in tariffs
and his “order” to US compa-
niestolookforwaystopullout
of China.
In another surprise, Trump
said he was open to meeting
with President Hassan Rouhani
of Iran in the next few weeks, in
response to an invitation by
President Emmanuel Macron
of France. If such a meeting
comes about, it would be the
first between American and Ira-
nian leaders since the Tehran
hostage crisis of 1979-81.
Trump said Monday that
hosting next year’s summit at
Doral made perfect sense, call-
ing the sprawling golf resort “a
great place” and bragging that
“it’s got tremendous acreage,
many hundreds of acres, so we
can handle whatever happens.
It’s really — people are really
liking it and plus it has build-
ings that have 50 to 70 units.And so each delegation can
have its own building.”
Critics take a far different
view. They argue that the
Group of 7 summit, which at-
tracts global attention and
brings with it thousands of gov-
ernment officials and the inter-
national news media, would be
a gold mine for Trump’s for-
profit property, providing an
immediate increase in revenue
and raising its profile aroundthe world.
The result, they say, would
cross a line that previous presi-
dents have avoided.
“Trump would basically be
compelling foreign govern-
ments to spend money at his
personal resort, while promot-
ing the resort on the world
stage,” said Deepak Gupta, an
ethics lawyer with expertise in
such cases. “That’s inconsistent
with both the letter and thespirit of the Constitution,” Gup-
ta said. “Trump’s use of his offi-
cial position for personal gain is
so blatant and pervasive that I
don’t think we’ve ever seen any-
thing like it from a previous US
president.”
Trump has largely ignored
such criticism. As president-
elect, he promised to step away
from running his business, but
later put his children in charge
of it. He pledged not to do anynew deals, but did not put the
business into a blind trust.
And since taking office, he
hasrepeatedlyallowedthecon-
duct of his official duties to be
entangled with the facilities he
owns. He hosted Xi at his Mar-
a-Lago resort in Palm Beach in- He has made presidential
stops at his golf club in Ireland.
And he conducts business or at-
tends events at other locations
he owns, including the Trump
hotel in Washington and his
club in Bedminster, N.J.
Many past presidents have
hosted world leaders at their
private homes. Franklin D.
Roosevelt invited Winston
Churchill to his home in Hyde
Park, N.Y. Lyndon Johnson
hosted foreign dignitaries at his
ranch in Texas, and George W.
Bush did the same at his
sprawling property in the state.
Ronald Reagan liked to gather
dignitaries at his property in
Santa Barbara, Calif.
Ethics specialists say there
was nothing wrong with such
examples of presidential hospi-
tality: None were for-profit
businesses that generate reve-
nue for the president and his
family. Trump’s Doral property
and the other clubs and hotels
he frequents are poised to make
money off a G-7 summit, the
critics point out.
“The idea that Trump Doral
would even be a finalist so
strongly suggests the possibility
of corruption that the State De-
partment’s inspector general
should investigate the procure-
ment process,” said Walter
Shaub, a former director of the
Office of Government Ethics.
“This may also implicate consti-
tutional concerns if the govern-
ment is going to be paying a
company that Trump owns.”
Trump pushes his Fla. resort for next G-7 summit
Profitingthatway
wouldcrossaline,
ethicsexpertssay
FRANCOIS MORI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Trump and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, at the G-7 summit’s final press conference on Monday.By Luis Andres Henao
and Christopher Torchia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTO VELHO, Brazil —
The Group of Seven nations
on Monday pledged tens of
millions of dollars to help
fight raging wildfires in the
Amazon and protect its rain
forest, even as Brazilian Presi-
dent Jair Bolsonaro accused
rich countries of treating the
region like a ‘‘colony.’’
The international pledges
at a G-7 summit in France in-
cluded $20 million from the
group, as well as a separate
$12 million from Britain and
$11 million from Canada.
Other groups are contrib-
uting support for a region
whose rain forests are a major
absorber of carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere. Earth
Alliance, a new environmental
foundation backed by Leonar-
do DiCaprio, is pledging $
million in aid, saying the Ama-
zon is one of the ‘‘best defens-
es’’ against climate change.
The funds are widely seen
as critical support but a rela-
tively small amount for deal-
ing with an environmental cri-
sis of such scale threatening
what French President Em-
manuel Macron called ‘‘the
lungs of the planet.’’
More than $1 billion, for
example, has been paid into a
fund to help the Amazon in
the past decade. And major
donors Germany and Norway
recently cut donations to Bra-
zilian forestry projects, saying
Bolsonaro’s administration
isn’t committed to curbing de-
forestation.
It was unclear how exactly
the new money would be ad-
ministered. Brazil’s environ-
ment minister, Ricardo Salles,
said the aid was welcome and
that Brazil should decide how
the resources are used.
The international pledgescame despite tensions be-
tween European countries
and the Brazilian president,
who suggested the West was
angling to exploit Brazil’s nat-
ural resources.
‘‘Look, does anyone help
anyone... without some-
thing in return?’’ Bolsonaro
said.
Bolsonaro has insulted ad-
versaries and allies, dispar-
aged women, black, and gay
people, and praised his coun-
try’s 1964-1985 dictatorship.
But nothing has rallied more
anger at home and criticism
from abroad than his response
to the fires in parts of the Am-
azon region.
The Brazilian leader says
he is committed to protecting
the Amazon and prosecuting
anyone involved in illegal
fires, many of which appear to
be to have been set in already
deforested areas to clear land
for farming.
But Bolsonaro initially
questioned whether activist
groups might have started the
fires in an effort to damage the
credibility of his government,
which has called for looser en-
vironmental regulations in the
world’s largest rain forest to
spur development.
Macron said the Amazon,
while mostly Brazilian, is a
world issue and that his mes-
sage to Bolsonaro is: ‘‘We can-
not allow you to destroy every-
thing.’’Leading nations
boost pledges to
fight Amazon fires
Bolsonaroslams
treatmentof
Brazilas‘colony’
EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP/GETTY IMAGESNILE RIVER
FLOODING —A truck
carrying Sudanese
villagers drove through
a flooded street in Wad
Ramli village on the
eastern banks of the
Nile River on Monday.
Flash floods from the
Nile killed about 62
people and injured
nearly 100, said the
official Sudan News
Agency. A barrage of
torrential rain since
July has caused wide
devastation.AFP/GREENPEACE
Hundreds of fires are
raging in the Amazon, the
world’s largest rain forest,
causing global outcry.