AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Respiratory ailments hit in Amazon as Brazil spurns G-7 aid

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (AP) — Acrimony between Brazil and European countries seeking to help fight Amazon fires deepened on Tuesday, jeopardizing hopes of global unity over how to protect a region seen as vital to the health of the planet.

A personal spat between the leaders of Brazil and France seemed to dominate the dispute, but it also centred on Brazilian perceptions of alleged interference by Europe on matters of sovereignty, economic development and the rights of indigenous people. Brazil said it will set conditions for accepting any aid from the Group of Seven nations, which offered tens of millions of dollars for firefighting and rainforest protections.

The Amazon’s rainforests are a major absorber of carbon dioxide, considered a critical defence against rising temperatures and other disruptions caused by climate change. While many of the recorded fires this year were set in already deforested areas by people clearing land for cultivation or pasture, Brazilian government figures indicate that they are much more widespread this year, suggesting the threat to the vast ecosystem is intensifying.

The effect of the fires was evident in the Amazonian city of Porto Velho, where smoke drifted over the sky for parts of the day. Elane Diaz, a nurse in the city, spoke about respiratory problems while waiting for a doctor’s appointment at a hospital with her 5-year-old-son Eduardo.

“The kids are affected the most. They’re coughing a lot,” Diaz said. “They have problems breathing. I’m concerned because it affects their health.”

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Deutsche Bank has tax returns sought in Congressional probe

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s longtime bank revealed Tuesday that it has tax records Congress is seeking in its investigation of the president’s finances.

Deutsche Bank said in court papers it has tax returns responsive to a subpoena sent this year, in which Congress asked the bank for a host of documents related to Trump and his family.

Trump has long declined to release his tax returns and wants to block two House committees from getting the records, calling their document requests unlawful.

A federal appeals court ordered Deutsche Bank to say whether or not Trump’s tax returns were in its possession after an attorney for the bank refused to answer that question during a hearing last week.

The bank, in its court filing Tuesday, blacked out the name of the person or people whose tax records it had, citing privacy rules. It said it also has tax records “related to parties not named in the subpoenas but who may constitute ‘immediate family’” of individuals named in the document request.

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OxyContin maker, government attorneys in settlement talks

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State attorneys general and lawyers representing local governments said Tuesday they are in active settlement talks with Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin that is facing billions of dollars in potential liability for its role in the nation’s opioid crisis.

Purdue has been cast by attorneys and addiction experts as a main villain in the crisis for producing a blockbuster drug while understating its addiction risk. A report by NBC News said the privately held company has offered to settle for $10 billion to $12 billion.

In a statement, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company said it’s prepared to defend itself but sees little good in years of “wasteful litigation and appeals.”

“Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome,” the company said.

News of the settlement talks involving more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company and other players in the painkiller industry comes about two months before the first federal trial over the toll of opioids is scheduled to start in Cleveland.

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TS Dorian expected to strengthen, could hit Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Dorian made a last-minute shift in its path on Tuesday, threatening Puerto Rico with a direct hit as forecasters said it could reach near-hurricane strength in its approach to the U.S. territory.

The storm is expected to pass over or near western and central Puerto Rico on Wednesday as authorities warned of landslides, widespread flooding and power outages.

“Practically the entire island will be under sustained tropical storm force winds,” said Roberto García, director of U.S. National Weather Service San Juan, during a press conference late Tuesday.

However, he said the forecast could change overnight, adding that late shifts occur with storms such as Dorian that do not have a well-defined centre.

Dorian was located about 300 miles (480 kilometres) southeast of Ponce, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday night. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said it had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was forecast to strengthen during the next 24 hours as it moves west-northwest at 13 mph (20 kph). The storm is expected to dump 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimetres) of rain with isolated amounts of 8 inches (20 centimetres).

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Reeves wins Republican nomination for Mississippi governor

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi second-term Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves won the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday, setting up a November general election showdown with Democrat Jim Hood, the state’s four-term attorney general.

Reeves, 45, defeated retired Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. in a Republican primary runoff.

Reeves spent more than $6 million this year — the most of any candidate in the race, regardless of party. Waller, 67, spent about $1.4 million. Waller is a retired brigadier general in the Mississippi National Guard and son of the late Gov. Bill Waller Sr., a moderate Democrat who served from 1972 to 1976.

“We’ve got to work to bring the Republican Party together, and I know that the Republicans across Mississippi are going to rally behind our campaign to ensure that Mississippi does not elect a liberal Democrat to the office of governor,” Reeves told The Associated Press before he appeared at his victory party.

Jubilant supporters at the party chanted, “Tate! Tate! Tate! Tate!”

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‘Coward’: Epstein accusers pour out their anger in court

NEW YORK (AP) — One by one, 16 women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein poured out their anger Tuesday, lashing out at him as a coward and a manipulator, after a judge gave them the day in court they were denied when he killed himself behind bars.

“The fact I will never have a chance to face my predator in court eats away at my soul,” said Jennifer Araoz, who has accused Epstein of raping her in his New York mansion when she was a 15-year-old aspiring actress.

“Even in death, Epstein is trying to hurt me. I had hoped to at last get an apology, but this evil man had no remorse or caring for what he did to anyone,” she said.

The hearing was convened by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman, who presided over the case after federal prosecutors had Epstein arrested last month.

The question before the judge was whether to throw out the indictment because of the defendant’s death, a usually pro forma step undertaken without a hearing. But the judge offered Epstein’s accusers an extraordinary opportunity to speak in court.

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Biden: Racism in US is institutional, ‘white man’s problem’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Racism in America is an institutional “white man’s problem visited on people of colour,” Vice-President Joe Biden said Tuesday, arguing that the way to attack the issue is to defeat President Donald Trump and hold him responsible for deepening the nation’s racial divide.

Taking aim at incendiary racial appeals by Trump, Biden said in an interview with a small group of reporters that a president’s words can “appeal to the worst damn instincts of human nature,” just as they can move markets or take a nation into war.

Biden is leading his Democratic challengers for the presidential nomination in almost all polls, largely because of the support of black voters. He has made appealing to them central to his candidacy and vowed to make maximizing black and Latino turnout an “overwhelming focus” of his effort. The interview, more than an hour long, focused largely on racial issues.

“White folks are the reason we have institutional racism,” Biden said. “There has always been racism in America. White supremacists have always existed, they still exist.” He added later that in his administration, it would “not be tolerated.”

By highlighting the nation’s racial tensions and placing blame on Trump, Biden is showing that he, too, is willing to make race a core campaign issue, but from the opposite perspective of the president. Turnout and enthusiasm among black voters will be critical for the Democratic nominee, notably to try to reclaim states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. He also emphasized a crossover appeal to both black voters and non-college-educated white voters.

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Japan’s move to lower South Korea trade status takes effect

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s downgrading of South Korea’s trade status took effect Wednesday, a decision that has already set off a series of reactions hurting bilateral relations.

Japanese manufacturers now must apply for approval for each technology-related contract for South Korean export, rather than the simpler checks granted a preferential trade partner, which is still the status of the U.S. and others.

Since Japan announced the decision about two months ago, South Korea decided to similarly downgrade Tokyo’s trade status, which will take effect next month. Seoul has also cancelled a deal to share military intelligence with Japan.

South Korea has accused Japan of weaponizing trade because of a separate dispute linked to Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Japan denies retaliating and says wartime compensation issues were already settled.

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Fall Movie Preview: Hollywood goes all-in on original films

NEW YORK (AP) — When 20th Century Fox greenlit James Mangold’s “Ford v. Ferrari” — an original movie with a nearly $100 million budget — the director’s agent had some advice.

“Enjoy this,” Mangold recalled him saying. “This will be the last one of these you ever make.”

“Ford v Ferrari,” which viscerally recounts the efforts of an automotive designer (Matt Damon) and a race car driver (Christian Bale) to build a Ford that could beat Ferrari at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1966, has a lot going for it: big-name movie stars, a director coming off an Oscar-nominated hit (“Logan”) and a marathon, nearly hour-long racing finale. But it doesn’t have what typically scores such a large budget in today’s Hollywood: franchise-making IP (intellectual property). It might as well be a unicorn.

“With the amount of mergers and streaming operations coming up to speed, I think there’s a real question whether the theatrical film is really just the tentpole. Independent films are struggling. Even mainline dramas are struggling to find an audience,” said Mangold, who has been a regular filmmaker at Fox, which Disney acquired earlier this year.

“In that sense, we’re a throwback film,” he continues. “We’re a modern movie in all the senses of modern storytelling, modern technology, modern sensibility. But we’re trying to do something that I really miss seeing in the movies, which is a movie for grown-ups that’s entertaining and thought-provoking and moving and isn’t selling you the same old thing.”

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Coco’s comeback: Gauff erases deficits to win US Open debut

NEW YORK (AP) — Here’s how new all of this is to Coco Gauff: She didn’t quite realize she only has to play every other day at the U.S. Open.

“I’m still used to playing juniors,” the American said with a chuckle, “so I forgot about the day off.”

She’s still just 15. She’s competing in just her second Grand Slam tournament. And yet she’s definitely showing she can perform like someone much older and more experienced.

With her parents jumping out of their front-row seats over and over again, and a raucous partisan crowd backing her at Louis Armstrong Stadium, Gauff trailed by a set and a break, then again by a break in the third set, before coming up big down the stretch to get past Anastasia Potapova of Russia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in her debut at Flushing Meadows.

“Honestly, I mean, I really don’t remember the match too well,” Gauff said, “because everything is still a blur.”