10 things you need to know today: July 16, 2018

1. Trump and Putin head into summit in Helsinki

President Trump started his closely-watched summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in Helsinki, Finland. On the eve of the meeting, Trump said he viewed Russia, along with China and the European Union, as "foes" of the U.S. "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade," Trump said. "Russia is foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically." Trump arrived in Helsinki late on Sunday after golfing earlier in the day at his private club in Scotland. Hours before the meeting, which comes three days after Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team indicted several Russian nationals for allegedly interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Trump said he blamed "U.S. foolishness" for bad relations between the U.S. and Russia.

Reuters CNBC

2. France beats Croatia to win World Cup

France won the 2018 World Cup on Sunday, beating Croatia 4-2 in a hard-fought match. Croatia scored the first own goal ever in a World Cup final to give France the early lead, then evened the score half an hour in. France then surged ahead with three more goals in succession. France's Kylian Mbappe, 19, became the second teenage player to score in a World Cup final game — the first, and still youngest, was the legendary Pele, who scored two goals for Brazil against Sweden at age 17 in 1958. Croatia came back from the dead with another goal at 69 minutes, bringing the score to 4-2, but could not close that gap. Belgium took third place Saturday, and England came in fourth. Qatar hosts the next World Cup in 2022.

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The Guardian The New York Times

3. White House tells diplomats to seek direct talks with Taliban

The Trump administration has ordered its diplomats to try to enter into direct talks with the Taliban in a stark policy shift aiming to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, The New York Times reports, citing several American and Afghan officials. The Taliban, which controls or has influence over 59 of Afghanistan's 407 districts, has long said it wants to first discuss peace with the United States, not the Afghan government, but the U.S. has always pushed back. There are about 15,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the Taliban continues to regularly launch deadly attacks.

The New York Times

4. China files WTO complaint over latest Trump tariff plan

China announced Monday that it had filed a World Trade Organization challenge to President Trump's proposal to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The move came less than a week after Trump announced the plan, unusually fast for such a trade challenge. The tariffs have to go through a review process, so they won't take effect until September or later, if Trump goes through with them. China has warned that it will retaliate with similar measures if the Trump administration enacts the new tariffs. The U.S. Trade Representative said last week that the levies were a response to Beijing's retaliation over $34 billion in tariffs the U.S. imposed as part of an effort to get Beijing to revise trade policies that have hurt U.S. firms.

USA Today

5. Man arrested in Scotland for paragliding over Trump golf course

Scottish police said Sunday that they had arrested a 55-year-old man in connection with a Greenpeace protest in which a paraglider breached a no-fly security zone and flew a banner near the golf resort where President Trump was staying. The banner read, "Trump: Well Below Par." The Friday night stunt reportedly was meant as a protest of Trump's environmental policies. After the glider's flyover, Trump was seen cutting across the grass to the entrance of his Turnberry resort in western Scotland. Tens of thousands of people protested Trump in the streets of London, Edinburgh, and other British cities during his U.K. visit over the weekend.

Reuters The Associated Press

6. Mexico's president-elect cuts his own salary by more than half

Mexico's president-elect, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced Sunday that he would slash his own salary in half, after campaigning on a vow to fight corruption and cut down on perks for government officials. López Obrador said that he will earn 108,000 pesos — or about $5,707 — a month, less than half what President Enrique Peña Nieto makes now. He also said no public official will earn more than he does during his six-year term. "What we want is for the budget to reach everybody," López Obrador told reporters. He will take office in December.

The Associated Press

7. Haiti's prime minister resigns after fuel-hike riots

Haiti's prime minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, resigned over the weekend shortly before a no-confidence vote was to be held in the Caribbean nation's Parliament. Lafontant was under pressure following days of rioting triggered by a government plan to hike fuel prices under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. As many as seven people died in the violent protests. After the outburst, Lafontant announced that the government was suspending the plan to raise prices by 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel, and 51 percent for kerosene, and he said his government condemned "the acts of violence and vandalism." Haitian President Jovenel Moïse tweeted that he had accepted the resignations of Lafontant and his Cabinet and was working on picking a new prime minister.

NPR

8. Chicago police release video of fatal shooting that sparked protest

Chicago police on Sunday released body-cam video showing the fatal police shooting of 37-year-old Harith Augustus, an African-American man whose death prompted protests over the weekend. The video shows four officers approaching the man outside a store. One of the officers points to Augustus' waist and three others try to grab his arms as he tries to get away. The video shows his shirt going up, revealing a gun in his waistband. The video released by police pauses and zooms in on the weapon. The footage shows Augustus running between two police vehicles and into the street, spinning and reaching toward his waist before police open fire.

NPR

9. Gunman killed after injuring three Kansas City police officers

A gunman who was under surveillance in the investigation into the killing of a university student from India opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle and wounded three Kansas City police officers on Sunday. The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was killed by police. The man had been identified as a person of interest in the investigation into the murder of Sharath Koppu, a 25-year-old master's degree student from India who was studying at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Koppu was fatally shot in an armed robbery at a fast food restaurant where he worked. Jagdeesh Subramanian, president of the India Association of Kansas City, said the group was grateful to police and "equally disheartened hearing about the three officers who were shot in pursuit."

The Associated Press

10. Djokovic beats Anderson to win men's Wimbledon title

Novak Djokovic beat Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3) to win the men's Wimbledon final on Sunday. Anderson nearly forced a fourth set, but lost five set points before Djokovic dominated the third set tie-breaker. It was Djokovic's fourth singles championship at Wimbledon, and his first major championship in more than two years. Overall, Djokovic now has 13 major titles, the fourth highest total in men's tennis. "I understand that people are questioning whether I can consistently play on this level. Trust me, I am, too," Djokovic said. "At the same time, I can't look too far down the road because I have to embrace and cherish this kind of accomplishment."

ESPN