World Cup, Vladimir Putin, Pakistan: Your Monday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/briefing/your-monday-briefing.html

Version 0 of 1.

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning. A victory for France, a U.S.-Russia summit meeting and election fears in Pakistan. Here’s what you need to know:

• France!

With a potent mix of greatness, grit and good fortune, France ended an enthralling run by Croatia, 4-2, and claimed its first title since winning on home soil in 1998.

Above, President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte Macron, celebrated after watching the match with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

As the outcome echoes around the world, we have to ask: Was Russia 2018 the greatest of all World Cups?

And, just for fun, we combined all 163 impassioned cries by Telemundo’s announcers into one lung-bursting “goooooool."

_____

• President Trump said that he considered the European Union a trade “foe,” on the eve of talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Finland.

“Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe,” Mr. Trump told CBS, days after a contentious NATO summit meeting. “Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly a foe.” Above, Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, arriving in Finland on Sunday.

He also refrained from condemning Moscow for its assault on the 2016 election, despite the indictments announced on Friday of 12 Russian intelligence officers on charges of hacking Democratic Party organizations.

British investigators believe the same military unit those officers served with may also be responsible for the nerve agent attack in Britain against a former Russian spy in March.

_____

• No touching, no nicknames, no sharing food. And it’s better if you don’t cry.

Those are the rules for thousands of migrant children held in U.S. detention centers as they await reunification with their families after crossing the border with Mexico. Above, a 3-year-old after returning to his mother, after four months apart.

The centers range in austerity, from a 33-acre youth shelter to hastily converted motels. But most, our reporters write, are united by the aching uncertainty of children who have no idea when they will see their parents again.

_____

• In Pakistan, the death toll in a suicide bombing that targeted an election campaign event in the province of Baluchistan last week has risen to at least 128.

The deadliest terror attack in the country this year, it renewed concerns that violence could disrupt national elections scheduled for July 25.

The day of the attack, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter were arrested on corruption charges as they returned to the country to rally their party.

_____

• A staggering amount of gold.

That’s what’s locked in India’s Hindu temples, often just steps from onlookers. The total amount could weigh as much as 8.8 million pounds, worth roughly $160 billion.

Despite their ancient riches, India’s temples are often poorly managed and lacking in security — tantalizing targets for thieves.

The tightly controlled Jagannath Temple, above, in Eastern India stood in contrast. So our reporters went there to find out what happened when the key to the treasure room went missing.

• ZTE, the Chinese telecom firm that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea, can resume buying components from U.S. suppliers. The Commerce Department said it had met stringent conditions, including paying a $1 billion fine and allowing compliance monitors to be installed inside the company for 10 years.

• HNA, the heavily indebted Chinese conglomerate, will transfer a minority stake owned by its recently deceased co-chairman to a Chinese charity.

• Betting on Masayoshi Son. The company he founded, SoftBank, once known as a Japanese phone concern, is turning itself into what is essentially a gigantic, publicly traded venture capital firm.

• Ahead: China releases G.D.P. numbers shortly and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, visits Tokyo on Tuesday to sign a free-trade agreement. Here are the headlines to watch for.

• “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” made $44.1 million in North American ticket sales over the weekend, easily besting Dwayne Johnson’s “Skyscraper.” All is not lost: “Skyscraper” opens in China next week, where the thriller is set and where Mr. Johnson is a megastar.

• Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

• Investigators in southwest China are examining what caused an explosion at a chemical plant last week that killed at least 19 people. [The New York Times]

• Australia’s home minister said that a drop in migration numbers was “positive” because more productive people were being brought in. Others argued that the government was “effectively throttling back the rate of migration by stealth.” [The Guardian]

• Ng Lap Seng, a Chinese billionaire, has lived in self-financed home detention in New York since he was arrested in 2015 in a wide-ranging bribery case. Convicted two months ago, he’s on his third bid to delay prison. [The New York Times]

• William McBride, the Sydney doctor who was among the first to sound an alarm about thalidomide, died in June at the age of 91. [The New York Times]

• K.O. in Kuala Lumpur: Manny Pacquiao, the 39-year-old boxing legend from the Philippines, knocked out the defending champion Lucas Matthysse to win the World Boxing Association welterweight title. [The New York Times]

Tips for a more fulfilling life.

• Recipe of the day: A delightful summer ratatouille with farro and feta will ease the Monday blues.

• How to make the most of Amazon Prime Day 2018.

• Here are some tips on how to start knitting.

• Four years after retiring from tennis, the superstar Li Na, 36, has retained her influence in the sport, and her power as a symbol of success in China is only growing. Ms. Li said that Chinese women are more confident: “They want to have their own personality.”

• “See You Again in Pyongyang,” a nonfiction book by an American novelist and art critic, looks at what it is like to live in Kim Jong-un’s North Korea, where the “undercurrent of paranoia is woven into the fabric of daily life.”

• And Brother Nut, an artist and activist in Beijing, filled thousands of water bottles with filthy groundwater from a village in central China to draw attention to its pollution problem. Beijing banned the show, but some local authorities took action.

President Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia are meeting today in Finland, a country with its own complicated relationship to Russia.

Finland was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1809 after being part of Sweden for almost 700 years. It gained independence in 1917 (the country celebrated its 100th anniversary last December with a national coffee break and patriotic karaoke).

Peace with the newly established Soviet Union did not last, with the two countries fighting two conflicts during World War II. The first was a Soviet invasion called the Winter War, which was fought in temperatures exceeding minus 40. (That conflict inspired The Times to write about the Finnish cultural trait of sisu, calling it a “special kind of strong will.”)

Finland battled the Soviet Union again from 1941 to 1944. Above, Finnish troops in 1941.

As a neutral party in the Cold War, Finland hosted numerous meetings between U.S. and Soviet leaders. But it was careful not to risk its sovereignty by antagonizing its powerful neighbor, a policy Western scholars called “Finlandization.”

Today, Finland and Russia are major trade partners and share a 24/7 military hotline. But Finland still has mandatory military service for men, partly to defend its 833-mile border with Russia. Last year, it increased the size of its military, citing Russian aggression.

Jennifer Jett wrote today’s Back Story.

_____

Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings and updated online. Sign up here to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European or American morning. You can also receive an Evening Briefing on U.S. weeknights.

And our Australia bureau chief offers a weekly letter adding analysis and conversations with readers.

Browse our full range of Times newsletters here.

What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes.com.