|  | | | | | | | | | Highlights | | The United States walked out of the Conference on Disarmament to protest Venezuela assuming the rotating presidency of the U.N.-sponsored forum - as it did a year ago when Syria took the chair. “We have to try to do what we can to prevent these types of states from presiding over international bodies,” Robert Wood, U.S. disarmament ambassador, told reporters after leaving the session in Geneva. | | | | | Asia | | | | | | For the last decade, the city of Zhengzhou has been getting a taste of the Chinese dream. Fueled by investment, including large subsidies from the central government in Beijing, the provincial capital of the inland province of Henan has boomed. Once an impoverished city of 10 million set between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, Zhengzhou now boasts a gleaming downtown skyline and a cascade of freeway overpasses. But an economic slowdown that began in late 2018 appears to have accentuated uncertainties in the city. With momentum slowing across the board from real estate to consumer and tech sectors, some in heartland China feel their chances of moving up the social ladder have diminished. | | | | | | | | The trade war between Beijing and Washington has stoked concern in financial markets that China might opt to weaponize its holdings of more than $1.1 trillion worth of U.S. Treasuries in retaliation for the tariffs the Trump administration has imposed on Chinese imports. Often referred to as the “nuclear option,” choosing to dump so large a pool of assets would likely destabilize world financial markets, drive interest rates higher and push tensions between the world’s two largest economies into uncharted territory. There is no evidence Beijing is seriously looking to flood markets with its U.S. bonds.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Europe | | European Union leaders meet in Brussels, two days after an election to the European Parliament returned a more fragmented pro-EU center and stronger nationalist groups. They will discuss the succession to key EU jobs over the coming months. Here is a timeline to change at the top. 4 min read | | | | The euro dipped as investors nervous about trade tensions bought into the safe-haven dollar and fretted that political risks in Europe remain high, even though pro-Europe parties won a majority of European parliamentary seats. 3 Min Read | | | | Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it would be “political suicide” for Britain to pursue a no-deal Brexit, becoming the most senior figure vying to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May to rule it out and drawing a battle line with rival contenders. 4 min read | | | | | | | | | | | Top Stories on Reuters TV | | | | | | | |
