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Good morning. The Huawei arrest threatens U. S.-China relations, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party chooses her replacement and Britain holds back its “golden visas.” Here’s the latest:
• A new blow to U. S.-China relations.
The arrest of a top executive at one of China’s most celebrated corporations threatened to upend a fragile trade truce with the U. S., and put the Trump administration’s national security and trade policies on a collision course .
Meng Wanzhou, above, Huawei’s chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, was arrested in Canada. Washington is seeking her extradition, and officials said her arrest was the culmination of a monthslong investigation into whether Huawei violated Iran sanctions. A bail hearing is scheduled for today.
Chinese officials demanded her immediate release and state media described the move as a “declaration of war.” Markets around the world dropped amid the tensions.
For years, the U. S. has warned that Huawei’s equipment could be a conduit for espionage, and Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have recently adopted Washington’s distrust.
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• Taking stock of Angela Merkel’s leadership.
Today, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, will gather in Hamburg to elect her successor as party leader.
Ms. Merkel, above, led the party for 18 years and Germany for 13, becoming a face of stability in the country and in Europe. She steered her country and the continent through successive crises as she helped Germany become Europe’s leading power for the first time since two world wars.
But in the end her legacy may boil down to just two things: her decisions to welcome more than a million migrants into Germany in 2015 and to impose economic austerity on European neighbors. Some believe they may have helped plant the seeds of the forces now tearing Europe apart.
Here are the three leading candidates to take her place in the party.
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• Britain suspends “golden visas.”
Today, the British government will suspend a special kind of visa until the Home Office introduces tighter restrictions to tackle corruption and organized crime.
The “golden visas” were introduced in 2008 to attract foreign nationals willing to invest large amounts — a minimum of $2.5 million — in Britain. They provided a faster route to permanent residency. Above, London’s financial district.
The visas were particularly popular among Russian oligarchs and wealthy people from China and the United Arab Emirates. More than 1,000 “golden visas” were granted in the 12-month period ending in September.
