Australian prime minister Scott Morrison will visit the Solomon Islands on Sunday in his first overseas trip since being re-elected, as his government joins other western nations in moving to challenge growing Chinese influence in the South Pacific.

German index provider Solactive has taken a stake in Minerva Analytics, a UK-based corporate governance consultancy and proxy voting advisor.

Trading in Asian shares was mixed on Monday, as investors waited for any new developments in the trade war between the United States and China. 

Shares in Vocus, the Australian telecoms company, jumped by as much as 26 per cent on Monday after it received a A$3.3bn ($2.3 billion) buyout offer from a private equity group.

Bitcoin touched its highest level in a year on Monday, extending a rally that has seen it rise more than 140 per cent in the year to date and brought it still closer to the $9,000 mark.

Profits at large Chinese industrial companies fell by their fastest rate in almost three-and-a-half years in April, adding to anxieties over the health of the world’s second-largest economy.

The euro was little changed versus its major peers on Monday immediately following the results of European parliamentary elections, which indicated that pro-EU parties had largely held their ground. 

French authorities are treating an explosion that injured 13 pedestrians in central Lyon on Friday as a terror attack and are hunting the man who planted the parcel bomb, according to the Paris prosecutor.

EU parliamentary elections, a raft of global economic data and results from US retailers in the week ahead should provide investors with an opportunity to assess some of the key themes that have plagued financial markets over recent sessions.

US markets bounced back on Friday as global markets stabilised following supportive comments on trade from Donald Trump. However the modest gains were not enough to prevent the major indices from ending the week in the red amid worsening US-Chinese trade tensions and mounting global growth concerns.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into Boeing’s disclosures to investors about the 737 Max airliner, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Kenya’s High Court on Friday upheld a 100-year-old set of laws that criminalise gay sex in what equality campaigners described as a major setback in the fight to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world.

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has emerged as a shareholder in Sirius Minerals, the London-listed company building a giant fertiliser mine under a national park in North Yorkshire.

The head of Barrick Gold has defended the company’s proposal to acquire the shares it does not already own in Tanzania-focused Acacia Mining.

US orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell by the most in six months in April, with the weaker-than-expected result driven by a decline for the transportation sector.

Foot Locker maintained its full-year sales guidance but dialled back its earnings growth forecast as it reported a weaker first quarter than Wall Street had expected, dragging shares down more than one-tenth in pre-market trading.

The chair of the House of Commons pensions committee has added his voice to the backlash against Sir Philip Green’s planned restructuring of his ailing retail empire.

The UK pound rose back above $1.27 in choppy trading after Theresa May outlined her plans to step down as prime minister and trigger a Conservative party leadership contest next month.

Vedanta Resources has started its fightback against an attempt by the government of Zambia to seize control of its Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) unit.

The Bank of England is considering imposing an additional floor on the amount of capital lenders have to hold to extend mortgages in the wake of eroding capital levels and riskier lending practices returning at British banks and building societies.

Britain’s energy watchdog has cut the returns energy networks such as National Grid are allowed to make following fierce criticism of the monopolies that own the pipes and cables that transport gas and electricity around the country.

George Soros, one of the world’s best-known investors, has amassed a stake in GAM, sending shares in the embattled Swiss asset manager up more than 20 per cent on Friday.

UK regulators have extended access to Openreach’s infrastructure to business networks as well as to those that are laying high-speed cables to support mobile and broadband networks.

South Africa’s Old Mutual has suspended its chief executive after a “material breakdown of trust and confidence” with the board over a conflict of interest in a private equity company he founded.