Russian President Vladimir Putin touches down in Beijing for a landmark two-day summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, signalling deeper Russia-China alliance amid global tensions.

A California jury handed down a unanimous verdict against Elon Musk in his high-stakes legal battle with Sam Altman and OpenAI. The decision, delivered on May 18, 2026, found that Musk filed his lawsuit too late, a procedural technicality that prevented the core arguments from ever being heard.

The US Justice Department is preparing to drop criminal fraud charges against billionaire Gautam Adani, marking a dramatic reversal in a case that’s shadowed Asia’s richest businessman for over a year.

After 40 days of war claiming 4,000+ lives, Iran signals it will open the Strait of Hormuz, but only if the US lifts its naval blockade, returns $15 billion in frozen assets, and removes long-standing sanctions.

Labour Party pressure is mounting on Keir Starmer as nearly 100 MPs demand his resignation. Following devastating local election losses, key cabinet ministers have joined backbench colleagues in calling for the Prime Minister to step down or announce a timetable for his departure.

President Donald Trump heads to Beijing this week for a high-stakes state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The three-day summit brings together 17 US business leaders to discuss crucial geopolitical issues including trade, the Iran conflict, and Taiwan’s future. With the world watching closely, this summit could reshape global trade relations and ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Saudi Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser has sounded a sobering alarm: the global oil market has shed roughly 1 billion barrels over two months due to Strait of Hormuz disruptions. Even when shipping routes reopen, stabilising energy markets will take considerably longer than expected.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 tops 62,000 in a historic single-day surge fuelled by AI optimism, SoftBank’s 18% leap, and growing hopes of a US–Iran peace deal, defying geopolitical noise that would have rattled markets just months ago.

Ted Turner, CNN founder and media mogul who rewired the way the world consumed news, died peacefully on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87 — leaving behind a legacy that stretches from a converted Atlanta country club in 1980 to two billion television screens across the globe.

Cognizant layoffs are back in the headlines. The IT giant’s newly launched Project Leap may eliminate up to 15,000 roles globally, with India, home to over 250,000 of its workforce, set to shoulder the heaviest blow. The restructuring is expected to cost between $230 million and $320 million.

Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has formally named her niece Claire Mazumdar as her successor, marking a watershed moment in India’s biotechnology landscape. In an exclusive Fortune India interview, the 73-year-old entrepreneur revealed her succession strategy for the company she built from a garage 48 years ago. Claire, 37, currently leads Nasdaq-listed Bicara Therapeutics, a company incubated by Biocon and taken public with a ₹362 million IPO in 2024.