Headlines

Business activity in the U.S. grew at a steady pace in May while slowing in Europe and Asia as energy costs have risen, an indication that the global economy has been weakened by the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported. The war has led to a sharp decline in shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies usually transit. As a result of reduced supplies, energy prices have jumped around the world.

Japan’s exports grew at a faster-than-expected pace in April, as a weak yen and resilient global demand offset the negative impact of Middle East tensions, the Wall Street Journal reported. But economists expect that momentum to weaken in the months ahead as higher oil prices threaten to derail global economic growth and hurt external demand. Japan’s outbound shipments rose 14.8% from a year earlier last month, government data showed Thursday. That compared with an 11.5% rise in March and significantly exceeded the 9.3% increase forecast by economists polled by data provider LSEG.

During China’s slow-moving housing crash, there have been brief stretches when prices stabilized, raising hopes that the multiyear slide was finally over, the New York Times reported. Each time, those reprieves have proved short-lived — pauses before the market resumed its decline. After housing prices in several of China’s biggest cities leveled off in the first few months of the year, the market is again at a crossroads.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone on Thursday, May 21, 2026, said it will acquire a 100% stake in Jaypee Fertilizers & Industries from Jaiprakash Associates for ₹1,500 crore, as part of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved resolution plan for Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (JAL), The Hindu reported. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), in a regulatory filing, said the acquisition will further consolidate the company's inland logistics presence and service capabilities in North India.

As alarmist as it was, a press release from the United Nations General Assembly finance committee – saying the UN would face imminent financial collapse by August if membership dues are not paid — barely triggered a perceptible global reaction, Geneva Solutions News reported. It was as if the world had gotten used to the UN’s existential crisis.

As has been raised by others in the past, a member of Laurentian University’s senate asked at the governing body’s May 19 meeting why the university doesn’t just pay off the $35-million loan it took out with the Ontario government following its insolvency early, sudbury.com reported. The topic came up following a presentation on Laurentian’s 2026-2027 budget, which was approved by the university’s board of governors last month.

At the city-owned Johannesburg Art Gallery, paint is peeling off the rain-damaged ceiling, the elevator doesn’t work and parquet tiles are loose and cracked, Bloomberg News reported. Years of neglect of the 111-year-old gallery, a once-grand building now surrounded by inner city decay, has led to the relocation of the bulk of the collection’s more than 9,000 artworks. Original paintings by Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso sit in galleries elsewhere in the city, some of them private.

Videocon Group's former chairman and managing director Venugopal N Dhoot has moved the Supreme Court seeking inclusion of the foreign oil and gas assets of various Videocon entities in the insolvency process of Videocon Industries (VIL), a plea rejected by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) last week, The Economic Times reported. The appeal filed this week is yet to be listed for hearing before the SC.

Corporate insolvency resolutions dropped to a 13-quarter low of 36 cases being resolved by the National Company Law Tribune (NCLT) during Jan-March 2026, compared with 70 a year ago, with just eight plans approved in February and seven in March, the Times of India reported. This was the lowest March quarter for the resolution process since Jan-March 2022 when just 29 cases were approved, according to Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) data.

LIV Golf plans to move ahead with its new business model to potential investors amid a report that the league is putting pieces together for potential bankruptcy if it ​doesn't find new financing beyond this season, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced last ‌month that it will not financially back the circuit past this season. LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil has started the search for two different levels of investors, while seeking as much as $250 million in investment capital ​beyond this year, Axios reported on Monday.