The proposed acquisition would create the biggest credit card company in the US. Banking giant Capital One has announced plans to acquire Discover Financial Services for $35.3bn in a deal combining two of the United States’s biggest lenders and credit card issuers. Capital One founder and CEO Richard Fairbank described the deal as an “incredible opportunity to bring together two exceptional companies”. “This deal accelerates our longstanding journey...

Incident comes as Beijing announces stepped up patrols near Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands following the death of two Chinese fishermen in the area. Chinese Coast Guard officials briefly boarded a Taiwanese cruise ship on Monday in an incident the government in Taipei said triggered panic among the people of the self-ruled island. The incident near the Taiwanese Kinmen Islands, off the coast of the Chinese cities of Xiamen and...