Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Thursday, May 26, and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

Consumer Electronics Exhibition to open

The Consumer Electronics Exhibition is back at Suntec Singapore from Thursday (May 26) until Sunday (May 29), noon to 9pm daily. Visitors can trade in their old or faulty PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones and video game consoles for cash vouchers to be spent at the electronics fair.

Consumers can also expect deals on laptops, printers, handsets, as well as games and gaming hardware. Admission is free.

G-7 begins annual summit

Leaders of seven of the world's largest economies - the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, and Canada - as well as the EU begin their annual summit on Thursday (May 26) on the Japanese island of Ise Shima, a mountainous and sparsely populated area 300km south-west of Tokyo.

The meeting is set to be dominated by the lacklustre global economy and whether the world should spend or save its way out of the current malaise. China will not be present but it looks set to loom large over discussions, with Japan and the US keen to corral support for a growing pushback against Beijing's territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The G-7 will also discuss the spectre of Islamist terrorism, with French President Francois Hollande keen to address the issue after a brutal year that saw France hit twice by extremists.

Release of HK trade data

Hong Kong will release its April trade figures on Thursday (May 26), even as analysts expect a further slowdown in imports and exports, on the back of falling trade with its largest trading partner - China.

Hong Kong's major exports include electronics and clothing, while imports are mainly manufactured goods, mineral fuels and food. Its trade deficit widened 1.8 per cent year-on-year to HK$47 billion (S$8.4 billion) in March as exports fell more than imports.