HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&As) clocked their weakest year in a decade in 2019, as an escalated U.S.-China trade war and tightened regulatory scrutiny of Chinese companies impacted appetite for overseas dealmaking. Chinese acquirers announced $41 billion in outbound deals this year, nearly halving from 2018 and less than a […]

When the history of our time is written, the year 2019 might stand as the turning point in the battle for liberal democracy – a year when millions of people rose to fight against the forces that for more than a decade have been bulldozing it, trampling the values of free societies almost unimpeded. The […]

For the past century-and-a-half association football, or soccer, has played a key sporting and social role in Ireland. For the greater part of a century it has been led by the Football Association of Ireland. In this country soccer is ranked with Gaelic football, hurling and rugby as the key sports which engage the dreams […]

Good morning. We’re covering the questions surrounding a deadly bombing in Somalia this weekend and the way China is targeting Xinjiang’s children. And we’re reflecting on some of the lives that shaped us. Deadly Somalia blast highlights Al Shabab’s resilience The terror group Al Shabab was suspected after at least 79 people were killed by […]

(Reuters) – New Zealand’s Metlifecare Ltd (MET.NZ) said on Monday it had entered into an initial deal to be acquired for about NZ$1.49 billion ($996.07 million) by a fund managed by Swedish buyout firm EQT AB (EQTAB.ST) The retirement village operator said its shareholders would get NZ$7 per share under the agreement from Asia Pacific […]

(Reuters) – New Zealand’s Metlifecare Ltd (MET.NZ) on Monday said it had entered into an initial deal to be acquired for about NZ$1.49 billion ($996.07 million) by a Luxembourg-based investment fund manager. The retirement village operator said its shareholders will get NZ$7 per share under the agreement from Asia Pacific Village Group Ltd, which is […]

The 20s are coming. Not a moment too soon. The last time round, they were glorious. Nihilistic hedonism, the Charleston, flappers flouting prohibition laws, cabaret, the Harlem Renaissance in New York, Annees folles (crazy years) in Paris, the opium dens in Weimar Berlin and Shanghai. People moved to growing cities with great ease. History suggests […]

A lot of people seemed to get quite annoyed by the images of Leo Varadkar swimming in the sea on Christmas Day. They seemed affronted by the many pictures in circulation of his relatively buff and youthful torso after he got out of the sea -though his torso, it has to be said, was in […]

I had a moment of clarity. I was putting my groceries through the checkout and looked apologetically to the next woman in the queue over my pile of ready meals. I expected a grimace of mutual guilt over our bad shopping, but she was firm. “I refuse to feel guilty for it,” she said. “We […]

An eminent Lithuanian rabbi is annoyed that his yeshiva students devote their lunch breaks to playing soccer instead of discussing Torah. The students, intent on convincing their rav of the game’s beauty, invite him to watch a professional match. At halftime, they ask what he thinks. “I have solved your problem,” the rabbi says. “How?” […]