PARIS (Reuters) – Activist fund Elliott Management sent a letter to the board of Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA) asking for cost cuts of some 500 million euros ($567.40 million) to help boost its operating performance, a source close to the matter told Reuters. Elliott also suggested alternative scenarios such as a merger with a large rival, […]

The government’s recent sentencing memos regarding Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, have prompted speculation about whether Mr. Trump himself acted unlawfully during his presidential campaign. The possibility of such criminal conduct has, in turn, renewed an old debate about whether it would be constitutional to indict a sitting United States president. Although it’s unlikely […]

When the Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear cases brought by Louisiana and Kansas attempting to exclude Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs, legal soothsayers were out in full force opining about what it means for the future of abortion rights under the newly constituted court. The decision drew a […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. Thank you for all the feedback on our special Brexit section of the briefing over the last week. You may have noticed some other changes — we’ve been working on ways to make the briefing even better. Please let us know what you […]

We’re in the middle of rugby season. For all I know, we might also be in ice-hockey/ping pong/synchronised swimming season too, but I’m long resigned as a rugby widow. I have, however, picked up some tips along the way about men who play with odd-shaped balls so, if you also need to join in and […]

The very last thing anyone in Ireland should do right now is gloat. As recently as just weeks ago, nobody would have been unduly surprised to hear the Taoiseach was visiting EU capitals in a five-to-midnight effort to rally support for Ireland’s cause. Today, it is UK Prime Minister Theresa May who is playing that […]

To the Editor: Re “Can We Stop Suicides?” (Sunday Review, Dec. 2): Moises Velasquez-Manoff rightly highlights the tragic epidemic of suicides but overstates the use of the anesthetic ketamine. While ketamine has serious side effects, the greatest drawback of its use for depression and suicide may be in raising false hopes of a quick fix. […]

What difference can one ordinary person make? Here are six people Fixes wrote about in the last year who show what the answer can be: a lot. Katie Fahey RESTORES POWER TO THE PEOPLE “There were great moments in American history when people rose up to correct it when something wasn’t right. I said, ‘Technically, […]

I think Richard Barton (‘Public sector like broken gun – they can’t be fired’, Letters, December 6) should do a little more research before writing. His rant on public service workers was so full of inaccuracies, personal opinion masquerading as fact and calculated insults that I have to set the record straight. We do not […]

Another manic Monday in the Palace of Westminster has given way to more uncertainty. The UK prime minister announced that she is about to engage in even more “dialogue” with her EU counterparts today and tomorrow as she prepares for another summit in Brussels on Thursday. There is no doubt that her EU colleagues will […]