Norway takes aim at executive pay, Europe's terror fight and the rise of escape rooms

The energy groups Halliburton and Baker Hughes have abandoned their planned $28bn tie-up after antitrust authorities moved to block it, the latest megadeal to collapse this year as a result of government intervention.

Authorities complained the combination would reduce competition to an unacceptable degree, distort energy markets and ultimately hurt consumers. Halliburton will be required to pay Baker Hughes a termination fee of $3.5bn by Wednesday. (FT)

In the news

Norway takes aim at executive pay The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund is launching a crackdown on executive pay, targeting high salaries at companies around the globe in an attempt to exert its influence in a debate that has been gathering pace in recent months. (FT)

Europe’s terror fight clashes with US tech firms Counterterrorism officials say US law and corporate policies are making it harder for them to prevent attacks because obtaining international evidence from American social media groups is difficult and cumbersome. (WSJ)

Cambodia tiger plan sparks roaring match A plan to restore tigers to the country’s dwindling forests has triggered disapproval from opponents who fear it could be the latest international aid project to backfire in the donor-dependent Southeast Asian autocracy. (FT)

Warren Buffett stands up for Coca-Cola The billionaire investor is famous for his Cherry Coke habit, and he’s having none of what he calls “quite spurious”, widely-held argument that lays blame for obesity and diabetes with fizzy drinks companies. Mr Buffett made the comments at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting. (FT)

US lobby group to campaign against Iran investment United Against Nuclear Iran, a bipartisan group which was at the forefront of the campaign against last year’s landmark nuclear agreement, will use a mixture of newspaper adverts and public letters to put pressure on multinationals that have either returned to Iran since the deal or are thinking of doing so. (FT)

China’s mounting debt raises spectre of chronic stagnation Beijing is fighting to dispel concerns over its economy as a slowdown and ballooning debt spur foreign investors to warn of the sort of recession seen in Japan’s lost decade and in the US after the global financial crisis. (NAR)

It's a big day for

Ireland Enda Kenny is expected to make a small bit of history when he becomes the first leader of Fine Gael, one of the country’s two big political parties, to become prime minister at the head of a second successive government. (FT)

US manufacturing Fresh PMI data are expected to show that manufacturing expanded at a slower pace in April. (Trading Economics)

Food for thought

Trump’s war with the best and brightest Donald Trump’s foreign policy may be as incompetent as it is incomprehensible, writes Ed Luce. But as with all things Mr Trump this election season, its appeal is underestimated at its critics’ peril. (FT)

Fraying at the edges A reporter follows Geri Taylor as she learns of her Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and as the disease destroys her mind. (NYT)

Claudio Ranieri: The Tinkerman poised to win Once called “the perfect loser”, the Leicester City manager is now on the verge of a historic success, writes Simon Kuper. Has Mr Ranieri suddenly become a genius at 64? (FT)

Same same but different Siddharta Mukherjee on the study of twins, and how epigenetics can blur the line between nature and nurture. (New Yorker)

Poland: An inconvenient truth Since its election in October, the socially conservative Law and Justice party has sought to seize control of state institutions in order to “fix” Polish society. The moves have been condemned as an assault on democracy by rights activists and have put Warsaw on a collision course with the EU. (FT)

Obama’s comedy calling The president brought down the house at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Among his zingers was this one directed at Donald Trump: “There is one area where The Donald’s experience could be useful, and that is closing Guantánamo — Donald knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground.” (HuffPo)

Video of the day

The rise of escape room games The FT’s Paul McClean reports on the growing trend of so-called escape rooms — where teams of people are locked in rooms and have to solve puzzles and do other tasks to escape. Why are they becoming popular and how does the business model work? (FT)