user: M&A activity hits three-year low

FORTUNE — Global merger and acquisition activity is weaker than at any time since 2009, according to preliminary data released today by Thomson Reuters.

Through this past Tuesday, there had been $978.8 billion of announced M&A activity in 2013 — representing a 9% decrease from the same period in 2012. Most of that drop came in Q2, where the $470 billion of volume represents an 8% decrease from Q1 2013 and more than a 28% fall from Q2 2012. In fact, this is shaping up to be the slowest quarter since Q3 2009.

U.S. activity fell by 16% in Q2, but actually remains up by 34% for the year. It also represents more than half of 2013 activity, with $437.1 billion so far. European M&A has fallen by 43% so far this year.

Private equity also is a mixed bag — up 43% for the year but finishing off its slowest quarter since Q3 2010. Not terribly surprising, given that the year’s two largest PE-backed deals — Heinz and Dell DELL — were announced in Q1, and nothing of similar size came during the subsequent quarter.

Energy and power has been the top sector for 2013 global M&A, followed by real estate, financials and healthcare.

Goldman Sachs GS is atop the M&A advisor league tables for worldwide, U.S. and European activity, with J.P. Morgan JPM coming in second. Third-place for global activity went to Morgan Stanley MS , while BoA Merrill Lynch BAC was there for U.S. activity and Deutsche Bank DB for Europe.

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Summary: So much for the widely-anticipated M&A boom.


Egypt sentences to death 529 supporters of Mohamed Morsi

A judge in southern Egypt has taken just two court sessions to sentence to death 529 supporters of Mohamed Morsi for the murder of a single police officer.

Sixteen people were acquitted after lawyers said they had not been allowed to present a proper defence before the judgment was made.

The defendants were arrested last August during a wave of unrest in which supporters of the former president react violently to the clearance of a pro-Morsi sit-in in Cairoduring which more than 900 people were killed. In addition to the murder, the 529 were accused of attempting to kill two other police officers and attacking a police station.

The death sentences are not final and appeals are likely; similar sentences have often been commuted in Egypt. But families of the accused and rights lawyers described the process as a miscarriage of justice.

One man, whose father was among those sentenced to death, said: "Nothing can describe this scandal. This is not a judicial sentence, this is thuggery."

He added: "The session last[ed] for five minutes, [and] during those five minutes none of the lawyers or the defendants were listened to – not even the prosecution. The judge just came in to acquit [the 16] and sentence to death the others."

Mohamed Zaree, head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), a prominent rights group, said: "This verdict is a disaster. To rule in the second session of a trial – it means the judge didn't hear the defence or look at the evidence. Even someone from the second grade of the law faculty would never have issued this verdict – it goes against the basic principles of criminology."

The same court will try 683 more Brotherhood supporters on Tuesday – including the leader of the group, Mohamed Badie, and the head of its political wing, Saad al-Katatny.

The defendants are among at least 16,000 political dissidents arrested since the overthrow of Morsi last July, according to police figures. Some rights groups say the real figure may be as high as 23,000, and many of those imprisoned have been tortured by the authorities.

One of the most high-profile detainees – Alaa Abd El Fatah, a secular activist investigated by every regime since Hosni Mubarak – was released on bail on Sunday in a rare instance of judicial clemency.

Additional reporting by Manu Gallad

Summary:

assistant: Complaints of miscarriage of justice as judge takes just two sessions to find defendants guilty of police officer's murder