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Good morning from the newsroom of the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, September 30th, and this is your F.T. news briefing.

Global dealmaking eases to the slowest pace in more than two years.

Volkswagen is gearing up to fight the largest legal claim in modern German history,

and the FT's George Parker unpacks what's been an already busy party conference for the UK Conservatives.

Plus, it's been five years since Hong Kong's umbrella movement.

We'll hear from a protester who took part in the territory's last major pro-democracy campaign.

I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.

Dealmaking around the world is slowing down. Global M&A has fallen 11% so far this year to 2.8 trillion

dollars. That's according to new figures from Refinitive.

Many of these deals have been mega transactions, those greater than $10 billion.

They've offset a broad decline in dealmaking among smaller companies,

as well as a bit of a drop-off in private equity buyouts.

A deal between tobacco groups Altria and Philip Morris International that would have been worth

$200 billion was recently abandoned following shareholder criticism.

The three months to the end of September was the quietest quarter for announced takeover since the middle of 2017.

Dealmakers say this is the tail end of what's been one of the strongest and longest deal cycles in history.

And several of those dealmakers say there's still considerable room for expansion

thanks to low interest rates and easily available cash to finance deals.

But a partner at law firm Paul Weiss told the FT that fears of an economic slowdown have shaken

...