Carlsberg has posted a solid rise in half-year sales, thanks to Asian markets, where consumers are trading up from mainstream beers to pricier premium brands, lifting its shares by as much as 5%.

For months, executives from Anheuser-Busch InBev raced to prepare for a listing of its Asian subsidiary, Budweiser Brewing Company. It was to be this year’s biggest initial public offering and would surpass Uber Technologies’ $8.1bn (€7.2bn) share sale.

Carlsberg joined Heineken in reporting a strong start to the year as Asian revenue surged, helped by the acquisition of Cambrew, a Cambodian brewer.

Paramedics who arrived to the scene of a 40-year-old Eastern European man lying on his back at a Fermoy filling station gave up on their attempts to resuscitate him and reported their impressions to gardaí that it was a suspicious death.

Two Polish road hauliers who were working in Ireland were put on trial today on the charge of murdering another Eastern European man at a filling station in Fermoy, Co. Cork, over two years ago.

If Carlsberg could do Grand Slam-winning opening salvos, they would replicate what Wales delivered in the opening 70 seconds of action in Cardiff last Saturday.

The relentless growth of social media platforms has driven fundamental change. This year, a Rubicon will be crossed as, for the first time, digital media advertising revenues are expected to outstrip the advertising spend in traditional media. This will usher in change far, far beyond anything imagined in a narrow commercial context.

Your lunchtime headlines.

Shares in European beer manufacturers Heineken and Carlsberg are relatively flat despite both reporting solid sales growth.

‘Down the park’ was for the hoi polloi, but City Hall was more bourgeois — the second leg of the Liam Miller Tribute event was an evening of glamour for the better known businessmen and professionals of Cork, where black tie was the order of the night.

A hotel guest accused of damaging four hotel rooms ran down into the lobby naked and blaming “gypsies” for the attack.

Founder of the Happiness Research Institute, Meik Wiking, has spent the past five years delving into what makes societies smile, writes Deirdre Reynolds

Why are we all such legends? That is the poser we have to tackle this week. That is the six-marker.

The daily newspapers had hardly been bundled onto shelves around the country on Wednesday morning when word arrived that Peter Schmeichel wouldn’t talk about Roy Keane when he arrived in Dublin yesterday.

Parents and front-line services dread the binge boozing of October 31, but we are all culpable in subtly encouraging the young to partake, says psychotherapist Richard Hogan

“If Carlsberg did holes-in-one, this would be the one they would do.”

With probably one of the best-known brand slogans in the world, it is unsurprising Carlsberg proved wiliest at circumventing local regulations designed to protect children from alcohol advertising during Euro 2016.

Just as well Leo Varadkar provided water — and no charges, says Lise Hand.

A rebounding European beer market is buoying Anheuser-Busch InBev and Carlsberg, lifting demand for mainstream brands such as Stella Artois and Tuborg.

Asahi will buy a group of eastern European beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev for €7.3bn, boosting its presence in the region in the largest overseas beer deal by a Japanese brewer.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, which will soon make almost 30% of the world’s beer, wants to serve more low and alcohol-free brews to drinkers trying to live a healthier lifestyle.

A superb amphitheatre, a terrific buzz and plenty of football action — no, not the Stade de France, The Courtyard off Sober Lane where hundreds gathered for a night of “oohs” and “aahs” and a result any of us would have taken yesterday morning.

One year into a sweeping corruption scandal at the highest levels of global soccer, Fifa’s reputation and finances are still under a cloud.

Carlsberg is planning its biggest sports marketing campaign around this summer’s Euro 2016 soccer tournament, as the competition swells to its largest ever size.

Shares in Carlsberg fell by over 3% yesterday as the Danish brewing giant said sales fell more than expected in the first quarter due to decline in the Chinese market and foreign exchange fluctuation. 

Danone, the world’s largest yoghurt producer, has turned its Russian business around by finding growth in the most unlikely of places — Siberian bogs. 

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, intends to sell the Eastern European brewing assets of SABMiller to secure regulatory approval for its $100 billion (€88.2bn) takeover of its rival.

Carlsberg, the world’s fourth-biggest brewer, has pledged to pay more of earnings in the form of dividends as its new chief unveiled his strategy for the next six years.

Heineken and Carlsberg, the world’s third- and fourth- largest brewers, yesterday forecast higher profits this year as rising consumption in Vietnam and south-east Asia offsets weaker demand from Russia and Africa.

Trish Dromey says all the bells and whistles — and more — have gone in to putting a truly luxurious finish on this property near Ennis.