Lee Kuan Yew dies, Greece-Germany talks and Uber in India

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore, has died aged 91, half a century after he led the city-state to independence. (FT)

As Singapore’s first prime minister, he ruled for three decades and oversaw the island nation’s transformation from a tropical backwater in the declining years of British colonial rule into one of the most remarkable economic success stories of the 20th century. (FT)

His death comes as Singapore is grappling with something of an existential crisis . The current government, headed by Lee’s oldest son Lee Hsien Loong, is facing sharply slower economic growth, a rapidly ageing population and social strains brought about by years of foreign worker immigration. (FT)

In the news

Russia threatens Denmark with nuclear strikes Russia’s ambassador to Denmark wrote in a newspaper opinion piece that the Nordic country had not fully understood the consequences of signing up to the Nato missile defence programme. “If it happens, then Danish warships will be targets for Russia’s nuclear weapons.” (FT)

CNCC closes in on Pirelli takeover The Chinese National Chemical Corporation reached an agreement to buy holding company Camfin, which owns 26 per cent of Pirelli , at EUR15 per share. The aim is to undertake a EUR7bn takeover of the Italian tyremaker and delist it from the Milan stock exchange. (FT)

Activist shareholder challenges Vivendi chair Shareholders had already raised questions over what Vincent Bollore plans to do with the EUR15bn cash pile he has amassed from selling assets to focus Vivendi on media. Now a US hedge fund wants to dilute his outsize influence at the company and push up the share price by jacking up the dividend. (FT)

France’s ruling party takes a hit in local elections Francois Hollande’s Socialist party came third behind the centre-right and the far-right parties. Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP joined forces with the centrist UDI and made the strongest gains with an estimated 30 per cent of votes, while Marine Le Pen’s National Front scored about 26. The defeat is a blow to Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who targeted the FN to try to galvanise a leftwing electorate that has grown disillusioned with Mr Hollande’s liberal shift. (FT)

Socialists on course to win Andalucia Spain’s ruling centre-right Popular party is also suffering – its share of the vote in the Andalucia regional election fell to 27 per cent from 41 per cent in 2012. The Socialists are on course to win 36 per cent of the vote, which would give them the option of governing the regional parliament with a minority. Anti-austerity Podemos won its first seats since being founded just over a year ago. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Greek debt Alexis Tsipras meets Angela Merkel in Berlin today. The Greek prime minister wrote to the German chancellor on March 15, warning her that it will be “impossible” for Athens to service debt obligations due in the coming weeks if the EU does not distribute short-term financial assistance to the country. (FT)

Uber The taxi-hailing app will announce its first investment tie-up in India – a deal with the Times of India media group. Uber is trying to fend off fierce competition from local rivals in India and leave behind a spate of bad publicity in its second-largest market by users. Over the weekend, the UN backpedalled on its plans to work with Uber on creating 1m jobs for women over the next five years after labour unions and NGOs raised an outcry, saying that the jobs created were likely to be “insecure and unsafe”. (FT, Bloomberg)

Ted Cruz The Texas senator is expected to announce that he will run for president. By declaring himself first, he is hoping to reclaim the attention of the Republican party’s rightwing, which has begun eyeing other contenders, such as Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. (NYT)

Renminbi trading in the western hemisphere Canada launches the Renminbi Trading Hub for the Americas today. The hub, backed by China’s central bank, is part of an effort to boost trade with China. (WSJ)

Argentine bond interest payments Citigroup says a US federal court has allowed it to makeinterest payments to investors holding $2.3bn of Argentine bonds due at the end of the month. The move is expected to be filed in court today. Banks processing interest payments for Argentine bonds had been barred from making any further payments unless they also paid the hedge funds that had chosen not to exchange for discounted bonds. (NYT)

Food for thought

Redesigning death Paul Bennett doesn’t want death to be such a downer. He thinks it’s a design opportunity in an area that is overlooked but matters tremendously. Ideo, the design company he works for, has been looking at ideas for apps from Pinterest-style funeral inspiration to After-Gifting, where a person could arrange for preselected birthday gifts to be delivered after they have died. (California Sunday)

Tech vs pharma Traditional healthcare companies are unsettled by groups such as Google and Apple muscling in on the research and development process. However, most activity so far has been limited to fitness apps providing motivational information rather than truly medical-grade data. (FT)

Video of the day

New year and old problems in Iran The usual Norouz fervour was absent this year as people celebrated the first day of Spring. There are hopes that the talks on nuclear power will ease economic sanctions but purchasing power is already weak and people are cutting back on luxuries. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: A European Union and Greek flag wave in front of the Parthenon temple in Athens. REUTERS/John Kolesidis.