Flash crash warning, election race and student woes

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Russia lifted its self-imposed ban on selling an advanced air-defence systems to Iran, irking world powers thrashing out ways to limit the nuclear programme in the country. The decree, banning delivery of the S-300 system to the Islamic Republic in September 2009, had been imposed under intense diplomatic pressure from the US and Israel. (FT)

The move comes at a sensitive point in the negotiations over the nuclear programme, with the White House attempting to sell a framework agreement with Tehran to a highly sceptical US Congress.

Secretary of State John Kerry raised the matter in a phone call with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, the White House said. (BBC)

In the news:

Flash crash redux

A senior Federal Reserve official has warned that a flash crash in US Treasuries last autumn could happen again due to the changing nature of the US government debt market. The US Treasury market is the biggest and most liquid in the world, and forms the bedrock for the global financial system, but that did not stop it seesawing sharply last October on scant news. (FT)

A right stink

The 73-year-old granddaughter of designer Nina Ricci and heir to the eponymous perfume and fashion fortune has been handed a three-year sentence for tax fraud in the first high-profile conviction to come out of leaked client details from the Swiss private banking arm of HSBC. In a case that could set a precedent for the other French nationals on trial, a Paris court on Monday ordered Arlette Ricci to pay EUR1m in fines and serve three years in jail, two of them suspended. (FT)

Blackwater guards sentenced

A court in Washington DC has sentenced a former Blackwater guard to life in prison and three others to 30 years over the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007. The shootings sparked international outrage and a debate over the role of defence contractors in warfare. (BBC)

Time to be healthy

IBM has struck partnerships with Apple and the world’s biggest makers of medical devices, to put health data from Apple Watches into the hands of doctors and insurers, and to create personalised treatments for hip replacement patients and diabetics. (FT)

Liftoff for less

The company that handles all the national security satellite launches for the US has outlined audacious plans to end its reliance on Russian rocket engines within four years and slash the cost of launches by at least half. The new rocket will save money partly by jettisoning its engines back to earth to be captured by helicopters and reused on future flights. (FT)

US election race heats up

Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American Republican, on Monday painted his campaign to become the first Hispanic occupant of the White House as a generational choice that would determine the future of America in the 21st century. (FT)

It’s a big day for:

UK consumer price inflation, with the latest report from the Office of National Statistics due. Disinflation has set the tone in recent months and in February Bank of England governor Mark Carney said that a period of oil price-induced deflation would be good for the UK economy.

Food for thought:

A new revolution It took a lot of fossil fuels to forge our industrial world. Could we do it again without them? Is there any chance that a post-apocalyptic society could reboot a technological civilisation? (Aeon)

Student woes Bill Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, says the biggest risk in the credit market is student loans. The balance of student loans outstanding in the US swelled to $1.3tn in the middle of last year, based on data released by the Federal Reserve in October. The rising level has prompted investors and government officials to draw parallels to the subprime mortgage market before housing collapsed starting in 2006. (Bloomberg)

Burying the problem A controversial next step in the natural burial movement, as the US faces a shortage of cemeteray space: inter bodies in a bed of wood chips and leave to turn to compost. Environmental advocates and scientists are enthused, but the yuck factor means there are plenty of critics too. (NYT$)

Video of the day:

Nate Silver the founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, meets Matthew Garrahan to talk about the UK elections, Hillary Clinton and the growth of data journalism.

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 man walks in a building in Tokyo. REUTERS/Toru Hanai.