Nepal rescue struggles, Greek talks, Apple results

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Nepali authorities are still struggling to reach remote mountainous villages hit by the earthquake over the weekend with the death toll already up to 3,200. Nepal is getting help from India and China, which have both been jostling for influence there. (FT, WSJ)

Heavy rains pelted the thousands of people looking for safety on the street, where they slept for fear of aftershocks and collapsing buildings. A resident surmises : “People here help one another because they know the government cannot.” (NYT, WSJ)

Saturday was the deadliest single day recorded on Mount Everest after an avalanche swept through base camp and where climbers remain trapped. This video by a climber shows the moment the avalanche hit. (Guardian)

The Kathmandu region suffers a magnitude-8 earthquake about every 75 years when the Indian subcontinent pushes against the Eurasia plate. The WSJ explains the geology that sparked a shockwave as powerful as the explosion of more than 20 thermonuclear weapons; while the NYT maps the extent of the damage.

In the news:

Ebay backs Google antitrust defence

Brussels says that Google has abused its dominance of web search to squeeze out rivals. Google retorts that eBay and Amazon dwarf it in online shopping, so how it handles product queries on its own site are beside the point. Ebay chief John Donahoe said the two are direct competitors in online shopping, giving support to Google’s defence and highlighting the tricky challenge of the antitrust inquiry. (FT)

Tata buys into Xiaomi

Indian industrialist Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed sum in China’s biggest smartphone maker. The stake will boost the company’s expansion in India , where it controls 4 per cent of the smartphone market. (FT)

Varoufakis out in the cold

Officials want to bypass the Greek finance minister in the hope of galvanising bailout talks after a fraught meeting in Riga this weekend. Mr Varoufakis was rounded on by his eurozone colleagues and many are now hoping to broker a deal on reforms by dealing with prime minister Alexis Tsipras. (FT)

Saudi campaign in Yemen resumes

Saudi officials said last week that the air strikes had achieved their objectives but hits in Sana’a and other provinces suggest the campaign is broadening rather than scaling back. Violence escalated last week as Saudis insisted that the Houthis retreat and the Houthis demanded an unconditional end to the air strikes. (NYT)

It’s a big day for:

British politicians

The final week of campaigning before the general election is under way. David Cameron will unveil a manifesto for small businesses after a weekend of jitters for the Conservative campaign. Labour leader Ed Miliband will be trying to entice working families by promising to abolish stamp duty on starter homes worth up to £300,000. Meanwhile the SNP looks like it could have the decisive say in who forms the next UK government. (FT)

Volkswagen

The world’s second-largest carmaker starts a new era after chairman Ferdinand Piech quit over the weekend. The 78-year-old transformed VW’s fortunes over two decades but his star waned over corporate governance, most famously when he appointed his wife to the board. (FT)

Apple

The world’s most valuable company reports results today and is likely to be the latest victim of the US dollar surge. It has warned that the currency move could cut more than $2bn from quarterly revenues. (FT)

Ukraine

The first EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev since the crisis starts today. Germany and its partners are pressing Ukraine to speed up implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement for fear of giving Russia excuses for renewed aggression. (FT)

Food for thought

Smash hit

A blistering start to 2015 for Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams means both players are on course to break records. (FT)

The mystery of billionaires’ long marriages

To be a billionaire, the first thing you need is a personality disorder, says Lucy Kellaway. The strange thing is, while this should make these highly successful people unsuccessful at wedlock, many of them have stuck it out with their wives for decades. (FT)

A Saudi princess goes shopping

Vanity Fair goes on the trail of Maha bint Mohammed bin Ahmad al-Sudairi who reportedly tried to stiff some of Paris’s most exclusive boutiques for $20m and skip out on a $7m hotel bill. Shops and hotels were not keen to discuss it: “Problematic as this Saudi customer was, nobody wants to lose that market, clearly.”

Video of the day:

HSBC moves home?

HSBC dropped a bombshell and said it is reviewing whether it should decamp its headquarters from the UK. The FT discusses the timing of this announcement, just ahead of the general election, and whether there are good reasons to move its domicile.

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: The shadow of a woman is cast at the Old Building of Bank of Japan’s head office in Tokyo. REUTERS/Toru Hanai.