Targeting cyber threats, California water cuts and the great unraveling

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Barack Obama ratcheted up the US response to cyber breaches, using an executive order to give his government the power to target cyber threats that affect critical infrastructure. (FT)

He declared overseas cyber threats a “national emergency” and while US officials have declined to name potential targets, the executive order could be used against individual hackers hired by companies. A spate of recent breaches at Sony, JPMorgan Chase and Target have prompted the administration to encourage more information-sharing between government agencies and with private companies.

In the news

McDonald’s pay rise Some 90,000 employees will be paid $1 an hour more than the local minimum wage from July and they’ll be allowed to accrue paid time off. The struggling burger chain followed the likes of Walmart in lifting pay amid the national debate over income inequality but has still been criticised as the rise doesn’t apply to employees at the 13,000 franchise outlets. (FT)

HSBC slow to clean up its act The bank avoided prosecution over money-laundering allegations in 2012 by paying a $1.9bn penalty and agreeing to provide quarterly updates on compliance efforts. But the independent monitor’s report has criticised senior managers for being combative and said they “inappropriately pushed back” against auditors – another blow after its rash of legal problems. (FT)

Kraft and Mondelez sued for market manipulation The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused the two companies of pushing up the price of wheat futures to offset the cost of local wheat that went into the flour for Oreo cookies. It said the two companies created from what was Kraft Foods earned more than $5.4m from the market movements. (FT)

EU turns up heat on Google The EU’s competition regulator is preparing to revive alandmark antitrust case over concerns that the company has used its web search monopoly to unfairly hurt competitors. It has asked for permission to publish extracts from confidential complaints lodged by rivals, a sign that the information will be included in a European Commission complaint. (FT)

Corporate backlash against religious freedom bills Arkansas and Indiana have been forced to reconsider their controversial “religious freedom” laws after companies such asGeneral Electric, Walmart and Apple criticised it for allowing discrimination against gays. Demetri Sevastopulo explains the bill and why it has so many people up in arms. (FT)

California ordered to cut water use by 25 per cent The state faces its fourth straight year of shortages and scientists have found “no snow whatsoever” in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The snowpack, an important source of water during the summer, is typically at its peak at this time of year. (FT)

It’s a big day for

M&S The UK retailer will be hoping for a boost in clothing sales after a dismal Christmas. Sales are expected to have picked up compared with this time last year when it had just unveiled a new-look website that had teething problems and much of Britain was suffering from extreme weather conditions. (FT)

Food for thought

Combating depression with social media Inspired by the support he received from programming community Stack Overflow, a psychologist developed an app for practising cognitive behavioural therapy. “Just like there are all these people helping me identify bugs in my code, perhaps I could create a similarly engaging and social system to help me identify bugs in my thinking.” (Wired)

The academic revolution With no money, no structure and few concrete policies, Podemos looked like any other anti-austerity party and seemed destined to fade away. Now this grassroots group led by academics is leading the polls in Spain. The Guardian looks at whether its bubble is about to burst.

Ragu enlightenment Matt Goulding goes in search of the best ragu and discovers just how many contradictory ideas of ragu bolognese there are. No matter where you are though, the best recipes are where the grandmothers are. (Roads and Kingdoms)

The great unravelling Developing economies from Brazil to China that engorged themselves with debt in recent years are now suffering their biggest capital outflows since the financial crisis. (FT)

Video of the day

Your jobs vs automation History offers little cheer for the future of the labour market if robots start taking our jobs, says Cardiff Garcia. The one note of comfort? At least we’ve started thinking and talking about it. (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 man types on a computer keyboard. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel.