Greece referendum, Microsoft shake-up, and the leap second

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Europe’s message to Greek citizens is simple: they are voting on membership of the eurozone. A vote against the bailout terms would spell disaster and, contrary to Alexis Tsipras’s argument, will neither give him leverage with EU creditors nor bring about a better offer.

As far as members of the Greek public can tell, their future rests on a 72-word questionreferring to “preliminary debt sustainability analysis” that is unlikely to be understood by many outside the finance sector.

With the confirmation that Greece won’t make the EUR1.55bn repayment to the International Monetary Fund due today, it also looks like the country will have to go without an EU safety net from Wednesday after the rejection of Mr Tsipras’s request for an extension to the EU bailout but was rejected.

The damage has spread, hitting European stocks, US-listed Greek companies and the euro.Asian equities were trading tentatively this morning as a result.

If you are curious about whether China and Russia could offer Greece any alternatives or the security implications of Grexit, economics writer Martin Sandbu has been taking questions via social media.

In the news

Talks to buy Rio Tinto coal assets Mick Davis, the former head of Xstrata, is discussing amultibillion-dollar offer with the global miner. The sale of Rio’s thermal coal assets in New South Wales would be the largest divestment under its current chief executive for two and a half years and would mark a substantial restructuring. (FT)

Microsoft shake-up Satya Nadella wants to weed out the underperformers and streamline the company, so much of its advertising operations are being handed over to AOL and AppNexus. A hundred engineers working for its online maps service will move to Uber. (FT)

Top Egyptian prosecutor killed Hisham Barakat, who died in a powerful roadside bombing, was the most senior official to be assassinated since a violent insurgency began two years ago after the military ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president. Today is the second anniversaryof mass protests that paved the way for Mr Morsi’s removal and marked an escalation in violence against members of the judiciary. (FT)

US Supreme Court not so liberal after all After a week that saw it affirm progressive causes – from Obamacare to gay marriage – the US Supreme Court delivered victories for conservatives. It decided not to bar a controversial death penalty drug and rejected limits on mercury emissions by power plants. (FT, WSJ)

Uber executives detained in France Police took two of the ride-sharing company’s most senior executives into custody following complaints that they were conspiring to organise illegal work, days after thousands of taxi drivers took to the streets to protest against the US company. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Timekeeping At 8pm New York time, a leap second will be added to keep clocks in sync with the slowing rotation of the earth. This is the first time a leap second has been added during trading hours since markets went electronic and exchanges are taking no chances. (Bloomberg)

Apple music The streaming service starts today and subscriptions are expected to flow in,helped by a little publicity from a scuffle with Taylor Swift. (NYT)

US trade The Export-Import Bank’s authority to make new loans expires tonight – the result of opposition from conservative Republicans in Congress. Now US companies face the new challenge of competing without the sort of low-cost export financing, guarantees and insurance that Chinese competitors and other rivals can offer. (FT)

Food for thought

Boom time A heady cocktail of ultra-low financing costs and the need for growth across sectors propelled US M&A activity 60 per cent higher to unprecedented levels in the first half of the year. Buyers also paid record valuations for their takeover targets – the average deal valuation rose to 16 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, surpassing the debt-fuelled run before the 2008 crisis. (FT)

Genetics and ethics China’s efforts to become a leader in biomedical research have prompted concerns about overstepping ethical boundaries, particularly when it comes togenetic modification. However, “Geneticists in China ‘don’t want to be guided by western people.'” (NYT)

Tunisia’s jihadi pipeline Militant Islamists are feeding on social divisions and attracting youths from poor rural areas. One of these was Seifeddine Rezgui, who seemed an unlikely radical but last week gunned down dozens of tourists on a Tunisian beach. (FT)

What a long, strange trip it’s been Mashable editor – and longtime Deadhead – Jim Roberts takes a look at the preliminary pair of final Grateful Dead shows outside San Francisco. The jamband has been gloriously inconsistent in performance, but the reviews have generally beenquite strong. The band moves to Chicago next weekend for a trio of sold-out shows that arethe hottest ticket of the summer (take that, Taylor Swift). (Mashable, New Yorker, Relix, Billboard)

Generation game Where do modern tennis players rank? (FT)

Video of the day

Samsung Bioepis: a spin-off sweetener? Lex takes a look at the drugmaker’s efforts to list in New York, which it says it needs to fund its development of biosimilar drugs. With a large and lucrative biotech market, why would Samsung spin off the company? (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 raises a Greek flag in front of the parliament in Athens. REUTERS/Yiorgos Karahalis.