Greek talks flounder, Renzi’s shake-up plans, and Bill Gates on Microsoft

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Any optimism generated on Monday fizzled out as chances of a deal for Greece ran aground last night. Talks reached an impasse and Athens is no closer to getting bailout funding.

Creditors had demanded wholesale changes to the economic reform proposal Athens submitted on Monday. They wanted to overhaul Greek pensions, judging Alexis Tsipras’ plan to increase contributions as unworkable. Negotiations resume at 1pm in Brussels today.

Outside the talks, investors are less worried about Greece and more concerned that the situation has exposed the fundamental flaws of the euro. (FT)

In the news

Renzi’s shake-up plans Italy’s prime minister is pushing to give the country’s EUR400bn sovereign wealth fund a more aggressive mandate in an effort to spur growth. Matteo Renzi wants to appoint two Italian bankers to the fund’s top jobs, and task them with boosting funding to the real economy and encouraging foreign direct investment. (FT)

Xeroxed cars A San Francisco start-up has built a “supercar” that relies on 3D printing for its central structural components. The Blade (below) is the latest challenge to the motor industry’s traditional approach to manufacturing. Meanwhile, three of the world’s biggest carmakers have jumped into peer-to-peer vehicle sharing . Ford, General Motors and BMW announced schemes to let car owners earn money by renting out their new vehicles to other drivers. (FT)

Tehran oil talks Executives from Royal Dutch Shell and Eni met Iranian officials to discuss investing in the country’s energy industry – the first time international oil groups have publicly confirmed such talks. Iran has the world’s third-largest oil and gas reserves, and it needs tens of billions of dollars of foreign investment to realise its ambitions to nearly double production by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, with just days to go until nuclear negotiations end, diplomats are becoming more concerned over the Islamic Republic’s increasingly hardball tactics – in particular Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s deal-breakers. (FT)

StanChart shift New CEO Bill Winters has decided the emerging markets bank is ripe for streamlining and he plans to hand more power to regional subsidiaries in key markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, India, the UAE and Africa. Lex says he is on the right track but he mustruthlessly dump businesses such as commodities that rely on high leverage or risk and are not close to the core business. (FT)

Osborne urged to cut top rate tax Former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson urged George Osborne to cut the top income tax rate to 40p in next month’s Budget. It would carry a political risk since Labour would accuse him of lowering taxes for the wealthiest while cutting GBP12bn in tax credits and other benefits paid to the poor. (FT)

It’s a big day for

EU Migrants Leaders are holding a two-day summit on migration policy, as well as Britain’s call to renegotiate its membership terms. Here’s the agenda. (BBC)

Food for thought

Vintage meat A Chinese smuggling crackdown led to the seizure of meat dated back to the 1970s – can there really be a market for 40-year-old chicken? There is certainly anunderground market for animal products as China’s taste for meat has grown but investment into production has remained low. The value of this “aged” meat is still questionable – the customs official who found the meat almost vomited. (FT, WSJ)

Star Wars hovercraft comes to earth The US Department of Defense has picked up a hoverbike that started out as a Kickstarter project. It could transport soldiers over difficult terrain or provide logistical or surveillance support in drone mode. There is not yet a date for deployment, either on earth or in a galaxy far, far away. (Ars Technica)

The secrets of Office 39 While western relations with Cuba and Iran appear to be thawing, North Korea remains as isolated as ever. But an alliance between a shadowy North Korean organisation and the Hong Kong-based Queensway Group is helping the world’s most isolated regime to bring in money. (FT)

Trade – not just a taste issue Microscopic mites might make great cheese but they don’t make for great exports to the US. Efforts to export mimolette to the US have highlighted just how many regulatory issues the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership could run into, as well as the very different ideas that Europe and the US have about safe eating. (NYT)

Five hostages Five families whose children were held captive in Syria secretly joined forcesafter they felt the US government had abandoned them. Their story comes as President Barack Obama announced that the government would no longer threaten the families of American hostages with criminal prosecutions if they try to pay ransoms to groups such as Isis. (New Yorker, NYT)

The upstarts challenging Beijing David Pilling looks at Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, three large internet groups that have turned much of China upside down. “True, the Communist party still regulates where people live (in the city or the countryside), what they publish (though less what they say) and how many children they have (though the one-child policy is fading fast). China’s internet companies, on the other hand, hold ever greater sway on how people shop, invest, travel, entertain themselves and interact socially.” (FT)

Video of the day

Bill Gates on tax and Microsoft The billionaire philanthropist sits down with FT deputy editor John Thornhill to talk about his company, philanthropy, tax, energy and health innovation. (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 flag flutters next to a Greek flag on the facade of the Bank of Greece headquarters in Athens. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis.