Greek bailout race, Brics warning, and horror at 30,000 feet

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

The Greek government submitted its highly anticipated plan for an economic overhaul to bailout authorities on Thursday night.

The submission is part of a request for a new three-year bailout that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras must agree by the weekend, in order to avoid a collapse of the Greek banking sector that would probably see the country crash out of the eurozone. The submission opens a razor-thin 48-hour window in which Greek bailout monitoring institutions must evaluate the plan before it is turned over to eurozone finance ministers on Saturday. (FT)

In the news

Bric markets warning Leaders of the Brics group of big emerging economies have warned of the threat of financial instability and volatile commodity prices following the Greek crisis and acute market turbulence in China. Russian president Vladimir Putin said he was very concerned after hosting the annual summit of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. (FT)

Whale set free The UK financial watchdog has dropped its investigation of Bruno Iksil, the former JPMorgan trader known as the London Whale, whose trades led to $6.2bn in losses. The Financial Conduct Authority had sought to bring a civil action against Mr Iksil but an internal and independent panel ruled that the watchdog did not have a strong enough case to proceed. (FT)

Hack attack Hackers who breached US government databases stole the personal information of at least 21.5m people, officials have revealed. The figure is more than five times higher than the number of people feared to have been affected when the data breach came to light in April. (BBC)

Digital war BT has escalated an increasingly bitter war with rival Sky with a call for greater regulatory intervention to cut prices and open up competition in the pay-TV market, asking Ofcom to change the scope of a review into digital communications to include this segment. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Centre court at Wimbledon, which will see the finalists for the men’s singles emerge from contenders including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Janet Yellen, who will give a speech on the economic outlook of the US in Cleveland, Ohio.

India-Pakistan relations, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif engage in bilateral talks during a summit in Russia.

Food for thought

Notes from Underground Amid a mass Tube strike in London, a look at the pay and conditions of workers on the London Underground. A driver can expect to earn GBP49,673 following six months of training. (BBC)

Horror at 30,000 feet An aviation company has patented a new plane seating design that includes a middle seat facing the rear. That means the horror of eyeballing a complete stranger for several hours. (Wired)

Crisis chic Trendy thirtysomething launches upscale boutique in a European city. The year: 2009. The city: Athens. Report on being an entrepreneur in a country where you don’t even know what the currency will be in three months. (Bloomberg)

Trafficking travails Bangkok launched an investigation into human trafficking after the discovery of mass graves in southern Thailand earlier this year. But the crackdown is running into obstacles, according to those participating. While 72 people have been arrested, police are still seeking many others. (Reuters)

Uncharted waters BP recently agreed an $18.7bn settlement that ends all of its disputes with the US and five Gulf states over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in US history. Is it now more nimble or vulnerable? (FT)

Video of the day

So many shares are suspended in Chinese markets that the indices are now only vaguely indicative of whether they are going up or down. James Mackintosh, FT investment editor, analyses the extent of this problem and whether to take a punt on the stocks still available.

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 holds a European Union and a Greek national flag  REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis.