Greek confusion, US jobs, and a reluctant hero

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

If you didn’t think the Greek crisis could get more confusing, think again. Alexis Tsipras appeared to hold out an olive branch yesterday, accepting most of the terms of the economic plan proposed last weekend. He followed that up by accusing Europe’s leaders of attempting to blackmail Greek voters and urging people to vote against accepting tough terms – for a bailout that no longer exists.

Martin Sandbu considers the possibility that Tsipras is holding out for debt relief – an offer that he could paint as a victory and ask people to vote for.

Some European leaders have tried to reopen talks but one has stood apart: Angela Merkel, who may be quietly exacting her revenge on the defiant Greek prime minister.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and head of the eurogroup, said there were no grounds for further talks before Sunday’s referendum. Until the vote, the ECB will be reconsidering how much help to give Greece’s financial system.

In the news

US antitrust action Ever wonder why plane tickets never seem to go down, despite, say, a huge drop in oil prices? So does the justice department, which is investigating whether airlines illegally colluded to keep fares high. The DoJ also sought to block Electrolux’s $3.3bn acquisition of General Electric’s appliance business, arguing that it would result in higher prices for American consumers. (FT)

Saudi prince to give away fortune Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud said he would give away $32bn to charity in the coming years, one of the largest philanthropic gestures in history. His wealth will go towards providing disaster relief and empowering women, among other things. (FT, BBC)

Record insurance tie-up Ace agreed to buy its New York-listed rival Chubb for $28.3bn . The deal will create America’s second-largest listed property and casualty insurer by market capitalisation. Lex thinks Ace now has a tightrope to walk – “The juicy 30 per cent premium paid means that tangible book value per share will not return to its current level for three years.” (FT)

Hillary Clinton hauls it in The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination expects to have raised more than $45m in the first three months of her candidacy, beating Barack Obama’s previous record, with 91 per cent of the donations below $100. (FT)

The smart guy in the room Former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow said the same accounting that won him an award for CFO of the year in the early 2000s got him a US federal prison ID. He cautioned that modern accounting methods can still be legal while presenting a misleading picture of a company’s health. (FT)

Robot kills VW worker The technician was installing the machine when he was struck in the chest by the equipment and pressed against a metal plate. Although concerns persist about the rise of automata, experts said the rare accident at Volkswagen’s plant near Kassel in Germany had more in common with industrial accidents that date back decades. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Fed watchers The latest US jobs report is expected to reveal the country edging closer to full employment with wages finally starting to increase. But some underlying weakness remains, and observers will be watching for how the Federal Reserve reads the conflicting indicators as it considers the timing of its first rate rise. (FT)

Food for thought

A reluctant hero British banker Nicholas Winton helped save 669 children from the Holocaust then said nothing about it for nearly half a century. He died on Wednesday at the age of 106. (NYT)

22 years a slave How Myint Naing returned home after he lost more than two decades of his life to slavery in Southeast Asia. (AP)

Kids behind bars A look at the cruel – and all-too-usual – punishments inflicted upon children who make their way through the US criminal justice system. (HuffPo)

Mario Brothers beats Could it be that Nintendo’s first dedicated sound designer was one of the great innovative forces of our time? Koji Kondo’s work made gaming more of an all-sensory experience than it was before and video games, like film soundtracks, have become a space for musicians to experiment. (New Yorker)

Goodbye to all that Guardian journalist Gary Younge bids farewell after 12 years in the US, reflecting on the experience of being a black man in America and raising a child there – “we are trying to raise self-confident children for long lives, not hashtags for slaughter“. His departure comes as the US is experiencing a fresh wave of attacks on black churches, which are burning across the South. (Guardian, Atlantic)

Stop the presses! The internet is eating – has eaten? – the news industry. The FT looks at whether established brands will be helped or hindered by their links to the likes of Facebook and Apple. News organisations aren’t the only ones feeling Facebook’s sharp elbows – the social network is also muscling into YouTube’s territory by offering to share advertising revenue with video creators who publish on their platform. (FT)

Video of the day

The case for transhumanism Zoltan Istvan, a transhumanist and 2016 presidential candidate, is at Camp Alphaville and explains his vision of a technologically enhanced human species. (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 Greek national flag is placed at a stall. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis.