Opec ready for emergency meeting, Google takes on Apple Pay

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

An emergency Opec meeting will be called if the oil price slips any further, according to Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s oil minister and president of Opec. (FT)

The plunge in oil prices has thrown the fiscal balances of big oil producers such as Nigeria, Venezuela and Russia into disarray. Ms Alison-Madueke said members had already discussed the possibility of an extraordinary meeting but analysts say it is highly unlikely that Saudi Arabia will agree to it. (FT)

Meanwhile, BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner by market capitalisation, reported that itsinterim profits had fallen by almost half as prices for its most important commodities, which include oil and iron ore, slumped. (FT)

In the news

Google took on Apple Pay The search group struck a deal to buy mobile wallet technologyand patents from start-up Softcard. Google wallet will be preinstalled later this year on Android phones sold by AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, which backed Softcard. (FT)

Postal Savings Bank of China eyes IPO The state-owned bank is in talks with potential investors, including an affiliate of Alibaba, US private equity groups and Asian sovereign wealth funds, about selling minority stakes before a possible initial public offering in early 2015. The bank is a fixture in rural China and has as much as $800bn in deposits. An IPO could raise anywhere between $10bn and $25bn. (FT)

Gulliver’s travails HSBC’s reputation had already been battered by a tax-evasion scandal at its Swiss private bank – it took another hit when it reported a sharp drop in pre-tax profits that sent its shares tumbling. Chief executive Stuart Gulliver sounded beaten down when discussing the results, as he also had to answer questions about his own complex tax arrangements, which Vanessa Houlder explains here. (FT)

Palestinian groups fined A New York court found the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation liable for six terrorist attacks in Israel and ordered them to pay$218.5m in damages. They were sued by 10 US families for attacks that killed 33 people and wounded hundreds from 2002 – 2004. (FT)

Former UK foreign secretary fights for reputation The Conservative party suspended Sir Malcolm Rifkind from its parliamentary group and launched a disciplinary investigation after he was recorded by undercover reporters offering to help a fictitious Chinese company in return for payments. Sir Malcolm is also under pressure to step down from the intelligence committee but insists he has “nothing to be embarrassed about”. (FT)

It’s a big day for 

Greek reform plans Eurozone finance ministers are expected to weigh up Greece’s proposed reform plans today – the last hold-up to deciding whether to extend Greece’s EU programme beyond Saturday. If the list proves unacceptable, the ministers will be summoned to Brussels to resolve differences in person. (FT)

Sexism and Silicon Valley Opening arguments begin today for the trial of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which is being sued for $16m for gender discrimination and retaliation by former employee Ellen Pao. If the firm is found liable it will be seen as a vindication of women’s complaints about the tech world. (NYT$)

The US Fed’s stance on interest rates Chairwoman Janet Yellen takes questions from the Senate Banking Committee on the Fed’s interest rate stance. She is tasked with discussing ways of easing away from the central bank’s promise of low rates while avoiding a knee-jerk response in financial markets. (FT)

The mayor of Chicago Voters in the Windy City go to the polls today to decide whether former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will get a second term. A persistently high rate of violent crime and a series of controversial school closures have alienated the city’s African Americans, who account for a third of its 2.7m residents. If Mr Emanuel cannot win more than 50 per cent of the vote he will face a run-off in April. (FT)

Food for thought

Staking a claim in South Africa The government says its proposed land reform addresses300 years of injustice but opponents say the shake-up threatens food security and is more about populism than equality. (FT)

Taking the heat Bikram Choudhury, the yoga guru who built an empire on a sweaty form of yoga performed in high temperatures, faces six lawsuits from women accusing him of rape and assault. Mr Choudhury denies any wrongdoing but his followers are turning away and stripping their institutions of the Bikram label. (NYT$)

Rats exonerated for the Plague A new study suggests that the Black Death may not have been spread by the much-maligned rat, but by cutesey gerbils from Asia via the Silk Road. Scientists will now analyse bubonic plague bacteria DNA to see if it indicates that the plague came from central Asia, helped by a wet spring and a warm summer. (BBC)

Sunblock An eclipse of the sun next month could disrupt European power supplies because so many countries now use solar energy. Solar power’s share of Europe’s electricity production has grown from 0.1 per cent in 1999 to at least 10.5 per cent. (FT)

UK: no country for young men Young adults’ living standards have been on the slide, pushed down faster by the recession, while pensioners have enjoyed a rapid rise up the income table. (FT)

Video of the day

Party like it’s 1999? The FTSE 100 briefly passed the level it closed at the end of 1999. James Mackintosh explains why it is little more than superstition to look at records of the past and why we need to keep an eye on the future – indices are odd beasts. (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: An employee fills a test tube with mineral oil. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin.