Fifa scandal and Chinese ferry disaster intensify

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Sepp Blatter has stepped down as head of Fifa, days after he won re-election amid a massive corruption scandal. In his resignation speech, Mr Blatter – who has led world football’s governing body for 17 years – said he did not feel he had a mandate from the entire world of football. He called for an extraordinary congress to elect his successor. (FT)

The New York Times carried a report alleging that law enforcement officials in the US are focusing on Mr Blatter as part of a federal corruption investigation. (NYT$)

In the news

Greek bailout deal Greece’s lenders have hammered out a new rescue plan that they will present to Athens on Wednesday, demanding difficult economic reforms in return for access to EUR7.2bn of desperately needed aid. Officials hope the deal will be accepted by Athens before Friday, when it must make a EUR300m loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund. (FT)

Ferry disaster Rescuers are in a race against time to find survivors among hundreds of people missing, after a ferry with 458 people aboard sank on the Yangtze river on Monday night (BBC)

NHS warning AstraZeneca’s chief executive has warned that the UK is falling behind in cancer care and questioned the government’s commitment to innovation, after an ovarian cancer drug it developed was snubbed as too expensive for the National Health Service. (FT)

Fitbit looking flush Fitbit and some of its shareholders hope to raise up to $478m in an initial public offering, after the wearables maker set an initial pricing range of $14-$16 on Tuesday. (FT)

It’s a big day for

The ECB The European Central Bank meets as its quantitative easing programme gains traction and the economy slowly improves. Mario Draghi will hold a press conference on monetary policy and answer questions – observers will be looking for updates on the Greek situation (from bailouts to deadlines to Grexits), inflation and QE.

Opec The oil industry’s annual gathering in Vienna this week could get awkward as it brings powerful executives face to face with the architects of an Opec strategy that has forced them to slash costs and cut investment. (FT)

Food for thought

Go west, young man The future belongs to the cities of the west: where the 0.1 per cent, the most mobile class in history, want to live argues Simon Kuper. Classical architecture, great universities and diverse cultural scenes make them winners. (FT)

City of drips If you do head to one of those heritage rich cities however prepare to open your wallet: the BBC correspondent in Paris says high labour costs and old buildings do not a hassle-free domestic life make. (BBC)

Judging the judge It was a German judge during the Second World War who was the first man to prosecute commandants of the Nazi concentration camps. Surprised at what he saw, he nonethless decided to work within the flawed system to pursue them – not for crimes against humanity but with ordinary crimes of corruption and murder. (Aeon)

Stock disconnect Chinese investors are coming to Hong Kong to buy stocks they could get at home – but prefer to do so in the territory due to discounts on trading commissions, bigger borrowing limits and even reimbursement for airfares. (Bloomberg)

Transgender challenges remain The very public transition of Caitlyn Jenner, from Bruce Jenner, is raising awareness of transgender issues in the US. But Megan Murphy, FT Washington bureau chief, says it should not obscure the fact that for so many transgender people life remains a struggle. (FT)

Video of the day

The oil industry has $2.5tn of outstanding debt, much of it lent before the oil price halved. Dan McCrum looks at whether the impending maturity wall should be concerning lenders more than it is.

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 referee uses vanishing spray to mark the boundary of the ball during a free kick. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth.