Greek talks collapse, Philae awakes, Neymar v Marta

FirstFT

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

An eleventh-hour deal between Greece and its bailout creditors has slipped away – it seems the difference between Greek ministers and their bailout creditors is too wide to breach. Talks collapsed on Sunday evening after a new economic reform proposal submitted by Athens was deemed inadequate for negotiations to continue.

With the government fast running out of money, and depositors pulling cash from banks, Greece is running out of options to avoid capital controls. Then again, given the stakes for Germany and France, Wolfgang Munchau argues that Greece has nothing to lose by saying no to its creditors. (FT)

In the news

Strike against Belmokhtar The US carried out an air strike in Libya against Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who masterminded the 2013 seizure of an Algerian gas plant that left 38 foreign hostages dead. The Libyan government said Belmokhtar had been killed though American officials say they are awaiting forensic proof. (NYT)

Wake up sunshine After seven months asleep, Europe’s comet lander woke up and tweeted Earth. Philae’s solar-powered battery had died but was revived when its host comet moved closer to the sun. On Saturday night the probe “spoke” to mission headquarters in Germany and tweeted, “Hello Earth! Can you hear me? #WakeUpPhilae” (FT)

Bashir barred A South African court issued an order blocking Sudan’s president from leaving the country after a legal rights group filed an application to force authorities to arrest him. Omar al-Bashir was in Johannesburg to attend the African Union summit. The International Criminal Court, of which South Africa is a member, has outstanding arrest warrants for Bashir over charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. (FT)

Western weapons in eastern Europe The US military is considering a plan to store heavy weaponry and equipment in the Baltic states and other nearby countries as a way of demonstrating its commitment to defend the newer members of Nato. It would be the first such deployment in the former Warsaw Pact nations since the end of the cold war. Meanwhile, Russian executives are finding the sanctions regime surprisingly workable, if fraught with new risks and complexities. (FT)

Scramble to save trade deal Obama and his Republican allies spent the weekend trying to rescue the president’s trade agenda as US negotiating partners overseas warned that a failure by Congress to back the president would put plans for a Pacific Rim trade zone into a deep freeze. Hillary Clinton was forced to break her silence on the debate and seemed to side with the left of the party against her old boss. (FT)

China’s European push Beijing will pledge a multibillion-dollar investment in the continent’s new infrastructure fund at a summit on June 29 in Brussels. It marks the latest move by China to shape global governance and chip away at US dominance. (Reuters)

@Alwaleed_Talal: hit the road @jack Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of Twitter’s earliest and biggest shareholders, said he did not support Jack Dorsey becoming permanent chief executive of the messaging platform after Dick Costolo stepped down. He called for a new leader with marketing experience and said Mr Dorsey should return to running mobile payments company Square. (FT)

It’s a big day for

Scottish devolution MPs will debate a devolution package today. Stewart Hosie, the Scottish National Party’s Treasury spokesman in Westminister, threatened to call for another referendum unless the government agreed to devolve more powers to Edinburgh. (FT)

UK debate over EU Dozens of Conservative MPs are threatening to rebel this week against their party’s attempts to keep the government running in the lead-up to the EU referendum. Ministers want to drop the 28-day period of purdah that usually applies before an election in order to make statements on EU budgets and negotiations but eurosceptic MPs worry that this could help make the case for Britain’s continued membership of the union. (FT)

Global energy The International Energy Agency publishes its 2015 Special Report on Energy and Climate Change. It says wind, solar and other types of renewable power will overtake coal to become the world’s top source of electricity in just 15 years if countries meet their pledges for a global climate change deal this year. Meanwhile, oil-rich Saudi Arabia opens up its$560bn stock market to direct foreign investment. (FT)

Food for thought

Frankly, my dear Not giving a damn won’t make a jot of difference to your chances of success, says Lucy Kellaway. In fact, she argues, caring about your job is unproductive and makes us mad. (FT)

Beyond the chokehold The New York Times looks at the cultural and societal circumstances that led to the death of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man whose last words, “I can’t breathe“, became a rallying cry for those protesting against police treatment of African Americans.

Mexico: Clearing out Mexican bankers say the US regulatory clampdown has damaged legitimate activity. Financial institutions are struggling to find banks that will provide them with the crucial service of converting pesos into US dollars for processing payments. (FT)

Football’s female forwards The FT examines how the current generation compares to those who inspired them while NPR examines the very different worlds of men’s and women’s professional football. Neymar and Marta are both heralded as among the greatest football players of their generation. But Neymar makes about $10m a year playing for Barcelona, while Marta is regularly looking for a new club that can stay afloat financially.

The secret life of the dancing girl emoji “Saw Twins Dancing emoji beside the Ferris wheel emoji today. They’re kind of adorable, but there’s also something creepy about those two. Always together. All the time.” (New Yorker)

Video of the day

Market odysseys Federal Reserve and European finance minister meetings this week could resolve the long-running issues of US interest rates and Greek debt – but most probably will not. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

To keep up with the Agenda subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

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 and an EU flag flutter outside the Foreign Ministry in Athens. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis. 

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Share:
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum