Greece's IMF deal, Chinese GDP, and Brexit.

Last year’s deal on an €86bn bailout to prevent Greece from leaving the eurozone may need to be completely renegotiated with more realistic fiscal targets for the International Monetary Fund to take part in the rescue, its chief has warned.

Christine Lagarde said that forcing Athens to achieve the demanding budget surplus targets written into the bailout would require “heroic” efforts by the Greek people, given the deep austerity measures required. She added that maintaining such surpluses well into the future is “highly unrealistic”.

But in an op-ed, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras writes that his government is laying the foundations for recovery after six years of recession and argues that the IMF must now hold up its end of the bargain. "Greece fails to understand why the IMF insists in changing the design of the reforms in a way that leaves their yield and simplicity intact, but makes the reform significantly less progressive, shifting a considerable share of the burden on to the relatively poor." (FT)

In the news

Big banks feel the oil pinch Three of America's biggest banks have each taken $500m hits on their energy portfolios and warned of more pain to come, as they spelt out the damage inflicted by lower oil prices. Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase were among the most aggressive lenders to the oil boom, putting together portfolios on the basis that high prices were here to stay. (FT)

Microsoft sues DoJ over ‘secrecy orders’ ​The company is suing the Department of Justice over its requests to access customer data stored in the cloud, expanding the fight between US technology firms and Washington over privacy concerns. (FT)

Steve Cohen lays groundwork for new fund ​The hedge fund executive was banned from managing client money after his SAC Capital was ensnared in an insider trading scandal. But in a snub to US authorities, he has set up a new vehicle ​called Stamford Harbor Capital that will share the same management team as his family office, Point72 Asset Management. (FT)

Vladimir Putin's vast West Wing conspiracy ​The Russian president dismissed media reports that billions of dollars in offshore accounts in Panama might be linked to him as a US-backed "provocation". (Reuters)

BP investors revolt over pay ​Angry shareholders mounted an unprecedented protest ​against a 20 per cent pay hike for chief executive Bob Dudley despite the oil group making its worst ever loss. (FT)

US economy - why the gloom? ​The IMF suggests that the US has emerged as the healthiest among a sickly crop of leading economies, so the yawning gap ​between firm, if unspectacular, economic readings and the sour mood in large parts of the electorate represents a conundrum. (FT)

S Korea ruling party loses majority ​The chances of President Park Geun-hye pushing through her reform agenda have taken a hit, with her ruling party losing its parliamentary majority ​in general elections. The country went to the polls amid threats from North Korea that it would conduct a fifth nuclear test​. (FT, NAR)

Test your knowledge with the week in news quiz. Which US coal producer filed for bankruptcy protection this week?

It's a big day for

Chinese GDP ​China will report first-quarter growth, which is projected to slow even after a series of monetary and fiscal stimulus policies, along with industrial output, retail sales and investment data. Here are five things to watch​. (FT)

Food for thought

Why the Brexit camp wants to silence Obama ​The US president is likely to intimate that Britain would be barmy to vote itself out of the EU when he visits next week, continuing the tradition of US presidents confronting their British cousins with some of the harsh realities of power. His stance has already raised the ire ​of the Leave campaign, writes Philip Stephens. "You can see why the Out campaign is alarmed by Mr Obama’s interventions. His position thrusts a dagger into the heart of the Brexit case that, unshackled from the EU, Britain would assume a bigger global role." (FT)

How Europe's migrant policy is tearing families apart ​When Mohamad Subheia left a devastated Syria for the arduous journey to Europe, he promised his families they would soon join him. But Europe's crackdown on record waves of asylum seekers has left the Subheias - and countless other families - facing indefinite separation​. (WaPo)

Hedging their bets ​Bankruptcy, regulatory sanctions, even criminal charges. Platinum Partners doesn't shy away from any of it - and the hedge fund is earning extraordinary returns ​as a result. Its strategy involves providing high-interest loans to companies other lenders shun and, if the company runs out of cash, taking ownership to ultimately flip it for a profit. But its controversial investments - and the public-relations nightmares they can bring - are one reason many big institutional investors have shied away. (Reuters)

How Elon Musk built his empire ​Step-by-step infographic charts ​the circumstances faced and decisions made by the tech entrepreneur from his early life in South Africa to his current position as head of SpaceX and Tesla. (Visual Capitalist)

Video of the day

UN on Europe's migrant crisis ​Peter Sutherland, UN special representative for migration, speaks to Quentin Peel about the migration crisis in Europe, the EU-Turkey migrant deal, andwhat action should be taken to alleviate the crisis. (FT)