FirstFT: Three US servicemen killed in drone attack

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Good morning. Three US service members have been killed by a drone attack on a military base carried out by “radical Iran-backed militant groups” in Jordan, the White House said yesterday.

The deaths mark the first time US troops have been killed in an attack in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza in October.

President Joe Biden said the US would “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner of our choosing”.

US defence officials said a further 25 service members were injured in the attack at a military base in north-eastern Jordan. One official said the incident happened at the Tower 22 outpost near the Syrian border.

The attack is a significant escalation that is likely to draw the US further into conflict even as Washington seeks to avoid a broader regional conflagration. Here’s what else we know.

• US-China talks: US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has urged Beijing to use its leverage with Tehran to rein in Iranian-backed Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea in a back-channel meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.

• Israel-Hamas war: UN secretary-general António Guterres appealed to world leaders to continue funding the agency that aids Palestinian refugees, after several countries suspended their support following allegations that staff had taken part in Hamas’s October 7 attacks in Israel.

And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Evergrande winding-up hearing: The Hong Kong High Court hears a winding-up petition for the world’s most indebted property developer.

• Iran-Pakistan relations: Iran’s foreign minister will visit Islamabad today in an effort to mend ties after the neighbouring countries exchanged missile strikes earlier this month (Reuters).

• Canada foreign interference inquiry: Canada begins a public inquiry into alleged election interference by China, India, Russia and other foreign actors.

Five more top stories

1. China has moved to officially limit short selling after informal efforts failed to stop a worsening stock market sell-off. Investors who buy shares will not be allowed to lend them out for short selling within an agreed lock-up period, the Shenzhen and Shanghai bourses said yesterday. The measures, which will come into effect today, are designed to “create a fairer market order”, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

2. Construction on the Kremlin’s long-planned mega-pipeline connecting Russia’s western gasfields with China is expected to be delayed, the prime minister of Mongolia has warned, in a blow to Moscow’s plans to secure a new market for the gas it previously sold to Europe. Mongolia’s Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene told the FT that Moscow and Beijing are yet to agree on critical details of the mammoth infrastructure project.

3. Canon hopes to start shipments of new low-cost chipmaking machines as early as this year, as the Japanese company best known for its cameras and printers tries to undercut longtime industry leader ASML in providing the tools to make leading-edge semiconductors. If successful, Canon’s “nanoimprint” technology could give back Japanese manufacturers some of the edge they ceded to rivals in South Korea, Taiwan and, increasingly, China over the past three decades.

4. German rightwing populists have suffered a surprise defeat in a widely watched regional election that has followed a fortnight of nationwide protests. A burgeoning scandal for the AfD over the party’s connections to ethno-nationalist extremists has been dominating the headlines recently. Hundreds of thousands of Germans have turned out across the country to demonstrate against the AfD and rightwing extremism

• Finland election: A former Finnish prime minister will face the foreign minister who took the Nordic country into Nato in a run-off election in two weeks to decide who becomes president of the military alliance’s newest member.

5. Elon Musk’s X has blocked searches for Taylor Swift after sexually explicit images of the pop star created using artificial intelligence spread widely on the platform. X’s use of the blunt moderation mechanism this weekend comes as the social media group and its rivals face mounting pressure to tackle abuse of increasingly realistic and easy-to-access deepfake technology. Read the full story.

The Big Read

Boeing is engulfed in crisis after the dramatic mid-air blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight earlier this month cast a shadow over its 737 Max series. At stake is not just Boeing’s standing as a leader in aviation. The US group’s mis-steps have prompted some industry experts to ask if there has been a decisive shift of power towards its European rival Airbus in the duopoly that governs aerospace — and whether new competitors such as Chinese state-backed aerospace champion Comac might emerge.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Futures traders have jumped on the arrival of the first US spot bitcoin exchange traded funds, ramping up a lucrative bet that capitalises on the volatile moves of crypto-related prices.

Take a break from the news

The haze of jet lag from a 23-hour flight to London from Australia made the FT’s Pilita Clark wonder how long researchers had been studying the tedious scourge, and whether they were any closer to a decent solution. The answers were not quite what she expected.