London attacker known to MI5, airline laptop confusion and the business of brows

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The man who killed three people in a terror attack outside Britain’s Houses of Parliament on Wednesday was born in the UK and known to the intelligence service MI5, prime minister Theresa May announced on Thursday. Armed police in the UK have raided homes in London and Birmingham and arrested eight people in connection with the attack. The attacker, who was shot by police, has not been named and is believed to have been acting alone. He drove his car along Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians before trying to enter parliament in an assault that fits an increasingly familiar pattern, with similarities to last year’s attacks in Berlin and Nice.

Londoners have responded to the killings with defiance, with the hashtags #WeAreNotAfraid and #LondonStrong trending on social media. Politicians pointedly returned to business as usual in parliament on Thursday. “We meet here, in the oldest of all parliaments, because we know that democracy, and the values it entails, will always prevail,” Mrs May said. (FT, Daily Mail, NYT, Guardian)

In the news

Bad day for Barclays The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has reignited its investigation into Barclays’ emergency cash call during the height of the financial crisis, when Barclays turned to Qatari and Abu Dhabi senior royals and sovereign wealth funds for a £7.3bn boost as a last-chance effort to stay out of UK government control. The FCA determined in 2013 that the bank had failed to disclose arrangements and fees it paid to Qatari investors at the time and said it would imposed a £50m fine. The reopening of the case file could prompt the regulator to alter its previous conclusions and change the amount of the fine. (FT)

Airline laptop confusion Experts are baffled about the disparity between the US and UK curbs on electronic devices on flights from the Middle East and north Africa. Some put it down to different perception of risk because of varying flight patterns. Others say the whole approach is doubtful. (FT)

Ferry rising The South Korean ferry that sank three years ago, killing 304 people, has been pulled up from the seabed off the Korean coast. The structurally unsound vessel was overloaded and travelling too fast on a turn when it capsized and sank in 2014. Most of the victims were school children and nine bodies are still missing. (Reuters)

Butchers beware in UP The Hindu cleric newly appointed to run Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest state, has ordered a crackdown on butchers and men loitering in public. Critics say Yogi Adityanath’s morality campaign is evidence that prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party is more interested in pushing a rightwing Hindu nationalist agenda than fulfilling its promises to alleviate poverty and promote development. (FT)

Bee killers unite Documents show Bayer and Syngenta teamed up with farmers to get around bee-friendly regulation in Europe. Thirteen European governments have issued permits to sidestep the regulations, which activists say could hasten the collapse of Europe’s bee colonies and hasten environmental decimation. (Politico)

It’s a big day for

Trumpcare The president and House speaker Paul Ryan have been furiously lobbying Republicans to vote for a plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that the party has long vowed to kill. It is not clear if the bill will pass. Here’s why the vote is giving markets the jitters. (FT)

Syria Peace talks resume in Geneva, though there is little hope of progress as Syrian rebel groups and regime forces continue to clash around the country, including in the capital. (Reuters)

Food for thought

Mexico’s new normal Forward planning, either in the presidential palace or the boardroom, is tricky when your next-door neighbour, top trading partner and accomplice in deeply intertwined manufacturing supply chains has threatened to blow your world apart. (FT)

The joys of commuting Six world cities; six different commutes. What is the true effort of getting into work and which city is best — or worst — for commuters (hint: London does not do well.) (FT)

Saudi supremacy changes tack The kingdom, which is the world’s biggest crude exporter, is rejigging its long-held strategy of clinging to market share by conceding ground to American shale producers and hastening a retreat from the US. But it is all by design — Saudi Arabia is instead looking to Asia for growth. (WSJ)

Masa and Donald Part two of a series looking inside Japan’s SoftBank examines Masayoshi Son’s relationship to global politics and the US president. (NAR)

The eyebrows have it Eyebrows are big business, with brow-enhancers worth 14 per cent of global eye make-up launches in the past five years, thanks to selfies and social media. But behind the beauty start-ups are tech marketing businesses. Brows, it seems, are less about beauty and than data and clicks. (FT)

Video of the day

Terror attack at Westminster The FT’s chief political correspondent, Jim Pickard, reports from inside parliament on the terror attack at Westminster. (FT)