Daily briefing: London Bridge attackers identified, UK election race tightens, the fossil-fuel fightback

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UK authorities have identified all three London Bridge attackers and admitted that one of them had known links to extremist groups. Khuram Butt, a 27-year-old Pakistani-born British citizen, worked on the London Underground and was liked by his neighbours but had been filmed for a documentary film openly praying in front of the black Isis flag in 2015. London’s Metropolitan Police have defended their decision to downgrade an inquiry into Butt. Little is known so far about 30-year-old Rachid Redouane or Youssef Zaghba, the other attacker named by police on Tuesday. More than 130 Muslim imams have publicly refused to conduct funeral prayers for the attackers, all of whom were killed by police.

The London attack has sparked two battles for the capital’s popular mayor. Sadiq Khan accused PM Theresa May of failing to provide the city with enough security funding, just three days before Britons vote in a general election. Mr Khan is also in a war of words with US president Donald Trump, who has attacked the London mayor over comments he made after the attack. In response, the mayor, opposition politicians and the media have called on the government to cancel Mr Trump’s planned state visit to the UK. (FT, Guardian, BBC)

In the news

UK election race tightens
Opinion polls have tightened in Britain’s general election as Thursday’s polling day approaches. A Survation poll suggests Theresa May’s Conservative party lead over the left-leaning Labour party has narrowed to just one point — but could Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s populist leader, really become the next PM? Here is an hour-by-hour guide on what to watch for on election night. (Reuters, FT, Bloomberg)

Qatar’s $1bn hostage deal
Doha paid up to $1bn to an al-Qaeda affiliate and Iran to release members of the Gulf state’s royal family who were kidnapped in Iraq while on a hunting trip, according to people involved. At least some of the money allegedly ended up in the hands of regional rival Iran, helping to trigger Gulf states’ dramatic decision to cut ties with Qatar. Kuwait, which did not cut its relations to the gas-rich state, is trying to mediate an end to the crisis. Here is how the country’s new isolation affects your air travel. (FT, Al Jazeera)

The battle for Raqqa begins
The US-backed Syria Defence Force said it had begun a battle to capture Raqqa, the de facto capital of Isis. The jihadi group captured the city in 2014 but the SDF has been working to encircle the city since the end of last year. The group is under pressure in both Syria and its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, where Iraqi and US-backed forces are pushing militants out in fierce street fighting. (Reuters, NYT)

Who pulled BA’s plug?
The head of British Airways has admitted that human error was behind last weekend’s computer crash that left 75,000 passengers stranded around the world. Willie Walsh told a transport conference in Mexico that an engineer had inadvertently switched off the power supply to one of the company data centres and then turned back on again in an uncontrolled fashion. (FT)

Asian manufacturing goes soft
Business confidence in Asia is at its lowest level for four years as weak demand from China affects the region. The Nikkei ASEAN Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index in May slipped 0.6 of a point from a month earlier to 50.5. A measure above 50 indicates expansion, while anything below signals deterioration. (NAR)

The day ahead

UN human rights forum
The US is expected to signal that it might withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council unless reforms are introduced, including the removal of what it sees as an “anti-Israel bias”, diplomats and activists said. (FT)

Keep up with the important business, economic and political stories in the coming days with the FT’s Week Ahead.

What we’re reading

China, India and the clash of two great civilisations
Gideon Rachman on how western political analysts are wrongly preoccupied by the emerging power struggle between the US and China: “As economic and political power shifts to Asia, it is the contest between China and India that may ultimately shape the 21st century.” (FT)

Inside Wells Fargo’s fake accounts scandal
Angry former employees illuminate the cut-throat culture that allegedly led local bankers to defraud perhaps more than a million customers. (Vanity Fair)

How tiny Macedonia became an investment haven
A handful of tech-savvy Macedonian teens and their wildly successful online fake news businesses sparked worldwide interest in the country’s IT credentials during the 2016 US presidential election. But the tiny country was already on the radar of investors for more positive reasons, and was ranked 10th in world for ease of doing business by the World Bank. (FT)

The fossil-fuel fightback
President Donald Trump’s decision to defy the world and withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement shows how a behind-the-scenes campaign by the fossil-fuel industry has gone mainstream. In the words of one climate change scientist, the switch to new forms of energy is “like the switch from whale oil in the 19th century” — and one which the fossil-fuel industry will resist no matter what the cost. (New Yorker)

Israel’s secret plan to bomb the Egyptian desert
New documents released by the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project reveal how in May 1967, Israel assembled for the first time two or three rudimentary nuclear devices. And some in the Israeli government and military drew up a plan to detonate the nukes in the Egyptian desert. In the event, a month later the Israeli army scored a decisive victory against its Arab adversaries and the secret plan was shelved. (Politico)

Video of the day

What you need to know about the UK election 
How has the campaign affected the likely outcome of the election? What role has business played? FT chief political correspondent Jim Pickard answers these and other commonly asked questions about the UK's upcoming national vote. (FT)