FirstFT: US and UK launch military strikes against Houthi rebels

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The US and UK have carried out military strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, raising fears of a broader escalation of conflict in the region.

US President Joe Biden said he ordered the strikes following “unprecedented” attacks by the Yemen-based militants on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands also supported the operation.

A US administration official said the strikes had targeted Houthi missile, radar and drone capabilities.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the rebels’ attacks were disrupting trade, driving up commodity prices and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The Houthis, who control northern Yemen, have become one of the most active factions in Tehran’s so-called Axis of Resistance since the war between Israel and Hamas, also supported by Iran, erupted on October 7.

Here’s the latest on the military action, as well as other articles on the conflict in the Middle East and its impact:

• Market reaction: Oil prices jumped on fears of supply disruptions through one of the world’s most important trade routes.

• Global trade: The boss of shipping company AP Møller-Maersk has warned it could take months to reopen the crucial Red Sea trading route, risking an economic and inflationary hit to the global economy, companies and consumers.

• Oil tanker seized: Iranian forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman yesterday, raising fears that Tehran could step up its own attacks.

• Who are the Houthis?: The Iran-backed Yemeni “military entrepreneurs” threaten global trade through the Red Sea.

• 🎧 Listen: In this week’s Rachman Review podcast, the FT’s chief foreign affairs commentator discusses the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Results: Several large US banks report annual results today, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, also reports results, as well as Delta Air Lines.

• Economic data: The release of the US producers’ price index, a leading inflationary indicator tracking wholesale prices, follows yesterday’s consumer price index which outstripped forecasts.

• International Court of Justice: Israel will lay out its defence against the charge of genocide against the Palestinians in its war in Gaza at the ICJ in The Hague. South Africa made the accusation on day one of the case.

• Taiwan elections: The leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party has ruled out unity talks with China ahead of tomorrow’s vote.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. BlackRock has struck a deal to buy Global Infrastructure Partners for more than $12.5bn in cash and stock. The acquisition of GIP, which has about $106bn in assets under management, would make BlackRock the world’s second-largest infrastructure manager after Macquarie and bolster the leadership of its alternatives business. Here’s more on what BlackRock is buying.

2. Bitcoin trading volumes surged yesterday after the first 10 US exchange traded funds offering direct exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency made a long-awaited debut on stock exchanges. Trading in the nine new ETFs, and Grayscale Investments’ converted $28bn bitcoin trust, exceeded $4bn across the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe exchanges. Will Schmitt reports on a historic day of trading.

For more on the risks and opportunities presented by digital assets, premium subscribers can sign up for our Cryptofinance newsletter. Or upgrade your subscription here.

3. Donald Trump said he had been victimised by a politically motivated case and that he should be paid damages for his suffering, during a surprise courtroom speech yesterday. In the final day of a civil fraud trial that threatens to level his business empire, the former US president told a New York judge: “They want to make sure I don’t win again.”

4. The Pentagon failed to properly track more than $1bn worth of weapons the US provided to Kyiv, according to a watchdog’s report. The defence department report will fuel concerns about whether the arms were diverted from Kyiv at a time when Congress is weighing whether to send more military aid. Here’s more on the report’s findings.

• More on the war in Ukraine: The European Commission is willing to bow to some of Hungary’s demands in order to secure a €50bn support package for Ukraine, according to senior officials.

• Rishi Sunak in Kyiv: The UK will provide an extra £2.5bn of military funding for Ukraine, the government announced as the UK prime minister prepared to travel to Kyiv today.

5. Artificial intelligence companies OpenAI, Anthropic and Cohere have engaged in secret diplomacy with Chinese AI experts, amid shared concern about how the powerful technology might spread misinformation and threaten social cohesion. According to multiple people with direct knowledge, two meetings took place in Geneva in July and October last year attended by scientists and policy experts. Here’s more on the secret talks.

The Big Read

Online disinformation has been a factor in elections for many years. But recent, rapid advances in artificial intelligence mean that it is cheaper and easier than ever to manipulate media, thanks to a brisk new market of powerful tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. At the same time, manipulated or synthetic media is becoming increasingly hard to spot. With an estimated 2bn people headed to the polls, could 2024 be the year when a viral, undetectable deepfake catastrophically impacts an election?

We’re also reading . . . 

• Reasons to be optimistic in 2024: Science is delivering breakthroughs in key areas, trade is holding up and tyrants won’t last for ever, writes Gillian Tett.

• Boeing’s co-pilot: Stephanie Pope was in her first week as the company’s first-ever chief operating officer. Then, a frightening accident on a 737 Max thrust the group into a new crisis.

• Male, pale and stale?: The field of economics has seen some success in introducing diversity within its ranks, but not everyone is happy, writes Soumaya Keynes.

Chart of the day

Microsoft briefly usurped Apple to become the world’s biggest company by market value yesterday, as the artificial intelligence boom brought a new twist to the decades-long rivalry between the two Big Tech groups. By midday in New York, Apple had retaken the top spot.

Take a break from the news

One local estate agent describes Aspen as a “curated snow globe” with its designer boutiques, historic buildings and almost nothing exceeding 28ft in height. Every year America’s super-rich seek sanctuary in this gilded outpost surrounded by the vast Colorado wilderness. But building large, grand homes in Aspen has just become a lot more difficult.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm