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The US intelligence community is split over the possibility that Covid-19 emerged as a result of a laboratory accident, according to a senior official.

Amanda Schoch, assistant director of national intelligence for strategic communications, said the US intelligence community “does not know exactly where, when, or how” the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, was initially transmitted. But she said the US intelligence community, which comprises 18 organisations, had “coalesced around two likely scenarios”.

One branch of the intelligence community leaned towards a theory that the virus emerged from a laboratory accident, with only low or moderate confidence, she said.

Two other branches leaned towards assessments that it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals — again with only low or moderate confidence.

Coronavirus digest

• Joe Biden has called for corporate America to raise wages for workers as rising inflation and supply chain bottlenecks create “bumps in the road” for the US economic recovery.

• Thailand’s public health ministry reported 3,323 new infections and 47 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday morning, a new daily record.

• Chinese drug company Sinopharm published its trial results, showing efficacy rates well above 50 per cent, but with little data on vulnerable groups

• UK health secretary Matt Hancock said as many as three-quarters of all new coronavirus infections across the UK involved the variant first identified in India. (FT, SCMP)

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In the news

Airlines cancel Moscow flights over Belarus sanctions Air France and Austrian Airlines had to cancel flights to Moscow after Russian authorities failed to approve new routes that avoided Belarus’s airspace in response to Minsk’s interception of a Ryanair passenger jet. Meanwhile, a defiant Alexander Lukashenko has called the west’s bluff on Belarus. (FT)

• Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, calls the Belarus flight diversion a “premeditated hijacking” in a private letter. (WSJ)

Meme stock revival captivates traders Shares in the cinema chain AMC, which teetered on the verge of bankruptcy just months ago, surged to their highest level in four years on Thursday, as investors chased companies benefiting from the economic reopening and resurrected the “meme stock” trades of earlier this year.

SoftBank and WeWork co-founder agree divorce deal SoftBank has spelt out the full cost of its bitter divorce from WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, in which Neumann has received cash, stock awards and fees worth close to $450m following fraught negotiations.

US justice department opens Archegos investigation The department requested information from a number of banks who acted as the family office’s main trading counterparties, according to two people briefed on the matter. It was not clear what information prosecutors were seeking or whether the department would pursue criminal charges. Archegos Capital Management’s March collapse sent shockwaves through the market.

Chinese business under pressure from rising commodity prices Soaring commodity prices are putting pressure on businesses in China, even as the country’s wider industrial sector rebounds from the early effects of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the official data agency. Meanwhile, US and China trade chiefs held their first talks yesterday. (FT, Bloomberg)

Australia’s ambassador to China barred from citizen’s spy trial Canberra has blasted China’s “deeply regrettable” decision to bar its ambassador from a Beijing courthouse where an Australian writer was put on trial for spying, deepening a diplomatic freeze between the two countries.

Beijing faces scrutiny over Latin American development bank Mauricio Claver-Carone, the recently-installed head of the Inter-American Development Bank, said Washington had allowed China to gain an economic foothold in Latin America by underfunding the lender for years, in an interview with the Financial Times.

The day ahead

Putin meets with Lukashenko Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Friday. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said its officials saw no reason not to trust the Belarus government’s claims of a bomb threat as explanation of why it diverted a commercial flight. (CBS)

White House to release budget US president Joe Biden is set to unveil a budget proposal worth $6tn over the next decade, doubling down on his plans for large-scale government investment in the economy with a bet that inflation will subside after this year’s burst. The budget targets more spending on China deterrence and nuclear funding. (FT, Reuters)

What else we’re reading

Defeats for Big Oil mark ‘sea change’ in climate battle Big Oil has been rocked by a climate reckoning. While companies have laid out detailed plans to drive down carbon emissions, stunning boardroom and courtroom defeats this week showed how powerful forces in society want faster change. Our Energy Source newsletter broke down Big Oil’s Terrible, Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day on Wednesday. Sign up here to get the email in your inbox.

Designing democracy on Mars can improve Earth’s politics A political-science professor at Yale University recently challenged her students to write a constitution for Mars. Not only might Mars-fixated voyagers such as SpaceX founder Elon Musk be intrigued by the exercise, but politicians should be, too. Meanwhile, Edward Luce writes that US democracy is still in the danger zone.

Why commuters won’t easily be lured back to the office For the longest time, commuters have trudged into the office because they had no choice. The pandemic, at least in New York City, may change that. Commuters have the power to demand change. They should use it, writes Josh Chaffin. How have you made your commute tolerable in the past? Tell us at firstft@ft.com.

When your business is 100 years older than you In 2016, Mei Lum was 26 years old and deciding whether to go to graduate school at Columbia University. Instead, she become the fifth generation owner of Wing On Wo & Co., the oldest store in New York’s Chinatown, with no formal training — or frankly former interest — in running a business. (The Cut)

What’s wrong with the Michelin guide? Even to its detractors, Michelin is the most influential restaurant guide on the planet. But there are three main accusations levelled against it: that it restricts creativity, that it cannot possibly cover that many restaurants, and that it is too “French”. Yet why is it that chefs still crave a star?

Podcast of the day

Washington’s desire to find a Middle East solution Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel and US special envoy during the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, discusses with Gideon Rachman the Biden administration’s stance on the Middle East crisis.