FirstFT: Today’s top stories | Financial Times

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Hong Kong police have arrested senior editors and executives of a newspaper belonging to pro-democracy mogul Jimmy Lai in the first use of the territory’s national security law directly against journalists.

At least 500 officers were involved in the Thursday morning raid on Apple Daily, a popular tabloid known for its willingness to confront and criticise the government. Police instructed reporters to register their identities and prevented them from filming the raid or going to their desks.

The journalists were told to gather in a separate part of the building because their workplace was part of a “crime scene”. The police said they were gathering “evidence for a case of suspected contravention of the National Security Law” and used a warrant to search for and seize journalistic materials.

Five stories in the news

1. Dollar boosted by Fed’s shift in tone The dollar notched its largest two-day gain of the year after US central bank officials brought forward the anticipated timing of the Federal Reserve’s first post-pandemic interest rate rise. Meanwhile, investors stashed a record amount of cash in an overnight facility at the Federal Reserve on Thursday, after the central bank started paying interest on the money to prevent negative rates.

2. ByteDance revenues more than doubled in 2020 ByteDance increased its revenues 111 per cent last year to $34bn and had 1.9bn monthly users across its apps at the end of the year, said its incoming chief executive Liang Rubo on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

3. US Supreme Court throws out challenge to Obamacare In a 7-2 opinion, the nine-member court denied an attempt to invalidate the sweeping Affordable Care Act, which has provided health coverage for tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans. In another decision issued on Thursday, justices ruled to limit human rights suits against corporations. (FT, NYT — paywall)

• Elsewhere in US politics: President Joe Biden has signed legislation making Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in the US, a federal holiday.

4. Toshiba’s biggest shareholder labels board ‘ineffective’ Effissimo, the Singapore-based fund, accused the Japanese conglomerate of failing to respond adequately to a report showing it colluded with the government to suppress activist investors. In its first comments since the report was published, Toshiba’s biggest share holder said the findings provided a “sobering insight into dysfunctional corporate governance”.

5. New Zealand looks to UK and EU to diversify market beyond China New Zealand aims to agree free trade deals with the UK and EU this year in a bid to diversify its export markets amid rising tensions with China, Damien O’Connor, the Pacific nation’s trade minister has said. Still, Wellington said New Zealand would continue to expand its trading relationship with Beijing.

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The days ahead

Iranian presidential elections As Iran’s centrist president Hassan Rouhani prepares to step down after presidential elections on Friday, data show the now deeply unpopular leader has fallen short on many of his promises.

Boohoo faces shareholder revolt Boohoo is set to face an investor rebellion at its annual meeting today as shareholders and advisers raise concern over the role of its co-founders in the labour abuse scandal that has rocked the fast-fashion company.

Euro 2020: England vs Scotland Thousands of Scotland football supporters descended on London ahead of Friday’s European Championship match against England, despite calls from the UK capital’s mayor for those without tickets or a safe place to watch the game to stay away.

What else we’re reading

Chinese entrepreneur who challenged the state Sun Dawu, one of China’s most outspoken businessmen, sought to deliver better incomes and a life of “serenity” for local farmers. His vision, and the town he built for his workers, is now in jeopardy following his arrest over a dispute with a neighbouring state-owned farm. It’s also spurred wider concerns of government crackdown on private enterprise.

A trip across the US energy divide America’s quest to burn less fossil fuel is leading to political, cultural and economic upheaval. The FT’s US energy editor Derek Brower embarked on a 3,000-mile journey through fossil-fuel dependent communities fighting to delay the energy transition. For more from Derek, subscribe to the FT’s Energy Source newsletter.

US and Russia set for ‘difficult work’ after summit The summit between the two countries, beset by mutual distrust, passed without significant disagreement and a list of areas of co-operation was agreed. But fleshing out the details and making tangible progress will be far harder, Russia is cautioning.

• Opinion: Joe Biden’s appearances during a week of international summitry had a single purpose: to gather up the old gang for the looming confrontation, writes Philip Stephens.

AT&T: back to basics The costly and humiliating decision to turn its back on Hollywood and shed its media assets was the fourth time AT&T has “reinvented” itself and returned to its roots — plain old-fashioned telecoms services. Its challenge is that it has fallen far behind telecoms rivals in 5G.

Family feud at Velodyne illuminates Spac pitfalls David Hall and Brad Culkin are inventors, longtime colleagues and brothers-in-law. But after a Spac deal and a boardroom bust-up at their company, Velodyne Lidar, they are now, in the words of Hall, locked in a “fight to the death”.

Life & Arts

Looking for something to watch this weekend? FT film writer Danny Leigh reviewed In the Heights, The Reason I Jump, It Must Be Heaven, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and The Father — plus the reissued 1996 classic Fargo.