Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Theresa May meets with Emmanuel Macron. The UK prime minister hoped to arrive in France with a mandate for her Brexit plans. Instead, she’ll meet the pro-EU French president weakened by a surprising snap election that cost her party its majority.
The US attorney general is in the hot seat. Jeff Sessions will face some pointed questions from the Senate intelligence committee, which is probing Russian interference in the US election. He is at the center of two overlapping controversies (paywall): whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, and whether the administration obstructed investigations into its conduct.
The US Fed begins a two-day meeting on interest-rate policy. Investors will watch for clues about the pace of interest-rate hikes for the rest of the year. With the labor market tightening, most observers expect the Fed will increase the benchmark interest rate. The announcement is due tomorrow. Today the Labor Department will release (pdf) the Producer Price Index for May.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump had a bad day in court. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the president’s travel ban “runs afoul” of US discrimination law (paywall), citing one of his tweets as evidence. Meanwhile Maryland and Washington, DC filed a lawsuit claiming that Trump’s hotels violate the constitution’s anti-corruption law because they accept payments from foreign governments.
Trump announced eight nominations for US attorney posts. In a bizarre situation, over 90 positions are still unfilled as the former attorneys either resigned after Trump’s inauguration or were let go. US attorneys are responsible for prosecuting serious financial fraud, public corruption, and other federal crimes. The eight are the much-belated first wave of candidates.
A controversial Uber executive resigned. Senior VP Emil Michael, who played a prominent role in most of the company’s high-profile scandals, has left the company. Beleaguered CEO Travis Kalanick is said to be pondering a leave of absence after a damning investigation into Uber’s toxic culture. Recommendations from that investigation will be released to employees today.
Dennis Rodman headed back to North Korea. The former NBA star is one of the few Americans to have met leader Kim Jong-un (a basketball fan) and has made a series of trips to the reclusive nation. The purpose of Rodman’s visit is unclear. His last trip involved an exhibition game.
Quartz obsession interlude
Oliver Staley on the San Francisco tech firm whose employees never show up for work: “Automattic’s office at 140 Hawthorne went on the market after CEO Matt Mullenweg came to the realization not enough employees used it. ‘We got an office there about six or seven years ago, pretty good lease, but nobody goes in it. Five people go in it and it’s 15,000 square feet. They get like 3,000 square feet each.’” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Gala, Fuji, Rome / The best Apples stay crisp and / are not overpriced.
Matters of debate
Future shopping malls will have no stores. Newly converted malls focus on food, theaters, performance stages, and office space (paywall).
The upper middle class is hogging everything. It’s not just money: The top 20% are hoarding professional and educational opportunities.
Bromances are the solution to toxic masculinity. The social trend may reduce the risk of mental health problems, violence, and suicide.
Surprising discoveries
NASA will deploy fake technicolor clouds. The space agency will soon launch a rocket that disperses “vapor tracers” in the sky above Virginia, to track particles that are ionized by solar and cosmic radiation.
Meerkat gangs have signature scents because of microbes in their anal pouches. The odors that help meerkats identify friends and family come from their shared bacteria.
The US post office was once a hotbed of innovation. Decades of mismanagement have turned it into an extremely clunky bureaucracy.
Egypt wants to outlaw foreign names. A bill in parliament would imprison parents who give their children names like “Mark” and “Lara.”
A New York baker is making internet trolls literally eat their words. Kat Thek turns salty internet comments into “troll cakes.”
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