Europe braces for in-flight laptop ban, Comey’s farewell, self-driving ships

[Quartz - qz.com]() Good morning, Quartz readers! What to watch for today The US mulls an inflight-laptop ban for Europe. Airlines will meet with the Department of Homeland Security today [to discuss]( a potential [expansion of security restrictions]( currently in place for several Middle East carriers to include European flights to the US. The US briefs the G7 on Donald Trump’s tax plan. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin will also [discuss the administration’s plans]( for infrastructure spending and financial regulatory reform when he meets with his counterparts in Bari, Italy. The Bank of England unveils its quarterly economic outlook. The pound soared in anticipation of an interest rate hike, but some experts believe that the bank will merely “[prepare the ground]( for future rises. While you were sleeping James Comey sent his colleagues a farewell letter… “I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I’m not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed,” wrote the former FBI director, in a note [obtained by CNN](. Before getting fired by Donald Trump on May 9, Comey reportedly requested [“a significant increase in resources”]( to continue his probe of the Kremlin’s involvement in the 2016 US election. … And Michael Flynn received a subpoena. The Senate intelligence committee[subpoenaed the president’s former national security adviser]( for his documents on the panel’s probe into the Russian ties to the Trump campaign. Trump fired Flynn after just a few weeks on the job over conversations he’d had with the Russian ambassador to the US. Deutsche Telekom’s US business flourished. [Solid growth at T-Mobile US]( boosted revenue for the German telecoms giant in the first quarter, although net profit dropped by more than 75% thanks to a €700 million ($761 million) writedown from its stake in British Telecom. Merger talks between Sprint and T-Mobile US could soon be back on the table. Emirates suffered its first profit slump in five years. The world’s biggest long-haul airline saw [annual profits dive by 70%]( as a strong US dollar and low oil prices took their toll on the oil-dependent Persian Gulf economies. Terror concerns have dented overall travel numbers, while the [US ban on laptops]( in the cabin on routes to the US from the Middle East and North Africa forced the carrier to reduce its US flight schedule. BT drastically tightened its belt. The UK telecoms provider announced plans to [slash 4,000 jobs]( and won’t pay CEO Gavin Patterson a bonus for the year, after its first-quarter pretax profit halved from the same period last year. BT was rocked by an accounting scandal in its Italian business in January. Quartz obsession interlude Michael Coren on the math behind Elon Musk’s moonshots: “Whether it’s reaching Mars or boring tunnels through the earth, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX loves to talk about basic math. On investor calls and press conferences, Musk often muses on the addition, subtraction, and multiplication of what he’s trying to do.” [Read more here](. Matters of debate The next financial crisis needs a playbook. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg are giving a percentage [of their net worth]( to create one. Fighting climate change means cutting back on steak. Former US president Barack Obama has some [ideas about reshaping agriculture](. Automation isn’t killing enough jobs. Sectors like health care are [too resistant to robots]( (paywall). Quartz announcement Has Silicon Valley optimized itself into misery? Socratic philosophers are intervening to try to help executives follow their bliss through ["practical" philosophy](. Explore [this]( and other stories that examine our preoccupation with happiness in [the Happiness Experiment](. Surprising discoveries Southern Comfort is getting a remake that adds whiskey. That may surprise many drinkers who [thought it was already there](. Scientists have found a new species of dinosaur with a familiar face. The ankylosaur [bears an an uncanny resemblance]( to the demigod Zuul from Ghostbusters. One of Jupiter’s moons has huge waves—but you wouldn’t want to surf them. They consist of [molten lava](. Cigarette companies are getting more profitable as people smoke less. Smokers are [paying way more]( to feed their addiction. Norway is building a self-driving ship. The battery-powered vessel is expected to [replace 40,000 annual cargo trips]( currently completed by truck. Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, SoCo cocktails, and newly-discovered dinosaurs to hi@qz.com. You can follow us[on Twitter]( for updates throughout the day or download[our apps for iPhone]( and[Android](. Want to receive the Daily Brief at a different time? [Click here]( to change your edition. To unsubscribe entirely, [click here](. Enjoying the Daily Brief? [Click here]( to pass it along to a friend. Like us on [Facebook]( and follow us on [Twitter](. Quartz | 675 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl | New York, NY 10011 | United States