Facebook Inc’s Libra cryptocurrency would hand over much of the control of monetary policy from central banks to private companies, the company’s co-founder Chris Hughes said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times on Friday.
World stocks fell on Friday, as worries about a threatened U.S. military strike against Iran and a global trade conflict took the edge off a central bank-induced rally from earlier in the week.
British Airways said on Friday it will adhere to guidance from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to avoid parts of Iranian airspace and its flights will continue to operate using alternative routes.
Oil prices rallied towards $65 per barrel on fears of a U.S. military attack on Iran that would disrupt flows from the Middle East, which provides more than 20% of the world’s oil output.
Huawei Technologies said on Friday it has shipped 100 million smartphones this year as of May 30.
Some global airlines are re-routing flights to avoid Iran-controlled airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, they said on Friday, after the U.S. aviation regulator barred its carriers from the area until further notice.
Major central banks and regulators will want oversight of Facebook’s proposed new currency and payment system, Libra, to ensure it is safe and does not allow money laundering or finance terrorism, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said.
Delta Air Lines bought a small stake in Korean Air Lines Co’s parent company and said it wants to increase it to 10%, giving a boost to the management of South Korea’s top carrier that seeks to thwart a local activist fund’s challenge.
The United States and Japan may need to shore up bank oversight to prepare for economic downturns, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston warned on Friday.
Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas Airways Ltd, said on Friday that its flights over the Middle East would avoid the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman following the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone in the region.
The United States is trying to create “Iran phobia”, Iran’s defence minister Amir Hatami said on Friday, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA).
Air France-KLM’s Dutch subsidiary KLM is avoiding flying over parts of Iran as a precautionary measure, a spokesman said on Friday, confirming a report by the Netherlands’ state broadcaster NOS.
Oil prices reversed earlier gains on Friday but benchmark Brent crude was still set for its first weekly gain in five weeks amid rising tensions in the Middle East and on hopes for a drop in U.S. interest rates that may stimulate global growth.
Foxconn chose chip-unit boss Liu Young-way as chairman of the world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer to succeed Terry Gou, who is preparing to contest Taiwan’s presidential elections next year.
From sending special offers on restaurants to burger-loving current account holders to selling anonymised credit card records, banks are racing to monetize the huge troves of data they hold.
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