G-7 finance chiefs pour cold water on Facebook's digital coin plans
Group of Seven (G-7) finance chiefs cast a cloud over prospects for Facebook's Libra digital coin on Wednesday, insisting tough regulatory problems would have to be worked out first.
The massive social media company's plan to launch a digital coin has met with a chorus from regulators, central bankers and governments saying it must respect anti-money-laundering rules and ensure the security of transactions and user data.
But there are also deeper concerns that the powers of big tech companies increasingly encroach on areas belonging to governments, like issuing currency.
"The sovereignty of nations cannot be jeopardised," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told journalists after chairing the first day of the two-day meeting.
Boeing to spend US$50 million to support 737 Max crash victim families
Boeing said on Wednesday it will dedicate half of a US$100 million (S$130 million) fund it created after two crashes of its 737 Max planes to provide payments to families of those killed, with compensation expert Ken Feinberg hired by the world's largest plane maker to oversee the distribution.
The announcement of Feinberg's hiring came minutes before a US House of Representatives hearing featuring dramatic testimony by Paul Njoroge, a father who lost three children, his wife and mother-in-law in a 737 Max Ethiopian Air crash in March.
Njoroge told a House subcommittee that he still has "nightmares about how (his children) must have clung to their mother crying" during the doomed flight.
Trump meets Chinese Uighur, other religious persecution victims
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday met in the Oval Office with a group of people from 17 countries - including China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar - who the White House said were survivors of religious persecution.
Trump, who counts evangelical Christians among his core political base, has made religious freedom one of the centerpieces of his foreign policy and the State Department was hosting a high-level conference on the topic this week.
Four people identified by the White House as being from China were among the 27 participants who met with Trump: Jewher Ilham, an Uighur Muslim; Yuhua Zhang, a Falun Gong practitioner; Nyima Lhamo, a Tibetan Buddhist; and Manping Ouyang, a Christian.
Football: Sterling hits brace as City hammer West Ham in China
Record Manchester City signing Rodri made his debut and Raheem Sterling scored twice as the Premier League champions came from behind to beat West Ham United 4-1 on Wednesday in China.
West Ham took the lead with a Mark Noble penalty before City levelled through David Silva, then Lukas Nmecha scored from the spot to give Pep Guardiola's side the half-time lead.
England international Sterling, who enjoyed his best season last year for club and country, scored a brace in the second half as West Ham's defence went AWOL in Nanjing.
Prosecutors drop sex assault case against actor Kevin Spacey
Massachusetts prosecutors on Wednesday dropped a criminal case accusing former House Of Cards star Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket bar in 2016 after the alleged victim refused to testify.
Prosecutors said they made the decision to drop the felony indecent assault and battery charge against the Oscar winner after the alleged victim invoked his right under the US Constitution against giving self-incriminating testimony.
Spacey's lawyers had previously accused the man of deleting text messages that would support the actor's defence.
