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G7: stablecoins like Facebook's Libra are a risk to global finance
A forthcoming report by the G7 group of leading economic powers will warn of the potential risks of "global stablecoins" like Facebook's planned Libra cryptocurrency, whose value will be pegged to real-world assets such as national currencies and government securities (BBC News).
A draft seen by the BBC says that "The G7 believe that no stablecoin project should begin operation until the legal, regulatory and oversight challenges and risks are adequately addressed", echoing a letter to the G20 from Financial Stability Board chair Randal Quarles. Facebook's cryptocurrency aspirations have a hard week of it, with more payment providers – Mastercard, Visa, eBay and Stripe – pulling out of Libra's governing association and an accusation of trademark theft over its logo.
Waymo and Renault could bring an autonomous transport route to Paris
Google's self-driving vehicle subsidiary, Waymo, and strategic partner Renault are working with the region of Île-de-France with the aim of setting an autonomous transport route between Charles de Gaulle airport and La Défense, a business and retail centre on the outskirts of Paris (TechCrunch). The region has a €100 million pot for autonomous vehicle development to make Paris easier for tourists and other international travellers to get around in time for its Summer Olympic Games in 2024.
Snotty children are the key to the UK's biggest ever flu vaccine push
For the first time, all children will be given a nasal spray in primary schools, which will help them immunise against the four virus strains contained in the vaccine (WIRED). Last year, 60.8 per cent of school children were vaccinated but Public Health England (PHE) hopes the needle-free vaccine will protect another 600,000 children this season.
Here's the secret to Extinction Rebellion's explosive growth
Since Extinction Rebellion’s first bout of large scale demonstrations in April – where protestors occupied bridges, roads and buildings in central London – the movement has grown in size, with thousands of people around the world starting their own branches (WIRED).
Within Extinction Rebellion (also known as XR), many subdivisions, often called community groups, have emerged: from Doctors for XR, Lawyers for XR, to XR Families, to XR Druids, Witches and Pagans. In addition to location-based groups, which try to bring together activists in a certain city or a town, these groups are crucial to XR’s ability to mobilise on such an immense scale.
Fortnite is down after being devoured by a black hole
No one can log into Fortnite because its world has been sucked into a black hole (The Verge). To go with the dramatic in-game ending of Season 10, Epic deleted and locked down its social media accounts and no one can log in to the game; players still logged in get a view of the shining, sucking void.
However, the Italian iOS App Store was briefly and accidentally updated with an image promoting a mysterious Chapter 2 that strongly indicates that a new map – now with added boats – is ready to roll whenever Epic finishes whatever's going on behind the scenes right now.
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
