Business Matters

America's best known companies - Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple - have faced attacks on all sorts of fronts - whether it's over the use of personal data, stifling competition, allowing copyright infringement or paying too little tax. Now they're in Washington defending what they do in front of committees of politicians. We hear from Karen Kornbluh, director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and former US ambassador to the OECD. We are also asking if a new dawn in learning has arrived as we meet we actor and YouTuber Oliver Thorn, who is giving away the contents of his philosophy degree for free online. Also in the programme, we speak with mayors who are defying national immigration policies around the world. We hear from mayors of Milan, Los Angeles, Freetown and Bristol who are demanding greater say in how they run their cities. Plus, we are asking, should flexible working be the default position? Presenter Jon Bithrey is joined by guests Lulu Chen in Hong Kong and Ralph Silva in Toronto. PHOTO: US Congress, Getty Images

US treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin has said he is concerned about Libra's potential criminal use. He told a press conference it could be used by "money launderers and terrorist financiers" and said it was a national security issue. We hear from Bloomberg's Lydia Beyoud. Huawei announces significant investment in Italy despite America urging other countries not to do business with the Chinese technology firm. We hear from Adam Seagal, the director of the Digital and Cyberspace Programme at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Our reporter heads to New Zealand to find out how a near total ban on foreigners buying houses there, introduced last year, is playing out. And there's been uproar in New York as Central Park holds a festival which charges an admission fee. Cory Kilgallen, a reporter with the New York Times tells us that people are unhappy about the erosion of a long held tradition. Billions of dollars are being invested in driverless cars, but how will the artificial intelligence know exactly where to go? It's thought better mapping will be needed. We hear more from Simon Navin, head of innovation at Ordinance Survey. For women in India's capital Delhi, simple journeys to and from work can be fraught with danger and the city is proposing a radical remedy - free public transport for all women. The BBC's Joe Miller reports. Plus, joining us throughout the programme are Jyoti Malhotra at the Print website in Delhi and Tony Nash, the chief economist at Complete Intelligence joins us from Houston Texas. Picture description: visual representation of a digital cryptocurrency coin Picture credit: Chesnot/Getty Images

The penalty, which would be the largest ever against a tech company by the Federal Trade Commission, relates to privacy violations exposed as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal of March 2018. We get the latest from our technology reporter Dave Lee who's in San Francisco. As the world's largest brewer pulls out of the biggest flotation of the year so far, we hear why AB InBev changed its mind. And Helen Thomas, who worked as an advisor to Britain's former finance minister George Osborne, explains why certain events unexpectedly make stock markets move - or not. Nigel Cassidy is joined throughout the programme by political reporter Erin Delmore, from New York, and Colin Peacock, who's from Radio NZ in Auckland. (Picture: The Facebook logo on a phone. Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images)

It comes after a BP tanker had assistance from a Royal Navy warship in the region. We get analysis from Dr. Salvatore Mercogliano who's a merchant mariner and Professor of military history at Campbell University in North Carolina. France introduces a 3% tax on digital companies' profits. We hear what prompted the move, and how the US - home to the tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook - has reacted. Also in the programme, the last ever VW Beetle rolls off the production line at the factory in Puebla in Mexico - after 80 years in production. We speak to historian and Beetle enthusiast Professor Bernard Rega of Leiden University in the Netherlands about the car's enduring appeal and success. Nigel Cassidy is joined throughout the programme by Alison Van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues, from Silicon Valley in San Francisco, and Jodi Schneider, senior international editor at Bloomberg in Hong Kong. (Picture: Members of the British Royal Navy. Credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the US's central bank, gives evidence at a hearing in Washington, and hints at an imminent cut in interest rates. We speak to Susan Schmidt of Aviva Investors, who's in New York, about how the markets have reacted. As 2018 is revealed as the worst year on record for attacks against journalists, a conference gets underway in London hosted by the international Reporters Without Borders group, which campaigns for media freedom and the rights of journalists around the world. We hear from its UK bureau director Rebecca Vincent. Nigel Cassidy is joined throughout the programme by Alexander Kaufman, a reporter at HuffPost, who's in New York, and Mehmal Sarfraz an analyst with Geo TV in Lahore. (Picture: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)