International News

  Washington / AFP The move to self-driving cars is coming faster than most people think, says the head of ridesharing giant Lyft. Within five years, autonomous vehicles will account for the majority of Lyft rides, says co-founder and chief executive John Zimmer. Lyft, which has a partnership with General Motors on autonomous vehicles, says he sees a “transportation revolution” ...

  Bloomberg CFO Lending Ltd, a U.K. payday lender, must give back 34 million pounds ($44.4 million) to more than 97,000 customers because of unfair practices, including failing to assess the affordability of loans for clients, according to the U.K. markets regulator. CFO Lending was ordered to pay the compensation by the Financial Conduct Authority after an investigation showed the ...

  Sydney / AFP An Australian-led consortium with Chinese investment won a 50-year-lease on Monday on the nation’s biggest container and cargo port for Aus$9.7 billion (US$7.3 billion), the latest maritime asset to be privatised. The Port of Melbourne, which deals with more than 3,000 ships annually, was snapped up by a consortium including Australia’s second-largest wholesale funds manager the ...

  Sydney / AFP The owners of a Chinese ship that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 2010 agreed to pay Australia Aus$39.3 million (US$29.6 million) on Monday, in a settlement dismissed by conservationists as “woefully inadequate”. The fully-laden coal carrier Shen Neng 1 hit a shoal in April 2010, leaking tonnes of heavy fuel oil and threatening ...

  Beijing / AFP China’s banking sector could be facing an imminent debt crisis, a global central bank watchdog has warned, fuelling fresh fears about a blowout in the world’s number two economy that could hit the world economy. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) — dubbed the central bank of central banks — said a gauge of Chinese debt ...

  Seoul / AFP Hanjin Shipping Co., the South Korean container line that sought bankruptcy protection last month, received a court advisory to return all chartered vessels to cut costs while the company is in the midst of reducing its fleet. Giving the ships back to the owners makes sense as they were chartered at high rates, a spokesman at ...

  Nyingchi / AFP China has unveiled a sparkling new hotel as part of its drive to get tens of millions more tourists to visit Tibet, even as critics say the push is slowly eroding the local culture. With a presidential suite that costs $1,000 a night and views over the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas, the luxury Artel hotel ...

  Bloomberg Takata Corp., the embattled Japanese air-bag supplier that’s put itself up for sale after triggering the auto industry’s biggest safety recall, aims to shortlist two to three candidates by October, according to people familiar with the process. Bidders for Tokyo-based Takata have been asked to submit their proposals by early next week, said the people, who asked not ...

  Seoul / AFP Samsung Electronics said on Sunday it had sold shares it held in four technology companies including US chipmaker Rambus and Japan’s Sharp to free up money and focus on its main business. The South Korean tech giant also sold shares in Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASLM and US hard drive maker Seagate, it said in a ...

  Bloomberg Summer bonuses continue to grow at major Japanese companies, this year rising 1.4 percent on-year to the highest level since 2007, according to Health Ministry data. Bonuses for the 374 companies with available data were on average 843,577 yen ($8,250) this summer, just shy of levels nine years ago when additional compensation was at its highest on record. ...