News

  Dubai / Emirates Business Paladion, a leading security services provider in the Middle East has said that the fastest-growing area of cybercrime has developed into a $1 billion-a-year industry complete with customer care departments set up to secure payments from victims of ransomware attacks. Cyberattacks using ransomware – a form of malicious software that allows criminals to encrypt personal ...

  Brussels / AFP The EU launched an in-depth probe on Monday into alleged sweetheart tax deals between French gas group Engie and Luxembourg, taking on a major European multinational after similar high-profile investigations into US giants. “The Commission has concerns that several tax rulings issued by Luxembourg may have given GDF Suez (now Engie) an unfair advantage over other ...

  London / AFP The European Union will make Brexit “very painful” for Britain, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview published on Monday, adding that London was “bluffing” over its pre-Brexit negotiating power. “The EU will take this opportunity to show the public: ‘Listen guys, now you will see why it is important to stay in the ...

Bloomberg European Union trade ministers are expected to clear up details to the EU-Canada trade agreement at a meeting on Sept. 23 in Bratislava, Slovakia, the bloc’s executive said. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem and Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland “understand that some concerns remain that need to be clarified” in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, between ...

  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 ...