German auto giant Volkswagen and Dutch company Fleet Investments said Thursday they would sell the global fleet management company LeasePlan Corp for about 3.7 billion euros ($4.0 billion).

The sale to a consortium of pension funds, global investment companies and private equity firms is expected by the end of this year, pending approval by regulatory and anti-trust authorities, they said.

South Korea's quarterly growth slowed to the lowest in more than two years as a severe drought hit agriculture and an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome sapped consumption.

The economy expanded 2.2 percent in the second quarter over a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said Thursday. That's the lowest since the first quarter of 2013. Asia's fourth-largest economy eked out 0.3 percent growth from the previous quarter.

Economy and Trade Minister Alain Hakim met on Wednesday with Ambassador David Hale and talks focused on the continued cooperation to strengthen the Lebanese-American economic relationship, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

Ambassador Hale highlighted the recent reauthorization of the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which strengthens commercial ties and promotes economic growth and stability in Lebanon by granting Lebanese products a competitive advantage in the U.S. market.

Parts of northern Nigeria ravaged by six years of conflict caused by Boko Haram Islamists could be revitalized with around $2.1 billion in World Bank funding, according to a government spokesman.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman Femi Adesina said in a statement on Tuesday evening that the World Bank had pledged the money after talks in Washington.

US and Israeli authorities arrested four men in two separate fraud schemes on Tuesday that media said were linked to last year's hack of computers at JPMorgan Chase.

The court documents in each of the cases, one an Israel-based ring running a pump and dump scheme for US-traded penny stocks, and the other an illicit US Bitcoin transfer operation, did not tie them to the theft of confidential details on millions of clients at the giant US bank.

Leading oil producer the United Arab Emirates will scrap subsidies on petrol and diesel from August to cut spending as low crude prices hit revenues, the energy ministry said Wednesday.

Pump prices for the two fuels will now be set on the basis of world prices and adjusted each month, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.

Further interest rates cuts remain "on the table", Australia's central bank chief said Wednesday, as new official data showed that Australian consumer prices rose 0.7 percent in the three months to June, keeping annual inflation subdued.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said weak economic growth had seen the cash rate decline to "very low levels".

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a new test of his authority in parliament Wednesday, where MPs were to vote on a second batch of reforms to help unlock a bailout for Greece's stricken economy. 

The embattled premier last week faced a revolt by a fifth of the lawmakers in his radical-left Syriza party over changes to taxes, pensions and labour rules demanded by EU-IMF creditors. 

Australian farmers Tuesday welcomed a breakthrough which paves the way towards exporting up to one million live cattle to China each year, with the government saying the new market could open up within months.

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce announced late Monday that Australian and Chinese veterinary authorities were formalizing an agreement on animal health certification requirements, bringing commercial trade one step closer.

Chinese budget carrier Spring Airlines said it plans to buy 21 Airbus A320 planes for 12.45 billion yuan ($2.04 billion), citing growth in both international and domestic air travel.

The Shanghai-listed company intends to fund the purchase in part through a private placement of shares to raise 4.5 billion yuan, according to a statement to the exchange late Monday.