Friday newspaper round-up: Google, nPower, Lagarde, BoE

Google has hit out at proposed new rules for allowing autonomous vehicles on to California’s roads, accusing one of the most forward-looking transport regulators in the US of limiting progress. In a post on Thursday, Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving car unit, called the new rules “perplexing” and said they risked “putting a ceiling on the potential of self-driving cars”. – Financial Times

Local councils are facing billions more in cuts and will, by the end of the decade, be expected to finance themselves entirely from revenue raised locally rather than central government grants. Announcing details of the settlement, Greg Clark, local government secretary, said it “protects the resources available to councils over the next four years, puts more money into the agreed priority of caring for elderly people, and offers councils the certainty of a four-year budget”. – Financial Times

Energy supplier nPower has been fined £26m for failing to treat its customers fairly. Watchdog Ofgem said more than 500,000 customers had been affected and has ordered the group to pay £26m as a consumer redress package. The money will be divided between some of the worst affected customers and charity. - Guardian

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, is tostand trial in France over a multimillion-euro government payment to a controversial tycoon who supported former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde has been accused of “negligence by a person in a position of public authority” over the award of more than €400m to Bernard Tapie. - Guardian

Landlords could face extra restrictions on lending next year, as the Treasury launches a consultation on giving the Bank of England more powers over the market. Officials could limit the proportion of high loan-to-value mortgages given out in the buy-to-let sector, or cut the number of loans given to landlords who expect the rental income will only just cover their mortgage repayments. – Telegraph

The chairman of Heathrow has accused ministers of putting politics before the economy by delaying a decision on a third runway, in a scathing attack that came shortly after he announced his shock retirement from the airport. Sir Nigel Rudd said opponents of a third runway were holding the rest of the country “to ransom” and fired an extraordinary broadside at Zac Goldsmith and his suitability to stand as the Conservative candidate for London mayor. – Telegraph

A former business partner of the Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley faced further humiliation yesterday when he was ordered to pay £633,000 for his role in one of the retail industry’s most notorious frauds. Chris Ronnie, the former chief executive of JJB Sports, was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2014 for taking up to £1 million in bribes. – The Times

While households around the country are being told to conserve water, the amount being lost through leaks by supply companies is rising. Among the worst offenders with more than one in four litres of water lost from their pipes every year are Thames Water, which supplies London; Severn Trent, which covers Birmingham and the West Midlands; and United Utilities, which supplies Manchester, Liverpool and the northwest. – The Times