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Australia has announced that it is revoking self-government on tiny Norfolk Island, where ancestors of the original HMS Bounty mutineers settled in the mid-19th century.

The move was announced after it became clear that the island, a former penal colony with just 1,800 inhabitants, was facing bankruptcy.

"The reality is, infrastructure on Norfolk Island is run down, the health system not up to standard and many laws are out of date with all other Australian jurisdictions," Assistant Minister for Regional Development Jamie Briggs said in a statement quoted by The Australian Associated Press.

Residents of Norfolk will begin paying federal taxes to Canberra in July 2016. In return, they will get access to social services, including Medicare and the pharmaceutical benefits, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Descendants of the Bounty mutineers – 193 men, women and children — arrived on Norfolk Island in 1856 after setting sail from Pitcairn Island 4,000 miles to the east, where only a small number of residents remained behind.

The original mutineers seized control of the Bounty in 1789, setting Capt. William Bligh and loyal members of his crew adrift in a small boat.

Bligh eventually reached Timor with all hands. The mutineers, led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian, first called at Tahiti, where the men retrieved local brides, and then settled on isolated (and mischarted) Pitcairn Island, where they hoped to evade British authorities. Today, Pitcairn, Britain's smallest colony, is home to fewer than 50 islanders – all related to the original mutineers.

Beginning in 2000, police uncovered widespread allegations of child sexual assault on Pitcairn that went back decades on the largely autonomous island. Eventually, most of the island's residents were caught up in the scandal, either as alleged perpetrators, accomplices or victims. Four years later, seven island men, including Mayor Steve Christian, a descendant of Fletcher Christian, were found guilty of charges related to sexual offenses.

Asia Pacific

Australia

A Chanel handbag is classic, designed to withstand upheavals in fashion and taste. But not price. The Paris-based fashion house has announced that the prices will go up in Europe, and down in Asia.

The move will affect the 11.12, the 2.55, and the Boy Bag models.

At the moment, there's a significant difference in cost between the two regions. Hana Ben-Shabat, a retail and consumer goods specialist at A.T. Kearney, tells NPR that a bag that costs $3,500 in Europe can run up to $6,000 in China.

Chanel will narrow that price gap, bringing the two regions more in line. The Wall Street Journal says the classic handbags are expected to rise 20 percent in Europe and decline 21 percent in China. It says prices of those bags will also decline in Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam and Russia, but will remain unchanged in the U.S.

In a statement, Chanel said the decision will enable the company to offer products at a "harmonized" price to customers wherever they are in the world, according to Reuters. Chanel says the decision is driven in part by the depreciating Euro, which has slid to a 12-year-low.

Ben-Shabat says the new prices are expected to eliminate this so-called gray market.

"People would actually take the trip to Europe and buy in quantities that they can go back to China and charge more than they pay for it but less than the local market and make money on that." Ben-Shabat says by aligning prices, Chanel will get rid of the incentive.

"This behavior is really undermining the brand because the product starts to show up on all sorts of websites where Chanel or any other luxury brands really don't have control any more of that," she says.

But Ben-Shabat says the move by Chanel to lower costs in China may be a way to re-energize that important market. Sales in luxury goods there have slumped recently because of slower growth, and an anti-corruption crackdown.

Chanel's price changes are set to take effect on April 8. The Swiss watchmaker, Tag Heuer, announced that it also plans to realign its prices. Other luxury goods companies are expected to follow suit.

Euro

Economy

China

Fashion

Chanel

Roars of disapproval rang out in Australia's Parliament Thursday, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott called Labor leader Bill Shorten "the Dr. Goebbels of economic policy." In the ruckus that ensued, three lawmakers were ejected and another walked out.

"I withdraw, I withdraw," Abbott said after making his comment during Question Time. But Labor members were up in arms, with some of them standing to denounce Abbott's comparison of Shorten to Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda chief of Adolph Hitler's Nazi government.

Amid the din, Speaker Bronwyn Bishop also stood — to demand that everyone else be silent and sit down.

"There will be silence," she said, before ejecting Labor member Mark Dreyfus, who is Jewish. Dreyfus had left his seat to shout across the table at Abbott; he also continued yelling as Bishop spoke.

When Bishop was asked to reconsider the ejection, "given the nature of what the prime minister said," she refused.

From Australian broadcaster ABC:

"That prompted Labor backbencher Mr. Danby, who is a prominent member of Melbourne's Jewish community, to rise to his feet and declare that 'if he's out, I'm out over this.'"

After walking out, Danby later told ABC, "He's the Prime Minister — he is supposed to have standards."

In Parliament, a senior member of Abbott's Liberal party, Christopher Pyne, stood to say that Dreyfus had once "used exactly the same description about Tony Abbott when Tony Abbott was the leader of the opposition."

In the yelling that continued, a voice in the chamber could be heard saying, "You are a disgusting, disgusting man."

ABC notes that this is the second controversial Nazi reference for Abbott in recent weeks: "Last month, the Prime Minister was forced to apologize after accusing the Opposition of presiding over a "Holocaust" of job losses in the defense sector."

Tony Abbott

Australia

There comes a day in every car owner's life when she knows, it's time. For Carolyn Ballard of Atlanta, that was on a hot day last July, while driving her SUV with misfiring cylinders.

"I drove to the dealership with the car literally chugging along," she says. "I mean, in traffic on the interstate. I was just sweating, thinking I've just got to get to the dealership so I can get rid of this, before I put any more money into it."

Ballard wanted a late model Honda Accord that she'd seen on the dealership's website. By the time she got there, it was gone. But there were plenty of new Accords.

"I don't know what the average marriage lasts in the U.S. today. Might be less than the average car loan."

- Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel

"I said 'if you can get my payments under $250 a month I will consider taking this car,'" she says.

No problem. Ballard got a loan from Wells Fargo at a rate of 2.5 percent. But for 74 months. That's six years.

Six-year car loans used to be in the minority. They're now the norm and loans of seven or eight years are even becoming popular. New car sales in the U.S. are booming and longer car loans are playing a role. Nearly a third of new loans are now 74 months or longer.

But some worry the trend will hurt the auto industry in the future. Others worry it's hurting consumers right now. Ed Kim, an analyst with AutoPacific, says one thing driving the trend is the cars themselves.

"Consumers are demanding a lot more technology in their vehicles, infotainment technologies," he says. "There's also a lot more safety features that are in vehicles right now. Emissions and efficiency technology that are in vehicles right now, that are making vehicles cost a lot more."

But Kim says the main reason is many consumers haven't recovered from the recession. So that new car payment has to be stretched out over more years.

Economy

Increase In Subprime Car Loans Could Lead To Trouble

News

Auto Loan Surge Fuels Fears Of Another Subprime Crisis

Melinda Zabritski isn't too worried for consumers. She's with Experian Automotive, a subsidiary of the credit rating agency Experian. She says longer car loans often make sense, especially for people on a tight budget.

"Well if we all had the luxury to take a 36- or 48-month term, but the bottom line is you know the average consumer just can't afford that," she says.

That reasoning drives consumer advocate Mike Sante nuts. He's with Interest.com and says people on a budget are precisely the ones who shouldn't be taking out long loans.

"They're a way to get people into cars that are more expensive than they should really be buying," he says. "It's these kinds of decisions that you make, that will truly determine how much money you have later in life."

Sante argues that people should pay off their cars within four years, which can mean buying a less expensive or used car.

While it's relatively easy to get a long loan at certain automakers, Honda is trying to buck that trend. After all, the equity that owners still have in their vehicles come trade-in time is a big selling point for Honda. Long loans destroy that equity.

Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel says loans beyond five years are just too long to pay off a car.

"I don't know what the average marriage lasts in the U.S. today," he says. "[It] might be less than the average car loan."

Mendel hopes his competitors start using more discipline. But that may be wishful thinking. When interest rates go up, a new car will become even more expensive, which will likely push more consumers into longer loans.

car loans

CAR

Honda