How VW tried to cover up the emissions scanda

It was an "appalling" fraud that went to the very top of the company. That is the striking allegation made by US prosecutors looking into the emissions-cheating scandal at the Volkswagen Group.

The indictment unsealed on Thursday claims that former CEO Martin Winterkorn was not only fully briefed about what his engineers were up to, he also authorised a continuing cover-up.
These allegations have yet to be tested in a court of law. But if true, they paint a picture of extraordinary executive wrongdoing at one of the titans of German industry.
Dr Winterkorn himself is unlikely ever to face trial in the US. But he remains under investigation in Germany on suspicion of deceiving investors.

Far-reaching scandal

The Volkswagen scandal erupted in September 2015, when the company admitted that nearly 600,000 cars sold in the US were fitted with "defeat devices" designed to circumvent emissions tests.

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Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption VW admitted it created "defeat devices" to fool diesel emissions tests

Shortly afterwards the then head of its US operations, Michael Horn, told a congressional committee that the deception was the work of "a couple of software engineers".
We know that was far from the truth. Volkswagen has already admitted as much in an agreed "statement of facts" published last year as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
That document set out how Volkswagen engineers struggled to make a diesel engine which would both perform well and be capable of meeting stringent US emissions standards.
It explained how instead they designed a system to switch on emissions controls when the cars were being tested, and turn them off during normal driving.

Marx co-wrote the Communist Manifesto, which said that all human history had been based on class struggle. His work remains controversial in Europe but is presented by China as central to its way of governing. Local officials have appealed for calm as rival groups prepare for rallies in Trier on Saturday. They include anti-communist and anti-capitalist demonstrations as well as a vigil in solidarity with China's banned Falun Gong movement, DPA news agency reports. Advertisement "If you want to criticise Marx, you are welcome to do so, but not with violence or destructive rage," Trier spokesman Michael Schmitz told DPA. Why is Marx controversial? His theories were used by his followers to form the basis of communism, a system under which everything was to be owned communally and social classes would disappear. What is Marx's Das Kapital? However communist-run regions and states such as the Soviet Union and China became notorious for repression and human rights abuses. Germany's eastern half - the German Democratic Republic - was dominated by the Soviet Union from 1949 until reunification in 1990, by which time it was much poorer than its western counterpart. Malu Dreyer, leader of Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate state, has said the commemorations of Marx's birth are an opportunity to discuss the man and his work, not to "celebrate" him. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Marx's Das Kapital is on display in Trier But speaking in Trier on Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Marx today "stands for things which he is not responsible for and which he didn't cause because many of the things he wrote down were redrafted into the opposite". There has been a revival of interest in Marxist theory in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash. What's the problem with the statue? Trier officials said disputes about taking the 4.5m (15ft) statue had dragged on for two years because some argued that accepting it was not compatible with criticising alleged human rights abuses in China. On Friday the German branch of the writers organisation Pen said the statue should not be unveiled until Liu Xia, the widow of China's Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, was released from house arrest. Ms Liu has been confined to her home since 2010. She has never been charged with any crime. Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption The statue is due to be unveiled on Saturday "We have accepted it as a gesture of friendship and this statue should encourage people to deal with Karl Marx," Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe said, adding: "Maybe some judgements and prejudices will be revised." There are other monuments to Marx in Germany, including the house of his birth and a statue in a park in the capital Berlin. About 4.5m tourists including 50,000 from China visit Trier, Mr Leibe said. What does China think of Marx? President Xi Jinping on Friday gave a high-profile speech praising Marx as the greatest thinker of modern times. He urged China's ruling Communist Party to go back to the roots of Marxism and said the Chinese communist party would forever remain its "guardians and practitioners". Students and most civil servants in China have to complete mandatory courses in Marxist theory. Despite this, China's capitalist system is home to hundreds of billionaires and a widening gap between rich and poor.

It was during that election that the opposition made unprecedented gains by winning the popular vote despite ultimately failing to win enough seats to form a majority government, as Malaysia has a first-past-the-post or "simple majority" system.
It's a significant jump and one that the 64-year-old prime minister and president of ruling party Barisan Nasiona Najib Razak and the 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamed, former PM and leader of the opposition alliance, would do well to take note of.

Karl Marx statue from China divides Germans on anniversary

Marx co-wrote the Communist Manifesto, which said that all human history had been based on class struggle.
His work remains controversial in Europe but is presented by China as central to its way of governing.
Local officials have appealed for calm as rival groups prepare for rallies in Trier on Saturday.
They include anti-communist and anti-capitalist demonstrations as well as a vigil in solidarity with China's banned Falun Gong movement, DPA news agency reports.

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"If you want to criticise Marx, you are welcome to do so, but not with violence or destructive rage," Trier spokesman Michael Schmitz told DPA.

Why is Marx controversial?

His theories were used by his followers to form the basis of communism, a system under which everything was to be owned communally and social classes would disappear.

• What is Marx's Das Kapital?

However communist-run regions and states such as the Soviet Union and China became notorious for repression and human rights abuses.
Germany's eastern half - the German Democratic Republic - was dominated by the Soviet Union from 1949 until reunification in 1990, by which time it was much poorer than its western counterpart.
Malu Dreyer, leader of Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate state, has said the commemorations of Marx's birth are an opportunity to discuss the man and his work, not to "celebrate" him.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Marx's Das Kapital is on display in Trier

But speaking in Trier on Friday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Marx today "stands for things which he is not responsible for and which he didn't cause because many of the things he wrote down were redrafted into the opposite".
There has been a revival of interest in Marxist theory in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash.

What's the problem with the statue?

Trier officials said disputes about taking the 4.5m (15ft) statue had dragged on for two years because some argued that accepting it was not compatible with criticising alleged human rights abuses in China.
On Friday the German branch of the writers organisation Pen said the statue should not be unveiled until Liu Xia, the widow of China's Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, was released from house arrest.
Ms Liu has been confined to her home since 2010. She has never been charged with any crime.

Image copyright AFP/Getty

Image caption The statue is due to be unveiled on Saturday

"We have accepted it as a gesture of friendship and this statue should encourage people to deal with Karl Marx," Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe said, adding: "Maybe some judgements and prejudices will be revised."
There are other monuments to Marx in Germany, including the house of his birth and a statue in a park in the capital Berlin. About 4.5m tourists including 50,000 from China visit Trier, Mr Leibe said.

What does China think of Marx?

President Xi Jinping on Friday gave a high-profile speech praising Marx as the greatest thinker of modern times.
He urged China's ruling Communist Party to go back to the roots of Marxism and said the Chinese communist party would forever remain its "guardians and practitioners".
Students and most civil servants in China have to complete mandatory courses in Marxist theory.
Despite this, China's capitalist system is home to hundreds of billionaires and a widening gap between rich and poor.

Kilauea: Earthquakes follow eruptions from Hawaii volcano

It briefly cut power, and sent people fleeing from buildings but there was no tsunami warning.
Meanwhile there were several fresh eruptions sending up fountains of lava 30m (100ft), destroying several homes and leaving fissures on three streets.
The Civil Defense Agency told any remaining residents to evacuate.

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It said there were deadly levels of dangerous sulphur dioxide gas in the air and emergency crews would not be able to help anyone affected.
The new volcanic activity in Mt Kilauea's lower east rift zone amounted to "vigorous lava spattering", the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, adding that additional outbreaks in the area were likely.

Image copyright AFP/Getty

Image caption The USGS said "vigorous lava spattering" was happening

The lava was not travelling more than a "few tens of yards" from the vents, which were on streets in the Leilani Estates neighbourhood near Big Island's eastern tip, the USGS said.
However ground deformation was continuing and there was high earthquake activity in the area, it said. Meanwhile the level of the lava lake inside the volcano was continuing to drop.
Two homes had been destroyed in the latest activity, ABC quoted Hawaii island Mayor Harry Kim as saying.
Residents described fleeing their homes on Thursday evening.
"My family is safe, the rest of the stuff can be replaced. When I bought here 14 years [ago], I knew that this day would eventually come. But the reality is sinking in now," one resident told Hawaii News Now.
A spokesperson for the county of Hawaii's Mayor, Janet Snyder, said "elevated levels" of sulphur dioxide were stopping people returning to evacuated areas.
"It is quite toxic and in fact, even our first responders find it too hazardous at this time to go back into the sub-divisions without heavy, protective equipment," she said.

Image copyright USGS

Image caption Steaming cracks appeared moments before a fissure opened early on Friday morning

Thursday's eruption prompted a local state of emergency and the mandatory evacuation of 1,700 residents.
Community centres have been opened to provide shelter for evacuees.
Kilauea is one of the world's most active volcanoes and the eruption follows a series of recent earthquakes.
Officials had been warning residents all week they should be prepared to evacuate as an eruption would give little warning.
A volcanic crater vent - known as Puu Oo - collapsed earlier this week, sending lava down the mountain's slopes towards populated areas.
Hawaii's Governor, David Ige, said he had activated military reservists from the National Guard to help evacuate thousands of peopl

US Navy resurrects Second Fleet in Atlantic to counter Russia

Chief of Naval Operations Adm John Richardson said the fleet, disbanded in 2011, would oversee forces on the US East Coast and North Atlantic.

He said the National Defense Strategy, published earlier this year, made it clear that the era of great power competition had returned.

The strategy makes countering Russia and China a priority.

The fleet, which was disbanded for cost-saving and structural reasons, will be based in its previous home - Norfolk, Virginia.
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"Our National Defense Strategy makes clear that we're back in an era of great power competition as the security environment continues to grow more challenging and complex," Adm Richardson said in an announcement on board the USS George H W Bush at Norfolk.

"That's why today, we're standing up Second Fleet to address these changes, particularly in the north Atlantic."