U.S. Charges Malaysian Fugitive Financier Over 1MDB Money Laundering Scheme

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department announced charges Thursday against a fugitive Malaysian financier and two former Goldman Sachs bankers accused in a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund created to spur economic development projects in that country.

A three-count indictment charges Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, with misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials, to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the United States and to help finance Hollywood movies, including The Wolf of Wall Street.

Also charged was a former Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violate foreign bribery laws. Another former bank official, Ng Chong Hwa, 51, also known as Roger Ng, was arrested earlier Thursday in Malaysia and accused of circumventing internal accounting controls, prosecutors said…

A Japanese Pilot Was Arrested After Being Caught Nearly 10 Times Over Legal Alcohol Limit

A Japan Airlines copilot was arrested in London earlier this week after he was found to nearly ten times over the legal alcohol limit shortly before takeoff.

The tipsy copilot, identified as Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, was arrested Sunday at London’s Heathrow Airport after a test administered just 50 minutes before takeoff revealed the level of alcohol in his system, the BBC reports. He was detected by the sensitive nose of a crew bus driver, who smelled alcohol and reported him to police, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.

A test later revealed that Jitsukawa had 189mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, nearly 10 times the U.K.’s legal limit of 20 mg for pilots, according to the BBC. He had been scheduled to serve on a flight to Tokyo, which took off just over an hour late. Jitsukawa was not aboard.

Jitsukawa, 42, attributed the elevated alcohol levels to a bout of serious drinking the previous night in his hotel bar and room, according to NHK.

He appeared in court in London on Thursday..

Palau Is Banning ‘Reef-Toxic’ Sunscreen to Save Its Corals

(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — In an attempt to protect the coral reefs that divers so admire they have dubbed them the underwater Serengeti, the Pacific nation of Palau will soon ban many types of sunscreen.

President Tommy Remengesau Jr. last week signed legislation that bans “reef-toxic” sunscreen from 2020. Banned sunscreens will be confiscated from tourists who carry them into the country, and merchants selling the banned products will be fined up to $1,000.

Remengesau said in a statement that the penalties find the right balance between “educating tourists and scaring them away.”

The law defines reef-toxic sunscreen as containing any one of 10 chemicals, including oxybenzone, and states that other chemicals may also be banned.

The legislation also requires tour operators to start providing customers with reusable cups, straws and food containers.

Remengesau said a big impetus for the ban was a 2017 report which found that sunscreen products were widespread in Palau’s famed Jell..

Zeman u Soukupa pálil ostrými. Zkazil radost konkrétním novinářům, když došlo na naše jádro a Rusko. A to nebylo rozhodně vše

Čtvrteční pořad na TV Barrandov Týden s prezidentem opět nabídl pohled na aktuální politické dění očima české hlavy státu. Moderátor Jaromír Soukup s Milošem Zemanem opět prodiskutovali řadu dalších témat týkajících se například zvyšování platů politiků, karenční doby nebo jaderné energetiky.