Subject: Morning Brief: Former Malaysian prime minister charged with money laundering
From: "Foreign Policy" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2018 07:13:42 -0500 (CDT)

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Charged with Money Laundering

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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy

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08/08/2018

08/08/2018

TOP NEWS

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Charged with Money Laundering

Top news: Malaysian authorities charged the country’s former prime minister, Najib Razak, with three counts of money laundering—the latest move in an investigation of billions of dollars diverted from a state investment fund.

The charges came a day after Malaysia’s attorney general announced that a $250 million yacht, which prosecutors said was bought with money from the fund, was returned from Indonesia where it was seized in February.

Najib, who was defeated in a May election, pleaded not guilty to all three new charges. According to a Reuters report, each charge carries a jail sentence of up to 15 years plus fines of at least $1.2 million.

Last month, the former prime minister also pled not guilty to three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of corruption in connection with the same scandal. In total, United States prosecutors have said that at least $4.5 billion from the investment fund was laundered through U.S. financial institutions and spent by the Najib family and its associates.

Iran: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho in Tehran, hours after the United States reimposed nuclear sanctions following the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement.

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AFRICA

•  Zimbabwean police are searching for nine senior opposition officials following disputed elections. The opposition officials, including the former finance minister, Tendai Biti, are accused of inciting violent protests.

•  Nigerian security forces stopped lawmakers entering parliament for the first time since the country became a democracy.

•  The president of the Ivory Coast pardoned 800 people, including former first lady Simone Gbagbo, who was serving a 20-year sentence for her role in post-election violence in 2010.

AMERICAS

•  Colombia’s newly elected president Iván Duque was sworn into office, pledging to improve economic growth.

•  Brazil re-opened its border to Venezuelans fleeing economic and political turmoil, just hours after a judge ordered it closed amid a growing migration crisis.

•  Argentina’s Senate is set to debate a bill that would legalize abortion for pregnancies up to 14 weeks.

ASIA

•  The Swedish furniture company Ikea is opening its first store in Hyderabad, India.

•  The Chinese military’s official newspaper is cutting 240 jobs and allocating more resources to its website.

•  The Trump administration unveiled a list of roughly $16 billion worth of Chinese imports set to be targeted with 25 percent tariffs.

EUROPE

•  Britain’s Ministry of Defense plans to unveil its military modernization program by the end of this year.

•  The Greek government announced plans to demolish thousands of illegal buildings in the wake of last month’s deadly wildfires that killed at least 91 people.

•  Gerry Adams, the former leader of the Sinn Féin political party, has revealed he is writing a cookbook.

MIDDLE EAST

•  The U.S. State Department urged Canada and Saudi Arabia to resolve their dispute after Canadian criticism of Riyadh’s crackdown on women’s rights activists.

•  The U.S. military is beginning to transfer dozens of captured Islamic State fighters held in Syria to their countries of origin.

•  Leaders in Israel filed a petition to the country’s high court targeting a controversial new nation-state law that declares the country a national homeland for the Jewish people alone, calling the law “racist, colonialist and illegitimate.” The Druze and Bedouin communities have already petitioned the court separately.

- By Rhys Dubin

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

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