Volkswagen Engineer Charged in Emissions Probe

A Volkswagen engineer has pleaded guilty to involvement in the German carmaker’s diesel emissions scandal. He is the first to be charged as part of the US Justice Department’s year-long criminal probe into the firm’s rigging of federal air-pollution tests. James Liang pleaded guilty to violation of the clean air act, a wire fraud count and a consumer fraud count. Volkswagen has already agreed to spend up to $16bn (£12bn) to address environmental, state and owner claims. Mr Liang, who is a German national, worked in VW’s diesel development department in Germany from 1983 to May 2008, before moving to the US