Turkish private jet company says rogue employee helped Carlos Ghosn flee Japan - CNN

MNG Jet said in a statement Friday that two of its jets were used "illegally" to transport Ghosn without the knowledge of company management. The company said it has filed a criminal complaint.

MNG said it had leased two separate planes to different clients that did not appear to be connected. One was chartered from Dubai to Osaka and then Osaka to Istanbul, while the other was booked from Istanbul to Beirut.

Turkish police launched an investigation into Ghosn's escape on Thursday, detaining seven people on suspicion of involvement in the plot.

One employee under investigation by Turkish authorities had admitted to falsifying records, according to MNG.

"He confirmed that he acted in his individual capacity, without the knowledge or the authorization of the management of MNG Jet," the company said.

Ghosn — the former chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, and former chairman and CEO of their alliance partner, Renault — had been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing, including allegations that he understated his income for years and funneled $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he controlled. He was ousted from his posts at Nissan (NSANF) and Mitsubishi Motors following his arrest in November 2018, and later resigned from Renault (RNLSY).

As a condition of his release on bail, Ghosn was required to stay in Japan. But his case was upended earlier this week after Ghosn revealed that he had fled Japan for Lebanon to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system.

Authorities have been scrambling to figure out how Ghosn pulled off the escape. Prosecutors in Tokyo raided the home where he had been staying on Thursday. Ghosn has denied reports that his family were involved in helping him flee.

— Gul Tuysuz contributed reporting.

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2020-01-03 14:32:00Z
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Google’s identity crisis is deepening - The Verge

The biggest tech news yesterday is that the former Google human rights chief says he was “sidelined” over the proposed, censored Chinese search engine known as “Dragonfly.” Ross LaJeunesse, the executive, knew how to ensure his story would make an impact. He spoke with The Verge’s Colin Lecher and many other media outlets, published a Medium post with frankly shocking details, and dominated tech news all day. Good. His story deserves attention.

An idea that I’ve been kicking around as we prepare for season two of the Land of the Giants podcast (about Google, naturally) is that until very recently, Google was a special kind of naive. It is a powerful, massive company that used to see itself as a utopian collective which just so happened to make oodles of cash.

If you get annoyed that Google has pivoted its way through launching and killing a dozen messaging apps, that open, freewheeling culture is why.

You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers about four times a week, at least a couple of which include longer essays. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here!

By subscribing, you are agreeing to receive a daily newsletter from The Verge that highlights top stories of the day, as well as occasional messages from sponsors and / or partners of The Verge.

That kind of naiveté would be endearing if it wasn’t also so dangerous. An organization as powerful as Google that isn’t willing to admit its size, influence, and power is bound to stumble into problems. I think Dragonfly was one result of that disconnect.

Even if you could believe that Google could have made a moral case for Dragonfly (and I’m leaving that judgment for another time), the telling thing is that Google didn’t try — it was not openly discussed with employees like so many other Google products.

Here’s an important paragraph from Colin Lecher’s story on LaJeunesse:

As Google pushed for deals in authoritarian Saudi Arabia and launched the Google Center for Artificial Intelligence in Beijing, LaJeunesse says, he pushed for a company-wide human rights program that would bring new oversight to product launches. But Google rebuffed the idea, and eventually brought in a colleague to oversee policy issues related to Dragonfly.

Assuming LaJeunesse’s account is accurate, there are any number of motivations you could ascribe to these decisions. But I want to home in on just one: I think that dealing forthrightly with the Dragonfly decision in a more traditional, open, “Googley” way would have forced the entire company to contend with the uncomfortable truth that it is a massive, geopolitical entity. It would have popped the bubble of Google’s self-image.

Well, it popped anyway. Which means that Google is a company without a clear identity anymore. And the truth is that it was never as defined as it should have been in the first place. The old one — “Don’t be Evil” — didn’t scale, to borrow a classic Silicon Valley phrase.

The operative verb in “Don’t be Evil” is “to be.” You can’t live up to “Don’t be Evil” if you don’t know what you are in the first place.

I don’t think that the massive size of Google fully accounts for the things that LaJeunesse experienced, but I do think it’s an important factor. Almost exactly a month ago I published an essay I titled “Google’s Third Era,” pegged to the news that Google CEO Sundar Pichai was also becoming Alphabet’s CEO as Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back. Here’s what I wrote then:

If the first era of Google was developing the technology, and the second era was growing to a massive scale, the third era is contending with the effects of that scale. That reckoning isn’t happening because the founders formalized their already reduced roles by handing over the CEO title. It’s happening because both internally and externally, we don’t know how to deal with a company as big and powerful as Google.

It’s troubling to think that as a society we don’t know how to deal with institutions as large and powerful as Google (or Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft). It’s even more troubling to think that nobody inside Google knows how to contend with Google’s size, either.

Google’s old mantra was about defining itself by saying what it it wouldn’t be. Now, Google has to figure out what it will be.

---

CES is coming and that right soon

└ Here’s what’s next for gadgets in 2020

Yesterday’s newsletter had the intro to this essay, but not all the category-specific predictions. Here they are: this is both a CES preview and a larger look at some of the trends coming to gadgets in 2020. CES begins this weekend and I’ll be there with many other Verge reporters and video directors.

└ Samsung and LG go head to head with AI-powered fridges that recognize food

I am so here for an arms race of wacky features on smart fridges. Using AI to determine what’s needed from the grocery store is so wildly unnecessary and so likely to work badly that I just want to sit back and watch. Samsung and LG are duking it out on the battlefield of features nobody asked for and it is so excessive you kind of just have to marvel at it. So yes, I’m here for it. Not here enough to actually buy one or ever recommend you do, but here to watch this low-stakes fight.

└ LG’s latest rollable TV descends from the ceiling like a projector screen

These are fun too look at, but don’t wait to buy one, they’re not coming to a big box store near you anytime soon. Jon Porter has the details:

Despite promising that its last prototype from CES 2019 would be going on sale that year, LG subsequently failed to make that release date. LG Display’s press release doesn’t mention if or when it expects the new rollable TV to go on sale, which suggests that a release isn’t exactly imminent.

└ Dell’s latest XPS 13 has a new design with a bigger display and Ice Lake chips

Dell arguably updates the XPS 13 too often. There’s this model and the 2-in-1 model, and both have changed often enough to be confusing. But every change has been for the better, and this one is no exception. I encourage you to click though and just LOOK at this thing: it’s beautiful and svelte. Hopefully build quality is pretty good -- Dells can feel a little plasticky sometimes.

But what’s undeniable is that all that iteration has taken Dell to a place where it’s making laptops that make even the most recent MacBooks look dowdy and old.

True story: I was typing on my MacBook Pro over the holidays and there was somebody who works far way from the tech industry hunting around the rooms until he found me. He heard me typing and thought it was some sort of insect chattering in the house.

└ Samsung’s Galaxy Book Flex α aims to be a cheaper QLED 2-in-1 laptop

I don’t want to pre-judge this, but right now Samsung is definitely in a trust-but-verify place when it comes to experimental laptops. It has yet to ship the Galaxy Book S ARM-based laptop it announced in August, for one thing. For another, while I’m generally bullish on OLED becoming great on laptops, I’m not sure I’d take a chance on this one just yet. Wait not just for a release but also for reviews before you get too excited.

└ GE’s new smart switches and dimmers can be installed in almost any home

If you looked at getting smart switches for your home and threw up your hands when it came time to figuring out if your wiring would work, these may be worth a look. Dan Seifert explains:

The vast majority of smart lighting switches and dimmers on the market require an extra wire in the junction box called a neutral wire, which is lacking on many older homes. This wire is used to control and regulate voltage and is necessary for many dimmers to work properly. Prior to GE’s new products, the only other smart switch and dimmers that didn’t need a neutral wire were from Lutron’s Caséta line of products. Unlike the Caséta products, though, GE’s new switches and dimmers do not require a hub and can connect directly to a Wi-Fi network.

More from The Verge

└ Google disables Xiaomi integrations for all its devices after a Nest showed weird images

Reddit user Dio-V, who said via email to The Verge that they’re based in The Netherlands, said they saw images of an enclosed porch, a sleeping man in a chair, and a sleeping baby in a crib. Dio-V told The Verge he has been contacted by Google about the post, but so far had not heard from Xiaomi.

└ A pop-up YouTube account might have locked down Rolling Stones rarities for decades

What a weird story! Copyright leads to so many strange outcomes. Who gets paid, how, why, and when is getting ever more complicated as antiquated laws buckle under the stress of the internet’s new distribution models. There’s nobody better to explain it than Dani Deahl:

All the recordings turned 50 years old in 2019, meaning they were slated to become public domain in the European Union unless they were published in some form before the end of the year. But it’s unclear if fleeting YouTube uploads are enough to satisfy the EU’s publishing requirements, according to Zvi S. Rosen, lecturer at the George Washington University School of Law. “It’s really kind of pushing the edge of what’s possible under the law,” Rosen tells The Verge.

└ The IRS is done letting TurboTax easily steer you away from filing taxes for free

Shame on Intuit for its lobbying behavior. Shame on congress and the IRS for not pushing to make free tax filing readily available. Thank Pro Publica for its dogged reporting on this, which will make a genuine difference in people’s lives this tax season.

└ Brydge’s iPad keyboard with trackpad is coming next month for $200

I know people want this to work and I know there are many people who actually have managed to get working mouse support integrated into their iPad workflows but I ...just don’t see it. Mouse support is built-in as an accessibility feature on the iPad, but it is foreign to the whole experience of iPadOS.

I’m not saying the iPad should never have full-fledged mouse support, but I am saying it’s not good enough yet to justify this keyboard. Then again, I am going to try it and find out if I’m wrong. (I don’t expect I will be.)

Trackpad support on the iPad is still very limited, and the experience isn’t as fluid as you might expect coming from a Mac. But interest still seems to be high: the Libra keyboard received more than $313,000 through crowdfunding and preorders.

└ Dell will soon let you interact with your iPhone apps from your PC

I am absolutely old enough to regale you with stories of PalmOS HotSync over Serial ports, but you don’t want that. I will say that it seems like we will be forever cursed to reinvent the ways mobile devices will talk to laptops for all eternity. Here’s Dell’s latest take on it, which is unique in that it works with the iPhone.

└ FDA announces new crackdown on flavored vaping products

Vape tank e-cigs predate Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigs by a lot. They’re less convenient and harder to hide, but not exactly hard for teenagers to acquire. Assuming this not-quite-a-ban stays as it is, I would not be surprised to see some tank-based product rush in to fill the gap. Maybe? This does seem like a half measure, in any case. Nicole Wetsman has the story:

By focusing on flavored cartridges (which are popular with teenagers), and not including other methods of vaping (like vape tanks), the FDA said it keeps flavors accessible to adult users who may be making a switch from traditional cigarettes. Juul announced in October that it would stop selling fruit-flavored pods.

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2020-01-03 12:00:00Z
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Tesla tops Wall Street estimates with a record 112,000 vehicle deliveries in fourth quarter - CNBC

Tesla Model 3 are located in a Tesla Service Center.

Silas Stein | picture alliance | Getty Images

Tesla delivered a record 112,000 vehicles globally during the fourth quarter, significantly topping Wall Street estimates and achieving an ambitious year-end sales goal of CEO Elon Musk.

Wall Street expected Tesla to deliver 106,000 vehicles to customers during the fourth quarter, which would have just met the company's annual delivery goal of between 360,000 and 400,000 vehicles, a 45% to 65% increase from 2018.

Tesla said it delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles last year, an impressive 50% increase from 2018.

Shares of Tesla were up by about 2% in pre-market trading to roughly $440 per share, a 39% increase over the last 12 months.

Tesla's deliveries are a closely watched number in the industry, providing the closest proximation to sales. It tracks vehicles that have been sold and physically delivered to customers. The number is a barometer for how the company is performing ahead of releasing its quarterly earnings.

Tesla said it delivered 92,550 Model 3 cars and 19,450 Model S and X vehicles during the fourth quarter. The company was expected to deliver 87,900 Model 3, 9,800 Model S and 9,300 Model X vehicles, according to an average of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Investors were also watching production numbers. In the third quarter of 2019, Tesla delivered more cars than it produced. It manufactured 96,155 vehicles and delivered 97,000 vehicles, setting two personal records for the company, but raising questions about the strength of its manufacturing capabilities.

The electric-car maker said it has produced just under 1,000 cars that are ready for sale at its new factory in Shanghai. Tesla started delivering vehicles to Chinese customers late last month.

Tesla said it will "continue to focus on expanding production" in both the U.S. and China, where the company reports it has demonstrated production run-rate capability of greater than 3,000 units per week. That production rate, according to Tesla, excludes local battery pack production that began in late December.

'Major feather in the cap'

Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, called Tesla's deliveries to end the year "impressive" and "another step in the right direction" for its Fremont assembly plant in California. Soundly beating Wall Street's estimates in the quarter "was another major feather in the cap for Musk & Co.," he said.

"While part of this recent rally has been a massive short covering, it has also been driven by underlying fundamental improvement as the company's ability to impressively not just talk the talk but walk the walk has been noticed by the Street and the optimism around the story has grown markedly from the dark days seen earlier in 2019," Ives said in a note to investors Friday morning.

Earlier this week, Musk made personal appearances at the company's Fremont car plant and delivery center to cheer on employees and Tesla fanatics who volunteered to deliver cars to customers ahead of the year-end deadline.

Customers who received their cars in 2019 qualified for an $1,875 tax credit. But if the car was ordered in 2019, and delivered in 2020, they would not qualify.

Tesla is now shipping its vehicles to more locations around the world than ever before, including in the U.K. and China.

This broader customer base is one reason why Tesla assured investors in Q3 that it would hit the low end of its prior guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries for the full year. The company also wrote then: "Deliveries should increase sequentially and annually, with some expected fluctuations from seasonality. We are highly confident in exceeding 360,000 deliveries this year."

Increasing build rates

Last quarter, Tesla said it was "positioned to accelerate" growth through production of vehicles at its new plant in Shanghai, and by "increasing build rates on our existing production lines."

In 2018, Tesla sold 245,240 vehicles including 145,846 Model 3s, the company's mid-size, four-door sedan that started production in 2017. By the end of the year in 2018, Tesla said it had already achieved a delivery run-rate of more than 350,000 vehicles annually.

Since then, Tesla has made changes to its main car plant in Fremont, California, to ramp up production and improve the quality of Model 3s built there, to repair its paint shop (which experienced multiple fires in recent years) and to make way for production of its forthcoming SUV, the Model Y, at that location. It also attained financing for, built and began vehicle assembly at a major new factory in Shanghai.

Tesla shares gained more than 20% in 2019, partly owing to sales of the Model 3. Tesla's newest battery electric sedan became the best-selling luxury vehicle on the US market in 2018 and remained in the top spot throughout the past year. However, with production and sales of the Model S and X in decline, Tesla's revenue also declined in the third quarter of 2019, year-over-year, and the company is facing pressure to generate profits consistently.

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2020-01-03 13:18:00Z
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Carlos Ghosn: Timeline of escape from Japan to Lebanon on private jet - Business Insider

• Nissan’s ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn enraged Japan this week by vanishing from house arrest to reappear in Lebanon, beyond the reach of Japanese officials.
• The audacious escape, a breach of his bail conditions, has still not been fully explained, but details are gradually emerging.
• It appears to have involved private jets, a second passport, and rumors that Ghosn escaped the country hidden in a box meant for musical instruments.
• Here is everything we know so far about the escape.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The former CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, fled Japan on Sunday night, secretly taking two private planes to return to his native home of Lebanon.

Ghosn faces a length jail term in Japan if found guilty of the four counts of financial mismanagement with which he was charged after his arrest in November 2018.

Having escaped Japanese authorities, Ghosn said that he was being subjected to a rigged trial where his guilt was predetermined. His escape was initially a mystery, but details have been emerging in the days since.

Here is what we know so far.

---

November 19, 2018: Carlos Ghosn is arrested in Japan, accused of hiding tens of millions of dollars in payments. It would be more than a year until his escape.

Foto: A court sketch shows Carlos Ghosn making a statement at the Tokyo District Court on January 8, 2019.sourcePhoto by Kyodo News via Getty Images

---

Ghosn is first held in jail for months, as officials feared he could flee. They would later be proved right.

Foto: The Tokyo detention house, where former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn was jailed until March 2019.sourceMARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images

---

March 6, 2019: Ghosn is allowed to leave jail, but was placed under house arrest in Tokyo, with 24/7 surveillance.

Foto: The home of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo, before he fled to Lebanon.sourceREUTERS/Tim Kelly

---

Ghosn was told to give up his four passports — two French, one Lebanese, and one Brazilian, to make it harder to flee. But in May 2019 he is allowed to take back a French one.

Foto: A selection of passports.sourceFlickr/Baigal Byamba

Japan’s courts allowed Ghosn to access the second passport for use inside Japan, Agency France Press (AFP) reported.

An official from the Lebanese foreign ministry told Reuters that Ghosn entered the country legally using the French passport.

Source: Business Insider

---

October 2019: A private security company started organizing the escape, reports say, with around three months of planning.

Foto: This March, 2019, file photo shows former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, right, and his wife Carole in Tokyo.sourceAssociated Press

According to Imad Ajami, a friend of Ghosn and a Lebanese consultant based in Tokyo, Ghosn’s wife Carole helped coordinate the escape.

Ajami, speaking to Japan’s Kyodo News, said that two operatives helped Ghosn escape: a former US Marine and a second workers from Lebanon.

Sources close to Ghosn told Reuters that the trigger for his escape was him learning that his trial may be delayed until April 2021.

He is also said to have been frustrated that he was banned from communicating with his wife, and that his internet access was restricted.

(Ghosn has denied that any of his family members played a role.)

Source: Reuters, Hürriyet, Kyodo News

---

Midday, December 29: Ghosn is reportedly seen on security tape leaving his Tokyo home.

Foto: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo.sourceReuters

Source: NHK

---

A conflicting report, from Lebanese news outlet MTV, says Ghosn was smuggled from his home concealed inside a case for a large musical instrument.

Foto: A portrait of ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn is seen on a publicity billboard in his support at a street in Beirut on December 6, 2018.sourceOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

MTV reported that a group of men, in the guise of a “ music band“ were hired to play at a dinner at Ghosn’s home, and carried him out when they left.

Ghosn is 5’6″.

This part of the story has been contested: Carole Ghosn described it as „fiction“ according to Reuters, though she did not offer an alternative explanation..

Source: Guardian, MTV, Business Insider, Sky News

---

11 p.m., December 29: Ghosn leaves Japan via Osaka’s Kansai Airport.

Foto: Kansai International Airport arrivals.sourceFlickr/Luke Ma

Source: NHK, Reuters, Hürriyet

---

Turkish private aviation company MNG Jet said that its planes carried Ghosn, but that a rogue employee took the jets under false pretenses.

Foto: A photo showing several of those arrested in Turkey in connection with the escape of Carlos Ghosn at a police station in Istanbul on Friday.sourceReuters

A January 3 statement said: „In December 2019, MNG Jet leased two separate private jets to two different clients.“

„One private jet from Dubai to Osaka and Osaka to Istanbul, and another private jet from Istanbul to Beirut. The two leases were seemingly not connected to each other.“

MNG said it has filed a criminal complaint against one of its employees who they say helped Ghosn escape Japan without their knowledge..

Source: MNG Jet

---

5:15 a.m. December 30: The plane carrying Ghosn lands in Istanbul, Turkey, having flown over Russia.

Foto: Airplanes at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.sourceResul Muslu/shutterstock

Two of those on board the plane make themselves known to Turkish airport authorities, but Ghosn does not.

Data from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 shows a private plane leaving Osaka, Japan, and traveling to Istanbul on the day of Ghosn’s escape.

Source: Hürriyet

---

6 a.m.: 45 minutes after landing, Ghosn leaves Istanbul on a second MNG jet bound for Beirut, Lebanon.

Foto: Ataturk airport in Istanbul.sourceWikimedia Commons

Two of those on board the plane made themselves known to Turkish airport authorities, Ghosn does not.

The plane is identified as a long-range business jet with the tail number the TC-TSR.

Source: Hürriyet

---

Ghosn reportedly used his second French passport and his Lebanese identity card at the border.

Foto: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn arrives at his place of residence in Tokyo.sourceReuters

Ghosn entered Lebanon legally and therfore will not face any legal action, Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security later said.

Source: NHK, Reuters

---

Ghosn is then thought to have travelled to his home in Ashrafieh, central Beirut.

Foto: Passers-by and Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) officers pictured outside the house of Carlos Ghosn in Ashrafieh on December 31, 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon.sourceJacob Russell/Getty Images

Source: Times of London

---

Later on December 30, Ghosn reportedly meets with Lebanese president Michel Aoun.

Foto: Lebanon President Michel Aoun.sourceStephane Mahe/AP

A source told Reuters that Ghosn was in a „buoyant and combative mood“ when he left the meeting, and that he „felt secure.“

The source said that Ghosn „thanked Aoun for the support he had given him and his wife“ and asked for „the protection and security of his government.“

A spokesman for the president denied to Reuters that the meeting happened.

Source: Reuters

---

December 31: Ghosn confirms his escape and attacks the „rigged Japanese justice system.“

Foto: A statement sent to media on behalf of Carlos Ghosn.sourceLisa Du/Twitter

---

Late on December 31, the Tokyo district court revokes Ghosn’s bail agreement, meaning he will forfeit the $14 million paid so far.

Foto: A general view of the Tokyo District Court on April 11, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.sourcePhoto by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images

Source: The Mainichi

---

Ghosn’s lawyer in Japan says later that day that he is „surprised and baffled“ at his client’s escape.

Foto: Junichiro Hironaka, a lawyer for ousted former Nissan Motor Co CEO Carlos Ghosn, speaks to media reporters on December 31.sourceAsahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Source: The Times of London

---

Back in Beirut, TV crews start to surround Ghosn’s house.

Foto: Journalists gather around unidentified visitors arriving to a house referenced by court documents as belonging to former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday.sourcePhoto by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

---

That night, Ghosn is seen celebrating New Years Eve with his family in a photo published by French broadcaster TF1.

Foto: A photo published by TF1 on Thursday purporting to show Carlos Ghosn (C) and his wife Carole (R) celebrating New Year’s Eve in Beirut.sourceTF1

Source: TF1

---

January 2: Turkish authorities detain four pilots and three workers at Ataturk Airport in over Ghosn’s escape.

Foto: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.sourceReuters

Source: Business Insider

---

Back in Japan, prosecutors raid his Tokyo home for evidence.

Foto: A Japanese prosecutor carries bags as he leaves the residence of former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo on January 2, 2020.sourcePhoto by STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

Prosecutors took security cameras down from the walls and took personal belongings.

Source: Nikkei

---

Also on January 2, Lebanon receives an Interpol „Red Notice“ asking for Ghosn’s arrest.

Foto: An Interpol signage at Interpol World in Singapore.sourceReuters

A is a request for local law enforcement to hand over a suspect. It is not legally binding.

Source: Business Insider

---

That evening, Lebanon’s Justice Minister Albert Serhan says Lebanon does not plan to extradite Ghosn.

Foto: Albert Serhan.sourceNational News Agency Lebanon

Source: The Associated Press

---

Lebanese media report that Ghosn is to give a press conference in Beirut on January 8.

Foto: In this image made from video released by Carlos Ghosn via his lawyer Tuesday, April 9, 2019, former Nissan chairman Ghosn speaks on camera in Tokyo.sourceAssociated Press

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2020-01-03 11:45:51Z
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Flight records of Ghosn escape falsified to hide auto exec's travel, jet firm says - Fox Business

George Mason University National Security Institute director Jamil Jaffer discusses whether Lebanon will extradite former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn.

ANKARA, Turkey — A Turkish airline company whose jets were used to fly former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon said an employee falsified records and that Ghosn's name did not appear on any documentation related to the flights.

Continue Reading Below

Ghosn earlier this week jumped bail in Japan and fled to Lebanon rather than face trial on financial misconduct charges in a dramatic escape that has confounded and embarrassed authorities.

How he was able to flee Japan, avoiding the tight surveillance he was under while free on 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail, is still a mystery, though Lebanese authorities have said he entered the country legally on a French passport.

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Ghosn's daring escape spanned three continents and involved private planes, multiple passports and international intrigue. Turkey detained seven people Thursday as part of an investigation into how he passed through the country, and they were appearing in court Friday. The private DHA news agency reported that those detained were four pilots, a cargo company manager and two airport workers.

Also Friday, Istanbul-based MNG Jet said it had filed a criminal complaint in Turkey concerning the illegal use of its jet charter services.

It did not say who the complaint was against, but it said one company employee, who was under investigation by the Turkish authorities, admitted to falsifying records and "confirmed that he acted in his individual capacity" without MNG Jet's knowledge.

The company said it had leased two separate private jets: one private jet from Dubai to Osaka , Japan, and Osaka to Istanbul and another private jet from Istanbul to Beirut.

Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is driven through Tokyo after posting 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) in bail in March 2019. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko. File)

"The two leases were seemingly not connected to each other. The name of Mr Ghosn did not appear in the official documentation of any of the flights," MNG Jet said in a statement. The statement did not say who the jets were leased to.

NISSAN DIRECTORS: WHO HELPED CARLOS GHOSN?

On Thursday, Interpol issued a wanted notice for Ghosn. Lebanese Justice Minister Albert Serhan told The Associated Press in an interview that Lebanon “will carry out its duties,” suggesting for the first time that the automotive titan may be brought in for questioning. But he said Ghosn entered the country on a legal passport, and he appeared to cast doubt on the possibility Lebanon would hand Ghosn over to Japan.

Shortly after the Interpol notice, Ghosn issued a statement — his second this week — seeking to distance his Lebanese wife and family from any role in his escape.

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“The allegations in the media that my wife, Carole, and other members of my family played a role in my departure from Japan are false and misleading. I alone organized my departure. My family played no role,” he said.

Ghosn, who is Lebanese and also holds French and Brazilian passports, was set to go on trial in Japan in April. He arrived in Lebanon on Monday via Turkey and hasn't been seen in public since. In a statement Tuesday, he said he fled to avoid “political persecution” by a “rigged Japanese justice system.”

CARLOS GHOSN ON JAPAN ESCAPE: 'MY FAMILY HAD NO ROLE'

His lawyer in France, Francois Zimeray, told Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV that he was in frequent contact with Ghosn since he arrived in Lebanon, and Ghosn appeared to be filled with “a fighting spirit." Ghosn was eager to start clearing his name at a news conference next week, Zimeray said.

Ghosn, who grew up in Beirut and frequently visited, is a national hero to many in this Mediterranean country with close ties to senior politicians and business stakes in a number of companies. People take special pride in the auto industry executive, who is credited with leading a spectacular turnaround at Nissan beginning in the late 1990s and rescuing the automaker from near-bankruptcy.

Ghosn, who is charged in Japan with under-reporting his future compensation and breach of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and Renault.

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2020-01-03 11:20:43Z
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U.S. Stock Futures Fall After Airstrike Kills Iranian Commander - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures fell after an American airstrike in Iraq killed a top Iranian commander.

S&P 500 Index futures contracts expiring in March were down 1.1% as of 10:19 a.m. in London after the attack that killed Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general who led the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts and those on the Nasdaq 100 also fell.

Oil spiked, with futures in New York and London surging 4% or more, as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “severe retaliation” after the death of one of his country’s top commanders. Gold also surged. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.7%.

“The ‘severe retaliation’ aspect is possibly what is scaring the markets as it could mean that there will be a counter-attack versus American diplomats,” said Alberto Tocchio, chief investment officer at Colombo Wealth in Lugano, Switzerland. “Markets could use this excuse to take some profits as sentiment and positioning are possibly too high.”

The S&P 500 Index climbed 0.8% to a fresh record in New York on Thursday, boosted by tech shares including Apple and Alphabet. The gain extended the benchmark gauge’s 29% advance for 2019.

In addition to the Middle East situation, investors are keeping an eye on geopolitical tension surrounding North Korea, where Kim Jong Un said he was no longer bound by his pledge to halt major missile tests and would soon debut a “new strategic weapon.”

“We are only into the third day of the new year, and a big fat dollop of geopolitical uncertainty has landed on investors’ desks already,” Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst at Oanda in Singapore, wrote in a note. “Readers now know why I am reluctant to look past 1Q of the new year at this stage,” Halley said, adding that the holiday-shortened week shifts the focus to “the real start of the trading year” on Monday.

MARKETS:

E-Mini futures on S&P down 1.1%E-Mini futures on Dow Jones down 0.9%E-Mini futures on Nasdaq 1.3% lowerVIX Index trading 23% higherWTI crude futures up 3.7% to $63.43/bblBloomberg spot dollar index up 0.2%

ECONOMIC DATA:

10:00 - Nov. Construction Spending MoM est. 0.4% (prior -0.8%)10:00 - Dec. ISM Manufacturing est. 48.9 (prior 48.1)10:00 - Dec. ISM New Orders (prior 47.2)10:00 - Dec. ISM Prices Paid est. 48.1 (prior 46.7)10:00 - Dec. ISM Employment (prior 46.6)14:00 - Dec 11 FOMC Meeting Minutes15:00 - Dec. Wards Total Vehicle Sales est. 17.00m (prior 17.09m)

EARNINGS:

Companies reporting earnings include Lamb Weston

--With assistance from Ksenia Galouchko.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jackie Edwards in Sydney at jedwards160@bloomberg.net;Namitha Jagadeesh in London at njagadeesh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Kurt Schussler, Paul Jarvis

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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2020-01-03 10:36:00Z
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Oil prices 'could make a run at $80' if US-Iran conflict intensifies, analysts say - CNBC

Oil prices could surge toward $80 a barrel if escalating geopolitical tensions disrupt Middle East crude supplies, analysts told CNBC on Friday, with energy market participants "on tenterhooks" after a U.S. airstrike killed key Iranian and Iraqi military personnel.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $68.65 Friday morning, up more than 3.6%, having earlier spiked to an intraday high of $69.16.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $63.38, over 3.5% higher, paring some of its gains after climbing to $63.84 earlier in the session.

Iran's General Qasem Soleimani, who led a special forces unit of the Islamic Republic's elite Revolutionary Guards, was killed in an airstrike at the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday.

The same attack was thought to have killed Iraq's Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, Reuters reported, citing an Iraqi military spokesperson.

One thing is clear: Iran will respond.

Henry Rome & Cliff Kupchan

Analysts at Eurasia Group

The airstrike, which the Pentagon said was issued at the direction of President Donald Trump, has exacerbated already-high tensions between the U.S. and Iran — and sparked concerns of retaliatory action.

In the hours after Soleimani's death, "one thing is clear: Iran will respond," analysts at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a research note published Friday.

"We expect moderate to low-level clashes to last for at least a month and likely be confined to Iraq. Iranian-backed militias will attack U.S. bases and some U.S. soldiers will be killed; the U.S. will retaliate with strikes inside of Iraq."

Oil prices "will likely hold" around $70 a barrel, "but could make a run at $80 if the conflict spreads to the oil fields of southern Iraq or if Iranian harassment of commercial shipping intensifies," they added.

Oil price spike 'may continue'

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement overnight it had taken "defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad" by killing Soleimani, before adding the strike was "aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans."

In response, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered three days of mourning and vowed to deliver "severe revenge" to the killers of Soleimani.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the killing of Soleimani was "extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation."

"The U.S. bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism," Zarif said.

Soleimani has long been a key figure in Iranian politics and was widely regarded as the second-most powerful figure in the country — behind Khamenei.

He was working as the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force — designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since April last year. Washington had blamed Soleimani for this week's attack of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

"It has been always lingering as a potential threat … But I guess the timing of it was certainly surprising for the market," Valentin Marinov, managing director and head of G10 FX research at Credit Agricole, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Friday.

"Maybe it is a bit early to draw really finite conclusions here about the overall impact on oil. After all, we just had the OPEC meeting where they reaffirmed cutting production further."

"In addition, we also have expectations of oil output really peaking this year so chances are the move may continue," Marinov said.

OPEC and non-OPEC allies, sometimes referred to as OPEC+, agreed to cut oil production by an additional 500,000 barrels per day (b/d) from Jan. 1, further deepening their previous cut of 1.2 million b/d.

Energy market 'on tenterhooks'

"If we were to see a lack of escalation then potentially this initial spike is probably about enough for now," James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments, told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Friday.

"But it does appear to be a pretty serious escalation that has occurred and for that reason I think the market is going to be on tenterhooks for a good while just yet," he added.

Dock workers haul the mooring rope of a cargo ship onto the dockside at Bandar Imam Khomeini (BIK) port on Friday, May 24, 2019.

Ali Mohammadi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Trump tweeted a message of the U.S. flag shortly after the news prompted oil prices to skyrocket.

"I don't think that you will see a sustained rally in oil unless you get some surprise economic data that is stronger than people expect both in the U.S. and in particular Europe — which might be a swing factor here in terms of pushing that price up," Robert Horrocks, chief investment officer of Matthews Asia, told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Friday.

"Other than that, I doubt this is the start of a severe spike in the oil price."

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2020-01-03 09:20:00Z
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