Nissan Motor board fires Ghosn as chairman following arrest
Nissan Motor Co. fired Carlos Ghosn as chairman Thursday, curtailing the powerful executive’s nearly two decade long reign at the Japanese automaker after his arrest for alleged financial improprieties.
In an hours-long meeting, the company’s board of directors voted unanimously to dismiss Ghosn as chairman and as a representative director, Nissan said in a statement. It said its own internal investigation, prompted by a whistleblower, found serious misconduct including under-reporting of his income and misuse of company assets.
It was a stunning downfall for one of the biggest figures in the auto industry, a man who helped drive turnarounds at both France’s Renault SA and at Nissan and then managed an alliance between them that sold 10.6 million cars last year, besting its rivals. Nissan said in a statement filed to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that its investigation uncovered misuse of company investment funds and expense money for personal gain.
Greece’s creditors approve debt relief package
ATHENS, Greece — A eurozone bailout fund has approved the implementation of a major debt relief plan for Greece that it says would provide the crisis-scarred country significant savings over several decades.
The measures include a complex mix of interest rate improvements and repayment deferrals that were initially agreed upon in June. Meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday, the board of the bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, activated the program after determining that Greece had met a list of conditions.
Klaus Regling, who heads the agency and its descendant fund, the ESM, said some of the relief measures activated Thursday remained “conditional on the continued implementation of key reforms.”
“We estimate that the total package of medium-term measures agreed by ministers last June should lead to a cumulative reduction of Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio of around 30 percentage points until 2060.”
Lebanon’s economy faces stark choice: reform or collapse
BEIRUT — Lebanon marked 75 years of independence with a military parade Thursday in Beirut, but many anxious Lebanese feel they have little to celebrate: the country’s corruption-plagued economy is dangerously close to collapse and political bickering over shares in a new Cabinet is threatening to scuttle pledges worth $11 billion by international donors.
The World Bank issued a stark warning last week, with one official saying that unless a government is formed soon to carry out badly needed reforms, “the Lebanon we know will fizzle away.” It’s been more than six months since Lebanon held its first national elections in nine years but the prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, still hasn’t formed a government to undertake the reforms necessary to unlock the donors’ funds.
The vote, in which the Shiite militant Hezbollah group and its allies made significant gains, did little to pull Lebanon out of a political impasse. Anger against politicians’ apparent indifference, worsening public services and distress over down-spiraling finances and gloomy predictions are building up.