Ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn flees Japan for Lebanon
On December 30, local media reported that Brazilian-born Carlos Ghosn, who holds both Lebanese and French passports, had arrived at Beirut’s airport via private plane from Turkey. It was initially unclear how Ghosn had traveled to the country, as he had been under strict bail conditions in Japan where he was awaiting trial on accusations of financial malfeasance while head of Nissan. It soon emerged that Ghosn had fled Japan through an elaborate extradition involving being smuggled out the country in a concert equipment case. In a press conference held on January 8 in Beirut, Ghosn accused the Japanese justice system of being “rigged” and said he was the victim of a corporate coup. An arrest warrant was issued by Japan for Ghosn on January 30, however, the country does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. with head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and three other PMF members. Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport. The US attempted to justify the assassination in light of an “imminent threat” to American lives, but failed to provide evidence to back this claim. The move was widely condemned by international actors as unlawful—with the exception of the UK. Agnès Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killing said the assassinations were a violation of international human rights law. Speaking on January 5, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said that US military in the region were now targets, but underlined this did not extend to US civilians. On January 8, the Iranians responded to the assassination by launching ballistic missiles at two US bases in Iraq, with no fatalities. On January 11, Iran admitted to unintentionally shooting down a commercial flight bound for Ukraine during their military response, which resulted in the deaths of all 176 people on board.