Renault-Nissan president denies reports of potential split

The partnership between Renault and Nissan is "not dead", the alliance's president has insisted, after reports of a potential split in the wake of the Carlos Ghosn scandal. Jean- Dominique Senard said that reports Nissan is mulling plans for a possible break-away had "no connection to the current situation of the alliance".

"The Renault-Nissan alliance is not dead! Soon we will show you why," he said in an interview with Belgian daily L'Echo published Tuesday.

"I ask myself, where does this sort of information come from? I am not sure it comes from a place of goodwill," Senard said. Britain's Financial Times, citing "several people with knowledge of the matter", said on Monday that senior executives at the scandal-hit Japanese automaker were speeding up work on secret plans for a potential divorce with French partner Renault.

In early trading in Tokyo on Tuesday,

Nissan fell 1.77 percent, while Renault stocks finished 2.8 percent lower in Paris.

The reports come after former alliance chief Ghosn jumped bail and fled Japan, where he was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges.

His shock arrival in his native Lebanon prompted outrage from the Japanese government as well as from Nissan.

Ghosn alleges the charges against him were cooked up by disgruntled Nissan executives opposed to his plans to more closely align the Japanese firm with its French partner.

At a press conference in Lebanon last week, he slammed the state of the alliance he once led, saying it had been gutted and left directionless.

The 20- year partnership between Nissan and Renault, whose alliance is based on cross-shareholdings without a joint structure, has been badly shaken by the scandal.

But Senard

said

the

alliance was "nowhere near" the point of collapse and insisted its leaders were busy "recreating its original spirit" and planning future investments.

On Tuesday, a Nissan spokeswoman declined comment, saying: "We don't comment on speculation."

A source close to the company told AFP the leaks probably came from "a few disgruntled souls" inside Nissan who wanted to "vent their frustration", adding that rebuilding trust between the two firms "will take time".

New York, Jan 14 (AFP/APP):The S&P 500 and Nasdaq surged to fresh records Monday amid enthusiasm at the impending signing of the US-China trade deal which comes ahead of the kickoff of earnings season.

At the closing bell, the broad-based S&P 500 stood at 3,288.02, up 0.7 percent, while the tech- rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.0 percent to end 9,273.93, both eclipsing all- time highs reached last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 percent to 28,905.83 two days before President Donald Trump is due to sign a "phase one" agreement with Beijing.

Two youths were killed in Guinea on Monday at the start of open- ended protests against President Alpha Conde's suspected bid to prolong his rule.

The West African country has been wracked by demonstrations since midOctober over concerns that Conde intends to use a planned constitutional reform to seek a third term in office.

At least 20 civilians and one gendarme have been killed since the start of protests, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of people while scores have been arrested.

Scuffles broke out on Monday in the Coza suburb of the capital Conakry between young people and the police, an AFP journalist said.

Elhadj Mamadou Sow, a 21-year-old student, was killed in the unrest, according to his uncle, who declined to be named.

The security ministry confirmed Sow's death and said an investigation had been launched.

The ministry also confirmed the death of another protester in the northern city of Labe.

A hospital source had earlier told AFP that the 18-year-old was shot in the head, adding that the death prompted protesters to attack a courthouse and the local office of Conde's Guinean People's Assembly (RPG) party.

After months of organising mass protests, the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an alliance of opposition groups, raised the stakes last week and called for "huge" and "open-ended" demonstrations.

Conde, 81, has neither confirmed nor denied the claim that he put forward a draft constitution last month intending to keep himself in office for a third term.

The current constitution in the former French colony stipulates two presidential terms.

The government on Sunday accused opposition leaders of seeking to plunge Guinea into disorder. The FNDC had called for a peaceful protest.

Guinea's Security Minister Albert Damantang Camara also said on Monday that he has "the manpower, methods and capabilities" to intervene whenever necessary.

'Total paralysis' -

Shops and schools were shut across Conakry on Monday, an AFP journalist said, while streets were mostly empty of traffic.

"The FNDC's call for resistance is being widely followed in several cities in Guinea," the opposition group said in a statement.

"This has resulted in a total paralysis of the main roads, the closure of shops and businesses," it added.

The FNDC also confirmed that there had been clashes in Conakry, and in the cities Boffa and N'Zerekore.

Abdourahmane Sanoh, the group's spokesman, told AFP the start of the protest had been "a success".