by foxbusiness.com — Following his escape from Japan, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo this weekend that he has “actual evidence” and documents that will prove that this was a coup to take him down. Ghosn told Bartiromo that at a press conference this week he plans to name names, including some people behind the Japanese government which he believes, are behind his 2018 arrest over financial misconduct allegations. Ghosn believes “they wanted to take him out” because he was going to merge with Nissan and Renault. But Ghosn said giving up his position as CEO put him in a “dangerous position” and he believes he should have left Japan, instead of being a support system for his successor Hiroto Sakawa.

Ghosn also told Bartiromo that he was “really unnerved and upset” that he failed to understand the unfairness of the Japanese judicial system and that the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was the fact that he was unable to speak to his wife. Ghosn said he refused to sit in his apartment under surveillance when he would not get a fair trial but is willing to have his case heard in front of any court aside from Japan. Ghosn’s wife told FOX Business in April that her husband was in poor health and enduring harsh conditions while being incarcerated.

by cnn — Ghosn’s public attacks will bruise ‘brand Japan’

“Brand Japan is going to suffer a great deal,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan. “His case is certainly a major black eye for the Japanese judicial system.” Ghosn is already using his newfound freedom to rail on the country’s criminal court system, which boasts an incredibly high conviction rate, and which he claims had held him “hostage.” He has promised to communicate “freely” with journalists about his plight. The former Nissan chief may be guilty of various financial crimes, Kingston said, “but that has all been over shadowed” by Ghosn’s treatment and his arguments that the judicial system is rigged.

by newsmax.com —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S. strategy in countering Iran is to target the country’s “actual decision-makers” rather than to focus on Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Pompeo was explaining U.S. strategy in the aftermath of the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani, who was mastermind of the country’s military operations outside Iran. That killing has sent shock waves across the Middle East, with expectations that Iran will make good on its threat to strike back, with unpredictable consequences for the U.S. and the rest of the world. Pompeo spoke on ABC’s “This Week” amid rising uncertainty about next steps in the U.S.-Iran crisis and the breadth of its ramifications. The U.S. acknowledged an attack Sunday by an al-Qaida affiliate on a Kenyan airfield used by American military forces. It was not immediately clear whether there were U.S. casualties.

In Beirut, Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said the U.S. military in the region, including bases and warships, were fair targets after the killing of Soleimani. Hezbollah is a primary ally of Iran with broad influence. The U.S. has tens of thousands of troops throughout the region, including in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar — all within range of Iran or its proxy militias. Iraq’s parliament on Sunday called for the expulsion of U.S. troops from the country in the wake of the attack in Baghdad that killed Soleimani. There are 5,200 American forces in Iraq. At issue is the fate of the agreement under which Washington sent troops to Iraq more than four years ago to help in the fight against the Islamic State group.

by alkhaleejtoday.co — Aden – Yasmine El Tohamy – Syrian national Mohammad Al-Mousa approached the superstar’s luxury villa, perched on a hilly region of Keserwan, in the central Mount Lebanon Governate, armed with a handgun. Three private security guards assigned to the home of one of the most popular performers in the Arab world were powerless as the invader brandished his weapon, securing entry into the property, according to officials now leading the investigation. With the black-clad thief walking freely inside, Ajram’s husband Dr Fadi El Hachem was forced to negotiate. Dr Hachem pleaded that he leave the family home and offered him large sums of money in exchange, An-Nahar reported. Yet Al-Mousa paid no attention his appeals, threatening to kill anyone who dared obstruct him. He then advanced toward the bedroom where the couple’s young daughters slept. At this point, Dr Hachem resolved to take matters in his own hands. A brief exchange of gunfire between the two resulted in the death of Al-Mousa and injured Ajram, one of the most famous female performers in the Middle East

A picture circulating on social media shows her face hidden by her hair, while she is comforted on a couch in the couples’ home, in the aftermath of the shooting. Police were immediately called to the scene, according to Al-Quds. Ghada Oun, public prosecutor of the Mount Lebanon governate, issued an arrest warrant for Dr Hachem. Security officials investigating the incident are likely to consider Dr Hachem’s actions as a use of reasonable force to defend his wife and their children. In 2010, Ajram was announced as the bestselling Middle Eastern female singer of the 21st Century’s first decade, and in 2019 she was declared the region’s most popular celebrity figure, with nearly 18 million followers on Instagram. In June last year, Ajram made headlines with her first concert in Saudi Arabia, where the kingdom ended a decades-long ban on live music.

by AFP — Banks in a region of northern Lebanon were closed until further notice on Saturday, the National News Agency said, after lenders balked at customer anger over a liquidity crisis. Since September banks have arbitrarily capped the amount of dollars that can be withdrawn or transferred abroad, sparking fury among customers who accuse […]

by AFP — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said the US army will “pay the price” for killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi commander in a drone strike. “The American army killed them and it will pay the price,” the Iran-backed head of the Lebanese Shiite group warned in a televised speech following Friday’s strike in the Iraqi capital. “The only just punishment is (to target) American military presence in the region: US military bases, US warships, each and every officer and soldier in the region,” Nasrallah said. He added however that American civilians such as “businessmen, engineers, journalists and doctors” should be spared. “When the coffins of American soldiers and officers… start to return to the United States, (US President Donald) Trump and his administration will realise they have lost the region,” he said.

Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US drone strike Friday near Baghdad’s international airport, sparking fury in Iran and Iraq. Nasrallah’s speech was beamed to black-clad supporters who gathered in southern Beirut, waving Hezbollah’s yellow flag or holding up portraits of Soleimani and Muhandis. Nasrallah also called on Iraq to free itself of the American “occupation”. “Our demand, our hope from our brothers in the Iraqi parliament is… to adopt a law that demands American forces withdraw from Iraq,” he said.Iraq’s parliament urged the government on Sunday to end the presence of US-led coalition forces in the country, outraged by the American strike. Some 5,200 US soldiers are stationed across Iraqi bases to support local troops preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group. They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight IS.

Conor Lally – irishtimes.com — Hundreds of Irish troops serving on a United Nations mission in south Lebanon were bracing this weekend for potential exchanges of fire between Hizbullah and Israel as the fallout continues from the killing of General Qassem Suleimani by a US military drone. Almost 350 Irish troops are serving with Unifil in south Lebanon at present, in the middle of the conflict zone, should strikes occur as feared. Neither the Defence Forces nor Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe had made any comment early on Sunday. However, The Irish Times understands the threat level has not been officially increased by Unifil despite the events of last Friday. Iranian military commander Suleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were both killed in the US drone strike on a convoy leaving Baghdad International Airport. Though there had been no official increase by Unifil to the threat level posed to the Irish and other Unifil personnel in south Lebanon, the troops were in recent days undertaking bunker drills and defence drills to ensure their state of preparedness was sharp.

Sources said in the event of rocket fire, the majority of Unifil personnel, including 336 Irish troops, would remain in bunkers for their own safety. There were now concerns that US assets and US allies in the region would be attacked in revenge for last Friday’s strike, with Hizbullah rocket attacks from southern Lebanon into northern Israel seen as possible within days. Any attacks by Hizbullah would probably take the form of Katyusha rockets being launched from south Lebanon into northern Israel, and the Israelis would launch much larger retaliatory strikes, the sources said.

By Eric Knecht, Reuters News —  BEIRUT – Lebanon needs a $20 billion-$25 billion bailout including International Monetary Fund support to emerge from its financial crisis, former economy minister Nasser Saidi told Reuters on Friday. Lebanon’s crisis has shattered confidence in its banking system and raised investors’ concerns that a default could loom for one of the world’s most indebted countries, with a $1.2 billion Eurobond due in March. Lebanon’s politicians have failed to come up with a rescue plan since Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri quit in October after protests over state corruption. Depositors and investors say they have been kept in the dark about the country’s dire financial situation.

President Michel Aoun said on Friday that he hoped a new government would be formed next week. But analysts say the cabinet to be led by Hassan Diab may struggle to win international support because he was nominated by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and its allies. Saidi said time was running short, and that $11 billion in previously pledged support from foreign donors was now roughly half of what was needed to mount a recovery. “The danger of the current situation is we’re approaching economic collapse that can potentially reduce GDP (for 2020) by 10%,” Saidi said in an interview. Economists have said 2020 is likely to register Lebanon’s first economic contraction in 20 years, with some saying GDP will contract by 2%. Others have predicted a long depression unseen since independence from France in 1943 or during the 1975-90 civil war.

by reuters — President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites “very hard” if Iran attacks Americans or U.S. assets after a drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi militia leader, while tens of thousands of people marched in Iraq to mourn their deaths. Showing no signs of seeking to ease tensions raised by the strike he ordered that killed Soleimani and Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad airport, Trump issued a stern threat to Iran on Twitter. The U.S. strike has raised the specter of wider conflict in the Middle East. Iran, Trump wrote, “is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets” in response to Soleimani’s death. Trump said the United States has “targeted 52 Iranian sites” and that some were “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD.” “The USA wants no more threats!” Trump said, adding that the 52 targets represented the 52 Americans who were held hostage in Iran for 444 days after being seized at the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Trump did not identify the sites. The Pentagon referred questions about the matter to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Among the mourners in Iraq included many militiamen in uniform for whom Muhandis and Soleimani were heroes. They carried portraits of both men and plastered them on walls and armored personnel carriers in the procession. Chants of “Death to America” and “No No Israel” rang out.

WSJ has obtained a photo of the audio-equipment case used by Carlos Ghosn to sneak out of Japan. The case has holes drilled in the bottom so Ghosn could breathe. Amazing find by @gauthiervillars  

by jalopnik.com — Max Finkel — A few short days after former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn’s flight from house arrest in Japan to Lebanon was first reported, more details are beginning to emerge. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the plan that secreted Ghosn out of house arrest in Tokyo and across Asia to Lebanon via Turkey was, perhaps expectedly, quite complex, involving the participation of a former Green Beret and the rumored musical instrument cases. Ghosn had been in Tokyo since he was re-arrested last year for allegedly breaking the terms of his probation from his first arrest last year on allegations of financial crimes while at the helm of the Nissan Empire.

Ghosn’s release to house arrest came after he paid a record $14 million in bail and agreed to probation terms that significantly limited his ability to communicate with his family, subjected him to close surveillance, and removed his passports from his possession. All of this changed on Monday afternoon when reports of the former President of Nissan’s arrival in Lebanon began trickling in. The fact that Ghosn ended up in Lebanon was not so surprising (the man holds a Lebanese passport despite being born in Brazil), but the details of just how he got there from the house in Tokyo where he was being held seemed almost too extreme to be true.

The first reports we saw described an escape by instrument case from the house he was being held in. When we first heard these rumors we were awfully skeptical. Japan isn’t the kind of country you can just waltz out of. Aside from being a chain of islands, the country is not exactly known for having porous customs and immigration enforcement. Now, though, it appears that some of the more far-fetched details have been confirmed, or at least clarified, by new reporting from the Wall Street Journal. A report the Journal published yesterday describes the plan to secret Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon in greater detail than we had seen before, and even lends particular credence to the “musical instrument case theory” that has captured imaginations.

by newsweek.com — Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official Iraqi militia organization with ties to Iran, were killed in another U.S. drone strike in northern Baghdad on Friday, multiple officials told Newsweek. The strike comes one day after President Donald Trump approved an operation that killed an elite Iranian general. Pentagon officials told Newsweek Friday evening the operation was targeting Imam Ali Brigades with a “high probability” the strike resulted in the death of its leader, Shubul al-Zaidi. The U.S. operation that targeted Zaidi was a part of the same strategy Trump approved Thursday morning, which killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani. The Popular Mobilization Forces confirmed to Newsweek that an air raid targeted one of their convoys near Taji Stadium in Baghdad, but said it was a “humanitarian convoy” and have so far denied the deaths of Zaidi, along with Saraya al-Khorasani leader Hamid al-Jazaery and another militia leader Raed al-Karawi. An account apparently belonging to Zaidi also issued a denying “the news of the martyrdom of Shubul al-Zaidi published shortly before.” The account said “this news is not true, praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.”

by foxnews.com — An airstrike Friday hit two cars carrying members of an Iran-backed militia north of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, killing five people, an Iraqi official told The Associated Press. The official added that the identities of those killed were not immediately known. It was not immediately clear who launched the strike, but a U.S. official told AP the attack was not an American military attack. The strike was confirmed by the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces, which denied that any of its top leaders were among the five killed. The group said the strike targeted one of its medical convoys. The latest operation came almost exactly 24 hours after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force, and nine others at Baghdad International Airport.