Carlos Ghosn's wife urges Trump to support her husband

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by theguardian.com --The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has appealed to Donald Trump for help and rejected suggestions that she was implicated in her husband’s alleged financial crimes. Ghosn, once one of the most powerful figures in the global car industry, is awaiting trial in Japan over allegations he under-reported his salary and transferred personal investment losses to Nissan. His Beirut-born wife told the BBC in an interview she hoped the US president would raise her husband’s treatment with Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, at a G20 world leaders summit in Tokyo later this month.

Carole Ghosn said: “I’d like President Trump to speak to Prime Minister Abe about fair trial conditions, to let me speak to my husband and also to respect his presumption of innocence until proven guilty.” Ghosn, who has French, Brazilian and Lebanese nationality, was first arrested in November and later released before being rearrested several times over new allegations. He has also been accused of causing Nissan $5m (£4m) in losses by channelling cash from a discretionary company fund into a firm run by his wife, which was used to buy a luxury yacht. Prosecutors seized Carole Ghosn’s Lebanese passport during a raid of the couple’s Tokyo apartment in early April but failed to find her US one, she said. She flew to France to seek support for her husband from the French government, and then to the US to appeal to Trump. She also plans to ask Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, for help.

Ghosn is currently on bail but has to stay in a small court-appointed apartment in central Tokyo fitted with a camera to monitor his movements, and has to obtain permission from court to meet his wife. She told the BBC she had not spoken to him since early April. Carole Ghosn was questioned but not charged in a closed hearing at a Tokyo court earlier this year. She said the motive was “to drag me into the story to weaken Carlos – and to shut me up”. She told the BBC: “I’m a housewife who raised three children, and they’re making me sound like this conniving woman.” She added: “The lawyers told me that anything I say could hurt him in the trial, so to keep my mouth shut. But I want my husband back. I want him with me. I know he is innocent.” Nissan moved against him because he was planning a Renault takeover of the Japanese carmaker, she said. “It was a conspiracy to get rid of him,” she claimed, adding: “Everything could have been dealt with internally.”

Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s death renews criticism of his treatment in prison

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by latimes.com --Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, imprisoned since the military removed him from office in 2013, died Monday after collapsing in court, officials said, putting the nation’s authoritarian-minded government on the defensive over his treatment in custody. The country’s first democratically elected president and a leader of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement, the 67-year-old California-educated Morsi lasted only a year in office before his defense minister, Abdel Fattah Sisi, moved to wrest power from him. Sisi has been president ever since.

Egyptian authorities did not immediately disclose the cause of death. The public prosecutor said in a statement that Morsi was taken to a hospital after his collapse, and pronounced dead there. It said there would be a forensic report, but did not say when that was expected. Security jitters were immediately apparent after the death announcement. Egyptian media said the Interior Ministry had ordered a state of the highest alert. But in Tahrir Square -- the epicenter of the Arab Spring protests that set in motion events that led to Morsi’s presidency – the mood was calm, with little obvious sign of extra police vigilance, although some street cafes were closed. On a nearby bridge over the Nile, Egyptian families were enjoying a night out, with vendors selling balloons and snacks. Morsi’s death, which followed years of reports of his health deteriorating in prison, was a dramatic new inflection point in Egypt’s tumultuous journey from the massive Arab Spring protests of 2011 that toppled Hosni Mubarak, a dictator of decades’ standing, and the country’s subsequent slide into a new era of repression under Sisi.

State television said Morsi collapsed during a court session that was part of his trial on espionage charges, one of dozens of legal proceedings that punctuated his years of imprisonment on an array of charges. At one point he was sentenced to death. In early courtroom appearances, he defiantly maintained that he was the country’s legitimate president. After he yelled angrily at judges, the authorities soundproofed the cage-like dock in which the accused are customarily held.

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US sending 1,000 additional troops to Middle East amid Iran tensions

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Washington (CNN) -- The US will send 1,000 additional US forces and more military resources to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran, the Pentagon announced Monday. "In response to a request from the US Central Command for additional forces, and with the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in consultation with the White House, I have authorized approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East," acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement. "The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region," Shanahan said, adding that the "United States does not seek conflict with Iran." Shortly before the announcement the Pentagon released a detailed set of photos that it said showed Iranian boats removing a mine from one of two tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman on June 13. The US attributes the attack to Iran. Tehran has vigorously denied the charge.

"The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests," Shanahan said. "We will continue to monitor the situation diligently and make adjustments to force levels as necessary given intelligence reporting and credible threats." News of the additional troop deployment comes as the State Department announced Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel Tuesday to the command center that oversees Middle East military operations. A day earlier, Pompeo said the Trump administration is still mulling military action against Iran.

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Beirut now has a bus tour and even more European tourists

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by _richardhall -- independent.co.uk -- Beirut has launched a hop-on/hop-off bus tour service as the Lebanese capital experiences huge visitor growth. The number of tourists heading to Beirut has always risen and fallen depending on the political situation in the country. The 1960s was remembered as a golden age for tourism in Lebanon, and Beirut was often called the “Paris of the Middle East”; a playground for the rich and famous. But that was brought to an abrupt halt when civil war broke out in 1975. Then after years of steady recovery, and record numbers in 2010, a war in neighbouring Syria in 2011 hit the industry again. A diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia led to the Kingdom banning its citizens from visiting Lebanon for more than a year from 2017, dealing another blow. But according to recent numbers, tourists are flocking to Beirut again. Nearly two million came in 2018, with Europeans and Americans accounting for more than half of that number. The Lebanese government has spent the past few years trying to diversify the industry to attract tourists from beyond the Gulf, and it appears to be working.

It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise then that the city now has its own hop-on/hop-off bus tour. Three double-decker City Sightseeing buses now prowl the city throughout the day, navigating Beirut’s notoriously traffic-ridden roads. Josh Eyre, visiting from London, is among the handful of tourists on board the bus on Friday. “I’m really enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Tbilisi. Lots of snazzy new buildings up against lots of different architectural styles, historically. It’s an important cultural crossroads.”

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Lebanese oil, gas sought by Russian, European firms

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(MENAFN) Lebanon's oil and gas sector is being targeted by companies from Russia and Europe for investments while the country sets for offshore drilling this year's end. Energy Minister Nada Boustani, speaking to Agence France Peesse, confirmed that "several big companies have visited Lebanon." According to the Lebanese minister, "we are talking about Gazprom (Russia), Lukoil (Russia), and soon, the (Britain) BP firm is expected to visit." Boustani further added: "there is also interest from Total (France), ENI (Italy) and Novatek (Russia)." Companies from the United States are so far not joining offshore bidding rounds in Lebanon.

Lebanese court of justice drops case against Hannibal Gaddafi

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by libyaobserver.ly -- Lebanese press sources reported that the judicial judiciary in Lebanon has suspended prosecutions against Hannibal, the son of Muammar Gaddafi, for lack of jurisdiction, in the case regarding the abduction and attempting of the killing of a Lebanese doctor in Libya. The sources added that the judicial judiciary said that such cases fall under the competence of the military judiciary and is not of its jurisdiction. Lebanese doctor Hussein Ali filed a complaint in Beirut, in which he accused Hannibal Gaddafi of collaborating with other Libyans to kidnap him in 2016 during his stay in Tripoli, in order to press the Lebanese authorities to release Hannibal.