tyb
Ghosn's Japan escape involved 2 private security operatives: fren
Two private security operatives helped Carlos Ghosn, the former chief of the Nissan-Renault auto alliance charged with financial misconduct, escape from Japan to Lebanon by pretending to be part of a music band for a Christmas party held at his Tokyo residence, a long-time friend said Thursday. Ghosn, who was on bail, hid in a musical instrument case and was taken to an airport, later escaping on a private jet, Imad Ajami, a Lebanese consultant based in Tokyo, told Kyodo News over the phone.
Of the two operatives, one was a former U.S. Marine who works for an American security firm and the other was an employee of a Lebanese security firm, said Ajami, who saw Ghosn while he was under detention in Japan.
The claims emerged as the Japanese government asked the International Criminal Police Organization to request the Lebanese government to detain the 65-year-old former Nissan Motor Co. chairman.
Lebanese judicial authorities said they have received an Interpol arrest warrant for Ghosn. Lebanon does not have an extradition agreement with Japan, meaning Ghosn will not be handed over to Tokyo without Beirut's approval.
Earlier Thursday, Tokyo prosecutors searched Ghosn's home to determine how he fled to Lebanon to escape what he claimed is a "rigged" justice system. Ajami said he obtained the information from people very close to Ghosn after he departed Japan from an airport that was "neither Narita nor Haneda," the two major airports in the Tokyo metropolitan area, to Istanbul en route to Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Turkish police have detained seven people, including pilots and airport employees, for failing to follow necessary procedures with regard to Ghosn's transit in Istanbul, Lebanese commercial broadcaster NTV reported. Foreign media have reported Ghosn, who holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese nationality, plans to hold a press conference next Wednesday.
Ghosn is accused of underreporting his pay for years and misappropriating Nissan funds, charges he denies. Under the conditions of his bail, he was not allowed to leave Japan. Referring to the Christmas party in Tokyo around Dec. 29, Ajami said no one in the band except for the two operatives knew about Ghosn's escape plan.
A truck carried the case with Ghosn inside to the Japanese airport, and two private jets chartered from a company in Dubai were likely used to get him from Japan to Lebanon, the consultant said, without elaborating on the sources of his information. The Japanese transport ministry's Kansai International Airport office said earlier a private jet left the airport in Osaka Prefecture for Istanbul on Sunday.
Ghosn may have evaded security checks at the airport by having his helpers hurry airport employees, Ajami said, as investigators were puzzled about how he could get through immigration and customs inspections.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200102/p2g/00m/0na/059000c
>>7692657 Foreign currency service Travelex takes all its sites offline after being attacked by software virus on New Year's Eve
notable
Greece, Israel, Cyprus to sign EastMed gas pipeline deal
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece, Cyprus and Israel on Thursday are expected to sign a deal to build a 1,900 km (1,180 mile) subsea pipeline to carry natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean’s rapidly developing gas industry to Europe. Although Turkey opposes the project, the countries aim to reach a final investment decision by 2022 and have the pipeline completed by 2025.
European governments and Israel last year agreed to proceed with the so-called EastMed project, a $6 to 7 billion pipeline project that is expected initially to carry 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Israeli and Cypriot waters to the Greek island of Crete, on to the Greek mainland and into Europe’s gas network via Italy.
The energy ministers of Greece, Israel and Cyprus - Kostis Hatzidakis, Yuval Steinitz and Yiorgos Lakkotrypis - are expected to sign the final agreement on the pipeline at a ceremony in Athens on Thursday.
Greece has said the agreement will be concluded once Italy signs off too. After meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said the deal sets the foundation for closer energy cooperation in the Middle East.
A number of large gas fields have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean Levant Basin since 2009. However, the region lacks significant oil and gas infrastructure and political relations between the countries - including Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria - are strained on a number of fronts.
Last month a Turkish official said there was no need to build the EastMed pipeline because the trans-Anatolian pipeline already existed. “Why should we bury 8 billion euros in the Mediterranean, through Turkey’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone? If we do not allow that what will happen? So this is an issue and we need an original solution to oil and gas around Cyprus,” the official said.
The signing for the EastMed pipeline comes weeks after Turkey and Libya struck an accord on sea boundaries in the Mediterranean, a move which Greece, Cyprus and Israel opposed.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-greece-cyprus-israel-pipeline/greece-israel-cyprus-to-sign-eastmed-gas-pipeline-deal-idUKKBN1Z116L
RONIN45 up out of San Angelo and hanging around Ft. Hood
Another Guardrail up in Socal
pb/lb
yeaaaa. no.