Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
Category: Uncategorized
-
Carlos Ghosn: Five charts on the Nissan boss scandal
Image copyright Getty Images
The downfall of Carlos Ghosn has despatched shockwaves throughout the world car business.
Remaining week he used to be arrested on suspicion of monetary misconduct and pushed aside from his submit as chairman of the japanese automotive massive Nissan.
His detention has thrown into doubt the long run of the Alliance – a world carmaking team that comes with Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
It has additionally uncovered fractures within the very close relationship between Renault and Nissan
1. The Alliance – three companies performing as a unmarried entity
The Alliance was once shaped in 1999, while Renault rescued Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy. The French carmaker has a 43% stake in its Japanese partner, at the same time as Nissan has a fifteen% stake in Renault.
Today, even if the three corporations continue distinct identities, they act as a global automobile grouping. They increase and use commonplace applied sciences, buy parts from the same suppliers, and are creating programs for development cars from commonplace “modules”. Together they rent more than 450,000 folks, and sell more than 10 million cars a 12 months.
Before this scandal erupted, Carlos Ghosn was once chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi, as well as being chairman and chief govt of Renault. He was and continues to be chairman and chief executive of the Alliance, which has its own board.
2. Nissan has grown faster than its partner
Although the 3 Alliance companies already have very shut links, Carlos Ghosn had plans to bring them closer, and in particular to strengthen the already strong links between Renault and Nissan.
The BBC knows that at the same time as this will likely have fallen wanting a whole merger, with each companies keeping up their separate company identities, it would well have concerned Renault taking a majority stake in its partner.
This is thought to have caused worry and resentment at Nissan – and looking out on the graph underneath, it’s simple to see why. When the partnership among the two used to be first based, they have been building vehicles at an analogous rate.
When You Consider That then, Renault has just about doubled its output, helped partly by the purchase of the Russian manufacturer Avtovaz in 2014.
But Nissan has grown even more briefly. It now makes just about 6 million vehicles and light trucks annually – kind of a 3rd more than Renault. Final yr it made a profit of $5.8bn, and accounted for a large chunk of Renault’s personal income.
So noticed from that perspective, Nissan and its executives may well be forgiven for asking why they risked dropping standing and affect within the Alliance, regardless of offering the lion’s share of production and earnings.
3. The Ghosn effect
That stated, Carlos Ghosn can justifiably declare a perfect deal of credit for Nissan’s current energy. When he joined the company in 1999, he already loved the nickname “le Price Killer” in France for his movements at Renault.
He brought an identical ruthlessness to Nissan, final factories, chopping jobs and remodeling the best way it operated. as the chart underneath presentations it was an effective strategy. Working earnings soared and remained high until the monetary predicament, while like other producers Nissan noticed its income plummet.
Nissan recovered from the drawback quickly but seeing that then the street has been rockier. In up to date years, its margins had been hit by way of declining sales, emerging prices, and a top quality keep an eye on scandal in Japan. in the six months to the tip of October, operating profit was down through a quarter compared to last yr. So had Mr Ghosn already lost his Midas contact?
4. Mr Ghosn was smartly paid for his efforts
Nissan claims that Mr Ghosn were systematically below-reporting his income to security regulators and have been misusing company property for private get advantages. Those allegations are being studied via prosecutors, even as Mr Ghosn himself remains in custody.
There are many vibrant tales about what precisely he is alleged to have done circulating within the japanese media, even if there has been no response so far from Mr Ghosn or his legal professionals.
But one thing we will be certain that of is that, beneath-reported or no longer, he used to be earning a number of cash. Closing 12 months he used to be paid approximately $17m in salary, share choices and bonuses.
In truth there has been numerous controversy about his pay packet in the prior, however mainly in France, where it has been the topic of an annual showdown with shareholders. Those shareholders come with the French state, which voted in opposition to his recent package in June.
FIVE. Shares were lagging
It hasn’t been a perfect year for investors in the Alliance firms. Renault’s stock did surge briefly in the early part of the yr, first on reviews of a potential merger with Nissan and then amid speculation the French executive could promote its stake to the japanese producer. However in up to date weeks all three were within the doldrums.
That Is in part to do with the state of the market globally. but it surely may also replicate uncertainty approximately the future of the Alliance – and Mr Ghosn’s role in it – which used to be apparent neatly prior to the inside track about Mr Ghosn erupted.
That information precipitated steep falls in all 3 corporations’ inventory. If the long run was unsure ahead of, it is even more so now.
-
Carlos Ghosn denies Nissan misconduct claims
Symbol copyright AFP
Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn has denied misconduct allegations, according to media reports in Japan.
Mr Ghosn, observed as a titan of the auto business, was once detained by way of police and pushed aside via Nissan remaining week.
Claims towards the businessman, who led the Renault-Nissan alliance, come with falsely reporting his earnings.
Public broadcaster NHK, which first disclosed Mr Ghosn’s arrest, pronounced he had advised investigators there was no intention to underneath-record his earnings.
He has no longer spoken publicly.
Executives of the 3 firms are idea to be planning a meeting this week, their first amassing on account that Mr Ghosn’s arrest.
The assembly used to be due to be held in the Netherlands with a video convention available for executives who can not attend, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun mentioned.
Nissan hopes to announce the appointment of a successor by way of the end of December. but the success of the alliance used to be positioned down in large phase to Mr Ghosn’s force and aura, and analysts say he’s going to be a troublesome act to follow.
Mr Ghosn, feted as a company superstar in Japan, had licence to make daring movements. He was once, for example, an early adopter of electric automobiles, making an investment closely within the era regardless of scepticism from much of the motoring world.
-
Uganda birthday party boat capsizes on Lake Victoria, killing 29
Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Saturday’s coincidence occurred off Uganda’s Mukono district, near Kampala
At Least 29 individuals are now known to have died after a cruise boat sporting party revellers capsized on Lake Victoria, Ugandan police say.
The vessel used to be carrying close to ONE HUNDRED people whilst it sank on Saturday near Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
Ugandan media named a bunch of well-identified other folks mentioned to be at the boat, including that the prince of a standard kingdom had survived.
Lake Victoria sees regular accidents, regularly regarding overcrowded vessels.
Scores of people died when a ferry sank on the lake off Tanzania in September.
Image copyright ReutersCries from the coastline
The BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga, at the scene
The families and buddies of a few of the people involved accumulated through the shoreline. They sat below timber, looking through the twine fence and each time a body was once pulled out of the water, there were screams and cries as some folks acknowledged their liked ones.
On the grass some non-public pieces had been laid out – footwear, sweaters, wallets, keys – anything else that could be used to identify the sufferers. Overhead the police deployed a helicopter to assist search for extra bodies that would have washed up by way of the shoreline – however they’ve given up hope that they are going to find any further survivors.
Among those rescued was once Prince Daudi Kintu Wasajja, a brother of the king of Uganda’s biggest conventional kingdom, Buganda.
Ugandan media stated musical artist Iryn Namubiru also survived.
A choice of other fashionable artists and socialites have been believed to be on board.
The boat was reportedly employed out for weekend parties.
Many of these on board had no lifejackets.
Local officers said small fishing boats that came to the rescue additionally was overloaded and sank.
Five things about Lake Victoria
Image copyright AFP With a floor house greater than Switzerland, Lake Victoria is the world’s second-largest lake and the most important in Africa Shared through Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, some 30 million people rely on its resources Challenges come with air pollution and falling water levels – biodiversity in Lake Victoria has dropped via 50% for the reason that nineteen eighties English colonialist John Hanning Speke named it after Britain’s Queen Victoria whilst he travelled there in 1858 Some have known as for the lake’s title to be changed – proposals include its Luganda-language identify Nalubaale, and Lake Jumuiya which means “togetherness” in Swahili -
Mike Pompeo heads to Riyadh as Jamal Khashoggi mystery deepens
Saudi Arabia on Monday allowed Turkish investigators to search its consulate in Istanbul for clues in the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Monday, in a bid to bring some clarity to
Saudi Arabia on Monday allowed Turkish investigators to search its consulate in Istanbul for clues in the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in a bid to bring some clarity to an incident that has mushroomed into a diplomatic and political crisis for both Riyadh and Washington.
Amid reports the Saudis may be considering admitting at least partial fault in the disappearance — and perhaps murder — of the Washington-based writer, President Trump caused a stir by floating the notion that “rogue killers” — not Saudi government operatives suspected by Turkey — may have murdered the journalist two weeks ago.
With Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dispatched Monday to Saudi Arabia to try to clarify what happened, Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House that Saudi King Salman had “firmly denied any knowledge” of a plot against Mr. Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and known critic of the kingdom’s ambitious and powerful young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“I don’t want to get into his mind,” said Mr. Trump, “but it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
The comments drew immediate criticism in Washington, where some quickly accused Mr. Trump of being spun by the 82-year-old king in order to protect a key ally.
“Been hearing the ridiculous ‘rogue killers’ theory was where the Saudis would go with this,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Absolutely [extraordinary] they were able to enlist the president of the United States as their PR agent to float it.”
The confusion highlighted the difficult situation caused by the case for the White House, which has spent considerable capital over the past year cozying up to Riyadh as a prime customer of American arms and a go-to ally against the Mideast’s other major power, Iran.
But support for Riyadh is far softer on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers from both parties were calling for punitive action — including sanctions and a cut in U.S. military sales to Riyadh — if the Saudis are found responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
Media frenzy
In Istanbul, a media frenzy ensued around the Saudi consulate building Monday, with Turkish crime scene investigators dressed in coveralls and gloves going into the consulate for the first time since Mr. Khashoggi entered the building Oct. 2 seeking papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. Prior to the arrival of the Turkish investigators, journalists photographed a cleaning crew with mops, trash bags and what appeared to be bottles of bleach walking into the consulate.
Searches of such diplomatic posts, otherwise considered foreign soil under international law, are extraordinary and Monday’s development showed the delicate mix of cooperation and rivalry that has marked the Saudi relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish officials sent shock waves around the world last week by claiming to have audio and video evidence Mr. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered while visiting the consulate on Oct. 2, allegedly by what Turkish media leaks called a 15-member Saudi “hit team,” a team that left the country shortly after Mr. Khashoggi disappeared. Saudi officials rejected the allegation as “baseless,” but have yet to produce hard evidence that Mr. Khashoggi ever left the consulate.
Mr. Khashoggi’s background has only added to intrigue surrounding the case. While he has spent much of the past year writing opinion columns for The Washington Post critical of the Saudi ruling family, he is reported to have had a long career working on and off for the Saudi government, and as an independent journalist in the kingdom. As a younger journalist, he first drew international attention for interviewing a young Osama bin Laden and was reportedly for a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a controversial Islamist organization known for espousing anti-Western views.
Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an analysis Monday that “it seems likely that this was as much the result of a botched kidnapping or a too violent interrogation as a deliberate killing.”
Others have cast doubt on Turkish media reports of a Saudi hit squad targeting the journalist.
Steven Cook, a senior fellow specializing on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on ForeignPolicy.com last week that the “uncorroborated” account was “quickly accepted as fact.”
“This does not mean that they are untrue, but Turkey is a country with a poor record of press freedom, and its leaders and their supporters have embraced disinformation as a political strategy and a tool of foreign policy,” Mr. Cook wrote.
Mr. Cordesman wrote that Turkey’s real motive “was to attack Saudi Arabia’s position and seek to undermine its influence relative to Turkey — as well as improve its own position in the United States.”
-
Honduras migrant caravan crosses Guatemala border, heads for U.S.
A caravan of hundreds of Honduran migrants surged over the Guatemalan border under a broiling sun Monday hoping to make it to new lives in the United States, far from the poverty and violence of their
ESQUIPULAS, Guatemala — A caravan of hundreds of Honduran migrants surged over the Guatemalan border under a broiling sun Monday hoping to make it to new lives in the United States, far from the poverty and violence of their home nation.
Police stopped the migrants at a roadblock outside Esquipulas for several hours in the afternoon, but the travelers refused to return to the border and were eventually allowed to pass.
Singing the Honduran national anthem, praying and chanting, “Yes, we can,” the group estimated at 1,600 or more had earlier defied an order by the Guatemalan government that they not be allowed to pass.
“We have rights,” the migrants shouted.
Keilin Umana, a 21-year-old who is two months pregnant, said she was moved to migrate to save herself and her unborn child after she was threatened with death.
Umana, a nurse, said she had been walking for four days. “We are not criminals – we are migrants,” she said.
Many in the caravan traveled light, with just backpacks and bottles of water. Some pushed toddlers in strollers or carried them on their shoulders.
Carlos Cortez, a 32-year-old farmer traveling on foot with his 7-year-old son, said poverty back home made it impossible to support a family.
“Every day I earn about $5,” Cortez said. “That isn’t enough to feed my family.”
The caravan was met at the border by about 100 Guatemalan police officers. After a standoff of about two hours, the migrants began walking again. Outnumbered, the police did nothing to stop them and accompanied them several miles (kilometers) into Guatemalan territory.
Officers then set up the roadblock about a mile (2 kilometers) outside the city of Esquipulas, where the migrants had planned to spend the night.
The migrants were stuck for about three hours. About 250 police kept them from advancing and told them they had to return to the border to go through immigration. The migrants refused to budge and it appeared they would likely sleep on the highway.
But the migrants begged police to let them continue, saying they weren’t criminals. Eventually officers let them pass and they planned to sleep in Esquipulas before continuing Tuesday.
Some police and Guatemalan civilians offered the migrants water, and some locals drove Hondurans part of the way. Red Cross workers gave medical attention to some migrants who fainted in the heat.
The caravan began as about 160 people who first gathered early Friday to depart from San Pedro Sula, one of Honduras’ most dangerous places, figuring that traveling as a group would make them less vulnerable to robbery, assault and other dangers common on the migratory path through Central America and Mexico.
Local media coverage prompted hundreds more to join, and Dunia Montoya, a volunteer assisting the migrants, estimated Sunday that the group had grown to at least 1,600 people. Police gave their own estimate of around 2,000 on Monday.
The caravan formed a day after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens to stay home and not put their families in danger by undertaking the risky journey to the United States.
In April, President Donald Trump threatened in April to withdraw foreign aid from Honduras and countries that allowed transit for a similar caravan that set out from the Central American country. That caravan dwindled as the group approached the U.S. border, with some giving up along the way and others splitting off to try to cross on their own.
Historian Dana Frank, an expert on human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras, said the caravan could have political implications in the United States less than a month before the midterm elections.
“Whatever the caravan’s origins, some in the United States will be quick to raise alarms about a supposed dangerous immigrant invasion, and use that to try to influence the upcoming U.S. elections,” Frank said. “Others will view these migrants with compassion and as further evidence of the need for comprehensive immigration reform … .”
Frank added that the caravan’s rapid growth “underscores quite how desperate the Honduran people are – that they’d begin walking toward refuge in the United States with only a day back full of belongings.”
In San Pedro Sula, where the procession started, sociologist Jenny Arguello said authorities wanted to make the mass migration out to be a political event, but it was just poor people fleeing violence.
“From my community 20 went and one neighbor came back sad with his little backpack because when he arrived they had already left,” Arguello said. “You see that the need to leave is the priority. The people have already made up their minds and just hearing of the possibility they take off.”
Honduras is largely dominated by murderous gangs that prey on families and businesses, and routinely sees homicide rates that are among the highest in the world.
• Associated Press writers Maria Verza in San Pedro Sula and Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California, contributed to this report.
-
Jamal Khashoggi crisis threatens U.S.-Saudi Arabia oil ties
While investigators in Turkey searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul seeking clues to the fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was heading to Riyadh se
A diplomatic crisis engulfing the world’s most critical oil supplier was the last thing the Trump administration needed.
While investigators in Turkey searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul seeking clues to the fate of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was heading to Riyadh seeking answers of his own, the bigger question for the Trump administration was how to manage an incident that could irrevocably tarnish a critical ally at a critical time.
The Khashoggi crisis has erupted as the U.S. tries to enforce a total ban next month on oil exports by Saudi archrival Iran, a critical part of the strategy to pressure Tehran after President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal still backed by most other countries. That means the U.S. needs Saudi Arabian petroleum more than ever, narrowing America’s options to punish the kingdom for its suspected role in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Regional analysts say a U.S. move to impose economic sanctions over allegations that Mr. Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate could send world oil prices surging to a record high.
Saudi Arabia’s global image overhaul, spearheaded by the young, ambitious — and some say reckless — Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stands at a crossroads.
The prince’s modernizing agenda is clouded by self-inflicted crises in Yemen and Qatar, a struggle for regional dominance with Iran, and the challenge of loosening political and social controls without threatening the royal family’s rule.
As always, the kingdom’s vast crude oil reserves give it leverage and many cards to play in any high-stakes negotiation with Washington.
“I would not say that [the Saudis] have the U.S. over a barrel, but it is certainly a symbiotic relationship,” said Sanam Vakil, a senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the British-based Chatham House think tank.
Mr. Trump also has cited Riyadh as a major customer of U.S. military exports, but oil is key in the end.
Since Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-era Iran nuclear accord in May, the White House has pressured the kingdom to increase its daily oil production by 2 million barrels a day to make up any shortfall when energy sanctions on Iran take effect Nov. 4. The U.S. goal, restated by top State Department officials on a visit to Europe this week — to drive Iran’s oil exports down to “zero” and starve the Islamic republic of a critical source of funding.
Petroleum Minister Khalid al-Falih announced Monday that Saudi Arabia expects to ramp up production next month, but he was vague about how much more oil would flow.
“Saudi Arabia has the capacity to produce 12 million [barrels per day] and is currently producing 10.7 million bpd and production will rise further next month,” Mr. al-Falih said on the sidelines of an India Energy Forum after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Untested capacity
According to energy analysts, Saudi’s maximum sustainable capacity of 12 million barrels per day has never been tested, sparking major debate about what such an effort would realistically look like.
More questions also are swirling around the 33-year-old crown prince, who has powerful allies in Washington, including presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Initially welcomed in Washington foreign policy circles as a progressive reformer, the crown prince is increasingly seen as reckless, impetuous and authoritarian, said Gerald Feinstein of the Middle Eastern Institute think tank in Washington.
Mr. Feinstein said Monday that “continuing frustration over the conflict in Yemen, the confrontation with Qatar and human rights violations at home” — all initiatives undertaken by the crown prince — made him “too toxic for Western governments and international business to deal with.”
But Ms. Vakil said Saudis hold leverage not only in global oil markets but also at U.S. gas pumps and that the White House is showing signs of nervousness over rising gasoline prices as the Nov. 6 critical midterm congressional elections approach.
While the U.S. has moved away from Saudi oil over the past two decades, the kingdom remains America’s No. 2 foreign oil source, supplying 9 percent of the roughly 10.14 million barrels of American imports per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Treasury Department officials also note that Saudi Arabia now holds about $166.8 billion in Treasury securities, making Riyadh the 10th-largest foreign holder of U.S. government bonds.
“The relationship does begin with oil,” Ms. Vakil said on the phone from London. “But the kingdom is also heavily invested in U.S. debt and bonds. They definitely have some leverage over Washington, and people realize that.”
If Riyadh decided to dump a massive amount of U.S. debt, it could send shock waves across the Treasury markets and possibly destabilize the world’s wider financial markets.
Trillions of dollars of more murky Saudi investments also stretch across U.S. real estate, the stock markets and the opaque world of American private equity.
James Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at The Heritage Foundation, said Saudi leverage is being taken into consideration as the administration mulls its response in the Khashoggi case.
“There are a lot of levels of response that could be taken,” he said. “We could recall an ambassador or call the Saudi ambassador to the State Department. Or we could enact sanctions that do not rise to the level of impacting arms sales but clearly state that extrajudicial killings are unacceptable.”
For now, the Khashoggi case has sparked far more questions than answers, with all sides strategically leaking as facts trickle out.
“What we have now is a war of disinformation,” Mr. Phillips said. “It is an extremely strange case, and we need some real facts to emerge.”
-
Marco Rubio calls on White House to boycott Saudi conference over missing journalist
Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that the Trump administration should skip an international investors conference in Saudi Arabia until more is known about what happened to missing journalist Jamal Khashog
Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that the Trump administration should skip an international investors conference in Saudi Arabia until more is known about what happened to missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this month is scheduled attend the event in Riyadh known as “Davos in the Desert,” even as corporate leaders are pulling out over concerns about the fate of Mr. Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi regime.
“I don’t think he should go,” Mr. Rubio said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I don’t think any of our government officials should be going and pretending it’s business as usual until we know what’s happened here.”
The Florida Republican also said that Congress would respond strongly no matter how the administration may react.
“I believe the Trump administration will do something, the president said that, but if he doesn’t, Congress will, that I can tell you with 100 percent certainty,” said Mr. Rubio.
“With almost full unanimity across the board, Republicans and Democrats, there will be a very strong congressional response if in fact the Saudis lured him into that consulate, murdered him, cut up his body, and disposed of it,” he said.
.@marcorubio to @jaketapper on Secretary Mnuchin attending economic summit in Saudi Arabia: “I don’t think we should continue as business as usual until we know exactly what’s happened here… I don’t think he should go.” #CNNSOTUpic.twitter.com/8U28j5jZlk
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 14, 2018
Mr. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, has not been seen since Oct. 2, when he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. His disappearance has touched off a diplomatic crisis amid fears that he may have been killed at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The White House has come under pressure to impose economic sanctions and halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia. President Trump has said “we would be punishing ourselves” by canceling arm sales.
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday that Mr. Mnuchin still plans to attend the conference, which he described as a meeting on stopping terrorist financing.
“I spoke to him last evening, and at the moment he’s intending to go because of the importance of the issue of ending terrorist financing,” Mr. Kudlow said on ABC’s “This Week.”
.@GStephanopoulos: Is it appropriate for Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to attend the investor conference in Saudi Arabia?Director of White House National Economic Council Larry Kudlow: “He’s intending to go because of the importance of the issue of ending terrorist financing” pic.twitter.com/5HNdzO7rvH
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 14, 2018
“But along with the president and the general investigation, Mr. Mnuchin will make up his mind as the week progresses and as new information surfaces,” Mr. Kudlow said.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, also expressed outrage over the possibility that Mr. Khashoggi may have been murdered.
“We cannot have an ally who murders in cold blood in their own consulate,” said Mr. Sanders.