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Carlos Ghosn's wife says she wasn't in the loop about his escape but says flight was 'only choice po

Jan 09, 2020 (Japan Times) - Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn’s wife, Carole, said Tuesday she was not in the loop about his audacious escape from Japan, adding that it was the “only choice possible.”

Speaking after Japanese prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for her, Carole Ghosn told France’s Le Parisien newspaper that she knew nothing about the Dec. 29-30 escape when Carlos Ghosn jumped bail and fled from Tokyo.

The interview came hours before an eagerly awaited press conference by the disgraced executive in Beirut on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t aware of anything. … I was in Beirut with my children to celebrate Christmas, someone called me to say ‘I have a surprise for you.’ It was the best in all my life!” she said.

“Fleeing was the only possible choice as he saw his trial being postponed indefinitely and he was being detained in conditions that deprived him of his rights with the aim of dehumanizing him.

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Typhoon No. 29 was moving north-northeast near the Ogasawara Islands at very strong intensity as of 4 p.m. on October 12th, with forecasts indicating that the storm will turn further east and move away from Japan, although powerful swells are expected to continue generating high waves along parts of the country's Pacific coast.

Japan is expected to experience a warmer-than-normal winter as the El Nino phenomenon currently affecting the Pacific Ocean has reached its strongest level on record, with the Japan Meteorological Agency announcing on October 10th that unusually high sea surface temperatures are likely to persist through the coming winter months.

The Otsu Festival, one of Shiga Prefecture's three major traditional festivals, was held in Otsu City on October 11th, featuring a procession of 13 elaborately decorated floats carrying traditional mechanical puppets through the streets, following the festival's addition to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December last year.

A series of cyberattacks has disrupted business operations and exposed millions of customer records across Japan, with a ransomware attack on a cloud service provider affecting 495 companies and local governments nationwide, while convenience store operator Lawson has disclosed a separate breach involving more than 2.15 million personal information records.

Japan's first 360-degree projection mapping show will open at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts on October 10, transforming the historic building into an immersive world of light, music, and seasonal imagery, with organizers hoping the attraction will also help stimulate the city's nighttime economy.

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Two men were killed and eight others injured in separate accidents involving traditional danjiri festival floats in Osaka Prefecture on October 10, including one incident in which a float overturned while making a sharp turn, crushing a participant beneath it.

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New Year postcards for 2027 arrived at post offices across Hokkaido on October 6, with designs featuring sheep for the upcoming Year of the Sheep as Japan's traditional New Year card market continues to shrink.

The Tokyo District Court on October 6 fined television personality Dewi Sukarno, widely known in Japan as Dewi Fujin, 200,000 yen after finding the 86-year-old guilty of assaulting two women who worked for her agency, including a former manager.

A 20-year-old US Marine arrested over the robbery and killing of a woman at a hotel in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, may have strangled her with the cord of a telephone installed in the room, investigators said.

Five boys aged 15 to 17 have been arrested on suspicion of robbing and confining a 17-year-old high school student in Akishima, Tokyo, after allegedly beating him with a baton, taking his cash and forcing him to travel around on motorcycles.