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Russia may be forced to aim weapons at Washington, suggests Putin

Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will develop new weapons and aim them at western “centres of decision-making” if the west deploys new short and medium-range missiles in Europe.

The threat, which appears to describe Washington and other western capitals, came after the United States and then Russia suspended compliance with the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

In a speech to senior Russian officials in Moscow, Putin said the possible deployment of missiles that could reach Moscow in 10 minutes was “dangerous for Russia,” and that Moscow would be forced to review “symmetrical and asymmetrical actions”.

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons, which can be used not just against those territories, from which the direct threat will come, but also against those, where the centres of decision-making for using these missile systems will come,” the Russian president said.

The treaty, concluded by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, banned the development and deployment of land-based missiles with a range of 500-5,500km and was widely credited with banishing nuclear missiles from Europe. The US, led by the national security adviser, John Bolton, suspended the treaty this month amid claims that Moscow had secretly developed a cruise missile that violated the agreement. Russia denies this.

During the speech, Putin reaffirmed Russia’s stance that it would not deploy short or intermediate-range missiles in western Russia unless similar weapons were first deployed in Europe.

While Russia is believed to already target Washington and other western cities with traditional intercontinental ballistic missiles, Putin’s speech revealed details about ongoing Russian weapons projects, including a hypersonic missile named Tsirkon that could travel up to 1,000km and would be able to strike land targets. The Russian defence secretary, Sergei Shoigu, this month appeared to say it was being modified to be launched from land as well.

The speech, seen as Russia’s version of the State of the Nation address, was largely focused on the economy. Putin, whose popularity ratings are at a five-year low, promised increased public spending, lower taxes for families and better living conditions for Russians.

Ghosn's new lawyer, 'the Razor', takes aim at Nissan and prosecutors

TOKYO (Reuters) - Carlos Ghosn’s new lawyer took aim at Nissan, prosecutors and courts on Wednesday, dismissing the charges against the ousted chairman as an internal company matter and saying Japan was out of step with international norms by keeping his client in jail.

FILE PHOTO: Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, poses after the Renault's 2015 annual results presentation at their headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France, February 12, 2016. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

“This should have been dealt with as an internal matter,” Junichiro Hironaka, nicknamed the Razor, said at his first press briefing.

Ghosn, who was arrested in November over alleged financial misconduct and remains in detention in a Tokyo jail, picked a new team last week with long-time defense attorney Hironaka as a key member to replace Motonari Otsuru, a lawyer who once ran the prosecutor’s office investigating him.

Hironaka’s combative style contrasts with the low-key approach adopted by a media-shy Otsuru.

Ghosn’s switch to an aggressive legal strategy came after his attempts to win bail failed and just before lawyers were due to sit down with prosecutors and judges for the first time to hash out a schedule for pre-trial discovery meetings, where prosecutors will reveal evidence and submit a list of witnesses.

Hironaka said he didn’t know why Ghosn picked him, but added that Ghosn probably wanted an experienced criminal lawyer as the case moved toward trial.

The 73-year-old defense attorney is reputed for winning high profile cases, including the acquittal of a senior lawmaker, Ichiro Ozawa, on financial misconduct charges. He also helped free a senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki who was jailed for four months on corruption charges fabricated by prosecutors.

Yet, even with greater legal firepower the former Nissan Motor Co boss faces a criminal justice system where only three out of every hundred defendants pleading not guilty are acquitted. Neither does Japan have a plea deal mechanism that would allow Ghosn to agree to lesser charges for a lighter sentence.

“The change in lawyers means a change in style, but the legal strategy will still be the same,” I don’t think it increases Ghosn’s chance of an acquittal,” said Masashi Akita, a defense lawyer at Shin-Yu Law Office in Osaka, ahead of Wednesday’s comments by Hironaka.

Ghosn has lost his perch atop an automotive alliance trio of French car maker Renault SA and Japanese automakers Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Attempts to win bail, including an offer to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and hire security guards to stop him trying to tamper with evidence, failed.

Ghosn stands accused of underreporting compensation spanning eight years to the tune of $82 million. He also faces breach of trust charges that he shifted personal losses to Nissan and improperly steered $14.7 million to a Saudi Arabian businessman’s company to help him navigate the problem. Ghosn denies all the charges.

“He is innocent of all the charges,” Hironaka said.

LEGAL GAMBIT

In January, former attorney Otsuru outlined some of the defense arguments in a lengthy statement prepared when the former executive requested a court hearing about his detention. Ghosn took the step, rare in Japanese legal proceedings, to profess his innocence and challenge his imprisonment.

That hearing could end up backfiring, according to some Japanese legal experts because it established a legal strategy before his lawyers had looked at evidence gathered by prosecutors. Critics of that approach include defense lawyer Takashi Takano, a new member of Ghosn’s legal team who spoke to Reuters before he was hired.

“They have shown their hand. That is not something they should have be doing at that stage,” Takano, who runs his own criminal law practice, said ahead of comments by Ghosn’s new lawyer on Wednesday. “It’s like playing rock-paper-scissors and the defense lawyers lost.”

“It is an unusual strategy,” said Professor Colin Jones, a lawyer and expert in Japan’s legal system at Doshisha University in Kyoto. “There is no plus side to a client statement, all could be used as evidence,” he added.

Wrangling over witnesses and evidence during pretrial discovery could take as long as a year with a subsequent trial stretching through 2020, the legal experts said. Ghosn’s best chance for bail may come about halfway through that process when evidence tampering concerns, the reason given by the court to keep him locked up, ease, they added.

Hironaka said it was difficult to predict when Ghosn will be released. Hironaka and Takano will be joined by Hiroshi Kawatsu from Kasumigaseki Sogo Law Offices to defend Ghosn.

“I have been called the Razor, but it is not a nickname I particularly like. I would rather be known as gentle Hironaka,” he said.

Reporting by Tim Kelly and Naomi Tajitsu in TOKYO, Additional reporting by Mike Spector in NEW YORK; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman

All-electric commuter airplanes aim for market introduction in 2022

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Eviation Aircraft, an Israel-based company with plans to offer all-electric commuter aircraft, chose Germany's Siemens to supply propulsion systems and will test the new planned units this year, with commercial sales expected by 2022.

The planes will bring to the market new developments that include innovations in thermal management and autonomous landing, as well as distributed electric propulsion, battery technology and lighter composite body frames.

The plane, named Alice, will be capable of flying with nine passengers at 220 knots to a range of 650 miles on a single charge, the company said Wednesday.

Siemens can supply the "extremely low weight and high-power compact efficient motors" that meet the required aviation standards for commuter travel.

Eviation will work with Siemens for "a significant push toward bringing all-electric flight to regional markets."

"At Siemens, we believe that we are in a new era of aviation and mobility, an era that will be dominated by high-performing electric propulsion, automation and efficiency, which is why partnering with Eviation is so befitting," said Frank Anton, head of Siemen's eAircraft.

Siemens has been developing motors for 150 years. Eviation "serves on the electric aviation committees of the General Aviation Manufacturers' Association and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration," the company said.

The year 2018 was the first in which an all-electric airplane traveled around the earth, equipped only with an electric motor, batteries and solar panels.