News Headlines - 14 January 2019

▽China car sales hit reverse for first time since 1990s | Reuters

Car makers in China will face more fierce competition this year, after a tough 2018 when the world’s biggest auto market contracted for the first time in more than two decades, the country’s top auto industry association said on Monday... China car sales fell 13 percent in December, the sixth straight month of declines, bringing annual sales to 28.1 million, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said.
This was against a 3-percent annual growth forecast set at the start of 2018 and is the first time China’s auto market has contracted since the 1990s.

▽China has a lot more to lose than the US in trade war, says Credit Suisse | South China Morning Post

The possibility that the United States and China are closer to resolving their trade dispute has stoked optimism among investors.
But insufficient attention may be being paid to what happens if no deal is struck, according to John Woods, Credit Suisse’s chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific. No deal would be “profoundly negative”... “It’s quite clear to me that China has a lot more to lose than the United States and, hence, the apparent willingness of the authorities to go the extra mile and secure something meaningful,” Woods said.

▽Wife of ex-Nissan boss urges action on 'harsh' detention - BBC News

The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has said he is suffering under "harsh treatment" in a Japanese jail, where he has been detained for nearly two months.
In a letter to Human Rights Watch, Carole Ghosn described constant interrogations and appealed for action... His detention, which is likely to continue for months, has drawn criticism of Japan's justice system.
In Japan, interrogations can be done without a lawyer present. Suspects can be detained for up to 23 days before being formally charged. Bail is not easily granted unless a suspect admits to the charges, according to the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations.

▽Toyota brings back the Supra sports car after almost two decades

The Supra is a resurrection of a car Toyota has not made since 2002. It began as a variant of Toyota’s now also defunct Celica in 1978, but was spun off as its own model in 1986. It became known as one of the most famous Japanese tuner cars of the ’80s and ’90s.
Apart from the reputation it earned on its own, the Supra also was famous for being featured in “The Fast and the Furious” movie franchise, in which it was driven by the late actor Paul Walker.
The car will go on sale this summer. It will have a 3.0-liter turbo six-cylinder 335-horsepower engine and an automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Toyota says the car should be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds. It will have an electronically limited speed of 155 mph.

▽Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia - The New York Times

Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO: the withdrawal of the United States.
Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set.
In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States.