A Tokyo court will hand down a verdict Thursday in the criminal trial of Greg Kelly, an American and former executive at Japanese automaker Nissan. Kelly was charged with financial wrongdoing in under-reporting the compensation of Carlos Ghosn, his former boss and Nissan ex-chairman.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

UNIFIL held a ceremony at its headquarters in Naqoura on Monday to officially transfer authority from outgoing Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col of Italy to Major General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz of Spain.

France and Saudi Arabia on Monday agreed to fund humanitarian projects aimed at assisting the Lebanese people, during a Paris meeting between their two foreign ministers, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

“As per the directions of the two countries’ leaderships, the discussions session witnessed follow-up on the bilateral coordination between the kingdom and France over the developments in Lebanon and the difficult situations that the Lebanese people are going through,” a statement said.

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Monday interrogated Bank of Beirut chairman Salim Sfeir and Bank Audi chairman Samir Hanna over a complaint filed by an activist group.

Media reports said Aoun would also interrogate Khalil al-Bitar, who is a member of the board of directors of Bank Audi.

The head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, has announced that Israel will not be able to explore for offshore gas if Lebanon is not also doing the same in its territorial waters.

“The American mediator came to Lebanon over the past days to play the role of the fox in the splitting of the cheese between the rivals,” Raad said during a memorial service in the southern town of Kfar Fila.

The military court has released two detainees who had been suspected of spying for Israel, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi revealed on Monday.

Last month, the Lebanese security forces had busted more than 17 suspected Israeli spy networks, in one of the largest nationwide crackdowns in recent years.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Lebanon Ihor Ostash said Monday, in a press conference in Beirut, that his country appreciates a Lebanese statement that had condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The statement, issued Thursday by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, condemned Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine and called on Moscow to “immediately halt military operations.”

Lebanon will cover the expenses of the evacuation of Lebanese nationals trapped in Ukraine, a Lebanese official said.

Secretary General of the Higher Relief Committee Maj. Gen. Mohamed Kheir revealed that planes will be sent to neighboring Poland starting March 4.

Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov has said that a Lebanese Foreign Ministry statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “does not take into consideration the cordial and historic bilateral relations between the two countries.”

President Michel Aoun has said that Lebanon’s “clear stance” is in favor of resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict through “dialogue,” following the latest controversy over a Lebanese Foreign Ministry statement that condemned over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“Lebanon has faced difficult disputes, confrontations and security incidents that all ended through dialogue,” Aoun added, in an interview with the Asas Media news website.