Carlos Ghosn, Facebook, the Catholic Church: Your Friday Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/briefing/carlos-ghosn-facebook-catholic-church.html

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Abuse of nuns emerges from the shadows of the Roman Catholic Church, Renault points out more potential wrongdoings by Carlos Ghosn, and Facebook finds a way to make money in China. Here’s the latest:

In the 1990s, a series of private reports and studies found that Roman Catholic nuns were being sexually abused by priests or bishops. But only now is the issue seeing the light of day, after Pope Francis acknowledged the problem this week.

Known cases occurred predominantly in some African countries and India.

Details: In 1994, a multiyear, 23-nation survey found that the sexual abuse of nuns by priests or bishops was especially rampant in some African countries. In 1998, another report confirmed those findings and discovered that “even rape of sisters” was common. Another found that 29 nuns in one order alone had become pregnant.

And the problem has persisted. In 2013, a priest in Uganda was suspended after he raised concerns about his fellow priests engaging in sexual relations with women, including nuns. In India, a bishop currently faces charges of repeatedly raping a former mother superior.

Why did a reckoning take so long? The abuse of nuns has been overshadowed by other scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, and there have been systematic efforts to silence accusers, Laurie Goodstein, who has covered the church for decades for The Times, said on our podcast “The Daily.”

The social media company has been blocked in the country since 2009 — and yet China has become one of Facebook’s largest sources of ad revenue.

Last spring, the company partnered with a local advertising agency called Meet Social to create a small, unique center in the southern city of Shenzhen to provide Chinese businesses with a window into the platform and help them buy ads to reach Facebook and Instagram users around the world.

By the numbers: In 2018, China-based advertisers generated an estimated $5 billion in revenue, about 10 percent of Facebook’s total sales.

Meet Social — just one of seven Facebook ad resellers in China — said it puts up about 20,000 Chinese ads on the platform each day and anticipates doing about $1 billion to $2 billion in ad sales this year.

Why it matters: The Shenzhen center is a testament to how China’s “Great Firewall” has created a unique and vibrant patch of cyberspace, forcing Western companies to either adapt or be left out of one of the world’s largest internet markets.

Prime Minister Theresa May headed to Brussels to try to reopen the 585-page withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which lays out a managed exit on March 29. But those talks were predictably inconclusive.

However, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, agreed to meet again by the end of the month.

Details: The withdrawal agreement was soundly rejected by Parliament last month. One immensely unpopular provision is the Irish “backstop.” Here’s what that is.

Of note: A new report from the Bank of England said that the country faces its slowest growth in 10 years in 2019 and warned of tensions caused by “the fog of Brexit.”

Go deeper: If no agreement is reached by March 29, Britain will crash out of the E.U., which experts have said would have dire consequences not just for its own economy but also for other members of the bloc.

Renault, the French automaker, said in a statement that Carlos Ghosn, its former chairman and chief executive, may have used company funds to finance a lavish personal party, and that it had alerted France’s judicial authorities.

Mr. Ghosn has been in jail in Tokyo since November, facing charges of financial misconduct while leading Nissan, Renault’s Japanese partner.

Details: Renault agreed to finance renovations at the Palace of Versailles in 2016 in a deal that granted it use of the space. The palace said the company reserved it in October of that year, on the day that Mr. Ghosn held a Marie Antoinette-themed party there to celebrate his second marriage and his new wife’s 50th birthday.

The arrangement could be considered a misuse of corporate assets.

Australia: Two top executives at one of the country’s largest banks, National Australia Bank, will resign after a scathing report on the finance industry issued by a royal commission singled them out for their resistance to changing their business practices.

Costa Rica: Three more women, inspired by reports on sexual misconduct allegations against Óscar Arias Sánchez, the former president of the country and a Nobel laureate, have come forward accusing him of unwanted touching or sexual assault.

Venezuela: The military blockaded a major highway to prevent opposition leaders from trucking in food and medicine via Colombia.

Philippines: The government said a measles outbreak in Manila, where the infection has killed 55 children this year, had spread to nearby regions. Trust in immunization programs in the country was seriously damaged in 2017 when the French maker of a dengue vaccine admitted it could backfire.

Green New Deal: In the U.S., House Democrats introduced a resolution calling for a grand stimulus package around climate change that includes proposals to generate 100 percent of America’s electricity from renewable sources in the next decade, and re-engineering cars and trucks. However, the legislative prospects for the measure are bleak in the foreseeable future.

Gucci and Adidas: Both brands apologized and pulled products that were widely criticized as racist, amid a scandal over blackface that is threatening top leaders in the state of Virginia. Gucci’s offending item was a black sweater that critics said evoked blackface imagery; Adidas was denounced for releasing a pair of all-white sneakers for Black History Month.

Qantas: The Australian carrier canceled an outstanding order for eight Airbus A380 planes, adding to the uncertainty about the fate of the double-decker jumbo jet.

France: In an extraordinary diplomatic rupture, the country recalled its ambassador to Italy after the Italian deputy prime minister met near Paris with leaders of the “Yellow Vest” protest movement, a rare breach of protocol.

Body recovered: Recovery crews reached the small plane that crashed into the English Channel last month with the Argentine soccer star, Emiliano Sala, and pilot aboard. No identification was released.

George Orwell: The author received a posthumous apology from the British Council, which promotes international cultural relations, for rejecting an essay he wrote in 1946 promoting British cuisine. One of its criticisms: His orange marmalade recipe had “too much water and sugar!”

New emojis: Interracial couples, a sari and guide dogs are among 59 symbols, emphasizing inclusivity, that are expected to appear on your keyboard later this year.

Children’s screen time: Doctors in Britain advised parents to keep children’s bedrooms and meals screen-free to reduce the negative impacts of social media and technology exposure.

Tips for a more fulfilling life.

Recipe of the day: Give cauliflower the Buffalo wing treatment.

A drugstore, free Wi-Fi and an A.T.M. are the essentials to find when you set foot in a new city.

You can reject an online suitor without ghosting. Just assert your disinterest.

On Saturday, Boeing’s 747, arguably the most iconic jet ever, celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first flight. Commercial service started within a year.

While the jumbo jets are slowly being retired by many airlines in favor of more fuel-efficient planes, the 747 still has at least a few years left in regular passenger service with many international carriers.

Nowadays, cost-conscious airlines try to cram as many passengers on their planes as they can, but competition was different in the heyday of the 747. The goal then was to give passengers space and luxury. American Airlines even put a piano bar in coach.

Pilots love to fly “the Queen of the Skies,” and crews feel a special connection to it, according to Joe Kannapell, a retired 747 captain (who happens to be the briefings editor’s brother).

“There’s an intimacy and a fraternity aspect that no other fleet ever had,” he said.

Zach Wichter wrote today’s Back Story.

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