BBC在线收听下载:泰国曼谷学校因雾霾被迫停课

Hello, I'm Marion Marshall with the BBC News.

The former motor tycoon Carlos Ghosn has said the charges pressed against him by Japanese prosecutors are the result of a plot by Nissen executives, which he described as treason. The comment was in his first interview since being arrested in November. Celia Hatton reports. Speaking from a Tokyo detention center to Japan's Nikkei newspaper, the man who once headed three car companies, Carlos Ghosn, hit back against a mounting number of financial misconduct charges. Mr. Ghosn said that some in Nissan opposed his plan to integrate Renault, the French car company he headed, with its Japanese alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi. They wanted to get rid of him, he said. The former alliance had denied any wrongdoing, including underreporting his salary and using Nissan's money to cover personal investment losses. He said those decisions had been signed off by colleagues at Nissan.

The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he's open to holding internationally mediated talks on the crisis in his country. He was speaking to Russia's state news agency. Sarah Rainsford reports from Moscow. This was a defiance, Nicolas Maduro speaking to the Russian news agency RIA, he insisted that his victory in elections last spring had been legitimate and transparent. He said if America and others wanted a fresh vote, then they'd have to wait to the end of his current term in 2025. But Nicolas Maduro also appeared to make a concession. He said he was ready to sit down for talks with the country's opposition for the sake of peace in the presence of international intermediaries. He was speaking ahead of a day of protests in Venezuela called by the opposition leader Juan Guaido, who's been recognized as the country's interim leader by the US and others.

More than four hundred schools in the Thai capital Bangkok have been ordered to close because of hazardous levels of smog. The governor of Bangkok said classes at all city-run schools were canceled for the rest of the week because of concerns for the health of students. The citie's pollution levels stood at about a hundred and seventy micrograms per cubic meter, which is considered unhealthy for everyone and particularly bad for children and the elderly.

Police in Australia say they intend to bring charges against one of the country's best known and most successful racehorse trainers. Darren Weir was arrested along with two other men during a raid at his stables in the state of Victoria as part of a corruption inquiry. Police seized a number of items, including a firearm and four taser-like devices that could be used to administer an electric shock to a horse. BBC news.