1UA TV

Prosecutors in Sweden said Wednesday they have closed the case of the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme because the main suspect is dead. Chief prosecutor Krister Petersson told reporters that because Stig Engstrom died in 2002, he is unable to interview him or indict him. A gunman killed Palme after he left a Stockholm movie theater with his wife and son.Authorities said Wednesday they had questioned 10,000 people during their probe and that more than 100 had actually confessed to the killing. Engstrom was considered a suspect long ago, but dismissed after repeated questioning.   He had a military background, worked in an office near the crime scene, was a member of a shooting club and was known to have a strong dislike for Palme and his policies. The lingering mystery helped spark conspiracy theories about who was responsible, with possible culprits including the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Kurdish militants and South African security services. 
…

After getting off to a strong start Wednesday, European markets are falling as investors wait to hear what steps the U.S. Federal Reserve will take to ensure a post-pandemic recovery.  London’s FTSE index is down 0.5%, the CAC-40 in Paris is 0.8% lower, and the DAX index in Frankfurt is down one percent.   Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei index gaining 0.1%.  Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was essentially unchanged, while Shanghai’s composite index was down 0.4%.  In Sydney, the S&P/ASX was trading flat, the Sensex in Mumbai gained 0.8%, Taiwan’s TSEC was 0.7% higher, and the KOSPI in Seoul was up 0.3%. In oil trading, U.S crude is selling at $37.90 per barrel, down 2.6%, while Brent crude is going for $40.27 per barrel, down 2.2%. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 are trending down in futures trading, while the NASDAQ is trending higher hours before the opening bell on Wall Street.   
…

The protests that left much of the world in a haze of tear gas last year were slowed by a pandemic – until the death of George Floyd sparked a global uprising against police brutality and racial inequality. From Hong Kong to Khartoum, Baghdad to Beirut, Gaza to Paris and Caracas to Santiago, people took to the streets in 2019 for the pursuits of freedom, sovereignty or simply a life less shackled by hardship while few prospered. It seemed as if the streets were agitated everywhere but the United States. Now, after the death of Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who died in police custody when a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, protests rage around the globe. Police or military brutality and racism are universal dynamics that are experienced in many societies. The very nature of a protest suggests a fervent desire for change, the need to right a perceived historic injustice. It’s a means to an end. But to what end? Depending on the government the activists are demanding change from, the results can be varied. Demonstrations were held last week in solidarity with American protesters, but Floyd’s death also had resonance and reverberations far beyond U.S. shores because of those lives lost closer to home in similar circumstances. As the coronavirus crisis eased in China, protesters in Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous territory, began to emerge again. And Beijing moved swiftly to quash the movement that caused unrest for months last year, enacting a national security law that would effectively end the existence of one country, two systems. A democratic government that is amenable to the changes may enact legislation, or a change of leadership can be forced at the ballot box. An authoritarian regime, however, does not often bend. Protesting against dictatorship can be a life-or-death struggle which may even require activists to make a deal with the country’s military. Confronting tyranny can also backfire, the result a more dictatorial leader or a ruinous civil war. Here’s a look at some of the key protests of recent decades and what they achieved or failed. American Civil Rights The protests that erupted across a scarred U.S. landscape last week had the unusual characteristic of being largely leaderless and are still evolving, though the Black Lives Matter movement was focal. During the critical era of the 1950s and ’60s, Martin Luther King Jr., who led the 250,000 strong March on Washington in 1963, and Malcolm X were colossal 20th century figures, representing two different tracks: mass non-violent protest and getting favorable outcomes “by any means necessary.” The Civil Rights Acts, initiated by the Kennedy administration, and Voting Rights Act were passed by the Johnson administration, which was sympathetic to tackling endemic racism in the nation. These were key inflection points. But social injustice and the Vietnam War continued to dominate the American decade and beyond, reaching a crescendo of civil unrest in 1968 which has been echoed in 2020.FILE – In this Aug. 28, 1963 file photo, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington.Democrats in Congress are proposing an overhaul of police procedures and accountability, but like so much in Washington this has been snagged by partisanship. Key Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, are also distancing themselves from liberal calls to “defund the police” as President Donald Trump and his Republican allies blast the proposal. The iron curtain falls Revolution was in the air in Eastern Europe in 1989, powered by a flowering of civil resistance to overthrow Communist rule. One-by-one, countries fell in a reverse-domino effect — Washington had always been concerned about the dominoes falling in the Soviet Union’s favor. The final Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, laid the groundwork for this tectonic shift. The Berlin Wall fell and one-party rule was swept aside in East Germany, Poland and other states once cast as being behind the Iron Curtain, mostly bloodlessly — the exception being in Romania where the tyranny of Nicolae Ceausescu and his family was ended by a firing squad on Christmas Day. This period also included a “Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia, which was the historical antidote to the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization in embracing “communism with a human face” that was ruthlessly crushed by more than half a million Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. The Arab Spring and the current redux It was two decades before the world witnessed another wave of protests consume an entire region. This one was the first to be captured on a new digital platform, social media. After decades of dictatorship and kleptocracy, the Arab World became intoxicated by the heady mix of possibility and immediacy. And rulers did fall: in Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Tunisia in 2011. But only the latter transitioned to a democratic next chapter. Egypt now lives under even more authoritarian rule, where all dissent is extinguished, and thousands languish in prison. Yemen and Libya have been torn to shreds by conflict and humanitarian catastrophe. Syria exploded quickly from an uprising against the Assad dynasty to ruinous civil war which still continues with more than half million dead and millions displaced. In neighboring Lebanon and in Iraq, civil protests erupted last October against ruling elites. Lebanon is suffering a confluence of crises as it lurches on the cusp of national bankruptcy. In Iraq, too, where protesters had been killed in scores, the health care system is not equipped to deal with COVID-19 and the loss of oil revenue is hitting hard. Protests seem likely to reignite in both places. The spirit of 2019 and 2020 Sudan captured much of what civil disobedience and protest can achieve — as well its painful cost with many killed and systemic rapes — as the fragile transition to a new era continues. The protest movement succeeded in ousting a longtime military strongman who faces genocide and war crimes charges. President Omar al-Bashir was toppled in April 2019, forcing the creation of a joint civilian-military ruling “sovereign council.” But the civilians are struggling to assert authority in the face of the military’s power. Hong Kong’s protests, which began one year ago this week, seemed to embody all the facets of democratic aspiration: But the clear intent of President of Xi Jinping and the overwhelming might of China’s People’s Liberation Army makes it ever more likely that the territory will be under Beijing rule much sooner than 2047 as agreed upon. The landmark 1997 agreement in which the British colony was formally handed over to China, had stipulated things would remain unchanged for 50 years. 
…

One of Copenhagen Zoo’s giant pandas escaped from its enclosure early Monday and roamed the park before staff were able to sedate it and bring it back. Xing Er, a 7-year-old male who arrived at the zoo last year, was seen on surveillance video breaking out of the newly built, 160 million-kroner ($24.2 million) Panda House that also houses female panda Mao Sun. Zoo spokesman Bengt Holst said that on the video staff could see how “the male panda crawls up a metal pole, which is studded with three rows of electrical wires … and then crawls out into the garden.” He said the park now was looking at making changes to security around the enclosure “to ensure that it does not happen again. ” Zoo staff reacted “quickly and efficiently,” the animal was corned and sedated with a dart without being harmed, he said. Monday’s incident happened before the animal park opened to the public. “It doesn’t change the fact that we want to avoid that kind of situation in the future,” Holst said. The enclosure to house the pandas from China’s southwestern city of Chengdu, was inaugurated by Queen Margrethe and other dignitaries in April 2019. Beijing lends out pandas as a sign of goodwill. Any cubs born during the 15-year loan period are considered China’s property.   
…

The European Union’s top diplomat said Tuesday that since the United States has already withdrawn from an international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it can’t now use its former membership of the pact to try to impose a permanent arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.
The accord, which Iran signed with the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia in 2015, has been unraveling since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out in 2018 and reinstated sanctions designed to cripple Tehran under what the U.S. called a “maximum pressure” campaign.  
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft have said that extending a permanent U.N. backed arms embargo against Iran is now a top priority for Washington.
But speaking to reporters Tuesday after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that since the U.S. has pulled out of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it can no longer claim to have a role in it.
“The United States has withdrawn from the JCPOA, and now they cannot claim that they are still part of the JCPOA in order to deal with this issue from the JCPOA agreement. They withdraw. It’s clear. They withdraw,” Borrell said.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and he called for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. attempt to get the U.N. Security Council to impose a permanent arms embargo.
The EU sees the nuclear deal as a key pillar of regional and world security and has struggled to keep the pact alive despite U.S. pressure. Borrell is tasked with supervising the way the pact is applied and to help resolve disputes between the parties.
…

Turkish police on Monday detained two journalists for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged “political and military espionage,” the state-run Anadolu Agency said.The two journalists — Ismail Dukel, the Ankara representative of TELE1 television channel, and Muyesser Yildiz of the OdaTV news website — were being questioned by anti-terrorism police, the agency reported.OdaTV said Yildiz, who has reported on military issues, was detained following a raid on her home. Police searched her house and confiscated electronic material, the website reported.Last month, authorities charged seven journalists — including two OdaTV editors and a reporter — with violating laws governing the intelligence agency, for stories on the death of an intelligence officer who was reportedly killed in Libya. The journalists will go on trial later this month.The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Turkey among the top jailers of journalists worldwide, alongside China and Saudi Arabia.As many as 85 journalists and other media workers are currently in jail under Turkey’s broad anti-terrorism laws, according to the Turkish Journalists Syndicate, including many who were detained in a crackdown following a 2016 coup attempt.Turkey maintains that the journalists are prosecuted for criminal acts and not for their journalistic work.Separately, prosecutors issued warrants to detain 149 people — most of them former police officers — for alleged links to a network led by U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen.Anadolu Agency said 74 people, including six former police chiefs, were being sought by prosecutors in the western province of Balikesir, 42 were sought be authorities in northwestern Bursa province while 33 of the suspects were detained in Gaziantep, near the border with Syria.Turkey blames Gulen’s network for the failed 2016 coup. About 77,000 people have been arrested and around 130,000 others, including military personnel, have been dismissed from state jobs in the ongoing crackdown on Gulen’s network.Gulen, who has been in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999, denies involvement in the coup attempt, which killed about 250 people and injured around 2,000 others.
…

With France confined to fight the virus, a video circulated online in April showing a young man lying on the bloody ground next to two police officers — and quickly set off protests in struggling neighborhoods around the Paris region.
Sometime before, the man had been on a motorcycle. Then, he crashed into a suddenly opened police car door. Whether the door was opened on purpose or not is unclear, but what was clear was the anger the video sparked. A protest that night in the town of Villeneuve-la-Garenne led to others in a dozen Paris suburbs and similar neighborhoods around France in the ensuing days.  
The relationship between police and marginalized residents of France’s low-income neighborhoods, many of whom are Arab or black and trace their roots to former French colonies, has long been tense. Safety measures intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 further empowered police — but also empowered community activists using apps or online sleuthing to track and challenge what they see as an abuse of police power.  
George Floyd’s death in the U.S. has resonated especially loudly in places like Villeneuve, one of many banlieues, or suburbs, where poverty and minority populations are concentrated in France. Floyd-related protests against police violence and racial injustice have been held around France, and more are planned for Tuesday evening.
In a pivotal moment for modern France, rioting engulfed the country for three weeks in 2005 after two boys who were running from police, Zyed and Bouna, were electrocuted while hiding in an electric generator in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. A state of emergency was declared and almost 3,000 people were arrested.
Despite billions of euros in government improvement programs for the banlieues since 2005, tensions with police persist, and the deaths of other young men periodically rekindles anger. Protesters marching in solidarity with Floyd notably called for justice for Adama Traore, whose death in police custody in 2016 is still under investigation.
“The anger (in those neighborhoods) is so present and police impunity so frustrating that we don’t need much for it to blow up,” said Ilyes Ramdani, editor-in-chief of the Bondy Blog, which was founded in 2005 to tell the stories of young black and Arab French people in the banlieues.
Under France’s strictest virus lockdown measures, from March 17-May 11, the government restricted people’s movements to a kilometer (half-mile) around their homes and required that anyone leaving their homes carry a signed paper stating why. Punishments included fines starting at 135 euros (about $150), or even prison.
On the first day punishments were doled out, 10% of the fines given in the entire country were given in the region of Seine-Saint-Denis on Paris’ northern edge, where unemployment is twice the national average, almost one person out of three is an immigrant, and many others are the descendants of immigrants.
Government officials defended the fines as necessary to fight the virus in a region with especially high infection rates.
But police union leader Yves Lefebvre lamented that the lockdown measures “again made the police a repressive tool.”
“Public services have deserted these neighborhoods,” and police are the only presence left, which “necessarily leads to confrontation,” he said.
Lefebvre, general secretary for Unité SGP Police-Force Ouvrière union, said trust has been broken because “police only enter those neighborhoods to restore order.”
The Villeneuve incident is being investigated by prosecutors and by the French state police watchdog agency, which said it received 166 citizen reports of problematic police behavior and seven formal complaints of police abuse during the 54 days of France’s coronavirus lockdown.
 
Under pressure to act, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner pledged Monday to ban police chokeholds and said more officers will be equipped with cameras to help ensure that identity checks don’t lead to discrimination against minorities.
Frustrated activists are taking matters into their own hands.  
At the start of the lockdown, Sihame Assbague, an anti-racial profiling activist and journalist, started to collect reports of police harassment, citing “a multiplication of police violence videos on social media.”
She’s cross-referencing and verifying about 40 cases, most of them from videos she’s received. “I don’t expect much from the state or public authorities, but what I know is they respect strength. That’s why it’s important to organize,” she said.
Amal Bentounsi, whose brother Amine was shot in the back and killed by the police in 2012, founded a group to support families of victims and provide legal help to bring abusive police to court. The officer who killed her brother was sentenced to a five-year suspended prison sentence — a rare legal victory for families like hers.
In March, Bentounsi and three other families launched an app called Emergency-Police Violence designed to record abuses.
“The idea is for people to develop the habit of filming, not to make buzz, but to create a tool for citizens to contradict the police’s version of events and dissuade police who will be filmed” from abusing their authority, Bentounsi said.  
Users can record arrests live, and the videos are directly uploaded onto the app’s server so they can be salvaged if the phone is seized or broken.
Since March, the app has been downloaded more than 30,000 times.  
Their group wants to encourage people to press charges, even if chances of conviction are slim, Bentounsi said. The government says numbers of police abuses “aren’t big enough for it to be an issue. We want to change that. Because if there are no charges, there are no statistics.”
…