Images of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of African-American George Floyd, who then died, have sparked protests from Amsterdam to Nairobi, but they also expose deeper grievances among demonstrators over strained race relations in their own countries.
 
With violent clashes between protesters and authorities raging in the United States, anti-police-brutality activists gathered by the thousands in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in various European and African cities.
 Peaceful protesters highlighted allegations of abuse of black prisoners by their jailers, social and economic inequality, and institutional racism lingering from the colonial pasts of the Netherlands, Britain and France.
 
“If you want to believe that we in the Netherlands do not have a problem with race, you should go ahead and go home,” Jennifer Tosch, founder of Black Heritage Amsterdam Tours, told a crowd in Amsterdam, from where the Dutch West India Company operated ships estimated to have traded 500,000 slaves in the 1600s and 1700s.
 
Tosch and others drew a comparison between Floyd’s death and the treatment of slaves centuries ago. “We have seen this image before as white persecutors and enslavers held down the enslaved and branded them with an iron.”
 People take part in a Black Lives Matter protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday, June 1, 2020, to protest against the recent killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis, U.S.A., after being restrained by police…In London, a protester held a placard reading “The UK isn’t innocent,” while in Berlin around 2,000 people protested outside the U.S. embassy and two Bundesliga soccer players wore “Justice for George Floyd” shirts on Monday.
 
A similar message came from Dominique Sopo, president of French NGO SOS Racisme, which organized a small protest outside the U.S. embassy in Paris on Monday.
 
“This issue of police racism is also, albeit with a lower level of violence, an issue that concerns France,” he said.
 
Police in northern Paris fired tear gas on Tuesday to disperse demonstrators protesting over the 2016 death of a young black Frenchman in police custody – an incident that has drawn parallels with Floyd’s killing.
 
Adama Traore’s family have blamed excessive force used during his arrest, when the 24-year-old was pinned down by three gendarmes. Successive pathology reports have reached conflicting conclusions over whether his death two hours later resulted from asphyxiation or other factors including pre-existing conditions.
 
Amid a coronavirus lockdown, French activists also say there have been a number of police brutality cases in low-income neighborhoods where many originate from Africa.
 Turkish police officers, in riot gear, and wearing face masks for protections against the spread of the coronavirus, scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, against the recent killing of George Floyd in…Clashes in Turkey
 
In Istanbul, more than 50 people clashed with police officers minutes after beginning a protest over Floyd and what they called police brutality in Turkey.
 
At least five people were detained after scuffles with officers holding shields, after which other protesters gave speeches denouncing lethal police force and bans on demonstrations in Turkey during the pandemic.
 
In Nairobi, protesters at the American embassy held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Extrajudicial Killings”.
 
“The system that allows police brutality to happen in Kenya is based on class. In America, it’s race and class.”
 What Is Black Lives Matter?Origins of the movement opposing police violence against black AmericansProtests are planned in coming days in Gambia, Britain, Spain and Portugal.
 
In Spain, protesters will mark the death of Floyd and “all sisters and brothers who have died at the hands of institutional racism on our streets,” the African and Afro-descendant Community CNAAE said.
 
Portugal’s gathering will address “the myth that Portugal is not a racist country.”
 
But not all in Europe side with the protesters.
 
Spain’s far-right Vox party and the Netherlands’ anti-Islam Freedom Party called those protesting Floyd’s death “terrorists” and backed U.S. President Donald Trump.
 
“Our support for Trump and the Americans who are seeing their Nation attacked by street terrorists backed by progressive millionaires,” Vox wrote in a Tweet.
 
In the Netherlands, the Freedom Party’s Geert Wilders tweeted: “White House under attack. This is no protest but anarchy by #AntifaTerrorists.”
 
Even amid such racial division, Linda Nooitmeer, who heads the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy, drew hope from Monday’s protest in Amsterdam. 
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The Trump administration has selected five companies, including Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer Inc, as the most likely candidates to produce a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing senior officials.The other companies are Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co Inc, according to the paper.The selected companies will get access to additional government funds, help in running clinical trials, and financial and logistical support, the paper reported.There is no approved vaccine for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.The report did not mention potential vaccines from French drugmaker Sanofi, Novavax Inc and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc – among the more than 100 vaccines in development globally.The announcement of the decision will be made at the White House in the next few weeks, the report said.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”We cannot comment on information that is market-moving,” a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said.The companies on the list are the farthest along in developing a vaccine and have significant manufacturing capacity.”We have not heard anything directly from HHS about whether our program is or is not in Warp Speed and therefore cannot comment further,” a spokeswoman with Sanofi said.The company is currently working on two vaccines programs to prevent against COVID-19. One of them, in collaboration with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline, has received financial support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).”Our existing collaboration with BARDA on the non-clinical and phase 1 studies for our recombinant vaccine candidate is on track. We believe that BARDA will continue to support our program as it advances in development,” the spokeswoman added.The United States is planning massive clinical trials involving 100,000 to 150,000 volunteers in total, with the goal of delivering an effective vaccine by the end of this year. To make that deadline, the government aims to start mid-stage testing in July.The first two vaccines to start mid-stage trials would likely be from Moderna and the AstraZeneca/Oxford University combination, the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, told Reuters in an interview last month. He said he expected vaccine candidates from J&J and Merck to eventually join the trial effort.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday that he hoped to have “a couple hundred million doses” by the start of 2021, according to a CNN report.
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Global markets were mostly lower Thursday.Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed 0.3 percent higher, while the S&P/ASX in Sydney had gained 0.8 percent in late afternoon action.  Seoul’s KOSPI index was 0.1 percent higher, and Taiwan was up 0.6 percent.On the negative side, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.2 percent lower, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1 percent and Mumbai’s Sensex was 0.9 percent lower.European markets are also off to a slow start, with the FTSE in London down 0.2 percent, and both the CAC-40 in Paris and Frankfurt’s DAX index trading 0.5 percent lower.In oil markets, U.S. crude was trading at $36.50 per barrel, down 2.1 percent, while Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $39.16 per barrel, down 1.5 percent.All three U.S. indexes were trending downward in futures trading.    
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Authorities say Chile, which has one of the highest totals for coronavirus cases in Latin America, confirmed 87 deaths from the virus in one day Wednesday, the largest single-day spike since the outbreak began more than two months ago.A surge in coronavirus cases in Chile has overwhelmed the country’s healthcare system.The increase in cases and deaths prompted authorities to extend a quarantine in Santiago for a fourth week.So far, Chile has confirmed more than 113,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,200 deaths.Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Haiti, Argentina and Bolivia comprise the Latin American countries with the largest caseloads.Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director, told reporters earlier this week, Central and South America have become the intense zones of transmission for the coronavirus.Ryan said he does not believe the region has reached its peak in transmission and that he could not predict when the peak will occur.He is calling for support and international solidarity for countries in the region.
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Фірми, пов’язані з Ігорем Коломойським, за півроку заробили понад 4 мільярди гривень на продажі вугілля та газу державній компанії «Центренерго», продаючи сировину для виробництва електроенергії за цінами, подекуди вищими за ринкові. Натомість бізнесмен заперечує причетність до діяльності цих приватних компаній. Про це йдеться в розслідуванні журналістів програми «Схеми: корупція в деталях» (спільний проєкт Радіо Свобода і телеканалу «UA:Перший»). 

Журналісти «Схем» отримали від джерел у податковій та проаналізували документи про фінансово-господарську діяльність «Центренерго» за четвертий квартал 2019-го та перший квартал 2020-го років. А саме про те, яку сировину для виробництва електроенергії, у кого та за якою ціною закуповувала державна компанія.

«Схеми» встановили, що постачальниками 59% загального об’єму вугілля, яке закупило ПАТ «Центренерго» з жовтня 2019-го по березень 2020-го, були дві компанії – ТОВ «Рекорд Сістем» (34%) та ПрАТ «Синтез Ойл» (25%). Загальна сума контрактів «Центренерго» з ТОВ «Рекорд Сістем» склала понад 2,4 мільярда гривень, із ПрАТ «Синтез Ойл» – понад 1,6 мільярда гривень.

До того ж, починаючи із січня 2020 року інший вид сировини для генерування електроенергії – газ – почала постачати на «Центренерго» ТОВ «Юнайтед енерджі». У січні-травні 2020 року «Юнайтед Енерджі» продало «Центренерго» щонайменше 22,6 мільйонів кубометрів газу на загальну суму понад 103 млн гривень. Ще 5,8 мільйонів гривень держкомпанія заплатила цій приватній фірмі за бронювання потужностей.

І «Рекорд Сістем», і «Синтез Ойл» продавали вугілля «Центренерго» за цінами, подекуди вищими ринкових. 

Наприклад, у березні «Рекорд Сістем» постачала суміш газових видів вугілля на станції «Центренерго» за середньою ціною у майже 2,6 тисяч гривень. Тоді як її найближчі конкуренти – за 1,9 тисячі. А ринкова пропозиція на подібне вугілля була на рівні від 1,68 тисячі гривень за тонну. У січні 2020-го «Центренерго» купувало у ТОВ «Синтез Ойл» тонну вугілля марки «Г» та «Т» за 2,2 тис грн, в той час як на ринку можна було придбати за 1,85 тис грн, тобто дешевше на 20%.

ТОВ «Юнайтед енерджі» – компанія-постачальник газу на «Центренерго» – закумулювала кошти на посередництві. Це сталося завдяки «пільговій» ціні, за якою «Укрнафта» (контрольний пакет акцій належить державі, понад 42% акцій контролюють структури, кінцевим бенефіціаром яких є в тому числі Ігор Коломойський) продавала газ «Юнайтед Енерджі». «Укрнафта» продавала «Юнайтед Енерджі» газ за ціною 3,5-3,9 тис гривень за тисячу кубометрів. А «Юнайтед Енерджі» постачала газ на «Центренерго» на 33-49% дорожче – 5,2 тисяч гривень за тисячу кубометрів.

Усі три компанії – «Рекорд Сістем» і «Синтез Ойл», які продавали «Центренерго» вугілля, та «Юнайтед Енерджі» (продавала «Центренерго» газ) – мають ознаки повязаності з олігархом Ігорем Коломойським.

Відповідно до реєстру юридичних осіб, фірмою «Рекорд Сістем» володіє 29-річний одесит Роман Фесенко. До цього він бізнесом не займався, навчався в Одеському технікумі залізничного транспорту. На питання журналістів відповідати він відмовився.

Водночас адреса реєстрації ТОВ «Рекорд Сістем» – Одеса, вулиця Вапняна, 54 – виводить на ланцюжок компаній, зазначають журналісти. Відповідно до даних реєстру юридичних осіб, за цією ж адресою зареєстроване ТОВ «Нефтекс». Володіє цією компанією ПАТ «Ексімнафтопродукт», яке контролюють п’ять кіпрських компаній (Prescona Management Ltd, Portial Trading Ltd, Clanton Consulting Ltd, Inofos Management Ltd, Conlar Holdings Ltd). 

Чотири з п’яти цих же кіпрських структур (за винятком Conlar Holdings Ltd) володіють і «Синтез Ойл» – другим постачальником вугілля на «Центренерго».

Portial Trading Ltd, Clanton Consulting Ltd та Inofos Management Ltd фігурували в оприлюдненому реєстрі фінансово-промислових груп та юридичних осіб Державної податкової служби як компанії-нерезиденти бізнес-групи Ігоря Коломойського та його бізнес-партнера Геннадія Боголюбова.

Крім того, співзасновком Portial Trading Ltd виступають фірми Visic Investments Limited та Marigold Trust Asset Management. Обидві фігурували у списку компаній Коломойського і Боголюбова у справі Приватбанку у США. Крім того, Marigold Trust Asset Management була присутня у засновниках усіх чотирьох кіпрських компаній, які володіють ПрАТ «Синтез Ойл».

Аналіз документів про фінансово-господарську діяльність «Юнайтед Енерджі» – постачальника газу на «Центренерго» – теж виявив зв’язок зі структурами Ігоря Коломойського. Основними постачальниками газу для цієї фірми наприкінці 2019 року та у 2020 роцістали два підприємства: вже згадана «Укрнафта», від якої поступило понад 72% сировини, та «Представництво «Моментум Ентерпрайзес (Істерн Юроп) Лімітед», частка якої в поставках склала 22%. Остання зареєстрована на Кіпрі, а українські видання «Дзеркало тижня» та «Бізнес Цензор» вказували на афілійованість цієї компанії з Ігорем Коломойським. 

За цими документами, покупцями значних об’ємів газу та електроенергії у «Юнайтед Енерджі» є також і інші підприємства, пов’язані із Коломойським. Це Покровський та Марганецький гірничо-збагачувальні комбінати, Нікопольский та Запорізький заводи феросплавів, «Дніпроазот», «Укртатнафта», «Ексімнафтопродукт», «Нафтохімік Прикарпаття», «Одесанафтопродукт», «Нафтопереробний комплекс-Галичина» та вже згаданий «Синтез Ойл». 

«Схеми» звернулись за коментарем до Ігоря Коломойського щодо його причетності до ТОВ «Рекорд Сістем», ПрАТ «Синтез Ойл» і ТОВ «Юнайтед Енерджі». Ігор Коломойський в коментарі «Схемам» заявив: «Я не маю стосунку до діяльності компаній, в яких я є акціонером. Я не ухвалюю управлінські рішення. Я в компанії «Синтез Ойл» наче акціонер, але я в цьому не впевнений», – розповів він. Також Коломойський заперечив свою причетність до «Рекорд Сістем» і «Юнайтед Енерджі» та повідомив, що йому не відомо про постачання вугілля його компаніями на «Центренерго».

Отримати коментар Володимира Потапенка, який до кінця травня 2020-го року виконував обов’язки генерального директора «Центренерго», а нині – член дирекції держкомпанії, «Схемам» поки не вдалось. 

«Схеми» також намагалися поспілкуватися з директором компанії «Юнайтед Енерджі» Андрієм Короткевичем-Лещенком. Однак на дзвінки та повідомлення він не відповів.

У компанії «Укрнафта» зазначили: «Укрнафта» готова продавати газ будь-якому трейдеру, готовому здійснювати покупку на умовах: попередня оплата, використання формульного ціноутворення, гарантований викуп ресурсу. По-друге, ПАТ «Укрнафта» не має відомостей щодо подальшої реалізації газу компаніями, які придбали останній у ПАТ «Укрнафта». По-третє, «Центренерго» не зверталися до нас із приводу купівлі природного газу».

Голова ФДМУ Дмитро Сенниченко стверджує, що «Центренерго» за останні роки став «центром корупції».

Кабінет міністрів 26 лютого 2020 року погодив пропозицію ФДМ про призначення новим виконувачем обов’язків гендиректора «Центренерго» колишнього менеджера компанії «ТехНова» (Чернігівська ТЕЦ) Олександра Корчинського. Це рішення було заблоковано Окружним адміністративним судом Києва, і зняти судову заборону вдалося тільки наприкінці травня.

До складу «Центренерго» входять три ТЕС: Вуглегірська (Донецька область), Зміївська (Харківська область) і Трипільська (Київська область), сумарна проектна потужність яких становить 7 660 МВт, це близько 14% від загальної потужності електростанцій України. Державі належить понад 78% компанії.
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As large crowds gather amid protests in the United States, concern is growing that the coronavirus will spread, creating more clusters of infection as states reopen their economies.  VOA’s Kane Farabaugh spoke with several medical experts in Illinois, where civil unrest and protests forced coronavirus testing sites to close in some communities, further hampering efforts to monitor the spread of the virus. 
Camera: Kane Farabaugh Produced by: Kane Farabaugh
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Charges against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd have been upgraded after public outcry about the leniency of the original charges filed four days after the May 25 incident occurred and after several nights of violent protests in the Midwestern city.On Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded the charges against Chauvin, 44, to include second-degree murder. Chauvin is accused of kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman originally charged Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on May 29.Here are definitions of those charges:Second-degree murder: According to the Minnesota statute, whoever causes the death of a human being, without intent to effect the death of any person, while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense other than criminal sexual conduct in the first or second degree with force or violence or a drive-by shooting” is guilty of murder in the second degree.Someone found guilty faces a prison sentence of no more than 40 years.Third-degree murder:According to the Minnesota statute, whoever causes the death of a person “by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree.”Someone found guilty faces a prison sentence of no more than 25 years or a fine of no more than $40,000, or both.Second-degree manslaughter:According to the Minnesota statute, when someone “creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm to another” is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree.Someone found guilty may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 10 years or required to pay a fine of not more than $20,000, or both.Also on Wednesday, Ellison charged the other three officers at the scene of Floyd’s death with aiding and abetting second-degree murder while committing a felony, and with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter with culpable negligence. Both charges are categorized as “unintentional” felonies.The three other officers are: Tou Thao, 34, J. Alexander Kueng, 26, and Thomas K. Lane, 37. All three were fired along with Chauvin from the Minneapolis police department on Tuesday. 
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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday for the removal of an iconic statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press.The governor will direct the statue to be moved off its massive pedestal and put into storage while his administration seeks input on a new location, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak before the governor’s announcement.FILE – Virginia’s Gov. Ralph Northam speaks at the 2019 African Landing Commemorative Ceremony, observing the 400-year anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia, in Hampton, Va., Aug. 24, 2019.The move comes amid turmoil across the nation and around the world over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes, even after he stopped moving.Floyd’s death has sparked outrage over issues of racism and police brutality and prompted a new wave of Confederate memorial removals in which even some of their longtime defenders have decided to remove them.The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, a prestigious residential street and National Historic Landmark district in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. It has been the target of graffiti during protests in recent days over Floyd’s death, including messages that say “end police brutality” and “stop white supremacy.”It was not immediately clear when the statue would be removed.Other tragedies in recent years have prompted similar nationwide soul-searching over Confederate monuments, which some people regard as inappropriate tributes to the South’s slaveholding past. Others compare monument removals to erasing history.Confederate memorials began coming down after a white supremacist killed nine black people at a Bible study in a church in South Carolina in 2015 and then again after a violent rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017.The Lee monument was erected in 1890, decades after the end of the Civil War.FILE – Traffic winds around the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue, April 7, 2020, in Richmond, Va.Also Wednesday, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced plans to remove the other Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, which include statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. Those statues sit on city land, unlike the Lee statue, which is on state property.Stoney said he would introduce an ordinance July 1 to have the statues removed. That’s when a new law goes into effect, which was signed earlier this year by Northam, that undoes an existing state law protecting Confederate monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate.”I appreciate the recommendations of the Monument Avenue Commission — those were the appropriate recommendations at the time. But times have changed, and removing these statues will allow the healing process to begin for so many black Richmonders and Virginians,” Stoney said. “Richmond is no longer the capital of the Confederacy — it is filled with diversity and love for all — and we need to demonstrate that.”
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 n an abrupt reversal, Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday overturned an earlier Pentagon decision to send a couple hundred active-duty soldiers home from the Washington, D.C., region, amid growing tensions with the White House over the military response to the protests.Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press that the reversal came after Esper attended a meeting at the White House, and after other internal Pentagon discussions. It is unclear if Esper met with President Donald Trump. McCarthy said he believes the change was based on ensuring there is enough military support in the region to respond to any protest problems if needed.McCarthy said he received notice of the Pentagon order to send about 200 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne’s immediate response force home just after 10 a.m. Wednesday. Hours later, the Pentagon notified him that Esper had reversed the decision. The move to keep the troops in the region, however, comes as Pentagon leaders continue to insist they do not want to use active-duty forces to help quell the protests.Earlier in the day, Esper had tamped down threats from Trump about sending troops to “dominate” the streets, telling reporters at a Pentagon news conference that he opposes using military forces for law enforcement in containing the current street protests.  Active-duty troops should be used in the U.S. “only in the most urgent and dire of situations,” He said, adding, “We are not in one of those situations now.””It is our intent at this point not to bring in active forces, we don’t think we need them at this point,” McCarthy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But it’s prudent to have the reserve capability in the queue, on a short string.”Demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, June 3, 2020, near the White House in Washington. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers.The AP reported earlier Wednesday that the 82nd Airborne soldiers would be the first to leave and would be returning home to Fort Bragg, N.C. The remainder of the active-duty troops, who have all been kept at military bases outside the city in northern Virginia and Maryland, would get pulled home in the coming days if conditions allowed.But then the Pentagon changed its plans.”It’s a dynamic situation,” said McCarthy, adding that the 82nd Airborne troops “will stay over an additional 24 hours and it is our intent — we’re trying to withdraw them and get them back home.”The active-duty troops have been available, but not used in response to the protests.About 1,300 active-duty troops were brought in to the capital region early this week as protests turned violent. The protests came in the aftermath of the death in Minnesota of a black man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes. The active-duty unit that will be last to remain on alert is the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is normally most visible as the soldiers who stand at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The troops, known as the Old Guard, are based close to D.C. at Fort Myer, Virginia, and have been on 30-minute alert status. They would continue to be prepared to respond to any emergency in the region within a half-hour for as long as needed.Pentagon leaders have consistently said there continues to be no intent to use the active-duty forces in any law enforcement capacity. They would be used to assist the National Guard or other forces.So far, Indiana has sent about 300 National Guard troops to D.C., Tennessee has sent about 1,000 and South Carolina has sent more than 400.
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Котирування нафти марки Brent зранку 3 червня зростали понад 40 доларів за барель, але не втрималися на цій позначці. Станом на 18:46 за Києвом котирування опустилися до рівня 39 доларів 15 центів за барель.

Зростання було зафіксоване після звіту Американського інституту нафти, що комерційні запаси нафти в США минулого тижня скоротилися на 483 тисячі барелів. Згодом вийшли ще більш оптимістичні для експортерів нафти офіційні міністерства енергетики США щодо запасів сировини в країні, але ринок реагував уже на нову інформацію.

Трейдери взяли до уваги роздратування Саудівської Аравії тим, що Ірак і Нігерія, на думку Ер-Ріяда, не виконують зобов’язань у межах угоди ОПЕК+. Якщо ці країни не скоротять видобуток, угода може вже через місяць, з 1 липня, припинити свою дію.

На ринок нафти нині позитивно впливає два чинники. Це поступове скорочення пов’язаних із пандемією COVID-19 обмежень і активізація економічної діяльності в більшості розвинутих країн світу, а також реалізація домовленостей про скорочення видобутку, досягнута Організацією країн-експортерів нафти (ОПЕК) і країнами-партнерами картелю, серед яких Росія, Казахстан та інші.

Учасники угоди ОПЕК+ спочатку домовилися скоротити видобуток нафти на рекордні 9,7 мільйона барелів у травні-червні, щоб компенсувати падіння світового попиту, викликане пандемією. Саудівська Аравія та її близькосхідні союзники, які добровільно пішли на ще більш глибоке скорочення видобутку, ніж передбачено умовами угоди, нині виступають за збереження квот на видобуток на поточному рівні протягом додаткових одного-трьох місяців, повідомляє Bloomberg із посиланням інформоване джерело.

Ціни на нафту закрили зростанням вже п’ять тижнів поспіль.
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Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended his decision to open a special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, telling a Senate panel Wednesday that while there was “reasonable suspicion” for the probe, he should not have signed an application for a surveillance warrant against a Trump campaign adviser.The Senate Judiciary Committee called Rosenstein in to testify about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the first step in a broader effort by the Republican-majority U.S. Senate to investigate alleged abuses on the part of Obama administration officials, as well as presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.Chair of the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham of South Carolina prepares to hear testimony from former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, June 3, 2020.Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is set to issue 53 subpoenas Thursday, in an attempt to compel testimony from former Obama administration officials, including former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Last month, the Senate Homeland Security Committee approved a subpoena for Blue Star Strategies, the consulting firm that employed Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.The investigation by Senate Republicans — coming five months before the 2020 presidential election — revives President Donald Trump’s long-standing claims there was a conspiracy within the Obama administration to hinder his bid for the presidency and later, his incoming administration.”There are millions of Americans pretty upset about this,” Graham said in his opening statement. “There are people on our side of the aisle who believe that this investigation, Crossfire Hurricane, was one of the most corrupt, biased criminal investigations in the history of the FBI. And we would like to see something done about it.”A Justice Department investigation found last year that the FBI had committed errors in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, including mistakes in an application to put former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page under surveillance. However, the investigation did not find any evidence of political bias by federal investigators, as Trump alleges.Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questions former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein via teleconference during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 3, 2020.Rosenstein told lawmakers Thursday he would not have signed the warrant authorizing surveillance of Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) if he had been aware of the errors in the application.”Every application that I approved appeared to be justified based on the facts it alleged, and the FBI was supposed to be following protocols to ensure that every fact was verified,” Rosenstein said in his opening testimony.Rosenstein defended the recusal of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that put him in charge, calling Sessions one of the most “principled people in Washington.” He also described the decision-making process leading to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, telling lawmakers “appointing a special counsel was the best way to complete the investigation appropriately and to promote public confidence in its conclusions.”Rosenstein left the Justice Department in May 2019 after two stormy years as the deputy attorney and shortly after Mueller had completed his investigation.Democratic Senator from California Dianne Feinstein prepares to hear testimony from former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, June 3, 2020.Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democratic member on the Judiciary Committee, noted the Mueller investigation “uncovered more than a 120 contacts between the Trump campaign and individuals linked to Russia.”Feinstein went on to directly quote from the Mueller report, citing its findings that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from Russia’s interference” and that members of the campaign lied to Mueller and the U.S. Congress about their contacts with Russia.Democrats have criticized efforts to investigate the Obama administration, saying that Republicans are using congressional resources to help the president’s personal political fortunes while there are more pressing issues.”Those who tuned in might have expected that we’d have a hearing concerning the public health crisis facing America, the pandemic, which we’re fighting every day, which has claimed over 100,000 American lives,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said Wednesday.”They might even wonder if we would take up the issue of racism in the administration of justice in America,” he added. “Certainly a timely topic, but we’re not. They might wonder if we would ask a question about President Trump’s suggestion 48 hours ago that he would have a federal militarization of law enforcement across the United States. Certainly a significant constitutional issue. But no, not taking that up today. Instead, taking up the Mueller report, an investigation that was completed more than a year ago.”Chairman Graham has announced the committee does plan to hold a hearing on police use of force.  
 
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