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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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Wednesday made his first visit to the site in Minneapolis where George Floyd, an African American man whose death while in police custody sparked a week of protests around the world, died.A makeshift memorial with tributes to Floyd is at the site, where Walz called for justice and an examination of racism.At the site, Walz personally apologized to the CNN reporter and camera crew who were arrested last week during protests.Walz said he had to come to the site to personally and viscerally feel the pain the community is feeling over Floyd’s death, the latest in series of deaths of African Americans in encounters with police.Walz told CNN the protests and subsequent discussions about systemic racism in the United States were providing leaders with what he thought might be the last, best chance to address the issue.“I don’t think we get another chance to fix this in this country. I really don’t,” he said.
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Hundreds of cities have imposed curfews to keep the peace during a week of violent unrest across the U.S., employing a tactic that gives law enforcement sweeping arrest powers but is frequently flouted and criticized as being unconstitutional.From New York City to Fargo, North Dakota, cities large and small have put curfews in place — in some cases for the first time in decades — sending out emergency notices on phones and highway signs urging people to stay off the streets.But the deadlines aren’t hard and fast — many of them have exceptions for people heading to and from work, reporters, public transportation and even people buying groceries. Many protesters and citizens have routinely disregarded the restrictions, and police have allowed peaceful demonstrations to continue after curfew while focusing their attention on violent unrest.In New York City, an 11 p.m. curfew was originally put in place this week for what appeared to be the first time in nearly 80 years. Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled it back to 8 p.m., but thousands of people defied the curfew Tuesday night, continuing to march in parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. After initially standing by and letting protesters continue, officers began ordering people to leave and some people were taken into custody.On an overall calmer night in New York City, de Blasio said the relative quiet was due partly to the curfew. ” So far, the curfew is certainly helping, based on everything I’ve seen in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the last three hours,” de Blasio tweeted.A curfew allows police the ability without any other reason to threaten to arrest or detain crowds of protesters that linger or groups that appear to be a danger to order. And curfews can be a deterrent to get law-abiding citizens off the street and allow police to focus their efforts on the unrest and not get bogged down in run-of-the-mill violations.They have been installed in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, Philadelphia and hundreds of other cities and communities across the country.Curfews aren’t unusual in the United States but are typically used in natural disasters like hurricanes, floods and tornadoes to allow law enforcement to stop anyone on the streets and prevent stealing when many homes and empty or damaged. New York City has used curfews in specific locations like parks — sometimes with controversial results.The 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot in Manhattan had to do in part with a then-newly imposed 1 a.m. parks department curfew in a bid to rid the park of drugs and crime. In enforcing the curfew, police flooded the park with officers and were accused of rampant abuses.Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani ramped up enforcement of Central Park’s nightly closure after a string of robberies in the late 1990s. Giuliani was so strict about the curfew, he wouldn’t grant an exception for a late-night vigil to John Lennon, despite intercession from the lord mayor of Liverpool on behalf of aggrieved Beatles fans.During the unrest of the past week, police also want bystanders off the street during unrest — and the curfew solves that.”The curfew really is to keep people from coming sort of to gawk at what’s going on and keep the looky-loos away,” said Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen, whose city’s 8 p.m. Monday curfew appeared to help prevent the destructive demonstrations from the night before.The curfews also come on the heels of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, making for an unprecedented stretch in cities like New York.In Columbia, South Carolina, officials lifted a weekend curfew and the mayor joined an afternoon protest at the state capitol calling for police reform. But several dozen people stayed for hours after the protest ended as tensions with police grew as shadows got longer.Just before 7:30 p.m. Monday, Columbia, South Carolina , Mayor Steve Benjamin set a curfew for 7:45 p.m. for a small area of downtown and an areas of restaurants and shops. The city sent an emergency notice and protesters looked at their screens as their phones started to buzz and the curfew set in. The protesters immediately started to walk away.But some civil rights organizations think hastily issued curfews are unfair and against the First Amendment of the Constitution.”By making presence on public streets anywhere in these cities unlawful, these measures give police too much discretion over whom to arrest,” said the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California after a number of cities issued curfews.New York City on Monday found out an unintended consequence of a curfew is keeping away law-abiding protesters. The night before, they banded together to stop vandalism and help police find lawbreakers.It also sends a subtle message, said New York City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez.”Implementing a curfew and increasing the number of police officers patrolling the streets is a tactic to effectively silence the voices raised in protest against the abuse of power and looting of black and colored bodies by members of the police,” Rodriguez said.Curfews can cause other problems too. Charleston, South Carolina, had a curfew for three days after late night Saturday protests led to shattered windows for restaurants and businesses and stolen merchandise downtown.Monday night was quiet. And Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said he immediately heard from a certain group of people.”We want to give our businesses a chance to get back into business,” Tecklenburg told his City Council at a Tuesday meeting lifting the curfew.A curfew also allows police to separate people who want to protest while following the law from people who want to cause harm, said Tamara Herold, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. That makes it easier for law enforcement to decide how to use force to break up unrest.”One of the things police always want to avoid is using indiscriminate force against a large crowd,” Herold said. 
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Ціни на основні фрукти і ягоди в Україні через несприятливі погодні умови цього року є значно вищими, ніж у 2019 році й перебувають на історично високому рівні, повідомляє Українська плодоовочева асоціація.

За даними асоціації, найбільше подорожчали полуниця, черешня та яблуко.

«Найбільше, станом на початок червня, зросли гуртові ціни на суницю садову (полуницю) – в середньому в 2,6 раза. Головною причиною, на думку фахівців Української плодоовочевої асоціації, став вплив несприятливих погодних умов на врожай ягоди. Кілька хвиль заморозків, остання з яких була в другій половині травня, чого раніше ніколи не було в історії, знищили значну частину врожаю. Тому пропозиція суниці різко знизилася по відношенню до торішнього показника, а ціни, відповідно, залишаються високими. Ситуація ускладнюється прохолодною і похмурою погодою в більшості виробничих регіонів, що відтягує сезон дозрівання ягоди», – йдеться в повідомленні.

В асоціації наголошують, що зниження врожаю суниці садової та високий рівень цін можуть мати негативний вплив на перспективи експорту цієї ягоди в замороженому вигляді. Найімовірніше, пропозиція сировини для заморозки в цьому році знизиться, додали в УПОА.

«Майже так само різко, як і суниця, подорожчали черешня і яблуко. Про те, що основна частина врожаю черешні загинула внаслідок заморозків, зазначалося раніше. Це і є головною причиною високих цін на неї – цих фруктів просто занадто мало, і купити черешню гуртом не так вже й просто. Також негативний вплив на врожай і його якість чинять рясні опади, що пройшли в більшості регіонів країни в останні два тижні», – йдеться в повідомленні.

В УПОА зазначають, що ціни на яблука залишалися високими весь сезон через зниження їх урожаю в 2019 році.

Ціни на грушу за рік зросли на 30-35% і зараз на українському ринку можна знайти переважно імпортну грушу, кажуть асоціації.

Водночас, за даними плодоовочевої асоціації, з імпортних фруктів найменше зросли ціни на банани. «Фактично банан за рік подорожчав у середньому на 2-4% в оптовій торгівлі, що робить його найбільш доступним після яблука фруктом. Ціни на лимон зараз у середньому на 25% вищі, ніж роком раніше, а на апельсин – на 40%. Попит на ці фрукти різко зріс у розпал пандемії коронавірусу, тому ціни на них також залишаються досить високими», – йдеться в повідомленні.

В асоціації очікують, що найближчим часом на ринку України збільшиться пропозиція імпортного абрикоса з Туреччини, Узбекистану й Іспанії. «На жаль, сади абрикоса в Україні також сильно постраждали від заморозків, і врожай власних кісточкових фруктів буде вкрай низьким. Природно, що очікувати низьких цін на абрикос у цьому сезоні також не доводиться», – повідомили в УПОА.

Єдиною ягодою, на яку в цьому сезоні ціни можуть бути нижчими, ніж минулого року, може стати лохина, кажуть в асоціації. Вона теж постраждала від заморозків, але «вступ в плодоношення великих площ лохини в цьому році, має компенсувати фактор зниження врожайності».

Наприкінці минулого тижня Нацбанк в економічному огляді тижня повідомляв, що протягом тижня ціни на продукти харчування у середньому не змінилися, а подорожчання виробів з борошна і фруктів було компенсоване зниженням цін на свинину, овочі та шоколад.
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Національний банк України встановив на 4 червня курс 26 гривень 75 копійок за долар, це на п’ять копійок менше за офіційний курс на 3 червня. Посилення гривні триває вже п’ятий день поспіль – після того, як минулого тижня вперше за більш як місяць курс сягнув 27 гривень за долар.

Торги на українському міжбанківському валютному ринку завершуються на схожому з офіційним рівні – 26 гривень 73–75 копійок за долар, свідчать дані Finance.ua станом на 16:15 за Києвом.

Аналітики сайту «Мінфін» прогнозували, що після проведеного у вівторок аукціону з продажу ОВДП «бюджет отримає ресурсів більше, ніж поверне сьогодні в банківську систему, і це зіграє у середу на користь гривні».

Міністерство фінансів України 2 червня на суму 2 мільярди 946 мільйонів гривень розмістило номіновані в національній валюті облігації внутрішньої державної позики (ОВДП) зі строком погашення 3, 6, 9 місяців та 1 рік. Попит на ці папери був удвічі вищим, ніж обсяг задоволених заявок.

 
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Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport sprang back to life Wednesday as Italy opened regional and international borders in the final phase of easing its long coronavirus lockdown, but it was still an open question how other nations would accept Italian visitors.
Families and loved ones separated by the global pandemic could finally reunite but normalcy was a long way off.
Italy is the first European country to fully open its international borders, dropping the 14-day quarantine requirement for visitors. But most European nations see Italy’s move — which aims to boost its collapsed yet critical tourism industry — as premature. Many of them are moving to open only on June 15 — and some even much later than that.WATCH: Sabina Castelfranco’s video report Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File Embed” />Copy Download AudioWho gets to go where in Europe this summer is shaping up to be determined by where you live, what passport you carry and how hard hit your region has been during the pandemic.
At Rome’s international airport, Andrea Monti embraced his girlfriend, Katherina Scherf, in an emotional reunion as she arrived from Duesseldorf, Germany.  
“We haven’t seen each other since before the pandemic,” Monti said.  
Still, the airport remained lightly used even though Italy’s national holiday on Tuesday normally kicks off the summer domestic tourism season. It was scheduled to handle several thousand passengers on Wednesday, compared to 110,00 passengers on the same day last year.  
Italy also resumed high-speed train service between regions for the first time since the lockdown in early March, checking departing passengers’ temperatures as they accessed the tracks.  
Europe-wide, rules on cross-border travel were a patchwork of regulations if not a complete mishmash.  
Germany said Wednesday that it plans to lift a travel warning for European countries from June 15 but it may still advise against travel in some cases, for example to Britain if quarantine rules there remain.
Germany issued a warning against all nonessential foreign travel in March. The aim is to change that for Germany’s 26 European Union partners, other countries outside the EU that are part of Europe’s passport-free Schengen travel area, and Britain.
Austria said it is ending border checks with all its neighbors except for Italy, due to lingering concerns about coronavirus infections there, particularly hard-hit Lombardy. Italy’s neighbor, France, also is looking at opening its borders on June 15 — although French citizens who cross over in the meantime are no longer subject to quarantines upon their return.  
The British government was confirming plans Wednesday to impose a 14-day quarantine for people arriving in the country starting next week, despite pleas from the travel industry to drop the idea and criticism from others that the move comes way to late to tamp down the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
Britain has seen nearly 39,500 deaths linked to the virus, the highest death toll in Europe and second-highest in the world after the United States. Europe overall has seen 175,000 deaths in the pandemic.
Britain is also talking to other countries about setting up “air bridges” that would allow certain countries or regions to be exempted from quarantine rules. British tourists make up a large portion of visitors to Spain and Portugal.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva told the BBC that diplomats from the U.K. and Portugal ” will work together in order to guarantee that British tourists coming to Portugal would not be subjected on their return to England to any kind of quarantine.”
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French police fired tear gas early on Wednesday to disperse protesters marking the 2016 death of a black man in a police operation that some have likened to the death of George Floyd in the United States. Reuters reporters saw police use tear gas after some of the protesters started fires and set up barricades around the Avenue de Clichy in northern Paris, which was littered with rubbish and broken glass. Thousands of people assembled earlier for a demonstration in memory of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old black Frenchman who died in a 2016 police operation. The protesters were defying a police ban imposed because of the risk of disorder and the danger of spreading the novel coronavirus. The demonstration had drawn attention on social media of people supporting the “Black Lives Matter” movement and those backing U.S. protests in response to the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes. Traore’s family blamed excessive force during his arrest, when he 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. 
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Singaporeans got perms and car repairs Tuesday when the first phase of life after lockdown began, but that will not be enough economic activity to stave off what looks to be the worst recession in the state’s history. If Singapore’s economy shrinks between 4% and 7% in 2020 because of Covid-19, which is what the trade ministry forecast last week, that would be the biggest downturn on record. The current record is from 1964, when the post-colonial economy shrank 3.1%, according to data from the World Bank. As an election looms, raising the stakes for decision makers, other records are being broken. The downturn forced Singapore to dip into its reserves, marking the first time that it has done so twice in a year. The island nation has tapped into savings to unveil yet another stimulus, the “Fortitude Budget,” to help those hurt by the virus emergency. The budget gives 33 billion Singapore dollars for programs such as wage subsidies, worker training and digitalization of things like payments and invoicing. Soh Pui Ming, who heads the tax division of consulting firm Ernst & Young Solutions LLP, said she is particularly impressed by the aid for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) “The Fortitude Budget continues to provide timely financial relief to businesses and individuals, while adopting a forward-looking approach,” she said. “I am most impressed with how the government is using this downtime to help our SMEs accelerate their transformation and upskill our workforce.” The parliament will take up debate on the budget on Thursday, which is the fourth aid package of the year, after the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, adding up to 92.9 billion Singapore dollars in aid. Hong Kong tailwind Nearby Hong Kong faces an existential crisis after China passed a law to crack down on perceived security threats on the island. For business fleeing the Hong Kong turmoil, Singapore is a common alternative. Inflows have started already, with foreign currency deposits in Singapore banks in April at nearly four times the amount in April 2019, according to data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank.  That is only one example of the tailwinds in Singapore despite COVID-19. Some businesses that will grow in 2020 are those dealing in biomedical products and information technology, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. There “are pockets of resilience in the Singapore economy,” the ministry said in a press release last week.  With the economy reopening further on Tuesday, Singaporeans got to work in new ways. Some had to scan QR codes when they entered office buildings, part of a national program to trace contacts of people who get infected with the virus. Others added sanitation procedures like using machines to sterilize objects.  “We are doing our part to combat the spread of the virus by encouraging our customers to shop online,” Wendy Han, co-founder of a floral shop in Singapore called Floristique, said. “Even after more and more firms resume business as usual at their physical stores, we will still encourage our customers and our team to practice effective social distancing.” 
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Національний банк України 3 червня вводить в обіг монету номіналом 10 гривень, які поступово замінять відповідні банкноти. Про це повідомила пресслужба НБУ.

«Першочергово Національний банк уведе в обіг понад 5 млн монет номіналом 10 гривень. Вони уже розподілені між підрозділами Національного банку в регіонах (Київ, Дніпро, Львів, Одеса, Харків, Хмельницький). Відсьогодні банки можуть отримувати оновлені грошові знаки в Національному банку й видавати їх своїм клієнтам», – мовиться у повідомленні.

Зазначається, що нова монета більша, ніж монети номіналом 1,2 та 5 гривень.

«Зокрема, вона має гурт з спеціальним крупним рифленням, що дозволить легко її відрізнити від обігових монет інших номіналів», – додали у банку.

В Україні з 2014 року триває процес оптимізації та оновлення банкнотно-монетного ряду гривні, щоб забезпечити головним чином обіг більш захищених від підроблень банкнот і зручність готівкових розрахунків. Введення в обіг нових обігових монет номіналом 10 гривень, як очікується, завершить цей процес.
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The daughter of an Iranian scientist who had been under U.S. prosecution or detention since 2016 says U.S. authorities have deported her father, a move that U.S. and Iranian officials said is not part of another prisoner swap between the two longtime enemies.In a Monday post on her “Free Professor Sirous Asgari” Facebook group created in March, California-based Zahra Asgari said she was sharing “good news” that her father was flying to Iran and would be back in the country this week. She also thanked friends for supporting her campaign for his release from U.S. custody.  The 59-year old materials science professor had been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since his November acquittal in a U.S. federal court case.  The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio dismissed charges that Asgari stole trade secrets while working at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University, ruling that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence. Prosecutors had filed the indictment against Asgari in April 2016.  ICE had flown Asgari between several U.S. detention centers in the months after his acquittal, as U.S. officials said they were trying to deport him to Iran but ran into difficulties in arranging passenger flights with the coronavirus disrupting international air travel.  Asgari was transferred to the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, his final stop before deportation, in March. The following month, he contracted the coronavirus at the facility, prompting U.S. authorities to say they were further delaying his departure until he recovered.  In May, some U.S. media and commentators speculated that Asgari could be deported in return for Iran freeing Michael R. White, a Navy veteran whom it arrested in 2018 as he visited his girlfriend in Mashhad and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly insulting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  Iran released White into the custody of the Swiss embassy in Tehran in March after he exhibited coronavirus symptoms but has refused to let him leave the country. Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei fueled the speculation of White’s possible release by telling state-approved news site Khabaronline last month that Tehran was “ready” for a full prisoner exchange with the U.S.  U.S. officials dismissed the speculation, saying they were working to secure White’s release independently of Asgari’s case and had received no formal prisoner swap offers from Iran. Washington long has accused Tehran of unjustly holding White and several other Americans on trumped up charges and demanded their release. Tehran has called for the U.S. to release an undefined number of Iranians who have been jailed or restricted in their movements by U.S. courts as they face prosecution but has shown little public or private support for those individuals. Iran Silent on 12 Iranians Detained by US Despite Pledge to Swap Prisoners Again Iran has said nothing publicly about 12 Iranian citizens under prosecution or convicted of crimes in US since December prisoner swap and appears to have done little to help them In a Tuesday statement to VOA Persian, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus reiterated Washington’s view of the Asgari case, saying he “is not and has never been a participant in any prisoner swap with Iran.” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi had acknowledged that Asgari’s release was not part of a prisoner swap in comments to Iranian state TV earlier Tuesday.Responding to a Monday tweet about Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announcing that Asgari was flying back to Iran, acting U.S. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli also reiterated his accusation that Iran had been stalling U.S. efforts to deport Asgari for months. In an interview with the Associated Press last month, Cuccinelli said Iran had refused to provide Asgari a valid passport until late February and was refusing to charter a plane to pick him up.  “We wish Iran was so enthusiastic to get its illegal nationals back as they would have us all believe, so how about the Iranians take the other 10 currently in ICE custody with removal orders?” Cuccinelli wrote in his Monday tweet. “If Zarif wasn’t blowing smoke, they would have already made arrangements for these other 10. But instead, they stall.”  The Department of Homeland Security has declined to comment on VOA Persian’s request for the names of the other 10 Iranians in ICE custody.  The last, rare U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange happened December 7, when Iran freed Chinese American academic Xiyue Wang in return for the U.S. releasing Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani. The swap happened in Zurich through Swiss mediation.*/

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Timeline of Sirous Asgari’s Prosecution and Detention by USIranian materials science professor Sirous Asgari had been under U.S. prosecution or detention for the past four years, until being deported from the U.S. on June 1, 2020. Below are the key events in his legal troubles in the U.S. April 20, 2016Indicted by federal prosecutors on April 20, 2016 on charges of stealing trade secrets while working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.October 2017Allowed to remain free on bond with GPS monitoring through the end of his trial. May 5, 2020Awaiting deportation to Iran once declared medically fit to travel, according to ICE spokesman quoted by Reuters.May 11, 2020Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters that once Asgari tests negative for the coronavirus, “he will return to the country with the first flight”. U.S. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli responded on the same date by tweeting a demand for Iran to “stop stalling” and charter a plane to pick him up.June 2, 2020The U.S. deports Sirous Asgari and he is sent back to Iran.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Cindy Saine contributed from the State Department. 
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A Confederate soldiers’ monument that stood in Birmingham, Alabama, for more than 100 years is no more.Construction workers Tuesday dismantled the last piece of the five-story structure after Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered it gone.The mayor acted Sunday after a group of demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis threatened to tear down the monument themselves. They had already vandalized it and destroyed a statue of Confederate Navy Captain Charles Linn, one of Birmingham’s founders.”Allow me to finish the job for you. I wanted you to hear it directly from me. But I need you to stand down,” Woodfin told the crowd before declaring a state of emergency and curfew in Birmingham.Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has sued the city, accusing it of violating a state law ordering protecting Confederate memorials that are at least 40 years old.The Washington Post reported that a statue honoring Confederate troops in Alexandria, Virginia — a Washington suburb — was taken also taken down Tuesday.Demonstrators in Nashville took matters in their own hands and tore down the statue of Edward Carmack, a former state lawmaker and newspaper publisher who espoused racist views, who was gunned down in the streets of Nashville in 1908, according to the Tennessean newspaper.FILE – Protesters toppled the statue of Edward Carmack outside the state Capitol after a peaceful demonstration turned violent, in Nashville, Tenn., May 31, 2020.And outside Tampa, Florida, a Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter voluntarily lowered a huge Confederate battle flag that flew within sight of two major highways for years.City and state officials across the southern U.S. have been removing Civil War Confederate-era memorials over the past several years.African Americans and others call the structures monuments to slavery, institutionalized racism, and terror.Alabama statue of LinnSarah Collins Rudolph’s sister Addie Mae Collins was one of four black girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham by Ku Klux Klansmen — one of the most shocking acts of violence during the civil rights era.”I’m glad it’s been removed because it has been so long, and we know that it’s a hate monument,” said Rudolph, referring to the Linn monument. “It didn’t represent the blacks. It just represented the hard times back there a long time ago.”Rudolph continued, “The things that we were fighting for in the ’60s aren’t solved yet. We shouldn’t be treated the way they treat us.”A large group of southern states broke away from the United States in the 19th century in part to preserve the institution of slavery. Other areas of disagreement with the northern states included states’ rights and westward expansion. The resulting Civil War from 1861 until 1865 resulted in the official end of slavery in the U.S. when Congress passed the 13th Amendment three months before the Confederate surrender. 
 
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The Trump administration floated the idea of taking control of Washington’s police department amid nationwide protests over police brutality, according to media reports on Tuesday.U.S. President Donald Trump said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Monday he would deploy thousands of soldiers and law enforcement officers to halt violence in the U.S. capital and threatened to do the same in other cities.”I think you heard the president yesterday that he wanted a show of force in D.C. and we know that they examined a lot of ways to do that,” Muriel Bowser, the city’s mayor, told reporters Tuesday.Her office told reporters the Trump administration had floated the idea of federalizing the district’s 4,000-member police force, the Washington Post and the local NBC affiliate reported earlier.The district’s Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.FILE – Tear gas floats in the air as a line of police move demonstrators away from St. John’s Church across Lafayette Park from the White House, as they gather to protest the death of George Floyd, in Washington, June 1, 2020.Washington, D.C., is among several U.S. cities engulfed by protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died in police custody in Minneapolis after an officer, who was later fired and charged with murder and manslaughter, pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for some nine minutes.Protesters outside the White House were forcibly pushed back and reported being tear-gassed by police on Monday before Trump walked to a nearby church.A White House spokesman said the U.S. Park Police were reacting after the protesters ignored orders to clear the area. The U.S. Park Police confirmed the statement and said smoke canisters and pepper balls were employed.Special statusWashington, D.C.’s special status means its 700,000 residents pay federal taxes but don’t have political representation in the U.S. capitol, and local politicians have less control over law enforcement.U.S. state governors are in control of the local national guard, but in Washington the guard reports to the president. The city is also home to dozens of federal agencies with their own active law enforcement.The protests come as millions of Americans are unemployed as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened 1.8 million and killed more than 105,000 people in the United States. 
 
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North Carolina’s Democratic governor on Tuesday refused Republican demands for a full-fledged presidential convention in the state this summer, telling organizers that planning for a scaled-down event was “a necessity” due to the coronavirus. Governor Roy Cooper sent his letter to Republican Party leaders a day before the deadline President Donald Trump set for the state to guarantee that convention attendance in Charlotte would not be limited by social distancing restrictions. Cooper said he could make no such promise for the four-day nominating convention scheduled to open August 24. Without knowing how the COVID-19 outbreak will continue to unfold, he said, “planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity.” Republican officials so far have submitted proposals for a “full convention” rather than one with fewer participants and social distancing as requested by the state, Cooper said. “As much as we want the conditions surrounding COVID-19 to be favorable enough for you to hold the convention you describe in late August, it is very unlikely,” Cooper said. Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a Twitter post that the party would consider other locations for the convention and “begin visiting the multiple cities and states who have reached out to us.” Republican officials are planning to visit Nashville, Tennessee, this week, according to a person familiar with discussions. The RNC also is considering a split convention, with the votes on platform and rules taking place in Charlotte and the speeches and pageantry taking place in another city, such as Jacksonville, Florida, or Las Vegas, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Democrats have delayed their convention in Milwaukee and left the door open to a revised format.  
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