The Guardian Longreads: Who killed the prime minister? The unsolved murder that still haunts Sweden

The mystery of Palme’s death has become a national obsession. “One of my earliest memories is of my parents discussing who killed Palme,” a friend I met while living in Sweden for the past couple of years told me. “I can’t describe to you how deep this is in the Swedish soul.” The murder has inspired films, plays and music, and has even been cited as a factor in the worldwide explosion of Scandinavian crime fiction. A number of Swedish amateur detectives have devoted much of their lives to solving the case. Investigating it has led some of them to break the law and driven others to something approaching madness. [...]

On Sveavägen, where the shooting occurred, shock seemed to have taken over. Police failed to cordon off the crime scene properly, covering too small an area. One of the bullets was not found until two days later, when it was picked up from the pavement by a passerby. Mourners arriving in the hours after Palme’s death slipped past the tape to place flowers near the pool of blood; by trampling the crime scene, they rendered future searches for the killer’s footprints useless. Key witnesses were allowed to leave the scene without being interviewed. Löfgren, the broadcast journalist, was out in the area that night and hailed a cab to take him home. The driver had witnessed the killing but had not been questioned, Löfgren recalled with disbelief. “I phoned the police and said: ‘This guy here claims that he was a witness to the murder, and he’s still out driving a cab?!’” [...]

By the start of the 1990s, so much time and money had been spent fruitlessly pursuing Pettersson and the PKK that basic questions about the night of the murder remained unanswered. Where was the murder weapon, which was believed to be a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum revolver? Why were witness reports of men with walkie talkies near the site of the killing not taken seriously? Was the police incompetence too extreme to be accidental? [...]

The first group was made up of pro-apartheid members of South Africa’s security and intelligence services. Palme was an outspoken opponent of the apartheid regime, and his government had given millions in humanitarian aid to Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress. Theories about South African involvement in his murder have circulated since the earliest days of the case. They became particularly popular in 1996, when a former commander of a South African police hit squad alleged that Palme’s killing was part of Operation Long Reach, a top-secret programme to neutralise opposition to the apartheid government at home and abroad. In 1982, members of this operation had killed the anti-apartheid activist Ruth First in Mozambique and bombed the ANC’s London office.

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Today in Focus: Who is trying to ban abortion in the US?

Janet Porter believes life begins at conception and has spent the last 10 years lobbying on the fringes of the US abortion debate. Many on the left and right despise her, but in Donald Trump’s US, she has just had one of the biggest victories of her life. Porter successfully lobbied Ohio’s legislature to pass one of the strictest abortion bans in the world in April – the “heartbeat bill” would make the procedure illegal about six weeks into pregnancy. Alabama followed in May with an even more restrictive version, outlawing abortion at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for those resulting from rape or incest. Six-week bans have been introduced in 15 states, although none are currently in effect.

Jessica Glenza, the Guardian’s US health reporter, tells Anushka Asthana about her meeting with Porter. With the recent appointment of two Trump-nominated supreme court justices and a growing number of anti-abortion federal judges, the ultimate aim of anti-abortion activists and lawmakers is to mount a challenge to Roe v Wade, the 1973 court decision that legalised abortion in the US.

And: Serena Daniari on why achieving a higher voice can be essential to embracing a female identity, and can provide a cloak of protection from bias and bigotry.

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Politico: Pelosi tells Dems she wants to see Trump ‘in prison’

“I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi said, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with the meeting. Instead of impeachment, Pelosi still prefers to see Trump defeated at the ballot box and then prosecuted for his alleged crimes, according to the sources.

They said she was expressing solidarity with pro-impeachment Democrats who want to hold the president accountable while disputing the idea that it is now time to take that step. Pelosi has long argued that certain conditions must be met before Democrats begin impeachment — public support and strong bipartisan backing, neither of which have so far materialized. [...]

But not all committee leaders were supportive of the impeachment inquiry. Both Schiff and Neal argued that if Democrats are going to open an inquiry, they should also be prepared to impeach Trump, which the caucus isn’t ready to do, they said. Cummings also sided with Pelosi, according to a source. [...]

In reality, the speaker and her top lieutenants have been trying to tamp down a rebellion within the caucus, as close to 60 members have publicly declared they want to begin impeaching Trump.

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UnHerd: Is this the world’s worst housing project?

However, these problems are hardly unique. Even when modernist designs are built exactly to the intended specifications, their subsequent failure is often blamed on non-architectural problems – e.g. poor maintenance, inadequate transport links, wider social issues. These can certainly play their part, but it all begins with the building.

Monolithic, system-built, unornamented architecture is inherently fragile – especially in application to social housing. The authorities and contractors have all the power, the residents none. Mistakes are systematically replicated across hundreds of dwellings – going unnoticed until it is too late.

Unlike most forms of traditional architecture, these are one-shot buildings – you have to get them right first time, because their scale, materials, method of construction and unity of design are all barriers to modification. The irony of ‘modernism’ as a label is that it is all about people from one point in history dictating to the future – imposing buildings that are almost impossible to adapt to changing needs. [...]

For the great majority of people, the traditional streetscape evolved and endured over millennia to maximise the connectivity of the shared urban environment – and also its security. As Jane Jacobs put it in the Life and Death of American Cities, there must be “eyes on the street… ” The tower in the park, however, not only removes the street, but lifts it residents high off the ground – their eyes are in the sky, looking into the distance, not where they need to be. Jacobs also said that there needs to be a “clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space.” The tower in the park erases that distinction, creating a no-man’s land which is neither public nor private and therefore insecure.

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Al Jazeera: Kushner's diplomatic tour ends quietly in Belgium

Mike Stephens, a researcher at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera: "The Palestinians are effectively broke, but that's probably one of the reasons why they won't negotiate. They won't negotiate under this sort of duress. They see it as being strong-armed into accepting an agreement that's not in their interests."

Rejection by the Palestinians makes it very difficult for King Abdullah II of Jordan and, to a lesser extent, other Arab leaders, to support Kushner's plans. [...]

Kotef added that the deal, which looks unlikely to grant Palestinians any of their key demands, could also win support among the Israeli centre and some of the left. [...]

"It's not like the Arab states are that invested in the Palestinian cause now," he said. On the other hand, Stephens pointed out that the global Muslim community will not thank any leader who legitimises Israel's control of Jerusalem.

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The Guardian: Aung San Suu Kyi finds common ground with Orbán over Islam

In a rare trip to Europe, state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize laureate who was once the figurehead of the fight for democracy in Myanmar, met Orbán in Budapest. There, the two leaders found common ground on the subject of immigration and Islam. 

“The two leaders highlighted that one of the greatest challenges at present for both countries and their respective regions – south-east Asia and Europe – is migration,” read a statement released after their meeting.

“They noted that both regions have seen the emergence of the issue of co-existence with continuously growing Muslim populations.” [...]

Aung San Suu Kyi has increasingly spoken out against the imposition of western ideas and principles in Myanmar, a view which was reflected by Orbán in the statement released after their meeting, where he emphasised his rejection of the “export of democracy” from other western countries.

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