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SVT

Two Swedish journalists detained in southeast Turkey

Police on Saturday detained two Swedish TV journalists in the sensitive Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey after they filmed near a military zone, a local news agency reported.

Two Swedish journalists detained in southeast Turkey
Stefan Asberg and Niclas Berglund are two of SVT's most high profile journalists. Photo: SVT
Swedish public broadcaster SVT however reported that journalists Stefan Asberg and Niclas Berglund, had been questioned, but not detained, as they were reporting in southeastern Turkey.
   
The pair are on their way back to their base in Istanbul, it said. The private Dogan news agency earlier reported that the journalists were arrested after they filmed in an area near where a military headquarters is located.
   
After questioning, the two were transferred to the foreigners department, a section of the police service that deals with deportations, Dogan reported without providing other details.
   
But SVT's foreign news editor Ingrid Thornqvist said on the company's website that the situation was calm and the pair were on their way back to their homes in Istanbul.
   
“This is something that not only happens to our journalists, it's an everyday (occurrence) there now; they have been able to continue their work,” Thornqvist said. “The situation is calm and they are on their way home.”
   
Turkish authorities this month expelled a French reporter after being detained near the Syrian border in the southeast.
   
Olivier Bertrand from online news media Les Jours was detained in Gaziantep province, where he was working on planned stories on post-coup Turkey.  French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called his detention “deeply
shocking, unacceptable”.

SVT

Trump an ’embarrassment’ Springsteen tells Sweden

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen has described Donald Trump as an embarrassment to the United States, saying the Republican presidential candidate is a demagogue with simple solutions.

Trump an 'embarrassment' Springsteen tells Sweden
Bruce Springsteen tells SVT talk show host that Trump is an 'embarrassment' to the US. Photo: SVT/Youtube
Springsteen, who has dramatized the plight of working-class Americans in his music, said he understands how Trump could seem “compelling” to people who are economically insecure.
   
“The absurdity is beyond cartoon-like. But he's gotten close enough (to the White House) so it can make you nervous,” he told “Skavlan,” a talk show in Norway and Sweden, during an interview released Friday.
   
“I don't think he's going to win, but even him running is a great embarrassment if you're an American,” he said.
 
Trump knows how to tell voters “some of the things they want to hear,” he added, including to people “uncomfortable with the browning of America.”
   
“We have certain problems in the United States — tremendous inequality of wealth distribution — that makes for ripe ground for demagoguery,” Springsteen said. “He has a very simple answer to all these very, very complex problems.”
   
Springsteen recorded the interview ahead of next week's release of his memoir “Born to Run,” which describes his childhood in New Jersey and rise to fame.
   
The “Born in the USA” singer, famous for his onstage stamina, has drawn a diverse field of devoted fans for decades, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of Trump's most public backers.
   
Springsteen insisted for years that he would let his music speak for him but has been more openly political since the election in 2004, when he campaigned for John Kerry in his unsuccessful bid to win the White House from George W. Bush.