June 29, 2021 Ballistic missile test Russia successfully test launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile from the Russian Defense Ministry’s 1st state testing spaceport in the 3 country’s northwest, TASS reported on Monday. International

U.N. calls for dismantling ‘systemic racism’ Yemeni forces launch retaliatory missile, drone attacks on against people of African descent ’s Army and Popular Committees launched drone and mis- sile attacks on several military positions in Saudi Arabia in retalia- tion for the kingdom’s aggression on their country. and to confront past legacies and deliver Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Ya- redress,” she said in the report to the Hu- hya Saree said in the early hours of Monday that the Yemeni forces man Rights Council. have used five ballistic missiles and five drones in a joint operation Bachelet welcomed a “promising ini- on “sensitive” military positions in southwestern Saudi Arabia over tiative” by U.S. President Joe Biden in the past 24 hours, according to Press TV. signing an executive order in January to The operation tar- address racial inequity across the United geted a camp of the States. Saudi National Guard Her report cited 190 deaths of Africans in Najran, and mili- and people of African descent worldwide tary positions in Abha at the hands of law enforcement officials International airport who are “rarely held accountable”. in the city of Abha as It selected seven “emblematic cas- well as King Khalid es”, including that of Floyd. A judge Air Base in Khamis sentenced former police officer Derek Mushait. Chauvin on Friday to 22-1/2 years for Saree said in a tweet his murder, video of which galvanised that the strike was ac- the national Black Lives Matter protest curate. movement. He stressed that the Other victims include an Afro-Brazil- operation came in re- ian boy, 14, shot dead in an anti-drug po- taliation for the kingdom’s ongoing siege and aggression on Yemen. lice operation in Sao Paulo in May 2020 Saudi Arabia and some of its regional allies, backed by the US and a Frenchman of Malian origin, 24, and other Western powers, have been waging a devastating war who died in police custody in July 2016. on Yemen beginning in March 2015 to reinstall Yemen’s former “Racism and racial discrimination president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and against Africans and people of African crush the popular Ansarullah movement. descent are often rooted in policies and The Saudi war, which Riyadh had claimed would last only a few practices grounded in the debasement of weeks but is still ongoing, has failed to achieve its goals, but pushed the status of individuals in society,” the Yemen to the brink, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent peo-

REUTERS report said. ple, and destroyed the impoverished state’s infrastructure. A visitor looks at a memorial at the site of the arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis, U.S. The scourge is most prevalent in coun- The United Nations has described the war on Yemen as the tries with a legacy of slavery, the transat- world’s worst humanitarian crisis. acism against people of African Michelle Bachelet, in a global report Structural racism creates barriers to lantic trade in enslaved Africans, or colo- Yemeni forces regularly target positions inside Saudi Arabia in descent remains “systemic” in sparked by the murder of George Floyd minorities’ access to jobs, healthcare, nialism resulting in large communities of response to the bloody war. Rmany parts of the world, the U.N. by a police officer in Minneapolis in May housing, education and justice, she said. people of African descent, it added. Saudi Arabia relies heavily on US-made Patriots to intercept mis- human rights chief said on Monday, call- 2020, said that police use of racial profil- “I am calling on all states to stop de- “Systemic racism needs a systemic re- siles and drones fired at the kingdom on a near daily basis by Ye- ing for states to dismantle discrimination ing and excessive force is entrenched in nying, and start dismantling, racism; to sponse,” Bachelet said. “There is today a meni forces in retaliation for the Saudi airstrikes that have claimed and prosecute law enforcement officials much of North America, Europe and Lat- end impunity and build trust; to listen to momentous opportunity to achieve a turn- the lives of thousands of civilians. for unlawful killings. in America, Reuters reported. the voices of people of African descent; ing point for racial equality and justice.” Earlier this month, the administration of US President Joe Biden said the Pentagon was cutting the number of troops and air defense units deployed to the Middle East, including withdrawing Patriot batteries and an anti-missile system, called THAAD, from Saudi , , agree to boost Arabia. security, economic ties Moscow, St. Petersburg

Egypt, Jordan and Iraq agreed to bolster the end of the meeting. post record daily virus deaths security and economic cooperation at a The leaders discussed a “political so- tripartite summit on Sunday that saw an lution” to ’s war based on UN reso- Russia’s main coronavirus hotspots, Moscow and Saint Peters- Egyptian visit Iraq for the lutions “that would preserve its security burg, reached new pandemic highs for COVID-19 deaths on first time in three decades. and stability and provide adequate con- Monday, as the country battles a surging third wave driven by the The visits by Egypt’s President Abdel ditions for the return of refugees”. Delta variant. Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdul- The Syria conflict has killed hundreds The new records come as second city, Saint Petersburg, is set to lah II came as Iraq seeks to move closer of thousands and displaced millions, host a Euro 2020 quarter-final on Friday, with organisers maintain- to Arab countries in the Middle East, ac- with refugees flooding the borders of ing the match will go ahead as planned, AFP reported. cording to AFP. neighbouring countries including Jor- An official tally on Monday showed that Saint Petersburg had Iraq is also seeking to establish itself dan, which lacks in resources and faces reported 110 coronavirus fatalities in 24 hours, while Moscow re- as a mediator between Arab countries economic hardships. ported 124 – topping records both cities had set over the weekend. and Iran, after reportedly hosting talks in The leaders welcomed efforts under- Nationwide infections grew by 21,650, bringing Russia’s casel- April between Tehran and Riyadh. way to restore stability in and Ye- oad to nearly 5.5 million – the fifth highest worldwide, according Sisi and Abdullah met Iraqi President men, and called for the departure of for- to an AFP tally. Barham Salih and Prime Minister Mus- eign forces and mercenaries from Libya. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Monday that over the past tafa al-Kadhimi, with Salih saying the Sisi is the first Egyptian president to week the city had also broken new records for hospitalisation num- encounter was “an eloquent message visit since Iraqi dictator Sad- bers and people in intensive care units. amid enormous regional challenges”. dam Hussein’s troops invaded in “The situation with coronavirus in Moscow remains extremely “Iraq’s recovery paves the way to an 1990. difficult,” he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. integrated system for our region built on IRAQI PRIME MINISTER’S PRESS OFFICE Relations between Baghdad and Cairo Sobyanin, who has said that the highly infectious Delta vari- the fight against extremism, respect for Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi (R) receives Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have improved in recent years, and of- ant first identified in India represents 90 percent of new cases, has (L) and Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the capital Baghdad on June 27, 2021. sovereignty, and economic partnership,” ficials from the two countries have con- rushed to introduce new restrictions to counter the new wave after Salih said on Twitter. ducted visits. life in the city had for months all but returned to normal. The summit held between Kadhimi as well as ways of bolstering coopera- the fields of security, energy and trade, The Jordanian king visited in early Saint Petersburg, meanwhile, has tightened some restrictions, in- and his guests broached regional issues tion between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt in according to a joint statement released at 2019 for the first time in 10 years. cluding banning food sales at its Euro 2020 fan zones. Swedish PM resigns Chicago shootings leave two dead, after losing no-confidence vote at least 15 injured Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven tions. Police: 74 shot in city over weekend resigned on Monday, one week after he He finally fell out with the Left Party lost a vote of no confidence, leaving it propping up his government, becoming Another violent night in Chicago left two people dead and at least up to the speaker of parliament to begin the first Swedish government leader to be 15 others injured in two shootings, the Chicago Police Department the search for a replacement. defeated by a no-confidence vote. said Monday. Lofven could have either called a snap The motion of no confidence was filed Over the weekend, 74 people were shot in 46 incidents in the city election or resigned following the no- by the far-right Sweden Democrats, after between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, police said. Six peo- confidence vote last week, AFP reported. the Left Party said it was planning such a ple were killed, according to CNN. He told a press conference a snap elec- motion itself in protest against a plan to On Sunday about 11 p.m., at least 11 people who were standing tion was “not what is best for Sweden,” ease rent controls. outside in the South Artesian Avenue area were shot. Three males pointing to the difficult situation the CO- On the left, the proposal for “market “emerged from an alley and fired shots into the crowd,” police said VID-19 pandemic posed, coupled with rents” that would potentially allow land- in an online statement. the fact that the next general election is a lords to freely set rents for new apart- One female was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago STINA STJERNKVIST/EPA-EFE year away. ments is seen as being at odds with the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. Four “With that starting point, I have re- Swedish social model and a threat to ten- other women were also shot and are listed in fair or good condition quested the speaker to relieve me as ants’ rights. as an “unholy alliance” of parties at oppo- government,” he told reporters. at hospitals. prime minister,” Lofven said. The conservative Moderate Party and site ends of the political spectrum. It will now be up to parliamentary Six men are also being treated at various hospitals for gunshot The 63-year-old Lofven, a former the Christian Democrats were quick to In announcing his resignation, Lofven speaker Andreas Norlen to open nego- wounds mainly to the leg and torso. welder and union leader with the square back the motion, which was passed by criticised the move to topple him with- tiations with parties to find a new prime In a separate shooting, a female was killed and five males were build and nose of a boxer, guided the 181 MPs in the 349-seat parliament. out having a majority secured to replace minister. being treated for gunshot wounds at hospitals after a black SUV Swedish left back to power in 2014, and Last-ditch efforts to appease the Left him. Lofven’s government will stay on tem- drove past the area where they were standing on East 71st Street then hung on by moving his party closer Party, which holds 27 seats, failed. “They voted the government out with- porarily to handle routine tasks until a and began shooting, police said. to the centre right after the 2018 elec- Critics have described the constellation out themselves having an alternative for new administration is formed.