Iran drones
The Iranian Defense Ministry has delivered 200 indigenously-built drones to the army to boost its combat and reconnaissance powers. The delivery was made in a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Gharaei Ashtiani. He hailed the country’s advances in drone production, saying the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence. The new drones to the Army are part of last year’s agreement with the Defense Ministry on boosting the armed forces’ drone power. Under the first phase of the agreement, the ministry has undertaken to equip the Army with 1,000 UAVs. In recent years, Iran has made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of military equipment, particularly drones.
Yemen deadly stampede
More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sana’a. Women and children are among the dead. Over a dozen of some 300 injured are in critical condition. The stampede took place during the distribution of charitable donations on the final days of the holy month of Ramadan. Hundreds of people had crowded into a school to receive cash handouts. Yemen’s Interior Ministry said that the organizers of the event have been detained and are being questioned. The impoverished nation Yemen is embroiled in an eight-year war launched by a Saudi-led coalition. Tens of thousands of people have been killed due to war. Draught and blockade in the country have also pushed millions into hunger.
US police brutality
Police have clashed with protesters in the US city of Akron, Ohio, after a grand jury refused to indict cops involved in last year’s shooting death of an African-American man. Videos circulating online show security forces used chemical sprays and other weapons to disperse the crowd. Police tried to break up the protest, calling it an unlawful assembly. Demonstrators are angry at the grand jury's decision to not press charges against officers who according to them mistakenly shot Jayland Walker 46 times last June. Walker’s family now say they will file a civil lawsuit against the city in the upcoming months. That’s the same path the family of Tyre Nickols, who was killed by US police early this year, has decided to take.