US army veteran identified as suspect in Dallas shootings

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• The US army says Micah Johnson, who was killed in a standoff with Dallas police officers, was an Afghanistan war veteran. Johnson is the main suspect in the killing of five policemen on Friday. The police chief of Dallas says Johnson was angry at the recent fatal police shootings of African-Americans.
• UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on the U-S government to tackle the issue of racial discrimination in a comprehensive manner. Ban demanded a thorough probe into the recent police killing of two African-Americans. He further condemned Friday’s killing of five police officers in the US city of Dallas.
• Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced recent comments by UN Chief Ban Ki-moon about the country’s ballistic missile tests. A confidential report by Reuters has quoted Ban as saying that Iran's missile launches are not consistent with the constructive spirit of the nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries. 
• Iran’s oil minister has dismissed sabotage theories in connection with a fire at the Bou Ali Sina petrochemical complex in the southwestern city of Mahshahr. Bijan Namdar-Zangeneh described the cause of the blaze as technical. The fire broke out at the company’s aromatics unit on Wednesday. 
• Anti-regime protests rage on across Bahrain in protest at Manama's decision to revoke the citizenship of top Shia cleric Ayatollah Isa Qassim. The demonstrators also renewed calls for the immediate release of political detainees. The kingdom has stepped up the crackdown against dissent over the past few months.
• In Syria, terrorists' mortar attacks on several neighborhoods of the northern province of Aleppo have left at least 22 people dead. The assaults have also wounded at least 140 others. A number of terrorist groups including Nusra Front have been wreaking havoc in the province. 
• NATO leaders have decided to deploy military forces to the Baltic states and Poland to defend eastern members against any Russian aggression. At a summit in Warsaw, NATO chief General Jens Stolten-berg also signed a security deal with EU leaders, which is particularly focused on Russia.
• The UN says fresh violence in the Central African Republic has forced thousands of people to flee to the neighboring countries. The Central African Republic first fell into chaos in 2013, when Christian armed groups launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group that had toppled the government.

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