Biden vows NATO support, dozens of new air defence systems for Ukraine

United States President Joe Biden has forcefully pledged to defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, announcing dozens of new air defence systems for Kyiv, as he welcomed NATO leaders for a summit in Washington, DC.

The address on Tuesday was Biden’s highest-profile policy speech since a halting performance in a debate on June 27 that raised questions about his fitness for office as well as fears that he may lose the November 5 election to his predecessor and NATO sceptic, Donald Trump.

Speaking off a teleprompter, his voice confident and strong, Biden declared that NATO was “stronger than it’s ever been in its history”. And that is a good thing, he said, “because this moment in history calls for our collective strength”.

“Autocrats want to overturn the global order” and “terrorist groups” continue to plot “evil schemes”, Biden said, while in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to wipe “Ukraine off the map”.

“But make no mistake, Ukraine can and will stop Putin,” the US leader said, “especially with our full, collective support. And they have our full support.”

Biden, who has so far rebuffed calls to withdraw from the presidential race, has made restoring traditional alliances abroad the centrepiece of his foreign policy. On the campaign trail, he has sought to spotlight his commitment to NATO while making the case to voters that Trump would turn his back on the alliance if he were to return to the White House.

The US president announced major steps Washington and other NATO countries are taking to beef up Ukraine’s overwhelmed air defences. He said the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy would provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air defence systems.

These include four additional Patriot batteries and a SAMP/T defence system.

“In the coming months, the United States and our partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air defence systems,” he added. “All told, Ukraine will receive hundreds of additional interceptors over the next year, helping protect Ukrainian cities against Russian missiles and Ukrainian troops facing air attacks on the front lines.”

Meta's WhatsApp makes group chats safer with new feature

WhatsApp, the Meta-owned instant messaging app, has introduced a new feature which puts an end to an issue where you may receive group invites from unknown users of the app.

The new feature is called "context cards" which will protect you from getting added to groups by people you don’t know and from widespread online group scams.

But how?

When you receive a group invite from someone not in your contacts, a context card will be displayed and provide additional information about the group.

This includes details like the group's creation date, a brief overview of its purpose, and information about the person who created it.

While this information may not be much, it might be just enough for you to decide if you want to join the group or not, Android Authority reported.

The new feature also protects you from widespread online group scam as they can always report, block the group or leave the group immediately, if you still can't figure out why the unfamiliar user is interested in adding you to their group.

The feature was announced by WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart on his channel on the instant-messaging app.

The group chat context cards have already started rolling out globally and will be available to all users "over the coming weeks," according to a press release by WhatsApp.

What US media is hiding about Kiev’s abuse in Donbass?

It is a known truth that US mass media turns the government’s intentions into global propaganda by calling it news but, on the other hand, they hide the facts to cover up the crimes.

Recently, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the American media in her statement.

While talking to Izvestiya News outlet, official Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said, facts about the abuse committed by the Kiev regime in the Donbass were provided by the Russian side but the US mass media did everything not to see this truth.

Maria Zakharova said, "It is ridiculous to watch how US reporters, news outlets, newspapers, television and Internet platforms pretend that they allegedly knew nothing about the abuse of Donbass civilians, new Russian regions now, from the Kiev regime for seven years. They pretend they do not know about torturing people caught by the Ukrainian armed forces, nationalist battalions, and so on. And now, you see, a German doctor starts opening their eyes or they start pretending that this is something new for them.”

"One should not fall for ploy and not seeing the main thing, all the facts were furnished by the Russian side, by Donbass residents and reporters that communicated this information to the global community at the expense of their lives. American reporters, American news outlets in no small degree did everything not to see this truth," she noted.

Kenyan court declares Arshad Sharif’s murder illegal, unconstitutional

Kenya's High Court has ordered its government to compensate the family of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif with 10 million Kenyan Shillings (Rs21.7 million) after ruling that his shooting by police in Kajiado County in 2022 was "arbitrary and unconstitutional."

According to Kenyan news agency, Justice Stella Mutuku of the Kenyan court declared that Sharif's rights to life, equality before the law, and dignity were violated in the incident on October 23, 2022.

Arshad Sharif, who had fled Pakistan in July 2022 amid allegations of criticising the military, was fatally shot by Kenyan police in the Tinga area of Kajiado County, later attributed by police to a case of "mistaken identity".

The court suspended the monetary award for 30 days to allow for a potential government appeal.

"Given the analysis above, I find that the respondents, through their actions, violated the rights of the petitioners," Justice Mutuku stated.

The widow, Javeria Siddique, had filed a lawsuit against several government officials, accusing them of delaying the investigation into Sharif's shooting and failing to provide updates to the family.

Kenya's court has also dismissed police claims that firing on Arshad Sharif's vehicle was based on mistaken identity.

"We were considering this car as a vehicle of abductors," the police had said.

The court also ordered a thorough investigation into the conspiracy behind Arshad Sharif's murder and instructed strict disciplinary action against police and security agencies

After UN body's report on Imran Khan, US asks Pakistan to respect people's basic rights

After a United Nations body decried Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan's detention in "politically motivated" cases, the US State Department has asked Pakistan to respect people's fundamental human rights.

Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US officials, whether that be Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken, Assistant Secretary Donald Lu or Ambassador Donald Blome, have consistently and privately and publicly urged Pakistan to respect the rights of its people in line with its constitution and international commitments.

He said this in response to a question about the resolution passed by the US House of Representatives seeking an investigation into the Feb 8 elections. The official refused to speak on the pending congressional legislation, however, he stressed upon respecting human rights.

“We urge the Government of Pakistan to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression, freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and the freedom of religion as well,” he said.

The comments from the State Department came after the Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared the PTI founder’s detention arbitrary and in violation of international law.

“…appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Khan immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law,” the group said.

The UN body said Khan’s legal woes were part of a “much larger campaign of repression” against him and his political party. It remarked that during the 2024 elections, members of PTI were arrested, tortured and their rallies were disrupted.

It also alleged “widespread fraud on election day, stealing dozens of parliamentary seats.”

Imran Khan’s detention ‘internal matter’

On the other hand, the State Department reiterated that Imran Khan’s detention was an internal matter of the country.

“…in the case of Khan, you’ve heard us say this before: This is an internal matter for Pakistan,” said the spokesperson.

To a question about the credibility of Pakistani elections and allegations of massive rigging, Patel said Pakistani elections continued to be an area of focus for the US.

“This is something that we have continued to raise with our partners in Pakistan, yes. That continues to be an area of focus of ours.”

UN chief lauds move to limit proliferation of small arms

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has praised the adoption of a strong outcome document at the end of a conference dedicated to combating illicit small arms and light weapons worldwide, saying it is an important sign of progress.

The proliferation, diversion and misuse of small arms and light weapons continue to undermine peace, security and sustainable development around the world fuelling conflict and armed violence and causing devastating human costs, the UN chief said in a statement.

He congratulated member states on successfully concluding the Fourth Review Conference, welcoming the setting up of an open-ended technical expert group to address developments in small arms and light weapons manufacturing, technology and design.

Mr Guterres also recognised the commitments the states have made to strengthen international cooperation and assistance and to implement gender-responsive policies.

He expressed hope that the progress will help strengthen our collective and national efforts to combat illicit small arms and light weapons until the next review conference in 2030.

The UN chief added that he hoped the commitments regarding small arms would inform discussions at the ‘Summit of the Future’ in September to find forward-looking and action-oriented solutions for a more peaceful future.

Earlier in the month in a statement to delegates, Guterres noted that the conference was happening at a difficult and dangerous moment for humanity with new conflicts placing millions of people in the line of fire, where light weapons play a major role.

Small arms are the leading cause of violent deaths and are the weapon of choice in nearly half of all global homicides, according to UN figures.

The Secretary General’s New Agenda for Peace policy brief recognises the importance of small arms control in preventing conflict and building peace. It makes recommendations to strengthen regional, national, and global control efforts on both the supply and demand side.

During the debate, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram voiced serious concern at the acquisition and use of modern and sophisticated small arms by terrorist groups such as TTP, a UN-listed terrorist organisation — which reportedly uses safe havens in Afghanistan to launch deadly cross-border attacks inside Pakistan.

“Terrorists and criminals do not manufacture these arms,” the Pakistani envoy told delegates, pointing out they acquire them from illicit arms markets or receive them from entities that want to destabilise a particular region or country.

“It is essential to investigate how terrorist groups and criminal organisations acquire such sophisticated weapons,” Ambassador Akram said. “It is the responsibility of all states and the UN to take measures to prevent illicit trade, transfer and diversion of these arms.”

He also said that the illicit proliferation, excessive accumulation and misuse of small arms and light weapons continue to exacerbate conflicts, fuel terrorism, threaten peace and security and erode sustainable development.

Hundreds of thousands of human lives lost each year, terrible suffering inflicted on civilians, and economies and societies devastated, he added.

Nasa Juno mission discovers lava lakes on Jupiter's Io

The Juno mission by Nasa has captured infrared images of lava lakes present on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, which show hot rings of the eruption surrounding a cooler crust.

The rings have been found to be bright white with a thermal signature between 450 and 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit that is 232 and 732 degrees Celsius. Parallel to this, the rest of the lake is much cooler and measures at some minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 43 degrees Celsius, reported Space.

"We now have an idea of what is the most frequent type of volcanism on Io: enormous lakes of lava where magma goes up and down," Alessandro Mura, who is a Juno co-investigator from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, said in a statement.

"The lava crust is forced to break against the walls of the lake, forming the typical lava ring seen in Hawaiian lava lakes,” he added.

Notably, the prime hypothesis features that magma undergoes upwelling in these lava lakes. This causes the lakes to rise and fall. Moreover, the lava is also exposed along the edge of the lake, when the crust touches the lake’s walls which are possible to be hundreds of metres tall.

On the other hand, there is also a secondary hypothesis. It implies that magma wells up in the middle of the lake. This pushes the crust outward until it sinks along the edge of the lake. In this way, it again exposes the lava and forms those lava rings.