US may deploy ‘Patriot’

Bid to up capabilities in Baltic

VILNIUS, May 10, (Agencies): Pentagon chief Jim Mattis on Wednesday said the United States and NATO are prepared to deploy any capabilities necessary to help beef up air defence systems in the Baltic region.

Mattis’ remarks come amid heightened tensions with Russia, which is preparing for massive military exercises in its western military region in September, and has deployed a missile system in neighbouring Kaliningrad.

“We will deploy whatever capability is necessary here,” Mattis said when asked about regional air defences.

Two US defence officials earlier said the United States was considering sending a Patriot missile battery to the Baltic region for NATO air defence exercises this summer, though they stressed the move would only be temporary.

Moscow last year deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles into its Kaliningrad exclave, which borders Lithuania and Poland, rattling the NATO members. Mattis blasted such moves. “Any buildup of Russian combat power in an area where they know, and we all know, they are not threatened by anything that we are doing ... is simply destabilising,” Mattis said at a press conference with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

He however refused to discuss whether Vilnius had requested a permanent Patriot missile deployment.

“We will make those decisions in consultation with the Lithuania government,” he said.

The Patriot is a mobile air defence system made by Raytheon designed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, low-flying cruise missiles and aircraft.

“Everyone knows this is not an offensive capability,” Mattis said.

“Counts two and three relate to activity in Afghanistan in 2012,” the statement from London’s Metropolitan Police said, without giving further details.

He is due to appear in court on Wednesday. (AFP)

Pope to canonize 2 children:

Three shepherd children in Portugal were jailed and threatened with being boiled alive in olive oil when they claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to them 100 years ago. The Catholic Church doubted their story too.

From that unpromising start, the children’s reported visions would go on to strengthen the faith of Portugal’s

Macron

Hollande

Moscow is holding its so-called “Zapad” drills in September that will see the Russian military showcase new hardware and upgrade existing systems in its western military region, US officials said.

Mattis later drove into the Lithuanian countryside outside Vilnius to visit a large, wooded training area about 20 kms (12 miles) from the border with Belarus.

A German NATO battle group along with other NATO troops is operating in the area, training to better work together and improve coordination between the militaries.

NATO is deploying the battalions in Poland and the Baltic states as tripwires against Russian adventurism in a region formerly under Moscow’s control, spooked by its actions in Ukraine and Syria.

“The reason for the deployment you see right now is the lack of (Russian) respect for international law,” Mattis told reporters after he visited US, Lithuanian and Dutch troops on a frigid training field.

Also:

The Czech government has approved a Defense Ministry plan to deploy almost 300 troops in the Baltics as part of NATO forces. Government spokesman

said Wednesday up to 290 soldiers will be deployed for just over a year from the start of 2018.

Such a deployment still has to be approved by Parliament.

The Defense Ministry says the Czech troops will join NATO forces in and

In recent months, NATO military forces have been deployed into countries bordering after

annexation of prompted fears that other ex-Soviet republics — including Latvia and Lithuania — could be next.

persecuted Catholics and make the small farming town of Fatima one of the world’s foremost pilgrimage sites, with around 6 million visitors a year.

Now, the Portuguese youngsters’ long-ago testimony is giving the Catholic Church its youngest saints who did not die as martyrs. Pope Francis plans to observe the centenary of their visions by canonizing Francisco and Jacinta Marto this weekend when he makes his first pilgrimage to Fatima.

During the Friday-Saturday visit, Francis will also likely seek to make Fatima’s message of peace and prayer resonate today, church officials say. According to church lore, the Virgin Mary urged penance, sacrifice, and turning away from sin during her appearances to the children.

“At Fatima, the pope could make an appeal to humanity that ‘If you don’t change your criteria, be it political or economic, the world will suffer,’” said Monsignor Carlos Azevedo, who led the church commission that compiled the 15 volumes of documentation about the Fatima phenomenon.

Jacinta was 7 years old and Francisco 9 when they first witnessed the apparitions on May 13, 1917 along with their 10-yearold cousin, Lucia dos Santos. While the