PENCE SKETCHES POSSIBLE PATRIOT DEPLOYMENT IN ESTONIA, VOWS US SUPPORT

TALLINN: US Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday (Monday in Manila) raised the possibility of deploying the Patriot anti-missile defense system in Estonia, one of three NATO Baltic states worried by Russian expansionism, Prime Minister Juri Ratas said. “We spoke about it today, but we didn’t talk about a date or time,” Ratas told state broadcaster ERR after Pence began a visit to the tiny frontline state. The Patriot is a mobile, ground-based system designed to intercept incoming missiles and warplanes. “We talked about the upcoming (Russian military) maneuvers near the Estonian border... and how Estonia, the United States and NATO should monitor them and exchange information,” Ratas said.Relations between Moscow and Tallinn have been fraught since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, joining both the EU and NATO in 2004—a move that Russia says boosted its own fears of encirclement by the West.

LIGHTNING KILLS 11 AS INDIA REELS FROM FLOODS

NEW DELHI: Lightning killed at least 11 people in eastern India as large swathes of the country reel under the worst floods in years that have left hundreds dead and millions displaced, officials said Monday. The victims were working in fields in Odisha state when lightning bolts struck them, the state’s top disaster management official said. Fifteen people were injured on top of the 11 dead. A.K. Das, head of the authority, said that the death toll is expected “to rise as many were critically injured.” The state has also been badly hit by floods and another three bodies were found in Jajpur district, taking the region’s toll from the deluge to seven in 48 hours.Torrential rains have wreaked havoc across several other Indian states, damaging roads and electricity networks, with nearly 700 dead reported across the country.

CHINA POLICE ARREST 230 OVER PYRAMID SCHEME

BEIJING: Chinese police have arrested 230 members of a suspected pyramid scheme, a week after a rare demonstration in Beijing protesting a crackdown on the group. The scheme, known as Shanxinhui or “philanthropic exchange,” is under investigation and the group’s founder Zhang Tianming, along with several employees, was arrested earlier this month. On Sunday, the Guangdong public security bureau said on its official social media account that 230 members of the scheme had been arrested, with 142 facing criminal charges. It added that 55 companies suspected of involvement in the scheme have been put under investigation, and pledged to “maintain the high pressure crackdown.” But in an unusual display of public disobedience, hundreds of protesters affiliated with the scheme gathered in the capital Beijing last Monday and 67 of them were detained.