Church willing to use assets to pay off Greece's debts, Archbishop says

ANA-MPA -- Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece on Saturday indicated that he was willing to proceed with the exploitation of Church assets, acting together with the Greek state, on condition that the money raised would go toward paying off Greece's debt. In an interview with the private broadcaster Skai, he clarified that he was not talking about selling off Church property but its exploitation, so that it remained in Greek hands.
The archbishop said the issue would be discussed with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras "in good time".
Referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the archbishop noted that he had "no dispute with her, but whatever can be done for the Greek people would be welcome."

Greek far-right Golden Dawn leaders go on trial

Leaders of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party are among 69 people who have gone on trial on charges including murder and being in a criminal group.

The session began at a top security prison in Athens, without some of the key defendants present, and was adjourned until 7 May.

Witnesses were reportedly attacked by party supporters outside the jail, despite the high level of security.

Golden Dawn polled third in the January general election.

Critics describe the anti-immigrant party as a neo-Nazi group.

Dozens of anti-fascist protesters and supporters of Golden Dawn were kept apart by police outside the jail. But reporters said scuffles still took place, in which a witness and a protester were hurt.

All 18 of Golden Dawn's MPs in the previous Greek parliament are among the defendants, but only a handful of them were in the specially-built courtroom for the start of the trial.

Leader Nikos Michaloliakos, 57, who was released recently from prison, is being kept under house arrest and was not in court on Monday.

Putin says ready to work with United States: TV

(Reuters) - Russia has key interests in common with the United States and needs to work with it on a common agenda, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday in a television interview.

In his comments to the state-run Rossiya channel, Putin appeared to soften his anti-American rhetoric after being highly critical. Relations between Moscow and Washington and other Western powers have soured over the conflict in Russia's neighbor Ukraine, sinking to an all-time low.

"We have disagreements on several issues on the international agenda. But at the same time there is something that unites us, that forces us to work together," Putin said.

"I mean general efforts directed at making the world economy more democratic, measured and balanced, so that the world order is more democratic. We have a common agenda."

Putin has in the past fiercely attacked the United States and the West in general, blaming them for the Ukraine crisis, which Russia says was the result of a Western-backed "coup" against Ukraine's former leader Viktor Yanukovich.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations from Kiev and the West that it is supporting pro-Russian rebels with troops and weapons in eastern Ukraine, where more than 6,000 people have been killed since last April.

His latest remark comes two days after an annual TV phone-in show in which Putin accused the United States of trying to dominate world affairs, saying it wanted "not allies, but vassals". However, his criticisms of the West were more moderate than in some previous appearances.

However, both Russia and the West say they back a peace deal agreed in Minsk in February, as a result of which a ceasefire in the Donbass region is largely holding.

Poland to build watchtowers at Russia's Kaliningrad border

Poland will build six watchtowers to survey its 200-kilometre-long border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, border police have said.

The six towers will be up to 50 metres (164 feet) high and ready in June for round-the-clock surveillance, the spokeswoman for Poland’s border police told the PAP news agency.

They will cost more than 14 million złoty (3.7 million euros, $3.8 million), Mirosława Aleksandrowicz said, adding that 75% of the amount would come from an EU fund for external borders.

Kaliningrad is near the Baltic Sea, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, both EU members. Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė said last month thatRussia had sent nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, which could “reach even Berlin”.

Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea, support for separatists in eastern Ukraine and stepped-up military drills have caused unease in the Baltic states and Poland, which lay behind the Iron Curtain a quarter of a century ago.

More than three million Russians and an equal number of Poles passed through border posts to heavily militarised Kaliningrad last year.

NORAD Head: Russian Bombers Send a Message

WASHINGTON — Russia is using its long-range bomber fleet to send a message to the US, and the general charged with protecting the homeland says those flights will continue, or even expand, in the coming months.

Adm. Bill Gortney said the flights by long-range Russian bombers are "messaging" for the US, a reminder that there is another nation capable of power projection.

"They are messaging us. They are messaging us that they are a global power," Gortney told reporters Tuesday, before noting that "we do the same sort of thing."

Gortney said the number of Russian flights near the US has gone up since tensions between the two nations began to rise following the former's invasion and annexation of Crimea last February, with North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) keeping a close eye on where those planes are and what they are doing.

"We watch very carefully what they are doing," he said. "They are adhering to international standards that are required by all airplanes that are out there, and everybody is flying in a professional manner in their side and our side as we watch very closely."

Those flights could expand in the coming months, with Russia traveling even further into territory the US considers under its purview.

DEFENSE NEWS

Russia To Scramble Bombers in Show of Might

Asked about a report that Russian officials are planning to send bomber patrols through the Gulf of Mexico, Gortney said, "it wouldn't surprise me if they do that."

Those flights would likely be conducted by Russia's Tupolev Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers, Gortney added, as opposed to the Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" bombers that have been conducting regular flights in Europe.

While some would undoubtedly be concerned about Russian bombers coming so close to the US, Gortney seemed calm about the possibility.

"If you have long-range aircraft, you want to exercise them. In order to exercise them you need to fly long-range missions," Gortney said. "We are prepared to intercept them should we need to, should we choose to."

angerous process’: Russia warns against US, NATO military instructors in Ukraine

A top Russian diplomat has promised that his country would push for removal of all foreign military specialists and illegal paramilitary groups from Ukrainian territory after US confirmed its plans to send about 300 instructors to train pro-Kiev troops.

Moscow is urging the removal of all foreign military formations from Ukraine, including the instructors from the United States and NATO, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

“We know that hundreds of US and NATO servicemen are planning to come to Ukraine to train the National Guard. The training camps are being set up not only in western Ukraine, but also in other parts of the country. This is a dangerous process. We would push for all foreign and illegal military units to be removed from Ukraine,” Karasin said.

In mid-March, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told the media that about 290 servicemen of the 173 Airborne Brigade will arrive to western Ukraine in late April to train three battalions of the Ukrainian National Guard. The planned location of the exercises was disclosed as the Yavoriv army training center near Lvov.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk promised that his government would sign a number of agreements with NATO concerning military-technical cooperation. These would include a memorandum on communications and intelligence that would pave the way to Ukraine’s deeper participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

Read more‘Provocation against Russia’ – MPs blast fresh US Congress call to arm Ukraine

Russia has previously denounced the increasing buildup of NATO forces in Eastern Europe as well as US plans to supply weapons and non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine. The criticism became especially sharp when the House of Representatives in Washington passed a non-binding resolution calling on President Barack Obama to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, despite the ceasefire agreement between pro-Kiev forces and federalists in the east of the country.

Several Russian lawmakers have called the US Congress’ call to send “lethal aid” to Ukraine a threat to the peace process and a direct provocation aimed at Russia.