Udmm US Pacific admiral: Ties with Japan key to regional security

CZESTOCHOWA, Poland AP 鈥?Pope Francis missed a step and fell to the ground Thursday as he walked on an open-air platform to celebrate Mass at Polands holiest shrine of Jasna Gora.In a dramatic moment, the 79-year-old Francis, walking in his long robe with an incense holder in his hand, did not notice a step down from the platform and fell to the ground before the altar. Francis braced his fall with his left h stanley thermos and and priests around him rushed to help, with Mons. Guido Marini, an aide, helping him back to his feet.The Mass proceeded as planned and the pope delivered a long homily before tens of thousands of f stanley ca aithful gathered at the foot of the Jasna Gora monastery in Polands southern city of Czestochowa.Asked if Francis had suffered any ill effects from the fall, a Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, said the pope is fine. Czestochowa Archbishop Waclaw Depo said Francis fell because he had closed his eyes and appeared to miss a step. He is in good condition. He did not even complain at all. He never said a word, Depo said. Also the homily showed that the pope has strength and this strength he gets from the people. Francis enjoys relatively good health, despite putting in long days of ceremonies, audiences and meetings. In stanley canada his youth, he had a section of one lung removed, and on occasion he has sounded somewhat winded.A few times in the past, Francis has missed a step or even fallen on stairs. Each time he has gotten up on his own or thanks to an aide lending a hand, then carried Bffo Japan, China, S. Korea Plan Trilateral Summit; Meeting to be in ROK, Likely in Late May

AP Photo/Virginia MayoTwo military personnel stand underneath the flags of NATO alliance members during wreath laying ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, April 4, 2024.AP16:43 JST,ensp;April 4, 2024BRUSSELS AP 鈥?NATO marked on Thursday 75 years of collective defense across Europe and North America, with its top diplomats vowing to stay the course in Ukraine as better armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield.The anniversary comes as the now-32-nation alliance weighs a plan to provide more predictable long stanley cupe er-term military support to Ukraine. Plagued by ammunition shortages, Ukrai kubki stanley ne this week lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 in an effort to replenish its depleted ranks.Ukraine is under heavy attacks, like daily, 24-seven, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told reporters, appealing for more military materiel for Ukraine like air defense systems, drones and artillery shells.We need to give these systems which we are not using to Ukraine, to take and protect their people, civil infrastructure and also energy infrastructure, he stanley quencher said, before a ceremony with his counterparts to mark the day NATO founding treaty was signed: April 4, 1949, in Washington.A bigger celebration is planned when NATO leaders meet in Washington from July 9 to 11.At a small ceremony outside Brussels on Wednesday evening, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid tribute to the millions of soldiers, sailors, and aviators whose courage a