PM Szydlo flown to Warsaw after car crash in southern Poland
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Prime Minister Beata Szydlo suffered injuries in a car crash in southern Poland on Friday and was flown by helicopter to Warsaw for medical tests, even though doctors and her spokesman said that she was not badly hurt.
The accident occurred shortly before 7 p.m. in the southern town of Oswiecim, which is Szydlo’s hometown. Szydlo, 53, was traveling in a convoy along the town’s main road when another car drove into Szydlo’s black Audi limousine, causing it to hit a tree.
The state broadcaster TVP published an image of her limousine, with the front of the car bashed in.
Sebastian Glen, a police spokesman, said the car that hit the prime minister’s car was a small Fiat driven by a 21-year-old man who was sober. Two security officers, one of whom was the car’s driver, were also taken to a hospital with injuries.
Government spokesman Rafal Bochenek said Szydlo was in “good condition” but was being transported 350 kilometers (215 miles) by helicopter to a government hospital in Warsaw for further monitoring and tests.
White House seeks to regroup after stinging legal defeat
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to regroup after a stinging legal defeat, President Donald Trump said Friday he is considering signing a “brand new order” after his refugee and immigration travel ban was halted in court.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Florida for the weekend, said he expected his administration to win the legal battle over his original directive. But he said the White House was also weighing other alternatives, including making changes to the order, which suspended the nation’s refugee program and barred all entries from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The president said a new executive order would likely change “very little” from the first.
Trump’s comments came a day after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a restraining order on the original travel ban. A White House official suggested the administration was not planning to immediately ask the Supreme Court to overturn that order and would instead argue for its constitutionality in the lower courts, though the official cautioned that the next steps were not finalized and could change.
The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Iranians trample on US flag, mark 1979 Islamic Revolution
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians on Friday marked the anniversary of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution with nationwide celebrations and mass rallies that saw people step on large U.S. flags laid out on the streets while President Hassan Rouhani called the new American administration “a problem.”
This year, the anniversary came against the backdrop of remarks by President Donald Trump, who has already engaged in a war of words with Iran’s leadership and put Tehran “on notice” over its recent ballistic missile test.
At the Tehran rallies Friday, demonstrators chanted traditional slogans against the United States and Israel, and later, hundreds of thousands marched toward the city’s central Azadi Square, where Rouhani addressed the crowds, telling them that Iran will strongly answer any threat from its enemies.
“All of them should know that they must talk to the Iranian nation with respect and dignity,” Rouhani declared. “Our nation will strongly answer to any threat. (Iranians) will resist before enemies until the end.”
Rouhani called Iran the home of “lions” but said the country does not seek hostility. “We are not after tensions in the region and the world. We are united in the face of bullying and any threat.”
Trump hugs ally Japan after easing US-China tensions
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, fresh off patching up ties with China, reassured Japan’s leader Friday that the U.S. will defend its close ally. Together, the pronouncements illustrated a shift toward a more mainstream Trump stance on U.S. policy toward Asia.
Welcoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House with a hug, Trump said he wants to bring the post-World War II alliance with Japan “even closer.” While such calls are ritual after these types of meetings, from Trump they’re sure to calm anxieties that he has stoked by demanding that America’s partners pay more for their own defense.
Abe, a nationalist adept at forging relationships with self-styled strongmen overseas, was the only world leader to meet the Republican before his inauguration. He is now the second to do so since Trump took office. Flattering the billionaire businessman, Abe said he would welcome the United States becoming “even greater.”
He also invited Trump to visit Japan this year. Trump accepted, according to a joint statement.
Other leaders of America’s closest neighbors and allies, such as Mexico, Britain and Australia, have been singed by their encounters or conversations with Trump.
Protest marks public school visit by new education secretary
WASHINGTON (AP) — Angry activists shouted “stand up, fight back” and one protester was arrested, as Betsy Devos made her first visit to a public school Friday as education secretary.
Several dozen protesters, some with small children, gathered at Jefferson Middle School, a predominantly African-American school in the nation’s capital. At one point, when DeVos tried to enter the school, two protesters blocked her path, forcing her to return to her car. D.C. police said one man was detained for assaulting a police officer.
DeVos eventually made it inside the school, in a visit that was designed to help her mend fences with teachers and parents across the country following a contentious confirmation battle.
DeVos praised the school for its hard work and innovative approaches to teaching and vowed to strengthen public education. But she also had some tough words for the protesters.
“I respect peaceful protest, and I will not be deterred in executing the vital mission of the Department of Education,” DeVos said in a statement. “No school door in America will be blocked from those seeking to help our nation’s school children.”
