Farmington police squad car involved in serious injury crash

posted in: All news | 0

A Farmington woman was critically injured when authorities say she pulled out in front of a police vehicle with its emergency lights and sirens activated, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The crash occurred shortly after 5:30 p.m. Monday on southbound Minnesota 3 at Elm Street in Farmington.

A state patrol report said the 2022 Ford Explorer Farmington Police Department squad car was heading southbound on 3 with the vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens on when it struck a 2016 Toyota Corolla that entered the intersection from eastbound Elm Street.

The police officer was taken to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The 72-year-old driver of the Corolla was taken to Regions Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Related Articles


Hennepin County investigating federal immigration agents, including Bovino


Letters: I have 2 handguns, 3 shotguns, 2 rifles, and I support a ban on some weaponry


For immigrants in detention, spiritual care can be hard to find


Worms in food, poor medical care, lights on 24/7: Families tell of life in Texas detention center


Vadnais Heights couple recounts days of unrest in Puerto Vallarta

Trump threatens to cut off trade with Spain after it disallowed US use of joint bases in Iran war

posted in: All news | 0

By FATIMA HUSSEIN and SUMAN NAISHADHAM

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end trade with Spain, citing a lack of support over the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and the European nation’s resistance to increase its NATO spending.

“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”

The U.S. president’s comments came a day after Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said his country would not allow the U.S. to use the bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the United Nations’ charter. Albares noted that military bases it jointly operates with the U.S. were not used in the weekend attack on Iran.

It is unclear how Trump would cut off trade with Spain, given that Spain is under the umbrella of the European Union. The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member countries.

“If the U.S. administration wishes to review the trade agreement, it must do so respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law, and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the United States,” a spokesperson from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s office said Tuesday.

It was just the latest instance of the president wielding the threat of tariffs or trade embargoes as a punishment and came on the heels of a Supreme Court decision that struck down Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs. While the court said that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs, Trump now maintains that the court allows him to instead impose full-scale embargoes on other nations of his choosing.

Trump also complained anew Tuesday about Spain’s decision last year to back out of NATO’s 5% defense spending target. At the time, Spain said it could reach its military capabilities by spending 2.1% of its GDP, a move that Trump roundly criticized and responded to with tariff threats as well.

Spain, Trump said, is “the only country that in NATO would not agree to go up to 5%” in NATO spending. “I don’t think they agreed to go up to anything. They wanted to keep it at 2% and they don’t pay the 2%.”

Merz noted that Trump was correct and said, “We are trying to convince them that this is a part of our common security, that we all have to comply with this.”

Spain defended its position Tuesday, saying it is “a key member of NATO, fulfilling its commitments and making a significant contribution to the defense of European territory,” the spokesperson in Sánchez’s office said.

During the Oval Office meeting, Trump turned to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for his opinion on the president’s embargo authority.

Bessent said, “I agree that the Supreme Court reaffirmed your ability to implement an embargo.” Bessent added that the U.S. Trade Representative and Commerce Department would “begin investigations and we’ll move forward with those.”

Related Articles


After abandoning law firm executive orders, Trump administration reverses course and pursues fight


Testy exchanges over immigration cases highlight growing confrontations between judges and DOJ


War with Iran strains the US-UK relationship as Starmer and Trump disagree


It’s election season again. This is why and how AP calls races across the country


Iranian Americans fear for relatives in their homeland as war continues

A representative from the U.S. Treasury Department did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for additional comment.

Sánchez has been critical of the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, calling it an “unjustifiable” and “dangerous” military intervention. His government has demanded an immediate de-escalation and dialogue and also condemned Iran’s strikes across the region.

Trump said, “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership.”

Spain’s position on the use of U.S. bases in its territory marks the latest flare-up in its relationship with the Trump administration. Under Sánchez, Europe’s last major progressive leader, Spain was also an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Naishadham reported from Madrid.

Iran war taxes US diplomatic work and leaves Americans in the Mideast in limbo

posted in: All news | 0

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The largest U.S. diplomatic drawdown in the Middle East since the Iraq War began more than two decades ago is creating an apparently unplanned-for crisis for the Trump administration as the United States and Israel strike Iran in a widening conflict.

Related Articles


Trump threatens to cut off trade with Spain after it disallowed US use of joint bases in Iran war


Iranian strikes on Amazon data centers highlight industry’s vulnerability to physical disasters


From Karachi to Beirut, Khamenei’s death sends shockwaves across the Shiite world


Iran attacks threaten US economy with more uncertainty around inflation, growth


Some travelers stranded in Dubai are paying huge sums for private charter flights out

The State Department has been forced to close several embassies to the public, shut down at least one consulate, order the departure of embassy staff and families from at least six nations and advise Americans in 14 countries to leave the region immediately despite the war closing major airports and causing widespread flight cancellations.

The State Department said Tuesday that it was “securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East.” But it was not clear if any flights had yet been arranged.

The department has been in contact with nearly 3,000 Americans wanting to leave the region or seeking information about how to depart, Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said on X.

Emergency reductions in embassy staffing and post closures since the strikes on Iran began on the weekend have put severe strains on the ability to help U.S. citizens in need of assistance that might usually be considered routine.

In addition, the reductions have limited crucial official engagements with allied and partner governments during the war, including in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Biggest US drawdown in region since Iraq War

The scale of the American drawdown in the region rivals if not exceeds what was done in the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Back then, the State Department reduced its staffing in more than a dozen countries and advised U.S. citizens to leave or seriously consider leaving countries throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia from Morocco to Pakistan.

On Monday, Americans were told in a hastily drafted announcement posted on X to leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen even though commercial flights and other transportation have been disrupted.

Americans had been advised early Tuesday that the State Department had ordered nonessential diplomats and embassy families to leave Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

The embassies in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also were closed to the public Tuesday. A drone attack on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire,” Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said. But only one diplomatic mission — the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan — had completely suspended operations.

In Israel, where Americans were told they should leave as soon as possible as Iranian retaliation intensified, the Trump administration had no plans in place to assist people. Instead, the embassy in Jerusalem advised U.S. citizens to take an Israeli tourist bus to Egypt.

“The U.S. Embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tweeted Tuesday, adding that information about bus service was being offered as a courtesy “as you make your own security plans.”

However, a second State Department official, who not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department had been in touch with nearly 500 Americans in Israel who want to leave and that it had helped more than 130 in departing so far — with 100 more expected to leave Tuesday.

Confusion leads to questions about preparations

Confusion, though, was playing out around the region, raising questions about the preparations for possible military action and its impact on travel and the safety of Americans overseas, which is the State Department’s primary responsibility.

“If Americans are being instructed to leave but are given no viable pathway, that suggests one of two things: The system is not being activated, or the system has atrophied,” said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that supports Afghan nationals seeking to come to the United States after having served with U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

He noted that during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Biden administration had organized the evacuation of 121,000 people in a matter of days.

“Crisis response cannot be partisan,” he said. “It has to survive transitions. It has to be staffed, exercised, and protected. The oversight question is straightforward: Was the post-Afghanistan crisis response architecture sustained, or has it been weakened?”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a query about its planning for embassy and consulate staffing or providing assistance to American citizens in the event of a conflict with Iran.

The U.S. government cannot compel American citizens to leave any country. In rare circumstances, it can make it illegal for U.S. passports to be used for travel to a specific destination. The only such restriction is on North Korea. But before the strikes began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the restriction might also be applied to Iran.

Travel advice from the State Department, including admonitions not to visit a country or to leave it, often is not respected. Many people reside in or have close family living there and either ignore or decline to heed the advice.

There are large numbers of U.S. citizens living in or traveling throughout the Middle East. The State Department, however, refuses to offer an estimate because Americans are not required to report their presence in any country abroad. It says any estimate would be inaccurate.

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens, many of them dual nationals, are believed to live in Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Iran.

After abandoning law firm executive orders, Trump administration reverses course and pursues fight

posted in: All news | 0

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after abandoning its efforts to enforce executive orders that targeted some of the world’s most elite law firms, President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly reversed course on Tuesday and said it would proceed with the court fight.

Related Articles


War with Iran strains the US-UK relationship as Starmer and Trump disagree


It’s election season again. This is why and how AP calls races across the country


Iranian Americans fear for relatives in their homeland as war continues


Noem blames ‘violent protesters’ for Minneapolis chaos under tough questioning in a Senate hearing


North Carolina primary could mean Roy Cooper vs Michael Whatley in pivotal fall Senate race

The unexplained about-face represents the latest development in a yearlong effort by the Republican administration to impose sanctions against major law firms whose attorneys had done legal work Trump opposed or had been associated with prosecutors who investigated him.

Judges who received challenges to the executive orders from targeted firms uniformly ruled against the government, prompting an appeal from the Justice Department. In a brief filing Monday in the federal appeals court in Washington, the Justice Department withdrew its appeal, ending efforts to enforce executive orders against the firms of Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, Susman Godfrey and WilmerHale.

Then, on Tuesday, the Justice Department, without any explanation, submitted a new court filing saying that it was withdrawing its earlier one and was no longer giving up its appeal. It said that because the appeals court had not yet granted its motion to dismiss, the firms were not harmed by the department’s change in position. The department said that it had advised lawyers for the four firms of its change in position and that they objected.

The White House referred questions about the change in position to the Justice Department, where a spokesperson declined to comment.

In a statement, Perkins Coie said the Justice Department had “offered no explanation to either the parties or the court for its reversal.”

“We remain committed to defending our firm, our people, and our clients,” the firm said.

Susman Godfrey said in a statement that it “will defend itself and the rule of law — without equivocation.”

The succession of edicts, part of a broader Trump administration campaign of retribution, have ordered that the security clearances of attorneys at the targeted firms be suspended, that federal contracts be terminated and that their employees be barred from federal buildings. The punished firms have called the orders an unconstitutional affront to the legal system.

Other major firms sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.