Poland
Centenary of national rebirth is observed
WARSAW — Poland’s president, prime minister and other top political figures led an independence day march Sunday as part of a day of centenary celebrations, trailed by a huge crowd led by nationalist groups.
More than 250,000 people marched in Warsaw to mark the 100th anniversary of Poland’s rebirth as an independent state at the end of World War I, according to police.
Among the slogans that participants shouted were “USA, empire of evil” and “Poland, white and Catholic.”
Members of one nationalist group, eurosceptic All-Polish Youth, burned a European Union flag.
Mexico
Thousands protest airport’s cancellation
MEXICO CITY — Thousands of people have marched in opposition to President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plans to cancel a new $13 billion airport here.
Marchers dismissed the referendum that led to the cancellation as unconstitutional and compared López Obrador to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
Last month, 70 percent of participants voted against continuing the project, which López Obrador has criticized as too costly. Just over 1 million people voted.
The new airport is already about one-third completed. López Obrador takes office Dec. 1.
Iran
Ex-minister of welfare arrested in fraud case
TEHRAN — Iran’s official IRNA news agency says authorities have arrested the former minister of welfare and social security for financial fraud.
The Sunday report says Parviz Kazemi was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison two days ago.
Kazemi resigned from his post in 2006 after nearly a year under former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over political differences. He later worked in the banking sector.
In recent years, Kazemi turned into a critic of Ahmadinejad.
Several of Ahmadinejad’s allies are in jail over charges relating to security and financial fraud.
In September, a court sentenced Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of Ahmadinejad to 6½ years in prison for plotting to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the Islamic Republic and insulting officials.
United Kingdom
Bus driver arrested in DUI incident; girl hurt
LONDON — British police say a London bus driver has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a collision that left a teenage girl with critical injuries.
Police said the accident happened Sunday afternoon when a double-decker city bus collided with a car, another bus and a bus shelter.
Police said the girl, about 15, was hospitalized and that
an unspecified number of other people were treated for minor injuries.
The accident happened in Croydon, about 10 miles south of central London.
The Associated Press
