CALL SCUTTLES MEXICAN LEADER’S VISIT TO THE U.S.

Tentative plans for Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to make his first visit to the White House to meet with President Trump were scuttled after a testy call between the two leaders ended in an impasse over Trump’s promised border wall, according to U.S. and Mexican officials.

Peña Nieto was eyeing an official trip to Washington this month or in early March, but called off the plan after Trump would not agree to publicly affirm Mexico’s position that it would not fund construction of a border wall that the Mexican people widely consider offensive, said the officials, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential conversation.

Speaking by phone on Feb. 20, Peña Nieto and Trump devoted a considerable portion of their roughly 50 minute conversation to the wall, and neither man would compromise his position.

One Mexican official said Trump “lost his temper.” But U.S. officials described him instead as being frustrated and exasperated, saying Trump believed it was unreasonable for Peña Nieto to expect him to back off his promise of forcing Mexico to pay for the wall.

Both accounts confirm it was Peña Nieto’s desire to avoid public embarrassment — and Trump’s unwillingness to provide that assurance — that proved to be the dealbreaker.

Macedonia changing airport name.

Macedonia has begun the process of changing the name of its airport honoring the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great as a goodwill gesture to Greece.

Turkish consortium TAV, which operates Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, started removing the 3-yard-long letters spelling out the name from the terminal Saturday.

The airport’s new name will be Skopje International Airport.

Macedonia and Greece are working to resolve a 25-year dispute over the Macedonia name.

Flag Day ceremony goes awry.

CITY» A Flag Day ceremony

MEXICO in Mexico has gone awry, with troops flying the country’s red, white and green “tri-color” upside down. Local media show images of the giant flag fluttering over Mexico City’s Campo Marte parade ground Saturday with its iconic eagle inverted.

President Enrique Pena Nieto acknowledged the gaffe, but he added that, “Upside down or right side up, backward or forward, the flag is a symbol that gives us a sense of identity, of belonging, of pride in being Mexicans.”

French farmers upset with Macron. PARIS» With boos and whistles, French farmers gave President Emmanuel Macron a piece of their mind at a major agriculture event where he was trying to promote his policies.

Macron was supposed to visit the Paris Agriculture Fair all day Saturday — a key moment to address French farmers’ concerns.

He had a tense exchange with cereal producers loudly protesting his government’s proposal to ban a pesticide called glyphosate by 2020. Macron, visibly irritated, promised to find “solutions” to replace glyphosate, which is thought to be carcinogenic.

Many farmers are also angry about trade talks with South American countries that could make France import more foreign meat. Macron said his policies aim to invest more to raise French food and farming standards and to help farmers facing foreign competition.

Jeep plows into Indian kids.

INDIA» A speeding jeep

PATNA, plowed through a group of schoolchildren crossing a road in eastern India on Saturday, killing nine and injuring 10 of them.

The jeep first hit and injured two adult female pedestrians. While trying to escape from the spot, it hit the children, who were leaving their school on the outskirts of Muzzafarpur, a town in Bihar state. The children range in age from 10 to 14.