From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he has "no doubt" his administration will win a court battle over his immigration order barring refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Speaking at a White House news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said he would be announcing new measures to bolster U.S. security next week.

He said he was confident that government attorneys would be able to overcome a unanimous decision late Thursday by an appellate court that kept in place an injunction against enforcement of the president's order.

"So we'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You will be seeing that sometime next week. In addition, we will continue to go through the court process and ultimately I have no doubt that we will win that particular case."

On Air Force One, the president told reporters that several options are being considered, including a new executive order that could stand up to a legal challenge.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abe said that he and President Trump reached agreement on a new framework for economic talks and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will be among the topics of discussion.

"Deputy Prime Minister Aso and Vice President Pence will create a new framework for dialogue and I am quite optimistic that good results will be seen from the dialogue."

Japan has been concerned about the impact that Trump's decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement will have as well as his "America First" strategy.

Trump said any trading relationship between the two countries must be free, fair and reciprocal.

This is VOA news.

A new report says President Trump's National Security Advisor Michael Flynn talked about U.S. sanctions against Russia before the Trump administration took office.

The Associated Press quotes administration officials as saying that Flynn cannot be certain that sanctions did not come up in several phone calls to Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak.

The Washington Post newspaper reported Thursday that Flynn had made explicit references to sanctions in his conversations with Kislyak. One of the calls came on the day that former President Obama imposed new sanctions against Russia for its interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Several Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, had previously said that Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador had nothing to do with sanctions.

President Trump's selection for health secretary was officially sworn in Friday at the White House. Former Georgia Congressman Tom Price took the oath of office hours after the U.S. Senate voted 52-47 to approve his nomination.

Vice President Pence called Price "uniquely qualified" to take over the Department of Health and Human Services.

"And we're both confident that you will bring that experience as a physician, that experience at the state level and that singular experience at the national level to ensure that President Trump's vision for a health care system in this country that works for every American will become a reality in the years ahead."

Price is an orthopedic surgeon and an opponent of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

President Trump and congressional Republicans have promised to repeal and replace that law, which provided 20 million Americans with health insurance.

The United States is downplaying the severity of what's being described as a "close encounter" between U.S. and Chinese military aircraft over the South China Sea.

According to U.S. officials, during Wednesday's encounter, a Chinese KJ-200 early warning aircraft passed about 200 meters in front of a U.S. Navy P-3 plane on a routine mission in international airspace between the Chinese mainland and the Philippines. As a result, the P-3 was forced to make an immediate turn.

On Friday, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis described the incident as a "one-off" and said that there was no indication it was intentional.

An up day on Wall Street, with all three major indices closing Friday's trading higher. European markets were mixed. Asian markets closed on the upside.

For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.