World

BUCHAREST — Romania's government scrapped a contentious corruption decree on Sunday in a climbdown after the biggest mass demonstrations since the fall of communism, but protests still raged on for a sixth straight day.

As thousands of people gathered in Bucharest and elsewhere, the government announced it had repealed a decree which would have shielded certain corruption offences from prosecution but was seen as rolling back efforts to fight political graft.

This fulfilled the promise made late on Saturday by a pale and tired-looking Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu after a fifth day of demonstrations that have been the largest since the ousting and summary execution of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

But the announcement didn't stop demonstrators gathering again on Sunday to make it clear to Grindeanu and his left-wing government, which has been in office only a month, that they were on thin ice.

"I hope that this is a real repeal... We are going to keep an eye on them to make sure we are not being had," said protester Daniel, 35.

"Today we are going to break new records," electrician Florian, 40, told AFP in Bucharest, distributing free pretzels and tea at Victory Square, the seat of the government and epicentre of the protests.

By early evening Sunday, around 15,000 people were in the square, by media estimates, and the crowd was still growing. Again they brandished placards and national flags, chanted and blew whistles and plastic vuvuzela horns.

Meanwhile, around 1,200 pro-government supporters staged a demonstration outside the presidency, calling on the centre-right head of state Klaus Iohannis, a fierce critic of the government, to resign.

"Iohannis is a traitor to the country," one banner read.

The decree, passed Tuesday and due to enter into force on February 10, was to make abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, $47,500).

The government also sought, via a separate decree to be reviewed by parliament next week, to free some 2,500 people from prison serving sentences of less than five years.

But Grindeanu's Social Democrats (PSD) have argued the measures were meant to bring penal law into line with the constitution and reduce overcrowding in prisons.

Critics denounced the move as a brazenly transparent attempt to let off PSD officials and lawmakers who have been ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive of recent years.

That push saw almost 2,000 people convicted for abuse of power between 2014 and 2016, and a serving prime minister, five ministers, 16 lawmakers and five senators go on trial.

Grindeanu's climbdown on Saturday evening — he said he wanted to avoid "dividing the nation" — sparked cheers and celebrations that went late into the night.

Raluca, a demonstrator in her 30s, said that the government was still not to be trusted.

"People are going to remain very vigilant," she told AFP late on Saturday.

Her words were echoed on Sunday morning by Rado, one of a sweaty trio who had parked their bikes on the square and were peddling in place for exercise in lieu of heading out for their normal ride.

"Usually we do a Sunday trip, we cycle around 100-150 kilometres," said the 27-year-old who works for an online sports shop. 

"And since we have to look out for the thieves in our government, we decided just to come here and train," he told AFP.

"We just want someone competent to run the state for the people. Not for themselves, for their own benefit and bank accounts." 

LYON, France — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen kicked off her presidential campaign on Saturday with a promise to shield voters from globalisation and make their country “free”, hoping to profit from political turmoil to score a Donald Trump-style upset.

Opinion polls see the 48-year old daughter of National Front (FN) founder Jean-Marie Le Pen topping the first round on April 23 but then losing the May 7 run-off to a mainstream candidate.

But in the most unpredictable election race France has known in decades, the FN hopes the scandal hitting conservative candidate Francois Fillon and the rise of populism across the West will help convince voters to back Le Pen.

“We were told Donald Trump would never win in the United States against the media, against the establishment, but he won... We were told Marine Le Pen would not win the presidential election, but on May 7 she will win!” Jean-Lin Lacapelle, a top FN official, told several hundred party officials and members.

In 144 “commitments” published at the start of a two-day rally in Lyon, Le Pen proposes leaving the euro zone, holding a referendum on EU membership, slapping taxes on imports and on the job contracts of foreigners, lowering the retirement age and increasing several welfare benefits while lowering income tax.

The manifesto also foresees reserving certain rights now available to all residents, including free education, to French citizens only, hiring 15,000 police, curbing migration and leaving NATO’s integrated command.

“The aim of this programme is first of all to give France its freedom back and give the people a voice,” Le Pen said in the introduction to the manifesto.

Emmanuel Macron, a pro-European centrist candidate who polls say is likely to face Le Pen in the presidential election run-off, will also hold a rally in Lyon on Saturday to propose a radically different platform.

Opinion polls suggest Macron would easily beat Le Pen in the second round, but faith in pollsters has been shaken after they failed to predict Trump’s election win or Britain’s vote last June to leave the European Union.

Former frontrunner Fillon has been damaged by allegations, which he denies, that he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for work she may not actually have done. A poll on Saturday showed the conservative slipping to third place in round one.

The FN officials taking to the stage targeted Macron more than any other of Le Pen’s opponents, presenting the former investment banker as the candidate of “international capitalism”. The crowd booed his name every time.

“This presidential election puts two opposite proposals,” Le Pen said in her manifesto. “The ‘globalist’ choice backed by all my opponents... and the ‘patriotic’ choice which I personify.”

EU overhaul pledge

If elected, Le Pen says she would immediately seek an overhaul of the European Union that would reduce it to a very loose cooperative of nations with no single currency and no border-free area. If, as is likely, France’s EU partners refuse to agree to this, she would call a referendum to leave the bloc.

The electoral manifesto is short on macro-economic details and does not give any public deficit or debt targets. Nor does it explain how a Le Pen government would balance raising welfare benefits with cutting taxes.

The programme is far less detailed than her 2012 platform and has softened the presentation of a number of controversial issues, with the FN trying to find the right balance between reassuring voters and keeping its anti-establishment image.

For instance, instead of devoting a whole chapter to “the orderly demolition of the euro” as the 2012 manifesto did, the 2017 one only briefly mentions regaining France’s “monetary sovereignty”.

Opinion polls showing a majority of voters, especially the elderly, want to stay in the euro.

Immigration remains the party’s signature theme. When Franck de Lapersonne, an actor and FN supporter, told the rally that 19th century writer Victor Hugo “did not learn Arabic at school and that makes me happy”, he received the loudest ovation of the day, with the crowd chanting the party’s trademark slogan “On est chez nous” (“This is our country!”) 

Le Pen and her party are facing their own scandals, including one over assistants in the European Parliament and investigations over her 2012 campaign financing.

But that leaves grass-roots supporters undeterred. “We’re fighting to win the 2017 election,” said Victor Birra, the regional head of the FN youth association.

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump defended his order to temporarily bar entry to people from seven majority-Muslim nations, which has come under intense criticism at home and abroad, saying on Thursday it was crucial to ensuring religious freedom and tolerance in America.

Trump, speaking at a prayer breakfast attended by His Majesty King Abdullah, politicians, faith leaders and guests, said he wanted to prevent a “beachhead of intolerance” from spreading in the United States.

“The world is in trouble, but we’re going to straighten it out, OK? That’s what I do — I fix things,” Trump said in his speech.

Trump’s executive order a week ago put a 120-day halt on the US refugee programme, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The measure, which Trump says is aimed at protecting the country from terrorist attacks, has drawn protests and legal challenges.

Trump, a wealthy businessman and former reality TV star who had never previously held public office when he was sworn in on January 20, also sought to reassure the large crowd about the nature of his phone calls with world leaders.

The Washington Post said Trump had a tense call with Australia’s Prime Minister about his immigration order.

“Believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having - don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it,” Trump said. He did not specify which calls he was referring to.

“We’re taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. It’s not going to happen anymore,” said Trump, who campaigned on a stance of “America first” that he said would ensure the country was not taken advantage of in its trade or other foreign relations.

Trump said violence against religious minorities must end. “All nations have a moral obligation to speak out against such violence. All nations have a duty to work together to confront it, and to confront it viciously, if we have to,” he said.

Trump said the United States has taken “necessary action” in recent days to protect religious liberty in the United States, referring to his immigration action.

Critics of the measure have accused him of violating the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, because the designated countries are majority-Muslim, and of slamming the door shut to refugees.

Trump has said the move was necessary to ensure a more thorough vetting of people coming into the United States.

“Our nation has the most generous immigration system in the world. There are those who would exploit that generosity to undermine the values that we hold so dear,” Trump said.

“There are those who would seek to enter our country for the purpose of spreading violence, or oppressing other people based upon their faith or their lifestyle — not right. We will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread in our nation,” he said.

Trump said his administration’s new system would ensure that people entering the United States embrace US values including religious liberty.

He also pledged to get rid of the “Johnson Amendment”, a tax provision that prevents tax-exempt charities like churches from being involved in political campaigns.

The White House said on Wednesday it has issued updated guidance on the travel order clarifying that legal permanent residents, or green card holders, from the designated countries require no waiver to enter the United States.

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine — Ukraine's president appealed for more global pressure against Russia on Thursday as Moscow-backed rebels and government forces clashed around a frontline town for a fifth day in a surge of fighting that has claimed a reported 21 lives.

The sworn foes have been exchanging mortar and rocket fire around the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka that sits just north of the Russian-backed rebels' de facto capital of Donetsk.

The outburst of violence since Sunday have reignited fears of full-scale warfare returning to Ukraine after a relative lull in 33 months of bloodshed in the European Union's backyard.

The Avdiivka shelling left more than 20,000 people without heat or water in freezing winter weather and authorities scrambling to provide relief.

The escalation in fighting has sharpened attention on a conflict that had slipped from recent focus despite claiming the lives of more than 10,000 people.

The fresh bloodshed comes at a potential watershed moment for Ukraine as it seeks to maintain US support despite President Donald Trump's bid to mend ties with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Moscow and Kiev have traded blame over who started the latest violence but AFP reporters witnessed the rebels on the attack.

"The Russian fighters are attacking Avdiivka, not giving the workers a chance to restore power," Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement.

"The world should be more actively putting pressure on Russia in order to end the shelling."

 Kiev worries that Putin is trying to stamp his authority on eastern Ukraine to give him leverage over Trump on other global issues.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg did not blame Russia directly but said that Moscow had "considerable influence" over the militia forces now on the attack.

Moscow denies accusations from Kiev and its allies that it sparked the war in 2014 and has sent in troops to keep Ukraine under its thumb after its tilt towards the West. 

Mortars and gruel 

Thursday morning began with echoes of rocket fire on the outskirts of the blue-collar town and the death of a woman in a shelling attack.

The insurgents also said one more of their fighters was killed in the clashes. 

"There is no lighting in the Avdiivka and we are keeping the local heating plant at the lowest temperature possible that would avoid its pipes from freezing," the Ukrainian army's 72 brigade Spokeswoman Olena Mokrynchuk told AFP.

Army officers were distributing gruel and tea to hundreds of people in makeshift street kitchens as the echoes of exploding shells shattered the air.

They also set up seven camps where people could warm up from winter weather that sees temperatures fall to -20^oC at night.

"Right now we are making buckwheat and millet porridge," said a 40-year-old serviceman who gave his name only as Taras.

"We hope to get some canned meat in the evening," he told AFP.

The industrial town of Avdiivka was seized by separatists when the conflict started in April 2014 after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian leader but was recaptured by Kiev several months later.

Ukraine has a large military presence nearby and in surrounding towns that are one the main hotspots of the fighting. 

The town has a giant coke plant that produces natural gas for generating heat and electricity and also has important roads used by the separatist fighters to move around machinery and weapons.

Moscow and Kiev agreed on Wednesday to promote a new truce that would also open escape routes out of the devastated town.

But coke plant spokesman Dmytro Murashko told AFP that those trying to leave Avdiivka fell under heavy shelling.

"They had to return," said Murashko. "The situation here is at a stalemate. Tens of thousands of people are being held hostage."

 A Ukrainian fighter from Kiev who only gave his nom de guerre — “The Zoo” — said he was certain that Russian forces were leading the offensive.

"No one else could coordinate this so well," he told AFP.

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine — The head of NATO warned on Wednesday that Ukraine faced its worst violence “in a long time” as global alarm rang out over a spike in bloodshed that has killed 19 people in the European Union’s backyard.

Government forces and Russian-backed separatists exchanged mortar and rocket fire for a fourth day around the flashpoint eastern town of Avdiivka that sits just north of the rebels’ de facto capital Donetsk.

The Ukrainian military said three of its soldiers had died overnight, while the rebels said as many civilians had been killed.

Hundreds of mourners laid flowers on Kiev’s Independence (Maidan) Square as servicemen dressed in green camouflage fatigues carried the coffins of comrades killed in the east.

The Avdiivka clashes have left more than 20,000 people without heat or water in freezing winter weather with no signs of relief in sight.

The fighting comes at a potential watershed moment for Ukraine as fears mount in Kiev that staunch US support could wane with President Donald Trump looking to mend ties with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Moscow and Kiev have traded blame over who started the latest shelling attacks.

Kiev’s main fear is that Putin may be trying to stamp his authority on eastern Ukraine to give him leverage over Trump on other global issues.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg did not blame Russia directly but did say it had “considerable influence” over the militia forces now on the attack.

“We call on Russia to use its considerable influence with the rebels to bring the violence to an end,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

“In Ukraine, we see the most serious spike in violence in a long time.”

 An emergency UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday also called for an immediate end to fighting in a near three-year conflict that has plunged Moscow’s relations with the West to a post-Cold War low.

The council expressed “grave concern” about the resumption of serious battles in one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts since the 1990s Balkans wars.

The fighting began shortly after pro-Western protests led to the ouster of Ukraine’s Russian-backed president in February 2014.

Moscow responded by seizing Crimea from Ukraine the following month.

‘Kids awoken by shelling’ 

The industrial hub of Avdiivka came under its first assault on Sunday by insurgents seeking to recapture territory along the front splitting the rival sides.

Residents such as 62-year-old Larysa were packing up to find shelter from the cold and violence.

“We slept very badly last night, the kids were awoken by shelling,” she told AFP as she left town with her two granddaughters.

“A shell landed under our window but thank God it did not explode.”

 Pro-Kiev Donetsk regional administrator Pavlo Zhebrivskiy said Ukraine had received Russia’s assurance that a truce would go into immediate effect.

Yet, there was no confirmation from Moscow or Kiev and Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said only that some repair work on damaged power lines had begun.

The fighting has severely damaged a coke plant that provides heating for the blue-collar town of some 25,000 people.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe (OSCE) is responsible for monitoring ceasefire violations and organising peace talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine.

In the latest round held in Minsk on Wednesday, OSCE envoy Martin Sajdik said both Kiev and Moscow had called for a “full and all-encompassing truce to be introduced across the entire war zone”.

Such pleas have generally been accepted by the rebels before being broken by both sides.

The conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people — more than half of them civilians — since it erupted in April 2014.

Russia gives political backing to the rebels but has denied accusations from the West and Kiev that it is directing the insurgency or has sent troops into the war zone. 

Abdi was sitting cross-legged on the floor reading the Koran with his friends when the shooting began — a staccato spray of bullets into the crowd of worshippers gathered on Sunday at the mosque in Quebec City, Canada.

It was the shout from the doorway that alerted them: “Allahu akbar!” which means “God is greatest!”

 “We all turned and that’s the point when they started shooting,” said Abdi, a 22-year-old student who declined to give his last name, fearing for his safety.

Abdi hit the floor, arms over his head and ears. But he could still hear the men around him praying for their lives until gunfire cut them short. He felt a trio of bullets whisk over his head.

“Everyone got down, and those people standing in prayer, two of them were in the same row as I was, and the bullets hit them,” said Abdi, who spoke with Reuters Monday from his home in Montreal. He was in Quebec City visiting friends when he was caught in the carnage.

“People were praying to God: ‘Save us from this hell; save us from this massacre.’”

Again and again, Abdi heard the sound of reloading guns. He prayed the attackers would not go upstairs, where the women and children were gathered.

“I thought I was going to die.”

 Abdi is convinced he saw two shooters. Police say there was only one.

It was not until police cleared the scene that Abdi opened his eyes. He stood and beheld “a graveyard” — dead, dying and injured people just feet from where he and his friends had lain.

“It was a horrible moment.”

 The phrase “Allahu akbar” is a common religious invocation that has been uttered by some attackers in incidents inspired by Daesh. But that night, Abdi said, he could tell it was not a Muslim speaking it. “The tone of voice is different for a person who speaks Arabic or who can recite the Koran.”

 On Monday, Alexandre Bissonnette was charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder with a restricted weapon in connection with the shooting that killed six people and injured 17 others. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it “a terrorist attack”.

 In the massacre’s aftermath Sunday night, survivors and bystanders gathered across the street from the mosque in a coffee shop that handed out free coffee as family members crowded in to dial loved ones on repeat, and swarms of reporters charged their phones.

Amin emerged from the cafe to head home, shell-shocked, his gloveless hands growing cold and chapped in the below-freezing air.

Amin told Reuters he had cowered by the mosque’s eastern wall from the gunfire. When silence fell, he stood to see bodies slumped around him. He asked that only his first name be used.

Zebida Bendjeddou left the mosque before the carnage erupted and spent much of Sunday night glued to her television, trading phone calls with friends and community members hungry for news of the attack on their place of worship.

“Everything is toppled,” she told Reuters.

There have been threats before, she said, but nothing like this.

“In June, they’d put a pig’s head in front of the mosque. But we thought, ‘Oh, they’re isolated events.’ We didn’t take it seriously. There are mean people everywhere.

But now, “those isolated events, they take on a different scope”.

QUEBEC CITY — The French-Canadian student accused of killing six people during evening prayers in a Quebec City mosque had rented an apartment nearby, suggesting he may have been targeting the house of worship, local media reported on Tuesday.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, who said he was a fan of US President Donald Trump and far-right French politician Marine Le Pen, had recently moved into an apartment near the mosque with his twin brother, an unnamed neighbour of their parents told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Bissonnette, the sole suspect in Sunday night’s shooting, was charged on Monday with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder with a restricted weapon. Police said he acted alone.

Police declined to discuss a motive for the shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, but friends and online acquaintances told Canadian media he expressed anti-immigration sentiments, especially towards Muslim refugees.

A social science student and former cadet known in online circles for his right-wing views, Bissonnette was described by a former classmate as a “nerdy outcast”.

 Bissonnette did not hide his hostility towards Muslims during his long interrogation by police, Montreal’s La Presse newspaper quoted a source close to the investigation. He was also interested in guns, and practiced shooting at a local club near the provincial capital, La Presse reported.

The slightly built Bissonnette made a brief appearance in court on Monday under tight security, wearing white prison clothes and looking downcast.

Prosecutors said all of the evidence was not yet ready, and Bissonnette, a student at Université Laval, was set to appear again on February 21. No charges were read in court and Bissonnette did not enter a plea.

Bissonnette’s lawyer, Jean Petit, declined to comment at the courthouse on Monday.

On his Facebook page, he indicated he liked Le Pen, Trump, the separatist Parti Quebecois as well as Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party, the Israeli Defence Forces, heavy metal band Megadeth and pop star Katy Perry.

QUEBEC CITY — Two suspects were under arrest after a shooting at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday evening killed six people and wounded eight, police said on Monday, and a source said one was French-Canadian and the other was of Moroccan heritage.

At least one of the suspects in the attack by two gunmen was a student at nearby Université Laval, the source said.

One suspect was identified as Alexandre Bissonnette, a French-Canadian, the other as Mohamed Khadir, who is of Moroccan heritage although his nationality was not immediately known, according to the source.

Police declined to give details of the suspects’ identities or possible motives for the attack during evening prayers at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.

“Legal procedures are now underway and we cannot make any comment on the identity of the suspects,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Security Superintendent Martin Plante told a news conference. He added the suspects, both men, were not previously known to police.

One suspect was arrested at the mosque, where police were called at about 8pm local time, and the other turned himself about an hour later, Quebec City Police Inspector Denis Turcotte said.

Police said they were confident there were no other suspects involved in the attack.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier called the shooting “a terrorist attack on Muslims”.

The shooting came over the weekend that Trudeau said Canada would welcome refugees, after US President Donald Trump halted the US refugee program and temporarily barred citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States on national security grounds.

Trump’s action was widely condemned in the United States and abroad as targeting Muslims.

Father of four among those killed

Five people were critically injured in the mosque attack and remained in intensive care, three of them in life-threatening condition, a spokeswoman for the Quebec City University Hospital said on Monday.

Another 12 people were treated for minor injuries, she said.

A father of four, the owner of a halal butcher near the mosque, was among those killed, said Pamela Sakinah El-hayet, a friend of one of the people at the mosque.

The mosque concierge was killed, as was Ahmed Youness, a 21-year-old student, El-hayet told Reuters. One of El-hayet’s friends, Youness’ roommate, was in the mosque at the time of the shooting. He was unharmed, she said, but in total shock.

Ali Assafiri, a student at Université Laval, said he had been running late for the evening prayers at the mosque, near the university in the Quebec City area. When he arrived, the mosque had been transformed by police into a crime scene.

“Everyone was in shock,” Assafiri said by phone. “It was chaos.”

Université Laval is the oldest French-language university in North America, with 42,500 students.

There was an outpouring of support for the mosque on social media, and vigils were planned for Montreal and Quebec City, the provincial capital, as well as Edmonton later on Monday.

While the motive for the shooting was not known, incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Quebec in recent years. The face-covering, or niqab, became a big issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election, especially in Quebec, where the majority of the population supported a ban on it at citizenship ceremonies.

Pope Francis offered his condolences to Cardinal Gerald Cyprien LaCroix, Archbishop of Quebec, who was visiting Rome on Monday. Francis said he was praying for the victims of the attack.

“The Pope underlined how important it is in these moments that everyone remains united in prayer, Christians and Muslims,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Canada PM spokesman said Trump called Canada PM Trudeau to express condolences over Quebec mosque attack, Trump offered to provide assistance

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel told US President Donald Trump that the global fight against terrorism was no excuse for banning refugees or people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, her spokesman said on Sunday.

Steffen Seibert said Merkel had expressed her concerns to Trump during a telephone call on Saturday and reminded him that the Geneva Conventions require the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds.

“She is convinced that even the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion,” he said.

Seibert said the German government regrets the US entry travel ban, would review the consequences for German citizens with dual nationalities, and would “represent their interests, if needed, vis-a-vis our US partners”.

The German and Dutch foreign ministers issued a joint statement on Sunday saying they were pressing US authorities to determine what the order meant for their dual nationals.

“We are determined to protect the rights of our citizens and will take rapid action within the European Union about the steps that are now needed,” Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel and his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders said.

Trump ordered on Friday a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily banned travellers from Syria and six other mainly Muslim countries.

Seibert’s comments were the first indication of discord over the issue between Merkel and Trump, who had highlighted common interests such as strengthening NATO and combating Islamist militancy in a joint statement after their 45-minute phone call.

Thomas Oppermann, who heads the parliamentary faction of the Social Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel’s right-centre coalition, called Trump’s order “inhumane and foolhardy” and said it would result in significant damage to the US economy.

“The order contradicts everything that makes up the United States’ good reputation as a country of immigration,” he told Die Welt newspaper. “No one should be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.”

Omid Nouripour, a Green Party lawmaker who is vice-chair of the German-American parliamentary group and a German-Iranian dual national, said the new US rule was a “dirty symbolic gesture that would hurt hundreds of thousands of people”.

“The German government must stand up for the over 100,000 German citizens who are affected by the order,” Nouripour told Reuters. 

Niema Movassat, a Left Party lawmaker who also has German and Iranian citizenship, told the Tageszeitung newspaper that the ban would prevent him from visiting the United Nations to work on development issues and from visiting his relatives.

Dieter Janecek, economic spokesman for the Greens in parliament, said Germany should consider a travel ban on Trump and his senior adviser Stephen Bannon unless the order was rescinded.

Trump on Saturday accepted Merkel’s invitation to attend a meeting of the Group of 20 industrialised nations in Hamburg in July. He also invited Merkel to visit Washington soon.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — It’s been almost a decade since the last detainee landed at Guantanamo Bay. Most of the jail’s camps are now mothballed and the inmate population is down to just 41.

But after years of shrinking operations at the notorious military prison, commanders are now bracing for a potential U-turn under the new administration of President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he wants to load up Guantanamo with “some bad dudes”, and a draft executive order circulated by US media this week suggests he is poised to indefinitely halt all detainee releases, including five men who had been cleared for transfer under his predecessor Barack Obama.

“We are planning for all contingencies,” prison spokesman Captain John Filostrat said.

“We are able to transfer detainees — or take more detainees — at a moment’s notice.”

 Trump has also said it would be “fine” if US terror suspects were sent to Guantanamo for trial, and the executive order arguably opens the possibility that Americans, even those arrested in the United States, could end up here.

Filostrat, who stressed he has not received any new orders, said Guantanamo could easily take about another 200 detainees if needed.

Trump has provided few specifics about his Guantanamo plans, but the draft executive order says the facility is a “critical tool” in the fight against “radical Islamist groups”.

Caribbean coast and razor wire 

About 780 men have been held at Guantanamo since it opened in 2002, and most of the basic infrastructure that housed them remains.

New inmates would be primarily housed in Camp 6, a medium-security facility that opened in 2006 at a cost of $37 million, where the bulk of the current 41 inmates are detained.

The facility sits close to the blue Caribbean coast and its outer perimeter is a chain-link fence covered with sniper netting and topped with razor wire.

Other new arrivals could be held in Camp 5, a detention facility that was closed last year as the population dwindled. It currently is being repurposed as a medical centre.

Filostrat said other prison camps could quickly be reactivated if need be, though most likely not the infamous Camp X-Ray.

That facility, only used for a few months in early 2002, left an indelible mark after blindfolded and shackled detainees wearing orange jumpsuits were photographed there.

It is now overgrown with thick weeds and has been preserved by court order as a potential crime scene after detainees alleged they were tortured there.

Waterboarding 

Trump this week said he “absolutely” thinks waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques work, but will defer to Pentagon chief James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo for guidance on the issue.

The arrival of new inmates at Guantanamo would mark a stark departure from the last eight years under Obama. 

In 2009, soon after he was sworn in, Obama ordered the prison to be closed within a year, and no new inmate has come here since early 2008.

But Obama failed. Political bickering, vehement Republican opposition and foreign allies’ reluctance to take in the prisoners meant he could not close Guantanamo, though the population dropped from 242 to 41 under his watch.

Of those remaining, five have been cleared for transfer — but efforts to fly them out before Trump took office failed at the last minute.

Currently, the Guantanamo jail complex still maintains a pretense that its presence is temporary.

Visitors chug imported water and sleep in communal tents, the bathrooms are called latrines and prison guards belong to an “expeditionary” force.

According to the draft memo, Trump would order Mattis to halt “any existing transfer efforts” pending further national security reviews, meaning the five who were cleared likely will be stuck here for years to come.

Another 26 inmates are trapped in legal purgatory. These so-called “forever prisoners” have never been charged — yet they have been deemed too dangerous to release.

The other 10, including the alleged plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks, are going through a slow-motion military prosecution at Guantanamo.

The five alleged 9/11 co-conspirators appeared briefly in court this week. Their hearings were again suspended, this time because a chief lawyer for the self-professed mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had broken her arm and could not fly down to the remote naval base on the eastern end of Cuba.

James Hall, a retired New York Port Authority police sergeant who responded after the Twin Towers were attacked, was among a group of 9/11 victim relatives who had flown to Guantanamo for the hearings.

Even though the tribunals here have been bogged down for years, he said he supported the continued use of Guantanamo and the military commission system for detainees.

“I feel that this military commission is the only way, and the proper way, to make sure that justice is served in this format,” Hall told reporters.

“I am confident that... this is the way it needs to be, for now and in the future.”