Jihadists mock Trump travel ban, vow more attacks

Supporters of Islamic State mocked U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to deny entry to citizens of seven Muslim- majority countries, saying it would fail to stop attacks in the United States and help win new militant recruits instead.

"Your decision will do nothing. Attacks will come at you from inside America, from Americans born in America with American parents and grandparents," one Islamic State supporter posted on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app.

In a move he said would help protect the United States from terrorists, Trump signed an order on Friday suspending the entry of people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 90 days. Admission of all refugees was halted for four months, and for Syrians indefinitely.

The sweeping travel curbs took effect immediately, wreaking havoc for would-be travelers with passports from the seven countries and prompting an international outcry.

Islamic State, which has been fighting military assaults on several fronts in its heartlands of northern Syria and Iraq, has made no formal comment on Trump's ban. But some sympathizers took to social media to pour scorn on immigration restrictions they said would serve Islamic State's cause.

Don't let Trump embarrass our queen, say 1.3 million Britons

Well over a million people in Britain have signed a petition calling for U.S. President Donald Trump's planned state visit to be cancelled to avoid embarrassing QueenElizabeth, in a grassroots backlash against his immigration policies.

The invitation to make a state visit, which will involve lavish displays of royal pageantry and a banquet hosted by the monarch, was conveyed by Prime Minister Theresa May when she visited Trump in Washington last week.

But May came under pressure to cancel the visit after Trump issued an executive order barring Syrian refugees from the United States and suspending travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, sparking protests at home and abroad.

The petition against the state visit, which is on the British parliament's website, passed the one million mark on Monday morning and by mid-afternoon local time had more than 1.3 million signatories.

"Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen," the petition says.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told parliament Trump's approach on immigration was not one the British government would take, calling the executive order highly controversial, divisive and discriminatory, but he defended the state visit.

"It is totally right that the incoming president of our closest and most important ally should be accorded the honor of a state visit, and that is supported by this government" he said.

Oscar-nominated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi voluntarily bowing out of Oscars

Oscar-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi will boycott this year's ceremony in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump's “unjust” ban on people from his country - Iran - and six others.

Announcing his decision, the director, who won the 2012 best foreign language film award for “A Separation” and is nominated again this year, compared the Trump administration to Iranian hardliners as both use the fear of outsiders “to justify extremist and fanatic behavior by narrow-minded individuals.”

“Hardliners, despite their nationalities, political arguments and wars, regard and understand the world in very much the same way,” Farhadi said in a statement, published by the New York Times and some Iranian media.

 

 

 

 

 

 REUTERS/LBCI