Egypt Today's world news brief

CAIRO – 26 June 2018: Egypt Today brings you the latest top of the hour news from around the world over the past 24 hours in this round-up.

U.S. top court backs Trump on travel ban targeting Muslim-majority nations

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed Donald Trump one of the biggest victories of his presidency, upholding his travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries and rejecting the idea that it represented unconstitutional religious discrimination.

The current ban, announced in September, prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The Supreme Court allowed it to go largely into effect in December while the legal challenge continued.

Trump also has moved to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children, acted against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, ended protected status for certain immigrants in the country for decades, intensified deportation efforts and pursued limits on legal immigration.

Trump last week retreated on his administration's practice of separating the children of immigrants from their parents when families were detained illegally entering the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump casts a shadow as he waves and approaches the press to make remarks as he returns from a weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David to the White House, Washington, U.S., December17, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

France's Macron and Pope Francis hold unusually long meeting

French President Emmanuel Macron, accused at home of straining France’s secular foundations by seeking to mend ties with the Catholic Church, had an unusually long and cordial meeting with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

They spoke for nearly an hour in the official papal library in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, about twice as long as Francis usually spends with heads of state or government.

A Vatican statement said the two discussed "protection of the environment, migration, and multilateral commitment to conflict prevention and resolution, especially in relation to disarmament".


French President Emmanuel Macron, accused at home of straining France’s secular foundations by seeking to mend ties with the Catholic Church, had an unusually long and cordial meeting with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

Mattis becomes first US defense chief to visit China under Trump

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday became the first Pentagon chief to visit China since 2014, starting a three-day trip with a goal of improving security dialogue with Beijing despite increasingly fraught Sino-U.S. relations.


U.S. Secretary of Defence Mattis leaves a news conference after a NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels - REUTERS

Haftar declares Derna fully liberated in a speech within hours

Libyan National Army (LNA) has succeeded to liberate the city of Derna entirely from terrorists after few weeks of fierce clashes, a high-profile military source revealed to Egypt Today Tuesday.

The source manifested the defeated terrorist groups had collapsed all over the city, adding that the military engineers cleared the city’s streets.

“LNA Commander Khalifa Haftar will deliver a speech within a few hours declaring the full liberation of Derna,” a Libyan official, asked for anonymity, exclusively told Egypt Today.


Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army / press photo

US strikes kill 6 Daesh militants in Afghanistan

On Monday, at least six Daesh militants were killed in U.S. drone strikes on Daesh hideouts in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar.

The strikes targeted the Daesh hideouts near Haska Mina district overnight in conjunction with an operation launched by the Afghan forces in Pira Khel area of Khogyani district, local authorities reported.


US strikes Islamic State group camp in Libya, killing 17 -REUTERS