According to sources at al-Awda Hospital, while waiting for humanitarian aid near the Netzarim Corridor in the center of Gaza Strip, at least 35 Palestinians have been killed and several others have been injured by Israeli fire.
At least eight people were killed and more injured when Israeli jets bombed a house in central Gaza west of Deir el-Balah.
At least 50 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army on Friday, according to hospitals in Gaza.
Since May 27, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributions, hundreds of people have died as a result of Israeli attacks on hungry Palestinians close to aid centers.
The UN has criticized the shadowy Israeli- and US-backed organization that is tasked with distributing aid supplies. Aid organizations have warned that the entire population is facing a potential famine after Israel imposed a total blockade from early March through late May.
The Government Media Office director-general for Gaza, Ismail al-Thawabta, reported on Thursday that 3, 203 more people had been injured and that 409 people had been killed overall.
UNICEF issued a warning that the Gaza Strip’s water systems were also suffering from a man-made drought.
According to spokesperson James Elder, “children will begin to die from thirst,” he told reporters in Geneva on Friday. Only 40% of drinking water production facilities are still operational.
The GHF distribution system, according to the UN agency, was “making a desperate situation worse.”
Elder, who was recently in Gaza, claimed to have heard numerous reports of women and children who had been harmed by a tank shell and later died from their injuries.
He claimed that there were too many mass casualties because the general public was unsure of when the sites, some of which were in combat zones, were open.
“There have been instances where information]was shared that a website is open, but it was later revealed on social media that they are closed,” he said. However, that information was shared when no one in Gaza had access to the internet because it was unavailable.
Despite a heavy downpour and slippery roads, supporters of presidential candidate Tidjane Thiam poured into Abidjan’s streets in the thousands on Saturday to march on the offices of the Ivory Coast electoral commission.
Decked in the white and green colours of Thiam’s main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), the demonstrators chanted his nickname – “Thithi president!” – in a show of support for a candidate now officially barred from the vote. Placards reading “There’s no Plan B!” flew high amid protest songs.
“We strongly denounce the arbitrary and unjustified removal of President Thiam, as well as other major opposition leaders,” PDCI’s executive secretary, Sylvestre Emmou, one of few people allowed through a large police barricade to submit a complaint to the commission, told his soaked compatriots. “This is unacceptable and dangerous for peace and democracy in our country,” he said.
The protests highlight rising tensions in West Africa’s second-biggest economy, ahead of the October general elections that many fear could lead to violence in a country with still-fresh memories of the 2011 election-related civil war.
At stake is Ivory Coast’s continued stability amid a regional security crisis, but a likely fourth-term bid by incumbent President Alassane Ouattara has concerned many voters and political rivals, alongside what critics say is the government’s targeted ban on opponents.
Ouattara’s strongest challenger, Thiam, was struck from a final list of candidates on June 4 after the electoral commission said he was ineligible to run because he’d automatically lost Ivorian citizenship when he took French citizenship in the 1980s.
Although Thiam gave up his French nationality to regain his Ivorian one in February, a court ruled in May that he was not technically Ivorian when he enrolled in the electoral register in 2022.
Thiam’s supporters accuse Ouattara, who has led since 2011, of clearing the way for a fourth term. The last elections in 2020 were boycotted by the opposition, which argued Ouattara had reached his term limits, handing him an easy victory. In the 2015 elections, Ouattara was a clear favourite.
Former President Laurent Gbagbo and his old right-hand man Charles Ble Goude have been struck off too for convictions related to the 2011 civil war. Ex-Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who was convicted of fraud, was also removed.
Ouattara will suffer illegitimacy if he runs without those four, Sylvain N’Guessan, a politics professor at the University of Bondoukou, told Al Jazeera.
“He will be seen as a candidate who had to exclude all other serious candidates to impose himself. What relationship will such a president have with the other parties, with the voters?” he said.
Pedestrians walk past an image of Ivorian businessman and presidential hopeful Tidjane Thiam in Abidjan on April 16, 2025 [Issouf Sanogo/AFP]
A ‘new face’ in turbulent politics
Many Ivorians, particularly young voters, view businessman Thiam as a breath of fresh air and a departure from the divisive establishment politics that have seen power concentrated in the hands of a few.
At 62, he is two decades younger than Ouattara and is related to Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the first Ivorian prime minister. Thiam was the first Ivorian student to land a place at Paris’s prestigious Ecole Polytechnique in 1982, from where he was launched to top-flight firms like consulting giant McKinsey. In 1994, he returned home to take up a ministerial position that saw him launch several infrastructure projects. A military coup in 1999, however, cut short that career.
In 2015, he became the first African head of Swiss bank Credit Suisse but stepped down in 2019 after an espionage scandal: a colleague accused Thiam of spying on him, although a court later cleared him of wrongdoing. In 2022, Thiam returned to the Ivory Coast and the once-ruling PDCI party.
Thiam’s party promises a return to the economic development that flourished under Houphouet-Boigny, who is credited with the “Ivorian Miracle” or the rapid development that came after colonial rule.
Thiam has also promised to include everyone, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
“He presents as a new leader, a new face who could lead Cote d’Ivoire differently,” N’Guessan said, adding that young Ivorians were tired of faces like Ouattara’s and Gbagbo’s, who are associated with turbulent politics.
Critics say his international career means he’s out of touch locally, but Thiam claims he is nonetheless well-loved. In an interview with the BBC in April, he accused the government of specifically targeting him with a colonial-era law he said was rarely used. Thiam pointed to Ivorian-French footballers who hold dual nationalities and play for French clubs and the Ivorian national team.
“I don’t think anyone in Cote d’Ivoire believes that this is not a case of the government exploiting the legal system,” he said, referring to his removal based on nationality. “This government has been in power for 15 years. Does it deserve five more? For me, that’s what should be at the centre of the presidential campaign, not my passport,” Thiam said at the time.
Al Jazeera reached out to the Ivorian government for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Supporters of Alassane Ouattara take part in a campaign meeting ahead of the 2020 presidential election in Abidjan [Sia Kambou/AFP]
Away from identity politics
A day after Thiam’s supporters gathered in Abidjan, Ouattara’s ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP) members also rallied in Yopougon, the most populous suburb of Abidjan.
Banners reading “In Yopougon, our champion is ADO”, a reference to the president’s nickname, were stretched across a stage where senior party members extolled Ouattara. The gathering set the stage for the party’s grand congress on June 21-22, where Ouattara is expected to officially announce his candidacy.
“There is only one road – the road of President Alassane Ouattara,” former prime minister Patrick Achi declared to the gathered crowd.
Ouattara, 83, is rumoured to be half-Burkinabe. He was the target of inflammatory identity politics for years, with his rivals questioning his “Ivoirite” and enforcing laws that disqualified him from running. When he finally won elections in 2011, Gbagbo refused to hand over power, resulting in a civil war that killed some 3,000 people.
Ouattara has since amended the Ivorian constitution to allow presidential candidates with at least one Ivorian parent in a 2016 referendum. He has nurtured the country back from the brink into a flourishing economy, evident in the 7 percent average yearly growth recorded in the past decade.
Then in 2020, Outtara ran in and won elections. Critics and boycotting opposition said his third-term bid was unconstitutional while Outtara argued his mandate was reset by the new constitution. Violence was reported in some areas.
N’Guessan said Ivorians don’t have the appetite for the immense suffering of 2011, and warned that reviving identity politics by preventing Thiam from running once again is “dangerous”.
By the end of 2027, the European Commission has unveiled a plan to completely stop imports of Russian gas.
The Group of Seven summit’s final day in Canada’s Kananaskis resort on Tuesday would immediately impose new contracts to purchase Russian gas. By the end of 2027, it would cut short any long-term contracts and allow existing short-term contracts to expire by June 2027.
Ursula von der Leyen, Commission President, stated that “to achieve peace through strength, we must put more pressure on Russia to secure a real ceasefire, bring Russia to the bargaining table, and put an end to this war.” To accomplish that goal, sanctions are essential.
As part of the unveiling of the plan, Russia launched 32 missiles and 440 drones into Kyiv, killing 26 people and injuring 134. Railway infrastructure was impacted and the fires were sparked by the attack. Additionally, Odesa suffered a lot.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, deliberately does this right before the G7 summit. Andrii Sybiha, the country’s foreign minister, said it was a clear sign of total disrespect for the United States and other countries that call for the end of the conflict.
Following a call with Trump on Sunday, Putin immediately sent 183 strike drones and 11 different type missiles into Ukraine.
(Al Jazeera)
The commission claims that during the war, the European Union’s imports of Russian energy have fallen by almost 80%. However, last year, it purchased about 22% of its oil and 20% of its gas from Russia for about 22 billion euros ($25bn).
According to a recent study from the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the Kremlin would lose 22 percent of its gross income if it were to stop receiving that money.
The main opposition groups have been Hungary and Slovakia, who have voiced opposition to a complete import ban. They contend that there aren’t many alternatives to Russian oil and gas because of their landlocked status.
Because Ukraine shut down the Yamal pipeline, which transports Russian gas from Ukraine to Slovakia, in January, Slovak Premier Robert Fico referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “an enemy of Slovakia.” TurkStream is the only remaining functioning Russian pipeline through Europe.
Hungary vetoed a statement of support for the ban the day before the commission’s announcement.
In 2022, the EU planned to impose a ban on Russian imports of coal and oil, and it has since begun.
By threatening to uninsure tankers selling more than that amount, the EU and the G7 also announced a $60 per barrel cap on Russian oil for sales to anyone else in the world in December 2022.
Estonian Kaja Kallas, then-premier and current EU head of foreign policy, wrote on Twitter, “It is no secret that we wanted the price to be lower.” She said that a price between $30 and $40 would significantly damage Russia.
This week, there was rumor that the EU and the G7 would lower the cap to $45.
Because of the fact that Moscow would still generate an estimated 215 billion euros ($248bn) from sales to other countries even if the EU did not stop buying Russian energy.
However, the EU announced that the initiative was being halted as a result of rising energy costs, partially as a result of Israel’s war against Iran.
Von der Leyen told reporters on the G7 meeting that the current $60 cap “had little effect” despite the price of oil, “but in the last days, we have seen that the oil price has increased]and] the cap in place serves its purpose. There is therefore little pressure to lower the oil price cap at the moment.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, disagreed. Moscow will suddenly sound peaceful, he wrote on the Telegram messaging platform. “If Russian oil is sold for no more than $30 per barrel, then it will suddenly sound peaceful.”
Without a profit margin, Russia’s extraction costs are estimated to be what it will pay to start war prosecutions.
identifying the flaws
Russia partially escaped the oil cap by purchasing a “shadow fleet” of tankers that were not insured in the G7 and EU. The UK approved 20 tankers on Tuesday in addition to the 100 that were last month. Australia’s first targeted sanctions against the shadow fleet were imposed on 60 vessels the day after they were put in place.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from the US, announced on Friday that he and Republican Senator Richard Blumenthal were working with the Trump administration to put together a sanctions package that would impose secondary sanctions on nations that still import Russian energy.
A bill to impose severe sanctions and tariffs on Russia and its financial backers has more than 84 co-sponsors in the Senate and 70 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, Graham wrote in a column.
On April 1, there were 50 senators who had risen to that number. Trump has opposed sanctions, preferring to annoy Putin over to cajole him.
In a Saturday interview with US outlet Newsmax, Zelenskyy decried that approach.
He said that the conversation between America and Russia today resembled a warm conversation. This won’t stop Putin, let’s be clear. It is necessary to change the tone. Putin must be aware that the United States will support Ukraine, including by imposing sanctions and supporting our military.
According to Politico, the EU was also considering moving about 200 billion euros worth of frozen Russian assets from Belgium’s “special purpose fund” from the Euroclear system.
The Belgian central bank, which is secure but offers low returns, is where Euroclear can only make investments right now. The new fund would be able to make riskier investments, which might result in more money being invested in helping Ukraine.
Small victories and astronomical losses
Over the past week, Russia has continued to attack Ukrainian positions with little success.
According to Zelenskyy, the Russian offensive’s day 18 or 19 was intended to bring about a breakthrough for Ukraine and Russia. He claimed that the Ukrainian side had defeated a significant portion of the Russian advance, preventing unification of Russian forces.
On Saturday, Russian forces took control of the village of Horikhove in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.
That and other Russian incremental gains have had a significant impact on life.
On June 12, British Defense Intelligence estimated that Russia had lost a million lives, with 40 to 50 percent likely irrecoverable losses, including those who had been killed, missing, presumed dead, or were irrevocably injured, according to estimates from the country’s Defence Intelligence.
In the first five months of this year, around 200, 000 of those casualties were thought to have been caused, which suggests Russia’s casualty rate is rising.
Russian casualties have roughly doubled each year since the start of the war, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, 340 casualties were reported daily in 2022 by Russian forces, up from 693 in 2023 and 1,177 in 2024. Russian daily casualties have reached 1, 286 on average this year.
In a show of support for Israel’s occupation of Gaza, pro-Palestinian activists claimed to have damaged two military aircraft and entered a Royal Air Force base in central England in protest of the UK government’s support for Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
Two members of the political party, according to Palestine Action, sprayed paint on the engines of the Voyager aircraft and launched crowbars into their positions at the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire.
The organization stated in a statement on Friday that the Israeli government was still receiving military cargo, flying spy planes over Gaza, and replenishing U.S./Israeli fighter jets, and posted a video of the incident on X.
Britain plays a significant role in the Middle East’s genocide and war crimes, according to the statement.
Two people were spotted passing through the Brize Norton base while riding electric scooters in the video. The turbine engines were then sprayed with red paint using recycled fire extinguishers.
Two military aircraft were harmed when Palestine Action broke into the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton.
Daily flights from the base to Cyprus’ RAF Akrotiri take place.
British aircraft travel from Cyprus to gather intelligence, refuel fighter jets, and transport weapons to carry out a genocide in Gaza. pic. twitter.com/zzmFqGKW8N
The runway was covered in red paint that “symbolized Palestinian bloodshed,” according to the group.
The activists were able to leave the military compound without being arrested, according to the statement.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized the “vandalism” as “disgraceful.”
The incident was being investigated by the police and the ministry of defense.
“The best of Britain’s armed forces are ours,” says one spokesman. They sacrificed their lives for us, and they inspire us all through their service, selfless sacrifice, and dedication,” according to a ministry statement.
“We have a duty to support those who defend us,” we said.
Pro-Palestine campaigners gathered earlier this month in London to demand a full arms embargo and harsh sanctions against the Israeli government.
Following the government’s announcement of a temporary arms suspension in September 2024, the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) discovered that the UK increased its Israeli military equipment licensing.
According to US media reports, citing internal and government documents, Donald Trump could significantly increase his list of countries with a travel ban in the next few weeks to 36 more. 26 of those are in Africa.
With 10 countries already included on Trump’s initial list, citizens of 36 of Africa’s 54 nations could now be banned, fully or partially, from entering the US if the new list takes effect. In terms of traveling to the US, Africa would become the most dangerous region in the world due to this.
The visa bans are a result of Trump’s promised immigration crackdown, which has already been in place since he took office in January and has already severely restricted access to citizens of 19 African and Middle Eastern nations.
In a memorandum sent to US representatives in the affected countries on June 14, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the governments of those countries had been given 60 days to meet standards dictated by the Department of State. In addition, the memo requested that those nations provide a preliminary action plan in accordance with those goals by June 18.
The deadline has now passed. It is unclear if any of those countries have submitted the requested plans of action.
What are the current information and potential travel bans for Africa:
What number of African nations are included in the list?
Of the 36 new countries mentioned in the reported memo, 26 are in Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Cambodia, Dominica, Kyrgyzstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Syria, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu are other countries on the list, along with those in the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East.
According to the memo, nations that fail to adequately address concerns raised by the Trump administration may be advised for bans as soon as August.
Seven African countries were included on Trump’s first list of 12 countries completely banned from entering the US from June 4. Somalia, Chad, Libya, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, and the Republic of Congo. Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Togo are three more countries on a separate list of seven nations that are currently subject to limited US visa opportunities for their citizens.
This brings the total to 36 of Africa’s 54 countries on a potential ban list for travel to the US.
On June 6, 2025, a client at Els Beauty Salon in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, barber Charlemagne Merilien, who moved to the US to support his wife and five children who are still living there, cuts their hair.
Why does Trump impose restrictions on African nation citizens?
Saturday’s memo gave a wide range of reasons for a potential ban on the countries affected. Instead of providing specific justifications for each nation, it warned that each country had been flagged for a different reason.
According to one reason, some of the nations have been “sponsors of terrorism” or have citizens who have “been involved in acts of terrorism in the United States.” Others, as per the memo, do not have a credible “government authority to produce reliable identity documents”, have unreliable criminal records, or sell citizenship to people who do not live in their countries.
As well as the fact that some countries’ citizens frequently overstay their visas, there are also concerns about the state’s unwillingness to cooperate when resuming their deportation from the US.
According to the memo, the affected nations could address US concerns by agreeing to accept back deported people from other nations or agreeing to establish a “safe third country” where they will accept asylum seekers. Mineral-rich DRC proposed such a deal to the White House in March.
Trump stated in a video message from the White House in early June that the recent attack on a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreigners who are not properly vetted.”
Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who also resided in Kuwait, has since been detained and accused of a federal hate crime and a number of other state offenses. His wife and five children are presently detained by US immigration officials. Kuwait is not among the nations that are currently facing visa bans, but Egypt is currently being considered for a ban.
Trump has previously outlawed citizens of other nations, which critics claim are frequently low- and non-white. During his first presidential term, a controversial and highly-challenged policy, which came to be known as the “Muslim ban”, saw seven Muslim-majority countries on a red list that later expanded to include some low-income African nations. When he took office in 2021, former president Joe Biden voided the ban.
Idriss Deby, president of the Chad, is greeted by Emmanuel Macron (right), president of the EU, Charles Michel, and Emmanuel Macron (CEO) of the former European Council in Brussels, Belgium, on February 17, 2022.
How many people from African countries live in the US?
According to data from the US-based Migration Policy Institute, about two million of the country’s 44 million immigrants are from Africa. According to the US Census Bureau, nearly half of African immigrants immigrated to the US after 2010, making them the fastest-growing segment in recent years.
Many African immigrants are highly educated with one or more degrees, and represent the largest immigrant group in the labour force, the bureau reported. About 61 percent of Americans have naturalized citizenship.
According to data from the Migration Policy Institute, the number of immigrant immigrants in each country was broken down between 1960 and 2023.
Nigeria – 476, 000
Ethiopia: 278; 200
241, 000 in Ghana
Egypt – 225, 665
Liberia: 100, 800, and 800
Somalia: 92, 400
Cameroon – 90, 700
DRC: 62, 500
49 and 755 Eritrea
Sierra Leone – 45, 532
40 and 420 respectively, Tanzania
37, 000 Togo
Cabo Verde – 31, 441
Senegal – 28 / 581
Ivory Coast – 25 / 426
Zimbabwe – 24, 490
What possible effects might these people have?
According to experts, Trump’s travel bans are likely to leave many Americans uneasy.
Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications at the Migration Policy Institute, told Al Jazeera at the time of the first travel ban announcement: “For citizens of these countries living in the US who are not naturalised citizens, the travel ban most likely will freeze them in place, as many will be fearful that they might not be permitted re-entry if they leave the US temporarily”.
Due to the immobility that many citizens of these nations will experience as well as the inability to travel legally to the US or apply for a permanent or temporary visa, Mittelstadt added, “a family ban could split.”
How frequently do people from these nations visit the US?
According to Statista, about 588, 177 visitors from Africa travelled to the US in 2024. There is no record of a country-by-country historical breakdown.
No African nation is listed among the top 20 nations visiting the US this year, according to US Department of Commerce data. About 100, 000 visitors have been recorded so far, from the African continent, mostly from:
24 800 South Africa
Nigeria: 18 093
Egypt – 13, 376
Ghana – 7 018
5 / 409 / Kenya
How are African countries responding to the looming US visa ban?
Yusuf Tuggar, the country’s foreign minister, warned this week that if citizens of West African nations are barred, the US might miss out on important and rare earth mineral deals.
In a meeting with his counterparts, Tuggar, who currently chairs the regional bloc Economic Community of West Africa’s (ECOWAS) council of foreign ministers, said, “This would be most unfortunate if it comes to pass.” He cited Nigeria’s reserves of oil and gas. Tanalite and uranium are both abundant in the nation.
According to Sarang Shidore, director of the US think tank Quincy Institute’s Global South program, visa bans are comparable to “building walls” between the US and targeted regions.
“Africa, particularly, is important to the United States as it is a site of natural resources, a growing market, and a talented population”, Shidore said. Washington should look for other, non-militarized ways to demonstrate its commitment to bolstering relations with African states if it wants to restrain migration and travel from the continent.
Trump has in fact shown a desire to negotiate lucrative deals for rare earth minerals, which are essential for the production of batteries for electric vehicles and smartphones.
For example, Washington and Beijing are set to sign an agreement that will see China provide rare earth elements and minerals crucial for manufacturing tech gadgets and weapons, in exchange for continued access to US schools for Chinese students, according to a social media post by Trump last week.
In exchange for aid in the country’s reconstruction after the Russian-Russian conflict ends, the US also announced a deal last month with Ukraine over rare earth minerals.
Chad responded to the inclusion of the first travel ban list by suspending US citizens’ visas when it first became available at the beginning of June. In a Facebook post, President Idriss Deby said: “I have instructed the government to act in accordance with the principles of reciprocity and suspend the issuance of visas to US citizens”.
The US Department of Homeland Security’s most recent statistics revealed that 49.5 percent of visitors to the country had the highest visa overstay rate.
Other affected African countries have adopted a more amiable tone.
Sierra Leone’s Information Minister Chernor Bah said in a statement that his country was ready to cooperate with the US. What else can we do, in our opinion? How can we work together with our US partners, who we trust will maintain a positive relationship, he said.
Trump’s initial proclamation in early June said Sierra Leone, which is now subject to partial restrictions, “has historically failed to accept back its removable nationals”.
Dahir Hassan, Somalia’s ambassador to the US, stated that the East African nation wanted to cooperate with the US. He stated that “Somalia values its long-standing relationship with the United States and is willing to talk through the issues raised.”
Trump’s proclamation described Somalia as “a terrorist safe haven” and stated: “Somalia lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures”.
Meanwhile, the African Union urged the US to engage in more constructive dialogue and dialogue with African countries in order to maintain what it claimed were historically close ties in a statement released on June 5.
A United States appeals court has ruled the administration of President Donald Trump could keep control of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The decision on Thursday comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions in California’s largest city, which has become ground zero of Trump’s immigration crackdown across the US.
In a 38-page unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel said Trump was within his rights earlier this month when he ordered 4,000 members of the National Guard into service for 60 days to “protect federal personnel performing federal functions and to protect federal property”.
“Affording appropriate deference to the President’s determination, we conclude that he likely acted within his authority in federalising the National Guard,” the panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal said.
Trump, a Republican, had appointed two of the judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel while his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, had named the third, according to US media reports.
Last week, a lower court judge had ordered Trump to return control of the California National Guard to Newsom, saying the president’s decision to deploy them during protests over federal immigration detentions in Los Angeles was “illegal”. That decision by US District Judge Charles Breyer on June 12 prompted the appeal.
On Thursday night, Trump hailed the appeal court’s decision in a post on his Truth Social social media platform, calling it a “BIG WIN”.
“All over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump wrote.
‘Not a king’
The state of California had argued that Trump’s order was illegal because it did not follow the procedure of being issued through the governor.
It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard over the wishes of a state governor.
The judges said Trump’s “failure to issue the federalisation order directly ‘through’ the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard”.
But they said the panel disagreed with the defendant’s primary argument that the president’s decision to federalise members of the California National Guard “is completely insulated from judicial review”.
“Nothing in our decision addresses the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage,” it wrote in its opinion.
Newsom could still challenge the use of the National Guard and Marines under other laws, including the bar on using troops in domestic law enforcement, it added.
The governor could raise those issues at a court hearing on Friday in front of Breyer, it also said.
In a social media post after the decision, Newsom promised to pursue his challenge.
“Donald Trump is not a king and not above the law,” he wrote.
“Tonight, the court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court.
