Category World News

Americans are taking to the streets on Saturday to protest United States President Donald Trump’s policies in thousands of locations across the country.

The “No Kings” protests will coincide with a military parade in Washington, DC, marking the US Army’s 250th anniversary, and with Trump’s 79th birthday.

The demonstrations are planned after days of protests against immigration arrests in multiple US cities.

What are the No Kings protests?

Protesters planning to take part in the No Kings demonstrations said they oppose the Trump administration.

The organisers’ website said the administration has “defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services”.

Since Trump’s inauguration, the administration has sent immigrants to foreign prisons, set immigration arrest quotas, clashed with courts, slashed government jobs and proposed reductions to social services.

The website describes the protests as a “national day of defiance”.

The name of the protests is derived from opposition to one-person rule. “The corruption has gone too far. No thrones. No crowns. No kings,” the website said.

Where are the No Kings protests taking place?

The protests are planned in more than 2,000 cities and towns in all 50 US states as well as in Mexico, Australia, Malawi and some European countries, the organisers’ map shows.

The protesters plan to gather at a range of meeting spots, such as parks, community centres and public landmarks.

Major rallies are planned in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago and New York.

However, the organisers have deliberately left Washington, DC, off the map and protests will not be held there.

The reason they provide on their website is: “Instead of allowing this birthday parade to be the center of gravity, we will make action everywhere else the story of America that day: people coming together in communities across the country to reject strongman politics and corruption.”

The protests are organised by a social media movement called 50501, which stands for “50 states, 50 protests, one movement”.

What time are the protests?

Times vary according to location and can be found on the organisers’ map.

Some locations will begin protesting early, such as Norman, Oklahoma, where the protest is to begin at 9am (14:00 GMT).

Others will start demonstrations in the evening. In Big Sur, a rugged region on California’s central coast, protests are to begin at 4:30pm (23:30 GMT).

When is the military parade, and what is expected?

On Saturday, the military parade and celebration in Washington, DC, are to begin about 6:30pm (22:30 GMT).

Tanks will roll through the streets of the US capital in the first military parade to be staged in the US since 1991 when a parade marked the end of the Gulf War under President George HW Bush.

Thousands of soldiers will take part in the parade along with hundreds of military aircraft and vehicles. Army officials have estimated the cost of the parade to be $25m to $45m.

Will the protests be peaceful?

The No Kings website said the protests are intended to be peaceful. “Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events,” it said.

However, the No Kings demonstrations are planned after days of protests in multiple US cities against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and Trump’s use of the military to quell protests.

The anti-immigration protests began on June 6 in Los Angeles after military-style ICE raids on several locations across the city, resulting in the detention of 44 people. While the protests in all cities have reportedly been largely peaceful, occasional clashes have led to injuries and further arrests. The immigration raids continue, and National Guard soldiers have been deployed in multiple cities. Trump has also sent Marines to Los Angeles.

Ahead of the No Kings protests, some Republican leaders have threatened demonstrators with prosecution if protests become violent, some even going as far as to mobilise National Guard forces in advance of the protests. This approach has attracted a large amount of criticism.

“Protests are tumultuous, and military forces are trained to kill,” Gregory Magarian, professor of law at Washington University’s School of Law in St Louis, Missouri, told Al Jazeera.

What does Trump think about the No Kings protests?

When asked about the protests, Trump said at a White House news briefing on Thursday: “I don’t feel like a king, I have to go through hell to get stuff approved.”

The president’s allies and Republican lawmakers responded with laughter to his response.

“We’re not a king at all, thank you very much,” he said.

However, Trump has made use of this terminology himself in the past. In February, he posted on his Truth Social platform: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Congestion pricing refers to fees levied on motorists entering cities. It is aimed at reducing road traffic and increasing the use of public transport. Trump wrote the post after Sean Duffy, his transportation secretary, wrote a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul ending the US Department of Transportation’s agreement with the state for congestion charging in Manhattan.

Shortly after, the White House shared a computer-generated photo of Trump wearing a crown on a fake Time magazine cover.

What do other Republicans say?

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that he ordered the deployment of more than 5,000 National Guard soldiers and 2,000 state police officers to help manage the anti-ICE protests in the state on the border with Mexico.

Abbott also deployed National Guard soldiers in San Antonio during protests against immigration enforcement actions there.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during a news conference on Tuesday: “The minute you cross into attacking law enforcement, any type of rioting, any type of vandalism, looting, just be prepared to have the law come down on you.”

Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson released a video on his X account warning “extremist left-leaning groups” against causing disruptions in South Carolina. “If you attack our officers, destroy property, or threaten innocent lives in South Carolina – you will be arrested, charged, and prosecuted. No excuses. No second chances.”

Radical leftist groups and outside agitators are threatening to bring violence and chaos to our communities on June 14 — Flag Day and President Trump’s birthday.

Let me make this crystal clear:
If you attack our officers, destroy property, or threaten innocent lives in South… pic.twitter.com/G67gBBlpIa

Will anti-ICE protests continue in the US?

Anti-ICE protests are continuing in Los Angeles and other cities.

Civil and human rights attorney Robert Patillo told Al Jazeera that the protests could be expected in “more than 30 cities, met with a familiar response: more riot gear, more barricades”.

“The protests are spreading because what’s happening in Los Angeles isn’t unique – it’s a mirror,” Patillo said.

“Communities across the country see themselves in the images coming out of LA: the same painful encounters with police, the same racial disparities, the same struggle to make ends meet in a system that feels stacked against them. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re part of a deeper, shared experience of injustice that stretches from coast to coast.”

Media outlets amplify Israel’s narrative about its attack on Iran.

Washington, DC – After taking the oath of office for his second term in January, United States President Donald Trump said he would push to “stop all wars” and leave a legacy of a “peacemaker and unifier”.

But six months in, missiles are flying across the Middle East after Israel attacked Iran, risking an all-out regional war that could drag US troops into the conflict.

The Israeli strikes on Iran, which Trump has all but explicitly endorsed, are now testing the president’s promise to be a harbinger of peace.

They are also dividing his base, with many right-wing politicians and commentators stressing that unconditional support for Israel is at odds with the “America First” platform on which Trump was elected.

“There is a very strong sense of betrayal and anger in many parts of the ‘America First’ base because they have truly turned against the idea of the US being involved in or supporting any such wars,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, a US think tank that promotes diplomacy.

“They have largely turned sceptical of Israel, and they strongly believe that these types of wars are what cause Republican presidencies to become failures — and what causes their broader domestic agenda to be compromised.”

‘Drop Israel’

Several conservatives questioned the Israeli strikes on Friday, warning that the US must not be dragged into a war that does not serve its interests.

Influential conservative commentator Tucker Carlson — seen as a major figure in Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement — said the US should not support the “war-hungry government” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If Israel wants to wage this war, it has every right to do so. It is a sovereign country, and it can do as it pleases. But not with America’s backing,” the Tucker Carlson Network morning newsletter read on Friday.

It added that a war with Iran could “fuel the next generation of terrorism” or lead to the killing of thousands of Americans in the name of a foreign agenda.

“It goes without saying that neither of those possibilities would be beneficial for the United States,” the newsletter said. “But there is another option: drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars.”

Republican Senator Rand Paul also cautioned against war with Iran and slammed hawkish neoconservatives in Washington.

“The American people overwhelming[ly] oppose our endless wars, and they voted that way when they voted for Donald Trump in 2024,” Paul wrote in a social media post.

“I urge President Trump to stay the course, keep putting America first, and to not join in any war between other countries.”

Right-wing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also sent a message suggesting that she opposes the strikes. She has previously cautioned Trump against attacking Iran based on Israeli assertions that Tehran is about to acquire a nuclear weapon.

“I’m praying for peace. Peace,” she wrote on X. “That’s my official position.”

While many of Israel’s supporters have cited the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, the government in Tehran has long denied pursuing a nuclear weapon. Trump’s own intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, testified in March that the US “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon”.

Charlie Kirk, a key Republican activist and commentator who is a staunch Israel supporter, also voiced scepticism about engaging in a war with Iran.

“I can tell you right now, our MAGA base does not want a war at all whatsoever,” Kirk said on his podcast. “They do not want US involvement. They do not want the United States to be engaged in this.”

Israel’s attacks

Hours before Israel started bombing Iran on Friday — targeting its military bases, nuclear facilities and residential buildings — Trump said that his administration was committed to diplomacy with Tehran.

“ Look, it’s very simple. Not complicated. Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. Other than that, I want them to be successful. We’ll help them be successful,” Trump said at a news conference on Thursday.

A sixth round of denuclearisation talks between US and Iranian officials was set to be held in Oman on Sunday.

Nevertheless, on Friday, Trump told reporters he had known about Israel’s attacks in advance. He did not indicate he had vetoed the bombing campaign, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio did describe Israel’s actions as “unilateral”.

Instead, Trump put the onus for the attacks on Iran, saying its officials should have heeded his calls to reach a deal to dismantle the country’s nuclear programme.

“I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Parsi said that, at the outset, Trump wanted to reach a deal with Iran, but his demands for Tehran to end uranium enrichment led to a deadlock in the talks.

“Instead of pursuing the negotiations in a reasonable way, he adopted the zero enrichment goal, which predictably would lead to an impasse, which predictably the Israelis used to push him towards military strikes and escalation,” he told Al Jazeera.

Parsi added that he believed Trump engaged in deception over the past week by pushing diplomacy while knowing that the Israeli strikes were coming.

“Trump deliberately made statements in favour of diplomacy, in favour of not having Israel attack, leading everyone to think that, if there is an attack, it would happen after the six rounds of talks on Sunday,” he said. “Instead, it happened sooner.”

The ‘America First’ base

While the Israeli strikes garnered some criticism in Congress, many Republicans and Democrats cheered them on.

But a key part of Trump’s base has been a segment of the right wing that questions the US’s unconditional support for Israel.

“They really are representative of a solid constituency within the Republican Party, especially if you look at younger individuals,” said Jon Hoffman, research fellow in defence and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Hoffman pointed to a recent Pew Research Center survey that suggested 50 percent of Republicans under the age of 50 have an unfavourable view of Israel.

“Among the electorate itself, the American people are sick and tired of these endless wars,” he told Al Jazeera.

Foreign policy hawks who favour military interventions dominated the Republican Party during the presidency of George W Bush, who launched the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

But those two conflicts proved to be disastrous. Thousands of US soldiers were killed, and many more were left with lasting physical and psychological scars. Critics also questioned whether the wars advanced US interests in the region — or set them back.

The nation-building project in Iraq, for instance, saw the rise of a government friendly to Iran and the emergence of groups deemed to be a threat to global security, including ISIL (ISIS).

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, the Taliban returned to power in 2021, almost exactly two decades after the group was ousted by US forces. The US-backed Afghan government quickly crumbled as American troops withdrew from the country.

During his campaign for re-election in 2024, Trump tapped into the anger that the two conflicts generated. On multiple occasions, he sketched an alternative timeline where, if he had been president, the collapse of the Afghan government would have never occurred.

“We wouldn’t have had that horrible situation in Afghanistan, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country,” Trump said at one October 2024 rally in Detroit.

The US president also slammed his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris for her alliance with Dick Cheney, who served as Bush’s vice president, and his daughter Liz Cheney, criticising them as “war hawks”.

“Kamala is campaigning with Muslim-hating warmonger, Liz Cheney, who wants to invade practically every Muslim country on the planet,” Trump told another crowd in Novi, Michigan. He added that Dick Cheney “was responsible for invading the Middle East” and “killing millions”.

But critics say Trump’s posture towards the Israeli strikes in Iran risks embroiling him in his own Middle East conflict.

Hoffman, for instance, pointed to the closeness of the US-Israel relationship and the persistence of officials within the Republican Party who have been pushing for conflict with Iran for decades, like Senator Lindsey Graham.

Who: Inter Miami vs Al Ahly
What: FIFA Club World Cup 2025
Where: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, United States.
When: Saturday, June 14 – 8pm kickoff (00:00 GMT on Sunday, June 15)

How to follow our coverage: We’ll have all the build-up from 6pm (16:00 GMT) on Al Jazeera Sport.

The rebranded and expanded FIFA Club World Cup kicks off on Saturday, and the organisers have picked a plum tie to launch the 32-team tournament.

Inter Miami and their star name, Lionel Messi, take on the most successful side in world football – Egyptian giants Al Ahly.

Al Jazeera takes a look at the first match of the monthlong event.

How did Inter Miami qualify for the Club World Cup?

Miami finished as the club with the most points in Major League Soccer’s (MLS) regular season, handing them a place at the Club World Cup instead of LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup, which is regarded as the highest prize in the MLS.

FIFA announced Miami’s addition to the Club World Cup in October after they broke MLS’s regular-season points record with a 6-2 win over New England Revolution to reach 74 points – one better than the previous record set by New England in 2021.

How did Al Ahly qualify for the Club World Cup?

Al Ahly were crowned CAF (Confederation of Africa Football) Champions League winners two seasons ago to qualify for this tournament.

They were, however, dethroned as Africa’s continental kings last season, leading to the departure of the coach, Marcel Koller, following their loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the semifinals of CAF’s showpiece.

Jose Riveiro, who coached Orlando Pirates of South Africa last season, has been appointed as the new coach, and Inter Miami will mark his first game in charge.

Does David Beckham still co-own Inter Miami?

Former England and Manchester United midfielder David Beckham bought a $25m stake in the franchise that would become Inter Miami in 2014. In doing so, he was exercising a clause from his contract during his playing days with the MLS.

Inter Miami eventually debuted in 2020 and is also co-owned by American business magnates, Jorge and Jose Mas, although Beckham is very much the figurehead of the club.

How many Club World Cups has Messi won?

Messi is a two-time winner of the competition. The Argentine forward lifted the trophy with Barcelona on both occasions in 2009 and 2011. He may well come up against his manager at the time.

Much of Miami’s chances rest on Messi’s shoulders. “He’s in good shape this season. There were moments when we had to give him some time to rest, but he’s played the last 15 games, except for the match against Dallas when we rested the entire squad,” said Inter manager Javier Mascherano.

“We were also fortunate he was able to rest during Argentina’s last two games,” he added, referring to Messi playing 111 minutes in Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Colombia earlier this month.

“It’s our responsibility to create the right environment for him to shine.”

Are Al Ahly the most successful club in the world?

Al Ahly have won an astonishing 155 trophies, including their 45th league title this season.

That is balanced against Real Madrid’s 15 UEFA Champions League titles in the world’s premier club competition, along with the Spanish giants claiming the La Liga title on 36 occasions.

Who else is in Inter Miami and Al Ahly’s group?

Brazilian club Palmeiras and Portuguese giants Porto complete Group A.

Here is the full list of the eight groups:

• Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami
• Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders
• Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica
• Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, LAFC
• Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Inter Milan
• Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD FC, Mamelodi Sundowns
• Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus
• Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, FC Salzburg

Head-to-head

This is a first meeting between the sides as the Concacaf representatives come face-to-face with the CAF (Confederation of African Football) square up.

Inter Miami team news

Coach Javier Mascherano has been forced to re-shuffle his backline due to a string of injuries.

Fullback Jordi Alba, fellow defender Gonzalo Lujan and defensive midfielder Yannick Bright have all been ruled out of the Group A clash.

“Hopefully they will be available for the second game,” Mascherano told a news conference on Friday.

Alba, one of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates, is sidelined with a hamstring issue. There were also concerns regarding the fitness of centre-back David Martinez.

“David had some kind of pain yesterday, and we did not want to take any risks,” said Mascherano.

“The reality is that throughout the season, the team have dealt with injuries, but the players who stepped in rose to the challenge. That gives us peace of mind,” he said.

Al Ahly team news

The Egyptian side have been in the US for two weeks and have already played a warm-up match against fellow Club World Cup participants Pachuca. The Mexican club won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Riveiro has a fully fit squad to choose from, which is spearheaded by former Aston Villa forward Mahmoud Trezeguet.

How much does the Club World Cup winner receive?

The total prize pot is $1bn, with the champions earning up to $125m.