Trump’s travel clamp victory

reported five interceptors were fired from US-supplied Patriot missile defence systems to defend Riyadh airport. The incoming Yemeni Scud was seen

fall from the sky. But The New York Times says witnesses and satellite images show the missile’s warhead exploded just outside the airport.

The five interceptors are thought to have been lured away from the active deadly warhead by casing components discarded in mid-flight. DONALD Trump’s controversial travel ban was yesterday implemented in full by the US Supreme Court after months of legal deadlock.

The ruling restricts travel from eight countries, six of them predominantly Muslim, in a political and judicial victory for the US President just days after he celebrated passage of his tax reform package.

Although some legal challenges remain in lower courts, the Supreme Court noted those appeals should be dealt with “appropriate dispatch” and lifted injunctions stopping the ban.

“We are not surprised by today’s Supreme Court decision permitting immediate enforcement of the President’s proclamation limiting travel from countries presenting heightened risks of terrorism,” a White House spokesman said.

“The proclamation is lawful and essential to protecting our homeland.”

The policy is the third version of the travel ban Mr Trump tried to put in place days after his January inauguration, sparking widespread protest and numerous legal challenges.

The order means most citi- zens of Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and North Korea will be unable to travel to the US. Some Venezuelans are also affected by the ban.

There are varying restrictions for each country, but citizens from most would not be able to emigrate to America, while others would be barred from visiting as tourists, students, or for work.

Lower courts had said people such as grandparents or cousins, with a “bona fide” relationship with someone in the US, could not be barred.

But in two orders yesterday, the nine-member high court said lower court rulings that partly blocked the ban should be put on hold while appeals courts in Virginia and California looked at the case. That was expected to happen this week.

Two liberal-leaning Supreme Court justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented and said they would have left the lower court orders in place.

Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said the Supreme Court decision was “a substantial victory for the safety and security of the American people”.

While Republicans celebrated the order as a huge victory, critics said they would keep fighting the order.