Trump presents top science and technology medals to tech industry leaders

US President Donald Trump has presented the country's highest honours in science and engineering to a group of leading technology executives, including figures from SpaceX, Alphabet, Microsoft and Nvidia.

On Thursday, Trump awarded the National Medal of Science to SpaceX and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and AMD's Lisa Su.

Two further recipients, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, were given the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

During the ceremony, Trump praised the honourees for contributing to what he described as an incredible future for the country, saying their work would keep America ahead of all competitors.

Of the six people honoured, five were born outside the United States, and four rank among the ten wealthiest individuals in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The ceremony took place on the same day the Trump administration announced a suspension of Microsoft and other major technology firms from the H-1B visa programme, which allows companies to employ skilled foreign workers and offers a route to permanent US residency.

Officials said the suspension followed allegations that the companies had misused the visa system fraudulently.