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booksellers suspect AI firms behind bulk ordersEtna alert lowered as Catania airport reopensFuneral held for Indigenous girl whose death sparked outback riotsIran rejects US claim to Hormuz as ship attacks mount600 drones head for Moscow as Russia strikes Kyiv and Kryvyi RihDeath toll passes 50 after magnitude 7.7 quake off FloresIsraeli strikes kill 11 in south Lebanon, deadliest since June truceColombia asks Trump to suspend tariffs as quake toll climbsRhine hits record low at Kaub as Hungary sinks barges to cool reactorUS readies unprecedented economic measures against IranUS boat strikes pass 200 dead as Ecuadorean fishermen describe attacksBond traders struggle to price $70bn of credit backstops behind AI buildoutAlibaba says its open AI models passed three billion downloadsDeath toll rises to 68 after Lake Kariba ferry sinkingTaliban mark five years in power as UN warns of rights crisisEU aircraft join fight against Belgium's record wildfireUS presses Netanyahu over settlers as Qusra homes are occupiedMokha port halts operations as Houthi missiles hit MaribSeoul proposes talks to end the Korean war as North rejects drillsChina-led perovskite solar plant outperforms silicon in three-month field testOpenAI revenue run rate passes $40bn as revenue chief departsHamas leader in Cairo as Kushner trip nearsWHO says Congo's Ebola outbreak is outpacing the responseTurkish parliament passes amnesty law for PKK membersMorocco detains scores near Ceuta as feared mass crossing fails to materialiseChina publishes ecology reports to bolster South China Sea claimsMyanmar says more than 300,000 Rohingya verified for repatriationPetrobras detects signs of oil off the mouth of the AmazonChina condemns Japanese politicians' moves at Yasukuni ShrineUS inflation cools as wages again lag behind pricesModi offers free exam coaching after youth protests in IndiaOil from grounded Russian tanker reaches Oman's coastPanama Canal cuts draught again as Mexico pitches rival corridorUkraine's idle ports cost $1.75bn as farm exports fallFormer Chinese premier Zhu Rongji diesAt least 20 killed in communal clashes in central NigeriaIran accuses Qatar of holding three of its pilotsXi calls for shift to prevention as floods batter ChinaVenezuela frees 131 more political prisonersMore Syrians in Germany lose refugee protectionAudit finds gaps in Taiwan's counter-drone defencesIndia drafts rules to open nuclear power to private firmsHichilema takes early lead as Zambian count resumesParis prosecutors open investigation into tax portal hackReport details leverage behind Situational Awareness lossesArgentina has lost 30,633 companies under MileiAt least five dead in Indiana floodingIran detains two French diplomats over alleged infiltrationCanadian petition to expel US ambassador passes 170,000 signaturesIndia raises $50bn from its diaspora and ends swap facility earlyOpaque start-ups build erotic AI industry from Cyprus and MaltaBritain's biggest EV battery plant shelves expansion as Jaguar Land Rover talks stallThird drone debris find in a day on Turkish coastsForecasters put 95 percent odds on a very strong El NiñoSecondhand booksellers suspect AI firms behind bulk ordersEtna alert lowered as Catania airport reopensFuneral held for Indigenous girl whose death sparked outback riots
Bota
Symbolic image: Nearly all migrants return to Morocco after mass crossing into CeutaSymbolic image

Nearly all migrants return to Morocco after mass crossing into Ceuta

13 sources

Tens of thousands of migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain's Ceuta enclave on Thursday, most of them swimming. By Friday evening Spain's interior ministry said more than 48,300 had gone back voluntarily.

What happened

  • Madrid counted about 50,000 arrivals from Thursday morning, 30 July; Ceuta's regional government said 60,000. The figures could not be independently verified.
  • Spain's Supreme Court had barred summary returns of migrants intercepted at sea off Ceuta and Melilla.
  • Spain mobilised the army on Thursday evening; police and soldiers stopped dozens more swimmers landing a day later.
  • Rescuers recovered 57 bodies by Friday evening according to press reports; Sánchez spoke of at least 34 drowned.
  • 89 migrants have died heading for Ceuta this year, against 46 in the whole previous year.

The view from outside

Kosovo's Koha reports that Italy temporarily suspended Schengen rules towards Spain and that 300 to 400 further irregular crossings were counted overnight at Melilla. FAZ's commentary reads the influx as evidence of pull factors, noting the EU classes Morocco as a safe country of origin.

What could happen next

  • The EU's Irish presidency convened a crisis-response meeting for Saturday; EU ambassadors are to meet in Brussels on Monday.
  • Sánchez announced a temporary reception centre for registration and expedited expulsions, plus a line of buoys marking the border at Tarajal beach.
  • Whether Morocco loosened its controls stays open; Handelsblatt raises the question, and no Moroccan statement appears in the reporting.
How the camps see it

  • Spain: Sánchez calls the crossing a violation of Spain's territorial integrity and blames human-trafficking networks that exploited the court ruling.

  • Morocco: No public position from Rabat appears in the available reporting; Moroccan territory took back the returning migrants within a day.

Also involved

EU partners

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