Moroccan police arrested more than 100 people who tried to enter the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on Saturday, 111 according to The Guardian and about 300 according to the FAZ, after a social media campaign called for another mass crossing. The larger surge did not happen, and the FAZ reports that officers apparently used tear gas.
Geopolitics
Spain and Morocco massed police and troops at the Ceuta border before online calls for a crossing on Saturday. Some 5,000 migrants from the late-July influx remain in the enclave.
Geopolitics
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said about 5,000 migrants are still in Ceuta after the mass crossing, with about 880 police officers and 714 Civil Guard personnel deployed in the city, TASS reported. On Wednesday, Spain rejected any discussion of the status of Ceuta and Melilla.
Geopolitics
New-energy vehicles took more than 60 percent of China's monthly car sales for the first time, Global Times reported on Wednesday. Chinese carmakers are at the same time shifting production to Spain and South Africa.
Economy
Morocco's interior ministry said on Wednesday it had reinforced security along the borders with the Spanish enclaves and made arrests after fresh social media calls for mass crossings. The European Commission announced a communication tool agreed with Meta and TikTok to counter the disinformation that fed the crossings of 30 and 31 July.
Geopolitics
Electricity network operators in western Europe prepared for the fall in photovoltaic production during the solar eclipse on Wednesday afternoon, an output that has become increasingly important in France's energy mix, Le Monde reported. In Spain, authorities urged eclipse watchers to be wary of wildfire risks, according to the New York Times.
Economy
Spain is fighting its most destructive wildfires in years as a new heatwave puts Europe on alert. German crews battle forest fires while towns ration drinking water.
Geopolitics
A study reported on Tuesday traces the mass entry into Ceuta to viral videos of the first crossings. Morocco is building a four-metre barrier near Fnideq.
Geopolitics
Amber heat alerts cover most of England from Tuesday as Britain enters its fifth heatwave of the year, with 36C or higher forecast.
Geopolitics
Ceuta's mayor has demanded an internment centre for the thousands of migrants still in the enclave. Spain and Italy keep their border checks before a mass crossing called for 15 August.
Geopolitics
Germany's inland shipping association expects the Rhine gauge at Kaub to fall to a single digit this week for the first time, splitting Europe's busiest waterway in two.
Geopolitics
Spain checked 199 arrivals from Italy at its six largest airports on Saturday, the first day of retaliatory controls. Rome calls the step unacceptable and keeps its own checks.
Geopolitics
FIFA has dismissed calls for president Gianni Infantino to step down over allegations about his conduct, describing a concerted and ongoing effort to undermine the governing body and its president. In an interview published on Sunday, La Liga president Javier Tebas said the Infantino era is over.
Geopolitics
Spain began checks on air and sea arrivals from Italy at midnight on Saturday, answering Rome's suspension of Schengen free travel over the Ceuta crossings.
Geopolitics
Romania finished blowing up four barges in the Danube overnight to lift water levels at the Cernavoda nuclear plant. Drought and heat are fuelling fires from Spain to Albania.
Geopolitics
The European Commission has asked Meta and TikTok to strengthen monitoring and fact-checking after online reports of a supposed border opening preceded the rush of tens of thousands on Ceuta, the FAZ and Le Monde reported, citing digital commissioner Henna Virkkunen. TASS reports that Moroccan police were put on high alert and that the Spanish navy sent two additional frigates after posts circulated about a new mass crossing attempt.
Geopolitics
Spanish checks on travellers arriving from Italy took effect at midnight on Saturday and are to run until 7 September, Le Monde and the Guardian reported, a response to controls Italy introduced on 1 August for air and sea traffic with Spain after the rush on Ceuta. Madrid has threatened proportional measures and urged Rome to lift its controls no later than 9 August, according to TASS citing Reuters.
Geopolitics
Nearly a week after the mass crossing into Spain's enclave of Ceuta in late July, officials put the death toll at around 100. Up to 5,000 people remain in the city, and Morocco lists about 60 of its citizens as missing.
Geopolitics
Hundreds of people gathered in the Moroccan town of Fnideq this week, holding up photos of relatives missing since some 72,000 people crossed into Spain's enclave of Ceuta late last month. Officials now put the death toll close to 100.
Geopolitics
EU interior ministers held emergency talks on Tuesday over last week's mass crossing into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta. A Spanish forensic commission has put the death toll at 77.
Geopolitics
Italy has suspended Schengen free movement at its border with Spain over last week's mass crossing into Ceuta. At an emergency videoconference on Tuesday, EU interior ministers closed ranks behind Madrid instead.
Geopolitics
Tens of thousands of people crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Thursday and Friday, and most have since gone back. EU interior ministers hold emergency talks on Tuesday after Italy and Denmark demanded Spain's temporary suspension from Schengen.
Geopolitics
Twenty-five mostly Democratic-led US states sued the Trump administration on Monday over tariffs of 10 and 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners. They argue the president exceeded his authority to tax imports.
Economy
The death toll from last week's mass crossing into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta has risen to at least 72, up from 67. Most of the tens of thousands who got in have since gone back to Morocco.
Geopolitics
A wildfire northwest of Athens has destroyed more than 100 homes, and two firefighting helicopters collided on Sunday, killing the two-person crew of one aircraft. Crews now face new fire fronts near the coastal village of Porto Germeno.
Geopolitics
EU rules obliging professional developers and business users to label AI-generated content took effect on Sunday. Companies now face open questions about how to apply them.
Technology
The number of people who drowned trying to reach Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta has risen to 67. EU interior ministers will meet in an extraordinary session on Tuesday.
Geopolitics
Wildfires burned across Spain and France as parts of Europe baked in extreme heat, with Berlin reaching 37C on Saturday, according to FAZ. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the fires had been brought under control, citing the Gironde department, where the blaze created its own air currents; the New York Times found towns along the southwest coast deserted after tens of thousands of people fled.
Geopolitics
EU interior ministers will hold an urgent videoconference on Tuesday over the Ceuta crisis, amid continued divisions in the bloc over the mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish territory in north Africa. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had offered Spain support "from the first moment" and that "not a single person reached mainland Spain or rest of EU", after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the "selfish, polarising" reaction of some countries; Bloomberg described Sánchez as isolated.
Geopolitics
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.
Geopolitics
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy intends to suspend the Schengen Agreement with Spain, and Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares responded by summoning the Italian ambassador. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she had spoken with Giorgia Meloni and backed the proposal, Borrell said no EU country can unilaterally expel another from Schengen, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded "swift returns" of migrants from Ceuta and the dismantling of smuggling networks.
Geopolitics
France and Spain gained a measure of relief on Thursday after fires that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee, though blazes continue elsewhere in Europe. The Gironde has been burning since 22 July, and the New York Times reported that officials in the worst-hit forests failed to enforce French rules requiring homeowners to clear vegetation within roughly 50 yards of their houses.
Geopolitics
Germany has registered close to 10,000 heat-related deaths since the start of 2026, according to a report published on Friday by the Chinese state-affiliated outlet Global Times. The figure comes during a run of heatwaves across Europe, with a fourth wave now pushing over the south.
Geopolitics
Two firefighters died battling a wildfire on Crete and a third was killed in the Peloponnese, while Greek crews also worked to contain blazes on Lesbos. Mega-fires threatened the Gironde department and the city of Bordeaux in France, and Spain's crisis continued even after the national emergency ended in Madrid and Ávila; scientists warn the climate crisis is getting worse.
Geopolitics
Thousands of migrants swam around or breached the border fence from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Thursday, with more than 1,500 reaching the city over a week and the bodies of at least 10 migrants found. Spain sent military reinforcements after local officials warned that the police were overwhelmed and called for a national emergency, adding to tensions with Rabat.
Geopolitics
The Greek fire department says three firefighters died while battling blazes on Crete and in the south of the mainland. In France and Spain, crews contained the large fires near Bordeaux and west of Madrid, but high winds and a fourth heatwave threaten flare-ups, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the next 12 hours decisive. SNCF is keeping TGV services south of Bordeaux cancelled until Sunday.
Geopolitics
Fires in the French Gironde and in the Spanish province of Ávila have burned tens of thousands of hectares and driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and holiday sites. A fourth heatwave of the summer, with temperatures above 40 degrees, is forecast to reach both countries from Wednesday. Protective measures have been deployed around Seveso-classified industrial sites in the Gironde, while EU member states have sent firefighting aircraft to both countries.
Geopolitics
Wildfires in Spain, France and now Portugal have forced roughly 375,000 people from their homes, according to The Guardian and Koha, with the largest fire in Spanish records burning 77,000 hectares and 115,000 hectares burned in France since the start of the year. The blaze in the Gironde has come within a few dozen kilometres of Bordeaux and remains uncontained after five nights. Forecasters expect a fourth heat wave since May to reach France from Tuesday, with temperatures up to 40 degrees.
Geopolitics
Fires in the Gironde region around Bordeaux and in the mountains south-west of Madrid have driven more than 300,000 people from their homes, according to Bloomberg, in what French media and officials describe as the country's largest evacuation since the Second World War. In France alone 220,000 people are covered by evacuation orders and 42,000 hectares have burned; in Spain two fires in the Madrid and Ávila regions have merged into what FAZ calls the largest wildfire in the country's recent history. Both governments have mobilised soldiers and aircraft, while evacuated residents in Spain accuse the authorities of neglect.
Geopolitics
Nearly 300,000 people in Spain and France have been ordered to evacuate or shelter indoors as large wildfires advance on the Madrid region and the area around Bordeaux. Two fires in the neighbouring Spanish provinces of Madrid and Ávila alone have burned some 25,000 hectares and are now being run under a single emergency command. France is deploying a converted Airbus A400M military transport as a firefighting aircraft for the first time, while Turkey, Greece, Italy and Portugal are sending help to Spain.
Geopolitics
Beijing has banned shipments of rare earths and related supplies to 14 companies in Europe working in chemicals processing, electric motors and defence, according to reporting by the New York Times published on 24 July 2026. The measure applies China's dominance of rare-earth supply directly to named European industrial and defence firms. The available source does not identify the companies or the exact date the controls take effect.
Economy
Fast-moving wildfires driven by extreme heat, drought and wind forced more than 25,000 people from campsites and homes around Bordeaux in southwestern France on 24 July 2026, including the Cap Ferret peninsula, while Spain declared its first national emergency over a wildfire after more than 10,000 people were evacuated near Madrid and in Ávila province. Both governments requested help through the European Union, which dispatched water-bombing aircraft. Two firefighters had already died near Bordeaux earlier in the week, and Spain counts 13 wildfire deaths so far in 2026.
Geopolitics