The death toll from the migration crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has risen to 72, while more than 48,300 migrants have returned to Morocco, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE reported Sunday.
According to Spanish authorities, about 50,000 people had crossed into Ceuta by land and sea from Thursday in an unprecedented surge at one of the European Union's only land borders with Africa.
On Sunday morning, a lone migrant was seen swimming ashore at Ceuta's Tarajal beach before fleeing from police officers, while workers cleared life jackets and inflatable buoys left behind after the mass crossings.
The autonomous city has gradually begun returning to normal, although security forces continued searching neighborhoods for migrants who remain in the city. Many of those returning to Morocco have done so voluntarily according to reports.
Authorities also escorted groups of migrants to the Tarajal border crossing, returning to Morocco.
Spanish authorities on Saturday installed a 500-metre (1,640-foot) sea barrier at the Tarajal border area to prevent further irregular crossings.
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez criticised Italy's decision on Friday to suspend passport-free Schengentravel arrangements with Madrid for one month.
"In the current international context, the EU cannot afford this kind of selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction," Sanchez wrote in a letter to the European Union's Commission and European Council presidents.
"Calls for Spain to be suspended from the EU's borderless Schengen zone are driven by prejudice, fake news, ignorance, or political interest," he added.
Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska defended Morocco's cooperation, saying Spain had regained control of the situation within 24 hours.
"Morocco is not a threat to Ceuta, or to the rest of Spain. It is a reliable partner."
Madrid said the people who entered Ceuta irregularly could not travel onwards to mainland Spain or elsewhere in the Schengen zone.
Twenty-two European heads of state and government on Saturday called for an emergency meeting of European Union interior ministers over the recent migration crisis in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta.
"We cannot allow uncontrolled mass crossings, the instrumentalisation of migration or other hybrid threats to create the perception that illegal entry into the European Union is possible," the letter said.
The leaders warned that such a perception would encourage further attempts to enter the bloc irregularly and have repercussions for all member states.
An emergency video conference meeting of national ministers is set for Tuesday. Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said on Saturday it had convened a meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, chaired by Irish Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Minister Jim O'Callaghan, to discuss developments.
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European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is stepping down amid reports linking him to a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, throwing the future of the $4 trillion chipmaker into uncertainty.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 11 November. Today, we cover Russia-Ukraine peace talks, political tensions in Washington, strikes in Spain, espionage allegations involving Nvidia's CEO, and climate negotiations at COP31 in Türkiye.
President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday to let European representatives join the next round of Ukraine peace talks while the United States continues to work towards what could become the largest prisoner exchange of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Azerbaijan and the UK have pledged to strengthen defence, trade and education cooperation after signing a joint declaration elevating relations to a strategic level in Dublin, Ireland on Thursday (12 November).
More than 333,000 people have been forced from their homes in Yemen since the beginning of August as fighting has escalated, including more than 24,000 in the past week alone, the United Nations said on Thursday.
A court in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad has sentenced human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 years in prison on treason charges, after prosecutors accused her of passing sensitive information to Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops more than a thousand migrants who are walking north towards the United States, warning that they will be denied entry.
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