North Africa

Mass arrivals in Ceuta show how Europe pays for border controls with money and power

Spain has deployed troops after record numbers of migrants entered its north African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco.

Some 8,000 people have reached Ceuta in two days, Spanish officials say.

They say the migrants - who include about 1,500 minors - either swam around the border fences that jut out into the sea or walked across at low tide.

Greece welcomed on Friday the election of a new transitional government for Libya which took place in Geneva supported by the UN Support Mission in Libya.

Mohammad Younes Menfi on Friday was elected the president of Libya's interim government, and Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah the prime minister in the Presidency Council.

From the signing of the Turkey-Libya agreement on maritime boundaries, it was clear that there had to be a response from the Greek side. The fact is that the above memorandum is completely illegal. International maritime law suggests that for there to be an agreement on maritime boundaries between nations they must have either adjacent or opposite coastlines.

As part of his initiatives regarding the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya, French President Emanuel Macron said in a tweet on Friday that he contacted his US counterpart Donald Trump, adding that their views about the region are identical and will be imposed.

Turkish students studying in the Canary Islands are back in Turkey due to severe sandstorms on the western coast of the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic Ocean.

The families of students had asked for help on social media from the Turkish Foreign Ministry upon the cancellation of flights due to the sandstorm.

A Turkish ship has rescued 24 African refugees stranded on a boat off the Canary Islands.

More than 150 migrants crossed the border fence at Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta early on Aug. 30 and at least six Spanish police officers suffered minor injuries as they tried to stop them, a government spokesman in the city said.

In this file photo taken on Jan. 19, rescued migrants from a group of 47, wrapped in survival blankets and including an underaged (C) are pictured aboard the Dutch-flagged vessel Sea Watch 3 during a rescue operation off Libya's coasts. (Photo by Federico Scoppa / AFP)

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva met with Libya's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Sayala in Brussels to discuss the upcoming visit to Bulgaria by Libya's Head of Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj, said the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported libyanexpress.com