Spain has requested the support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and Europol from the European Commission for the triage work of immigrants who remain in Ceuta irregularly. This was communicated by the Ministry of the Interior this Friday, whose head, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has sent this request to the Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the commission, Beate Gminder.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, Elma Saiz, announced this Friday in Congress an increase of up to 44.5 million euros to support and expand humanitarian aid in Ceuta, following the irregular entry of “around 72,000” migrants from Morocco on July 30 and 31. She also urged not to forget that behind the numbers there are “stories of suffering” and “dozens of deaths” during the border crossings.
The reactions in the European royal houses to the death of King Harald have not been long in coming. Kings Felipe and Letizia, in addition to sending a telegram of condolence, have published a statement on social media expressing their sorrow for the passing of the Norwegian monarch. “With our respect and admiration for his figure, as well as with deep sadness, we express our condolences for the loss of H.M. King Harald V, an example of responsibility, dignity, simplicity, and tireless dedication to the service of Norway and its people, before and during his 35 years of reign. Our condolences, with fraternal affection, to the Norwegian royal family.
Italy is preparing to extend border controls on passengers arriving by plane and boat from Spain. The temporary suspension of Schengen between the two countries, which came into effect on August 1 due to the Ceuta migration crisis, had an initial duration of one month. According to the communication sent by the authorities in Rome to the European Commission, it expires on August 31, so everything should return to normal starting Tuesday.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has attributed the jump over the fence at the Ceuta border on July 30 from Morocco to the incitement caused by misinformation used by very interested actors whom he identified as “the reactionary international.”
Ratko Mladic, the convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief who died on Thursday in The Hague at the age of 83, will receive a State funeral with full honors, according to Serbia’s Minister of Justice, Nenad Vujić. In statements to the Bosnian Serb channel ATV, the minister said that the preparations will follow the protocol corresponding to Mladic’s military rank, convicted of war crimes and genocide, but considered by many in Serbia as a hero.
The new flexible retirement rules, which allow pensioners to return to work as self-employed and combine this activity with part of the pension, have been in effect since this Friday. The royal decree, published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) in May, extends this modality to self-employment. Until now, retirees could only apply it if they returned to work as employees.
In his first public appearance at the start of the new political term, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, wanted to send a message of firmness in the face of the multiple and colossal challenges that Catalonia faces. In his speech during the working sessions that the Catalan Executive is holding this Friday and Saturday at the Monestir de les Avellanes in Os de Balaguer (Lleida), the head of the Government warned that an intense political term is coming in which he will make “decisions” that are transcendental, that “will shape and determine the next decade,” and that will generate “noise,” confrontation,” gesticulation and “even falsehoods, on the part of the opposition.
The frequency of geological disasters like the one that has happened in Nepal, causing hundreds of victims, possibly thousands, is increasing as climate changes take their toll on places as complex, and increasingly populated, as the Himalayan mountain range. The geologist and mountaineer Jerónimo López witnessed this just a year ago, when he traveled to an area near the now-collapsed one, 50 years after he participated in the first Spanish ascent of an ‘eight-thousander’, the Manaslu.
King Harald V of Norway passed away this Friday at the age of 89 at the National Hospital of Oslo after a period marked by his delicate health condition. As communicated by the country’s royal house, the monarch “fell asleep peacefully” at 6:35 in the morning after being hospitalized for eleven days in a “very serious” condition. The sovereign had accumulated fluid during corticosteroid treatment for hemolytic anemia, subsequently developing a bacterial blood infection.