Global Pulse

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  • UK funeral director sentenced to 20 years in prison after bereaved families given wrong ashes

    UK funeral director sentenced to 20 years in prison after bereaved families given wrong ashes

    In a landmark sentencing at Hull Crown Court in northeastern England that has drawn national outrage over the systematic betrayal of grieving families, 48-year-old former funeral home owner Robert Bush has been handed a 20-year prison term. Over the course of a five-day sentencing hearing, more than 200 victims shared harrowing, emotional testimony detailing the profound harm caused by Bush’s 12-year pattern of abuse at his Legacy Independent Funeral Directors, a company he operated that catered to families across the region.

    Bush had previously entered guilty pleas to 65 criminal charges spanning fraud, theft, and the improper handling of human remains, offences that shattered the trust of communities relying on his services to give their loved ones dignified final goodbyes. The scope of his crimes only came to light in a chance revelation in March 2024, when Bush was traveling on vacation in Arizona and requested staff from a competing local funeral firm to assist with an urgent body retrieval at his facility while he was out of the country. Out of nowhere, a current employee of Bush’s revealed to the visiting managers that multiple corpses had been stored improperly on site for years, triggering an immediate call to police.

    When law enforcement officers raided the funeral home, prosecutors described the discovery as a “horror scene.” Inside the facility, officers found bodies in varying stages of decomposition stacked on cold storage racks, with one unclothed corpse left abandoned on a stretcher on the facility floor. Further investigations uncovered that at least 50 families had been deliberately given the incorrect cremated remains of their loved ones, with hundreds of improperly labeled urns and packaging left on site. In one of the most devastating cases to come before the court, Jasmine Beverley, a mother who lost her stillborn son Sunny in May 2022, told the court of the repeated trauma inflicted by Bush’s actions. More than a year after Bush handed Beverley a small blue casket he claimed held her son’s ashes, investigators found Sunny’s actual remains tucked inside an unmarked brown paper bag discarded on the floor of his premises.

    Beverley told the court, “When I discovered what had happened, it reopened that trauma in a way I cannot fully describe. It felt like being pulled back into the darkest time of my life. The grief, anxiety and distress returned with such intensity that I again found myself struggling mentally and emotionally.”

    Beyond the mishandling of remains, the court confirmed Bush carried out years of financial fraud against his clients: he defrauded 172 people out of a total of £562,000 (equivalent to roughly $755,000), including funds obtained through the sale of fake, non-existent pre-paid funeral plans. He also repeatedly stole cash donations collected for charity during memorial services held for clients’ loved ones, failing to pass the funds to the intended charitable causes.

    In handing down the 20-year sentence, the judge emphasized the profound breach of public trust inherent in Bush’s crimes, noting that families turn to funeral directors in their most vulnerable moments, and that the harm of his actions will last for the lifetimes of the hundreds of victims impacted.

  • A rumour, a rush: chaos at Morocco border with Spain’s Ceuta

    A rumour, a rush: chaos at Morocco border with Spain’s Ceuta

    A false social rumor of an open border between Morocco and Spain has triggered a deadly mass migration rush into the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta, leaving at least 18 to 34 people dead and igniting a diplomatic and political crisis across Europe. The chaos unfolded after thousands of hopeful migrants, desperate for better economic opportunities in Europe, flocked to the border crossing near the Moroccan town of Fnideq, spurred by unconfirmed reports that frontier controls had been temporarily lifted.

    Among those who joined the rush was Fatima Zahra, a migrant working in Tangier who told Agence France-Presse she left her job under poor working conditions to try her luck in Europe. “I woke up in the morning and heard that Ceuta had opened,” Zahra explained. “At that point, I told the people with me let’s go there for work… let’s try our luck too.” Like many others, Zahra was ultimately turned away before entering the enclave.

    Ceuta, a 18.5-square-kilometer Spanish autonomous territory located on North Africa’s northern coast, and the nearby similar enclave Melilla, host the only land borders between the European Union and the African continent. By the end of the incident, Ceuta’s regional president confirmed that roughly 60,000 migrants had successfully crossed into the tiny territory, which has a total native population of just 80,000 residents.

    AFP visual coverage captured dramatic scenes of chaos: migrants swimming around Ceuta’s fortified frontier fence, clambering over razor-sharp barbed wire to reach European soil, while Moroccan riot police deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse the surging crowds after border controls collapsed. By the following Friday, the departure point near Fnideq was left in ruin: more than a dozen burned-out cars lined the square, rocks littered the pavement, and officers continued pushing turned-back migrants away from the border.

    Many migrants traveled hundreds of kilometers across Morocco after hearing the rumor. Abdelhakim, one migrant who was turned back, shared that he walked 14 kilometers through mountain terrain to reach the border, fully believing the crossing was open. “Once we got here, we were told to cross by sea. I found myself completely submerged and saw two men die right before my eyes,” he recalled. “That’s when I backed away and remembered that I have two children of my own, and that I couldn’t risk my life.”

    Even amid the danger, many migrants viewed the risk of reaching Europe as worth taking, especially after word spread that some early attempts had succeeded. Karim, another turned-back aspirant, noted that reports of successful crossings pushed more people to join the rush. “Suddenly they heard that the borders were open and that some young people had crossed, so everyone ended up here,” he said.

    Videos and photos of the chaos have already sparked a major political crisis for Spain’s left-wing national government. Madrid has deployed military troops to Ceuta to reinforce border security, while France has moved to implement stricter checks along its own border with Spain. Italy has further called for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen Area, Europe’s open-border free travel zone.

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez scheduled an official visit to Ceuta on Friday, marking the largest mass influx into the autonomous city since a similar crisis in May 2021. The images of jubilant new arrivals, many of whom were minors, wearing nothing but swimsuits and flip-flops, cheering and shouting “Bye bye Morocco, hello Spain” have circulated widely across social media, threatening to severely damage diplomatic relations between Madrid and Rabat. Footage from local Spanish broadcaster El Faro even showed young migrants, including a 14-year-old girl, flashing victory signs after successfully crossing into the territory.

    As dawn broke on the day after the rush, Moroccan security forces ramped up their response, with dozens of officers pushing back crowds attempting to exit Morocco. Multiple elderly women were escorted away from the clash sites, while migrants responded to police action by throwing stones and firing projectiles from slingshots, according to on-the-ground reporting from an AFP journalist. Dozens of vehicles, including the informal taxis many migrants used to travel to the border, were destroyed by fire during the unrest.

  • Nigeria removed from South African pop star Tyla’s upcoming world tour

    Nigeria removed from South African pop star Tyla’s upcoming world tour

    Just days after Grammy-winning South African pop star Tyla unveiled her highly anticipated 34-date world tour to support her newly released second studio album *A*POP*, one major stop has vanished from the official itinerary: Lagos, Nigeria. What began as a routine tour announcement has become entangled in escalating diplomatic and public tensions between Nigeria and South Africa, rooted in a recent surge of anti-migrant violence and xenophobic sentiment targeting foreign nationals in South Africa.

    When Tyla first shared the full tour schedule on Monday following last week’s album drop, her official website listed Lagos alongside two South African dates in Johannesburg and Cape Town. But by Friday, an updated schedule posted to the site removed the Nigerian capital entirely, with no public explanation given for the last-minute change.

    The removal comes amid growing public pressure in Nigeria for Tyla to cancel the Lagos show, triggered by the ongoing wave of xenophobic attacks that have specifically targeted Nigerians living in South Africa. Diplomatic relations between the two African nations have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks over the crisis: Nigeria and several other African countries have publicly criticized South Africa for failing to intervene effectively to protect foreign migrants. Large-scale protests in South Africa have called for the expulsion of all undocumented migrants, driving tens of thousands of foreign nationals – including hundreds of Nigerians – to flee the country on government-arranged repatriation flights.

    While diplomatic leaders have attempted to de-escalate tensions, most recently with a high-level meeting of foreign affairs officials in Abuja, public anger has spilled into the cultural sphere. Earlier this week, Nigerian activists launched an online petition calling to bar Tyla from entering Nigeria until all xenophobic attacks against migrants end in South Africa. The petition has already gathered thousands of signatures. On Tyla’s social media channels, where the original full tour schedule listing Lagos remains visible, Nigerian fans and activists have repeatedly warned the 24-year-old artist against proceeding with the concert, condemning her for not publicly speaking out against the anti-migrant movement in her home country. As of Friday, Tyla has not issued any public comment on the controversy, and did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

    Tyla is not the only high-profile South African cultural figure facing public backlash over their perceived silence on the xenophobia crisis. Former *Daily Show* host and South African comedian Trevor Noah has also drawn widespread criticism after headlining a promotional campaign for the Tourism Business Council of South Africa. The promotional video, shared across the organization’s social media platforms, was flooded with comments accusing Noah of promoting South African tourism while refusing to condemn the country’s growing anti-migrant hostility. Many commenters added public context to the video, framing South Africa as a fundamentally xenophobic nation that does not welcome foreign visitors or migrants.

    South African government officials have pushed back against mounting international criticism. Authorities note that they have taken legal action against individuals engaged in vigilante violence connected to the anti-migrant protests, with more than 900 people arrested in connection with recent unrest. The government also asserts that it retains the sovereign right to regulate immigration and border control into the country, a position that has done little to ease cross-border tensions.

  • Oprah Winfrey says she will close her school for girls in South Africa next year

    Oprah Winfrey says she will close her school for girls in South Africa next year

    Nearly two decades after opening a transformative boarding school for disadvantaged young women outside Johannesburg, media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey has announced that the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will cease operations at its current campus at the end of 2025, with full ownership transferred to South Africa’s Gauteng provincial education department. The landmark institution, first opened in 2007, grew out of a conversation with anti-apartheid icon and former South African President Nelson Mandela, who emphasized how investing in girls’ education could unlock widespread, lasting change across the continent. Mandela was in attendance at the academy’s grand opening to mark the launch of the project.

    From its inception, the handover of the 52-acre campus to local educational authorities was always part of the core agreement, academy representatives confirmed. The facility, which boasts 21 classrooms, six specialized science and computer labs, a 10,000-volume library, and a 600-seat performance theater, will now be taken over by the Gauteng provincial government, which has not yet announced its long-term plans for the property.

    Winfrey emphasized in a formal statement released Wednesday that the end of operations at the current campus does not mark the end of her commitment to empowering young South African women through education. “The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”

    Moving forward, Winfrey’s philanthropic organization, the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, will expand its national scholarship program to support academically gifted girls at top-performing schools across South Africa. To date, more than 500 students have graduated from the Leadership Academy, with many going on to pursue higher education at leading universities in South Africa, the United States, and across Europe.

    Gauteng’s Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile confirmed that current students enrolled at the academy will be able to complete their secondary education without disruption, with full financial support remaining in place through their graduation.

    The academy made global headlines shortly after its opening, when multiple students made accusations of physical and sexual abuse against a residential dormitory matron. Winfrey traveled immediately to South Africa to meet with affected students and their families, issued a public apology for the failure to protect students, and commissioned an independent probe into the allegations. The matron was ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges in a 2010 court ruling.

  • US admits ‘unfortunate error’ after mislabelling countries on map of Africa

    US admits ‘unfortunate error’ after mislabelling countries on map of Africa

    A major cartographic blunder, involving an AI-generated map filled with critical geographic errors for key African nations, has thrown the U.S. State Department into the center of diplomatic controversy following a presentation at the 26th International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The flawed map, which appeared in a slide deck discussing U.S. funding for global HIV response initiatives, included wildly incorrect positioning and unrecognizable shapes for six African countries central to Washington’s flagship HIV program, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

    Among the most striking errors, the map incorrectly labeled Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation — as a landlocked country, when it in fact holds extensive coastlines along the Gulf of Guinea. Ivory Coast was mislocated to East Africa rather than its actual position in West Africa. Three of the six highlighted nations — Nigeria, Mozambique, and Ivory Coast — were placed entirely wrong geographically. While Malawi and Uganda sat in roughly correct regional positions, their shapes were heavily distorted, and Cameroon was referenced in the presentation but not marked on the map at all.

    The mistake was first brought to public attention by HIV/AIDS expert Emily Bass, who shared a photograph of the flawed slide via her Substack newsletter, quickly sparking widespread backlash across social media and diplomatic circles. A subsequent analysis by Reuters confirmed the map carries an artificial intelligence watermark, confirming it was generated using AI tools. OpenAI has confirmed it is investigating the incident in response to the reports.

    The presentation was delivered by a senior U.S. official tasked with overseeing Pepfar, which has been a core component of U.S. global health engagement for decades. In its official response, the State Department acknowledged the incident as “an unfortunate error”, explaining it occurred when a team member “hurriedly altered” the slide deck in preparation for the conference. The department took full responsibility for the confusion and misrepresentation the mistake caused for attendees, including African partner nations participating in the event.

    Critics across the political spectrum have slammed the error, linking it to broader shifts in U.S. foreign policy and staffing under the second Trump administration. Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on X: “What an embarrassment. This is what happens when [the State Department] fires career experts and tries to have AI conduct diplomacy.” Former State Department official Cameron Hudson echoed the criticism, calling the mistake “stupid and embarrassing” and attributing it to “too junior staff performing work under-supervised.”

    The controversy comes at a sensitive moment for U.S. global health policy, arriving as the 26th International Aids Conference opens against the backdrop of deep cuts to U.S. foreign aid implemented after President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. The Trump administration has overhauled U.S. global health assistance, implementing sharp across-the-board cuts to foreign aid spending. While core life-saving HIV treatment programs under Pepfar have largely resumed operations, Washington has scaled back funding for prevention and disease surveillance initiatives, and announced plans to phase out the Pepfar program entirely in South Africa.

    Despite the public backlash over the map error, the State Department maintained that discussions at the conference remained “substantive and constructive”, and reaffirmed the U.S.’s long-stated commitment to combating HIV/Aids across Africa and the rest of the world.

  • Myanmar’s president outlines policy road map, criticizes ASEAN peace plan

    Myanmar’s president outlines policy road map, criticizes ASEAN peace plan

    NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — On Friday, the leader of Myanmar’s military-aligned administration marked the first 100 days of his current term in office, using a national address to defend his government’s early track record and lay out a comprehensive five-year governance agenda — all as the country grapples with widespread internal armed conflict and mounting condemnation from the international community.

    Min Aung Hlaing, the former head of Myanmar’s military who first seized state control from the democratically elected civilian government in a 2021 coup, was formally sworn in as president in April of this year. His appointment followed a general election that political analysts and global critics widely dismiss as a prearranged process to cement the military’s long-term hold on national power.

    Speaking before an audience of more than 900 legislators, senior government officials, and military delegates gathered at the national parliament in Naypyitaw, Min Aung Hlaing asserted that his administration has already laid “critical groundwork” for the country by advancing its two core priorities: reestablishing nationwide peace and security, and driving inclusive national development.

    Under the five-year roadmap he outlined, the first two years will be dedicated to accelerating efforts to build a modern, economically developed nation founded on democratic principles and a federal governing structure. The remaining three years will be devoted to full-speed implementation of infrastructure and social development projects, he said.

    Min Aung Hlaing also confirmed that special by-elections will be held in 2027 for 102 townships across Myanmar. These constituencies were unable to participate in the military government’s three-phase general election held late last year, due to ongoing armed conflict that has made normal electoral operations impossible in those areas.

    The president added that the administration will continue enforcing the military’s controversial conscription law, while expanding and strengthening the country’s armed forces and national police as they battle pro-democracy opposition groups and ethnic minority insurgent movements across most of Myanmar’s territory. He noted that his government has extended an offer of dialogue to anti-military armed groups, and has already held formal talks with 13 separate ethnic armed organizations.

    In a striking rebuke of regional diplomatic efforts, Min Aung Hlaing also criticized the 2021 five-point peace consensus brokered by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was designed to de-escalate Myanmar’s civil conflict. He claimed the agreement was finalized without the consent of all ASEAN member states, and argued that the regional bloc has systematically discriminated against Myanmar since the 2021 coup. The ASEAN framework requires Myanmar’s ruling authorities to immediately end all violence against opposition groups and open inclusive dialogue between all warring parties, mediated by a special ASEAN envoy.

    Turning to economic and infrastructure policy, Min Aung Hlaing announced plans to move forward with 10 major new power generation projects, including the long-suspended and highly controversial Myitsone hydropower dam. The project was halted more than a decade ago following large-scale public protests over major environmental and displacement risks. He added that the government will also continue preliminary work to develop the country’s first nuclear power plant.

    On law enforcement and transnational crime, Min Aung Hlaing stated that Myanmar authorities have stepped up efforts to crack down on money laundering, drug trafficking, and the transnational online scam centers that have operated with relative impunity in parts of the country in recent years. To date, he said, more than 72,000 foreign nationals linked to illicit scam operations have been deported back to their home countries, covering 58 nations worldwide.

    Min Aung Hlaing did acknowledge that the large-scale outflow of young working-age Myanmar citizens has created significant headwinds for the country’s economic development. However, he declined to acknowledge the well-documented link between the military’s conscription policy and this mass youth exodus, which independent analysts and opposition groups widely identify as one of the primary drivers of the trend.

    Opposition leaders have pushed back sharply on Min Aung Hlaing’s address, arguing it does little to address the country’s deepening crises. Nan Lin, a spokesperson for the General Strike Coordination Body — one of Myanmar’s leading nonviolent pro-democracy opposition organizations — said the speech makes clear the military’s sole goal is to entrench its authoritarian grip on power. He added that widespread economic hardship will only worsen under what he called the junta’s failed governing agenda.

    “No meaningful change can be expected from the junta,” Nan Lin said in a statement following the address. “They will use the conscription law to control young people through fear, and the situation could worsen as they continue to sacrifice young people in order to hold on to power.”

  • Peru’s ex-president has 15-year jail sentence for corruption charges overturned

    Peru’s ex-president has 15-year jail sentence for corruption charges overturned

    In a landmark ruling that upends a high-profile corruption conviction, Peru’s Constitutional Court has overturned a 15-year prison sentence for former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and voided all criminal proceedings connected to the case.

    Humala, who held Peru’s highest office from 2011 to 2016, was found guilty in 2025 of accepting illegal campaign financing from the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht and late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for his 2006 and 2011 presidential bids. The case was one of the most high-profile to emerge from the sprawling Odebrecht corruption scandal that has roiled politics across Latin America for nearly a decade.

    Local media reports confirm Humala is set to be imminently released from Barbadillo Prison in Lima, the Peruvian capital. Following the court’s decision, Julio Espinoza Goyena, Humala’s defense attorney, announced on social media that the tribunal ruled the campaign contributions his client received do not meet the legal definition of money laundering, the charge that secured the 2025 conviction. Espinoza Goyena added that the Criminal Chamber currently overseeing the case is now required to issue a permanent dismissal of all charges and formalize Humala’s release.

    The same 2025 trial that convicted Humala also found his wife, former First Lady Nadine Heredia, guilty of money laundering and sentenced her to an identical 15-year prison term. However, Heredia has already received safe passage to Brazil after requesting and being granted asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima, a resolution that avoided her detention.

    Humala’s case sits at the center of a far broader corruption reckoning in Peru: he was the first of four consecutive sitting or former Peruvian presidents to face investigation linked to the Odebrecht scandal, a scheme where the construction giant admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes across Latin America to secure lucrative public infrastructure contracts.

    The ripple effects of the scandal have been severe for Peruvian politics. Alejandro Toledo, who served as president from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison last year for accepting $35 million in bribes from Odebrecht. Alan García, who held the presidency for two non-consecutive terms between 1985 and 2011, died by suicide in 2019 as law enforcement moved to arrest him on Odebrecht bribery allegations, which he repeatedly denied. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who held office from 2016 to 2018, faced impeachment proceedings after it was revealed Odebrecht had made multi-million dollar payments to him during his earlier career in public office. Kuczynski has consistently maintained the payments were lawful, and the investigation into his case remains ongoing.

    Court documents from Humala’s original trial lay out specific accusations: he and Heredia, who co-founded Peru’s Nationalist Party together, were accused of accepting $3 million in illegal contributions from Odebrecht to fund Humala’s successful 2011 presidential campaign, plus an additional $200,000 from Chávez to bankroll his unsuccessful 2006 candidacy. Humala and Heredia have never wavered from their claim that the charges against them are rooted in political persecution, not actual criminal conduct.

    A former career army officer, Humala first entered the national spotlight in 2000, when he led a brief military uprising against then-president Alberto Fujimori. He made his first presidential run in 2006 on a left-wing platform aligned with Hugo Chávez’s Venezuelan socialist movement, but lost the race. His second bid in 2011 took a more moderate policy tone, modeled after the center-left governance of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and he defeated right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, Alberto Fujimori’s eldest daughter, to win the presidency.

    Legal proceedings against the couple began shortly after Humala left office in 2016, just months after Odebrecht publicly admitted to its widespread bribery scheme across the region. Both Humala and Heredia spent one year in pre-trial detention before their 2025 conviction, a process that stretched out over nearly a decade of legal wrangling before this week’s ruling overturned the result.

  • Thousands cross into Spain’s north Africa enclave in new migrant crisis

    Thousands cross into Spain’s north Africa enclave in new migrant crisis

    In an unprecedented sudden influx of migrants that has triggered a new international crisis, roughly 40,000 people have crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta over recent days, with thousands making the risky journey overnight alone. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to the border territory on Friday to coordinate the government’s response to what is already one of the most severe border migration crises the country has faced in modern history.

    Ceuta, a tiny 18.5-square-kilometer Spanish territory, and its neighboring exclave Melilla are the only two European territories that share a land border with the African continent. The vast majority of recent arrivals have bypassed the short border barrier by swimming across the adjacent Mediterranean Sea, a dangerous crossing that has already claimed 18 lives, according to a senior Spanish police source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The source confirmed that arrivals continued at a steady pace through the night and were still ongoing early Friday morning.

    AFP correspondents on the ground witnessed men, women and children discarding the makeshift flotation devices and clothing they used for the crossing after emerging onto Ceuta’s shores. As of Friday, hundreds of migrants, most of them young men, remained gathered near the Tarajal border crossing and in residential areas of the enclave, while some had already chosen to return to Morocco, citing overwhelming overcrowding in the territory. Spanish police and civil guard officers have largely refrained from blocking arrivals, instead directing new migrants toward the local reception center.

    The root cause of the sudden surge in migration remains unclear as of Friday, though the incident echoes a similar 2021 crisis when more than 10,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta over two days after Morocco loosened border controls during a diplomatic dispute with Spain. That 2021 rift erupted after Madrid allowed the leader of the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi independence movement fighting Morocco over control of Western Sahara, to receive medical treatment on Spanish soil. The dispute was resolved in 2022 when Spain abandoned its decades-long policy of neutrality on the Western Sahara issue and backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the region, a move that in turn triggered a major diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algeria, Polisario’s primary backer. Relations between Spain and Algeria have only recently begun to thaw, with Sanchez making the first visit by a Spanish prime minister to the North African country in four years last July.

    Morocco has not yet released an official public statement on the 2024 surge, but an anonymous Moroccan government source confirmed to AFP that senior officials from the two countries have already held discussions about the crisis.

    The sudden influx has already caused significant diplomatic fallout across Europe and beyond. Italy triggered a formal rebuke from Spain Thursday after calling for Madrid to be suspended from the Schengen Area, Europe’s passport-free open border zone. Spanish officials accused Rome of exploiting the humanitarian crisis for domestic political gain, and summoned the Italian ambassador to Madrid to protest the statement. Finland publicly backed Italy’s call on Friday, while French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced Thursday night that he had ordered immediate tightening of border checks between France and Spain in response to the crisis. Even in the United States, two senior advisors to former President Donald Trump seized on footage of the Ceuta arrivals to reiterate their hardline anti-immigration policy positions.

    In response to the crisis, the Spanish government has deployed additional military personnel, police officers, specialized divers, surveillance drones and patrol boats to Ceuta to reinforce border security and manage the influx of arrivals. Many new arrivals have expressed optimism about their decision to leave Morocco, with crowds of migrants walking through Ceuta’s streets Thursday shouting “Bye bye Morocco, hello Spain” and thanking Spanish police for their willingness to allow entry.

  • Aussie drivers brace for petrol price hike as fuel excise cut ends Sunday

    Aussie drivers brace for petrol price hike as fuel excise cut ends Sunday

    Australian motorists bracing for sudden steep increases at the petrol pump have been reassured that the end of the temporary 16 cents per litre fuel excise cut will not push up prices overnight. The six-month cost-of-living relief measure is set to officially expire at midnight Sunday, but Energy Minister Chris Bowen says consumers will not feel the full impact for around a week as existing fuel stock already held at service stations was purchased at the lower excise rate.

    The fuel excise cut was first introduced in April as an emergency response to global oil price volatility sparked by the outbreak of conflict between the United States and Iran, which disrupted global supply chains and forced intermittent closures of the Strait of Hormuz – a critical chokepoint for global oil transportation. When first launched, the cut reduced excise payments by 32 cents per litre, bringing the total tax per litre down from 52.6 cents to 20.6 cents. The discount was tapered to 16 cents per litre in July as part of the planned phase-out of the policy.

    Bowen explained that just as the initial excise cut took time to flow through to lower retail prices for consumers, the reversal of the cut will also take time to work through the supply chain. “The excise has already been paid on the fuel stored underground at service stations, and replenishment cycles vary across different operators,” Bowen told reporters on Saturday. “Just as we saw when the cut came into effect, the same gradual adjustment will happen on the way back up.”

    To protect consumers from unfair pricing practices as the excise returns to its original level, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been granted enhanced monitoring powers to crack down on price gouging. Bowen warned that any retailer found engaging in illegal pricing practices will face substantial penalties, noting that the watchdog is already actively monitoring market trends across the country. “The ACCC is on the beat, they have the powers to act, and they will take action against any operators that break the rules,” he said.

    In addition to the end of the passenger vehicle fuel excise cut, the heavy vehicle road user charge will also return to its standard rate of 32.4 cents per litre from Monday. The charge for liquid fuels such as diesel had been cut to 16.4 cents per litre for the duration of the relief program.

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly emphasized that the excise cut was always intended to be a temporary emergency measure, not a permanent policy change. The government extended the cut at half its original value after the initial six-month period to smooth the transition for consumers, aligning with the original plan to phase out the relief gradually.

    “It was never the government’s intention for this relief to be permanent,” Chalmers said. “We extended it at half the rate because we always planned to taper it off gradually to avoid sudden shock to household budgets.”

    When the conflict first erupted in late February, global oil prices spiked dramatically, pushing Australia’s fuel price index up 32.8% between February and March – from 94.35 to 125.29. The Reserve Bank of Australia identified rising fuel costs as a key driver of national headline inflation, estimating that the full excise cut would reduce overall inflation by 0.5 percentage points. The sharp price rise at the start of the year also pushed down consumer fuel consumption, which fell 7% in April and 10% in May compared to the previous year, as many Australian households cut back on driving to manage costs.

    As of 26 July, the average national retail price of petrol sits at 182.3 cents per litre. Industry analysts expect this average will rise gradually over the coming week as the excise change flows through the supply chain, with the full 16 cent per litre increase hitting consumers by the end of next week for most regions.

  • About 49,000 migrants enter Spanish territory of Ceuta, officials say

    About 49,000 migrants enter Spanish territory of Ceuta, officials say

    In an unprecedented migration event that has sent shockwaves across Europe, an estimated 49,000 migrants have crossed from Morocco into Spain’s North African exclave Ceuta over a 24-hour period, overwhelming local border authorities and triggering a major diplomatic and security emergency.

    Visual evidence from the scene shows thousands of people swimming across the coastal border into Ceuta on Thursday, with local reports confirming unauthorized crossings continued through the night. The crisis has already claimed lives: Spanish officials confirm at least 18 migrants have died attempting to reach the territory in recent days, a stark reminder of the deadly risks many take in search of entry to the European Union.

    The massive influx follows a landmark ruling from Spain’s Supreme Court earlier this month, which barred authorities from immediately summarily returning intercepted migrants to Morocco from Ceuta and its sister Spanish exclave Melilla. Located on Morocco’s northern coast and separated from mainland Spain by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta has long been a primary gateway for migrants seeking to reach Europe, as it forms one of the EU’s only two land borders with the African continent. Both Ceuta and Melilla are claimed by Morocco, but Spain maintains the two territories are integral, semi-autonomous parts of Spanish territory, making their status a persistent flashpoint in Morocco-Spain diplomatic relations.

    Local authorities had already warned of rising crossing attempts and appealed to the national government in Madrid for additional support, but border controls completely collapsed on Thursday, leading to widespread chaotic scenes across the enclave. Official estimates show the number of new arrivals equals more than half of Ceuta’s total current population of roughly 83,600, putting unprecedented strain on local housing, food, and public services. Of the 49,000 new arrivals, officials estimate at least 7,000 are children and minors, with the majority of migrants being young men alongside a significant number of women and even infants.

    Unlike most crossing attempts that require migrants to swim several kilometers from distant coastal points, this surge allowed most migrants to approach within close range of Ceuta’s border fence with minimal interference. Many walked along coastal rock jetties before swimming short distances to Ceuta’s beaches, raising urgent questions about the absence of Moroccan border patrols and why the large groups were not dispersed or stopped before reaching the border.

    The sudden large-scale crossing came after several days of gradual increases in arrivals, with word of successful crossings spreading rapidly through migrant communities. The last major surge of migration into Ceuta occurred in 2021, when Moroccan authorities allowed roughly 8,000 migrants to cross amid a diplomatic dispute with Madrid over Western Sahara sovereignty. That dispute has reignited in recent weeks after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled to Algeria, which supports Western Sahara’s independence movement.

    In response to the crisis, Spain has deployed armed forces to reinforce security in both Ceuta and Melilla, where an additional 300 to 400 unauthorized crossings were reported overnight. Sánchez is scheduled to visit Ceuta on Friday to assess the situation, and the Spanish interior ministry says it is coordinating with Moroccan authorities to facilitate the return of all people who entered the territory illegally as quickly as possible.

    Local media reports that clashes between migrants and Spanish police continued through the night Friday as crossings persisted, with one senior Spanish official describing the border as being in total collapse. The crisis has already sparked a diplomatic row between Spain and Italy, after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called images from Ceuta “shocking” and labeled uncontrolled migration a critical security threat to the entire European Union. Meloni also announced Italy would consider suspending its Schengen Zone free movement agreement with Spain, a move that analysts note has little practical impact, as Ceuta is separated from mainland Spain and new arrivals are confined to the exclave, not the Spanish mainland.

    Meloni’s comments were echoed by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, prompting a sharp rebuke from Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who accused Italian officials of weaponizing the migration crisis for domestic political gain. Albares called the comments “improper” coming from a friendly European partner, saying Spain expected European solidarity rather than partisan political demagoguery. On Friday, Albares summoned the Italian ambassador to Madrid to protest the remarks. The Schengen Zone, which includes both Spain and Italy, is a 29-nation bloc that has abolished all internal border checks for free movement across member states.