Young migrants have been filming themselves cheering at their arrival in the Spanish territory of Ceuta, luring thousands of other youths to join them.

Some videos have racked up millions of views and thousands of comments in what has become a first-of-its-kind social media trend with dire consequences.

More than 60,000 people illegally crossed the Spanish border from Morocco last week – the single largest crossing of its kind in the European Union‘s history.

Many of them said they had seen viral videos of the migrants entering Spain‘s North African enclave and decided to join them en masse in hopes of a better life.

Around 100 people are believed to have died while making their journey – including several children and two women – with some swimming for 10 hours before they could make it to shore.

One video of teenage Moroccans and young men shows them cheering in the streets after conquering the treacherous crossing.

The clip has amassed more than 217,000 views and nearly 6,000 likes, with commenters egging them on, saying: ‘Hamdulilah, may Allah grant you guys everything you dream of.’

A young boy is seen kneeling in the middle of the street with his wetsuit peeled half off and punching the air in triumph as more young men stride towards him down the road.

They then join him in celebration and start cheering with the cameraman, who turns the phone to record himself, revealing he is a young boy too.

Other young men join the celebrations in the video which has amassed more than 200,000 views

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More than 60,000 people illegally crossed the Spanish border from Morocco last week

He is surrounded by two other youths who appear to have just come out of the sea and are still dripping wet.

One video of a boy energetically swimming in the sea to Arabic music has received more than 1.4 million views.

A commenter said: ‘May Allah protect my people from every obstacle and every storm.’

The creator of this video, known only as Ghoufrane on TikTok, is something of a migration influencer, with four videos on his account all promoting travelling to Ceuta and each receiving tens of thousands of views and likes.

Migrants have shown reporters at the scene social media videos with people shouting ‘Spain is open’ before jumping into the sea.

Many of the videos were posted to accounts which had only been created in recent weeks, with clips of young people in wetsuits and fins, or, like Ghoufrane, filming themselves already swimming.

Questions have been raised on whether these videos simply happened to go viral by chance, or it was something more deliberate, or even organised. 

The response from the Spanish government has been highly criticised domestically and internationally as locals shut up their shops over fears of looting and migrants heaped up on streets to bed down for the night.

Left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been slated for sharing his summer playlist along with a relaxed selfie at the start of his holidays, as Ceuta picks up the pieces of its dramatic migrant crisis.

Locals jeered at Mr Sanchez and called him a ‘Son of a b****’ when he visited the city on Friday.

He blamed the crisis on human smuggling mafias taking advantage of a recent Spanish Supreme Court decision banning summary returns of migrants intercepted in open water attempting to swim into Ceuta or its other North African enclave of Melilla, 240 miles east by road.

Spanish authorities have today put in place a floating containment barrier to stop any further illegal crossings into Ceuta via the sea.

However, the King of Spain Felipe VI unleashed his criticism on the government yesterday afternoon.

He expressed his ‘great concern and indignation’ over the ‘serious’ events and said that Spain needed to show ‘in a united, clear and decisive way to the populations of Ceuta and Melilla the support and affection of the rest of Spain’

He added: ‘The State must ensure their safety and to prevent these events – which, in addition, have resulted in a sad and tragic loss of dozens of lives – from being repeated.’

Other videos of young men swimming to shore in Ceuta have garnered millions of views, luring in more youths

Some migrants said they had to swim for more than 10 hours to get to shore in Ceuta

Migrants had no access to any facilities so were forced to shower on the beach after crossing

Spanish authorities have today put in place a floating containment barrier to stop any further illegal crossings into Ceuta via the sea

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Swimming was one of the most popular ways that migrants entered the Spanish enclave, however some managed to barge through border gates

Other European nations also weighed in with great alarm as Italy temporarily cut off its Schengen agreement with Spain over the crisis, halting freedom of movement between the countries.

The interior ministers of the EU are to meet urgently on Tuesday to discuss what to do about the huge influx of migrants.

A letter from EU heads of state signed by 22 member countries accuses Madrid of sending unwelcome signals with its recent decisions on migration, including the Supreme Court decision.

The letter also criticised Spanish policy from April, which initiated the legalisation of around 500,000 irregular migrants as a measure to combat the labour shortage.

In the face of this criticism however, Mr Sanchez accused his fellow EU members of a ‘selfish, polarising and unlawful reaction’.

The Spanish PM – whose government is mired by ongoing corruption scandals involving former aides and his family – is now holidaying at a Spanish royal family residence in Lanzarote after flying to the island on an army jet.

And the insults he faced when he travelled to Ceuta on Friday before thousands of migrants made the return journey to Morocco after going hungry and finding shops shut and a temporary refugee holding centre overwhelmed, were continuing today following his playlist blunder.

Sanchez relaxed in an armchair as he told his two million Instagram followers: ‘This summer I have prepared you a list with some of the songs I’m listening to most this year.

‘It’s quite eclectic and I’m going to highlight three that will give you an idea of where I’m heading.’

He went on to flag a song called ‘El Baifo’ by Quevedo, a singer and rapper brought up in the Canary Islands, SS26 by British singer and songwriter Charli XCX, and a third by Spanish artist Melanie Garcia called Tantas Cosas which in English translates as ‘So Many Things.’

He finished his selfie video, which also featured songs by Stereolab and WILLOW by saying: ‘I hope you like it and you can listen to it during your holidays. Happy Summer.’

Around 100 people are believed to have died while making their journey – including several children and two women

Thousands of these young migrants have been forced to return to their Moroccan homeland after going hungry and finding shut shops and an overwhelmed refugee holding centre

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has come under heavy fire at home and abroad for his reaction to the crisis, posting a holiday music playlist to his social media

Javier Sanz, a Spanish musician and investor better known online as JaviZone, responded by saying: ‘With everything you’re dealing with, does no-one think these scheduled reels only make people even more upset?’

Another critic said: ‘I would feel embarrassed talking about playlists when they are invading our country.’

A third blasted: ‘They’re invading our country and you’re listening to Quevedo.’

Eduardo Inda, a well-known Spanish journalist and the founder and current director of digital newspaper OKdiario, branded Sanchez a ‘psychopath’ and said he was ‘insulting the intelligence’ of his citizens with his playlist publication.

He said, referencing La Mareta where Sanchez and his family are currently staying: ‘What does a normal Prime Minister do if they invade your country?

‘The first thing would be to deploy the army to drive out the invader; second, convene Parliament to unite forces; and third declare a state of siege.

‘Pedro Sanchez has not implemented any of these measures, beyond deploying just over 100 Army personnel which is an insult to intelligence.’

He added: ‘What he has done instead is go on holiday to La Mareta, go diving and live like a king, because after all La Mareta is a Royal Residence.

‘What’s more he’s now showed off a music playlist, insulting the intelligence and laughing at all us Spaniards and the extremely serious situation Ceuta is experiencing.

‘All of this proves that we are governed by a genuine psychopath who is getting worse every day and needs psychiatric treatment.’

Today Santiago Abascal, the leader of hard-right opposition Vox, is due to visit Ceuta. He is one of Pedro Sanchez’s most vocal critics.

Mr Sanchez has condemned what he described as an ‘attack’ on Spain’s ‘territorial integrity’.

CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Ceuta over the weekend no longer looked like a city on edge, but the events of the week were still on everyone’s minds.

Most of the 60,000 migrants who swam, scrambled and later charged into the tiny Spanish exclave in North Africa this week had walked back to Morocco by Sunday, while others tried to blend in and stay on. Spanish civil guard ships continued searching for migrant bodies in the waters near the stretch of urban beach that tens of thousand of migrants had breached days earlier.

Shops in Ceuta reopened, and the usual blend of residents and tourists in the city of 84,000 were filling the open-air terraces, restaurants and cafes.

But the city that prides itself on being home to four cultures was still grappling with the aftermath of the border surge, with locals disagreeing on what caused it and who exactly is to blame.

Border surge breathes new life into Europe’s immigration debate

At least 72 migrants died, including some who drowned and others who were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, Spanish authorities said Sunday. The humanitarian crisis caused by the sudden rush of people has reignited a debate around immigration in Europe and beyond.

“It’s not the young men’s fault,” said Mohamad Abdelkader Driss, 44, a waiter at a fried fish restaurant in town. “If you open the border, of course everyone comes in, but the young men aren’t to blame. The authorities are responsible.”

Some migrants who returned to Morocco described a border that was effectively open and said authorities did little as they watched thousands of people cross.

The unauthorized arrivals on Thursday and Friday of 50,000 to 60,000, mostly young men, swelled Ceuta’s population by more than half. Abdelkader lamented what happened, but said that those who breached the border behaved relatively well.

“It could have been much worse,” he said.

Far-right politicians call for remaining migrants to be expelled

Over the weekend, far-right, anti-immigrant Spanish politicians and well-known right-wing influencers descended on the city, sparking counterprotests that included members of the Spanish city’s large Muslim population, many of whom are of Moroccan descent.

Alvise Pérez, a far-right Spanish politician and member of the European Parliament, called on Saturday evening for migrants to be expelled as he faced an angry crowd of rival protesters. Pérez eventually had to shelter in a bar as residents banged on the windows, until police escorted him away.

Among the counterprotesters on Saturday was 20-year-old Ceuta resident and student Noor Ahmed. She denounced the protest and presence of figures like Pérez in her city as opportunistic.

“They just want to take advantage of the humanitarian crisis Ceuta is currently experiencing,” Ahmed said.

Migration has been one of Pope Leo’s priorities, which he underlined during a recent visit to the Canary Islands in Spain, one of Europe’s main migrant entry ports.

The character Black Phillip, who docks a white face mask, black bowler hat and dark suit, will hold the “night(mare) market” at York Castle Museum from 7pm to 11pm on Saturday, October 24.

It follows the success of Phillip’s previous markets in York, most recently held at the Impossible bar in St Helen’s Square in April.

A unique ranger of traders will be at the York Castle Museum market selling gothic themed produce, which have previously ranged from witchcraft items and taxidermy to décor and drawings.

Phillip said: “I am hosting another fabulous (or terrible, depending on how you look at it) alternative market, in the Kirkgate street, inside the York Castle Museum.

“It was a hoot last year, with 37 people officially recorded as being scared, so this year I want to scare 38. It’s on the 24th of October, between 7pm and 11pm and you MUST have a ticket to get in.”

Tickets for the market are £5 and available from Eventbrite.

A “significant” sinkhole risk beneath the car park of a Rhymney business has sparked fears for the future of two local employers.

The failing culvert carrying the “entirety” of the River Rhymney could cost up to £4 million to repair, leaving the landowner – a local business – facing a bill it says it cannot afford.

Another business has stopped using its car park over fears the ground above the culvert could collapse.

The issue has left the two neighbouring employers caught in the middle of a dispute over the hidden piece of infrastructure beneath their sites.

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The crash happened on Holden Road in Leigh at around 5pm on Friday, July 31.

Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) is now appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward.

An officer from the SCIU said: “As part of this investigation, we are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

“This includes anyone who witnessed the incident or has CCTV, dashcam, doorbell or mobile phone footage from the area.”

The Sur-Ron rider was taken to hospital for treatment to injuries that are described as life-threatening.

Police are urging anyone who may have seen the incident or captured it on camera to get in touch as soon as possible.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0161 856 4741 or via the live chat service at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 2622 of 31/07/26.

Alternatively, information can be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

NEW YORK (AP) — Ken Martin is in survival mode.

Desperate to save his job as chair of the Democratic National Committee, he is avoiding media appearances, monitoring his critics’ social media posts and refusing — at least so far — to make any substantive changes at his troubled organization.

A half dozen state leaders and other committee members, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, described Martin as defensive and extremely distrustful of others, even some people on his own team, as calls for his resignation grow louder among Democratic operatives who lament his leadership decisions, lackluster fundraising and even his tendency to lash out in anger.

But there is no sign that the organization’s membership plans to replace Martin before the midterm elections in November, even as some wonder how much longer he can hold on. The drama threatens to undermine the party’s momentum in the battle to retake control of Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.

“I sense no movement from the DNC to make a change, and so that decision’s up to Ken. And he’s told me he’s in it, so I trust him on making that decision,” said Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib, a DNC member and strong Martin supporter. “What we’re seeing right now is a whole group of folks who live on Twitter and consultants fighting harder against Ken Martin than they’ve ever fought against Donald Trump.”

Martin did not grant an interview request. In a recent Substack post, Martin defended himself this way: “If the question is whether the Democratic Party will be ready to win — everywhere, at every level, in this election and for the decade ahead — the answer is a resounding yes.”

Martin’s critics are everywhere all at once and some want him out

As one of its most important responsibilities, the DNC is tasked with building out the party’s national infrastructure, including fundraising, to support the Democrats’ next presidential nominee. Yet few members of the next class of White House prospects are willing to speak out on Martin’s behalf.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who has traveled to key states in recent weeks before a potential presidential bid, praised the DNC for embracing a new primary calendar that promotes more diverse states such as South Carolina and Nevada.

But Moore declined three separate times to answer directly when asked whether he has confidence in Martin heading into 2028.

“My confidence is in the people,” Moore told The Associated Press. “My confidence is in making sure that we have a system in place that actually allows the people’s voices to be heard.”

He said he is not looking for “wins on behalf of a political structure or party bosses.”

Others have been explicitly critical of Martin.

Shannon Watts, the former leader of Moms Demand Action and a member of the DNC’s finance committee in 2024, criticized Martin’s lack of communication with donors and key stakeholders. She said she was ready and willing to help Martin after he took over last year, but he never called.

She did, however, get a call from a DNC staffer urging her to delete a social media post that was critical of Martin. Such calls have become common occurrences in recent months.

“Ken needs to step aside. I think Ken knows he needs to step aside,” Watts said. “There’s a reason he’s worried he’s going to be fired and it’s because he’s not up to the job.”

Even those close to Martin, including senior members of the DNC leadership, privately complain that Martin is not doing more to maintain ties with committee members, donors and prominent outside officials. He was known for building strong relationships in his previous post as leader of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, which is largely why he was elected national chair.

His allies are baffled as to why he has not done the same in his new job. There are also lingering frustrations over how Martin handled the follow-up report on the 2024 election. He promised to release the document, then withheld it, then eventually made it public while saying it was too flawed to be helpful.

Dems look to a possible change but there’s no clear alternative right now

Few expect Martin to be replaced before the fall elections, largely because no clear alternative has emerged as the midterms loom. But members are looking toward the DNC’s winter meeting after the November contests — and before the 2028 presidential primary process begins in earnest — as the most likely time to make a leadership change.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has fielded calls to discuss a candidacy to replace Martin, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions. O’Malley, who did not respond to a request for comment, finished a distant third in the DNC chair election last winter.

The growing chorus of criticism has shaken the confidence of Martin’s loyalists.

They were especially concerned about an essay this week by Rufus Gifford, the finance chairman for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, who warned that the DNC under Martin’s leadership was “spiraling toward irrelevance.”

“At this point, I think there is no saving Martin’s chairmanship. He is a good man with good intentions but simply not meeting this critical moment,” Gifford wrote on Substack. “As Democrats, the only solution is to acknowledge the problem and fix it. Now.”

One Martin ally likened the fallout from Gifford’s statement to the day after Biden’s disastrous debate performance that effectively forced him to abandon his reelection campaign.

Martin has stayed on the road but remained quiet

Martin got a lifeline this week from New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, who said while campaigning in Pennsylvania that Martin “has my full support.”

Jeffries noted that Democrats have won the overwhelming majority of elections since Martin took over the DNC, which also coincides with Trump’s return to the White House. Jeffries also played down the party’s financial challenges.

Federal filings show that the DNC reported about $16.3 million in the bank with more than $18 million in debt at the end of June, compared with the Republican National Committee reporting more than $128 million in cash and no debt.

The DNC under Martin used the party’s Washington headquarters as collateral to secure a $15 million line of credit last fall. His critics seized on the decision as an example of financial mismanagement, although the building was used as collateral under former party chairs as well.

DNC officials note that the committee has actually raised more money under Martin than it raised in 2018, the last time the party did not have the White House in a midterm year.

“The current DNC has raised the most money of any DNC without the White House in the 198-year history of the Democratic Party,” Martin wrote recently on Substack.

While Martin has avoided national media appearances, which are considered a major responsibility for the chair, he has been traveling almost constantly to support party officials and key stakeholders across the country.

He visited six states over the past two weeks alone. This past week, for example, he met with civil rights leaders in Nashville, Tennessee, and mayors from across the country in Atlanta.

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass said Martin should be praised for his commitment to strengthening state parties at a critical moment. Indeed, instead of hoarding the DNC’s cash, Martin is distributing it aggressively to needy state parties, just as he promised while campaigning for the chairmanship.

“This is a ridiculous conversation to be having right now,” Repass said. “If people don’t like Ken, they can have a conversation with him in two years. But right now, we all need to be behind the chair and keep our heads down and do our jobs.”

___

Associated Press writers Steven Sloan in Oklahoma City, Mike Catalini in Bethlehem, Pa., and Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

Liverpool want Bradley Barcola to replace Mohamed Salah, and a first bid is imminent, while Spurs could help them out by taking Cody Gakpo off their hands. Roberto De Zerbi also wants Savinho, while Cristian Romero’s future is set to be involved with an exit. Follow the latest transfer news, rumours and gossip live below!

The village that shaped Ginger Johnson

Lanchester is the childhood home of Ginger Johnson, the stage name of Donald Marshall, who won the fifth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2023 before going on to triumph in the 20th series of Celebrity MasterChef.

Marshall grew up in the village, attending a Catholic secondary school before studying scriptwriting at Newcastle University, where they came out as gay and began performing in drag.

Ginger’s journey into performance began in an unusual way, writing a radio play about the women of the North East they had grown up alongside in Lanchester.

When no actresses were available, they did the voiceover themself.

Ginger has described their drag persona as “a helium balloon in the shape of a woman,” and continues to reference their Lanchester roots as part of their identity as a performer.

A village built on Roman foundations

Long before Ginger’s fame, Lanchester’s history stretched back to the 2nd century AD, when the Romans built a fort here called Longovicium, a name derived from Brittonic and Old English elements roughly translating to ‘long fort’.

The fort covered almost six acres and housed around 1,000 foot soldiers and cavalry, sitting on Dere Street, the Roman road running north from York towards Hadrian’s Wall.

Stone from the fort was later repurposed to build All Saints’ Church, which still contains a Roman altar in its porch, one of several found in or around the old fort site.

The Romans even built a six-kilometre aqueduct to supply the fort, fed by a reservoir created using one of the oldest dams of its kind in the world.

Lanchester, County Durham. (Image: GOOGLE)

From mining village to visitor destination

Like much of County Durham, Lanchester’s more recent history was shaped by coal, with a small drift mine operating on the edge of the village until its closure in the 1970s.

Since then, the village has reinvented itself as a popular spot for walkers and day-trippers, with scenic routes through Dora’s Wood and Waters’ Meet, and a growing cluster of independent pubs, cafés, and shops including the King’s Head and Grandpa’s Fish Bar.

Other notable names from Lanchester

Ginger Johnson is far from the only notable figure to come from Lanchester.

The village was also home to archaeologist Canon William Greenwell, who invented the famous ‘Greenwell’s Glory’ fly-fishing fly, as well as his relative, poet Dorothy ‘Dora’ Greenwell.

Political journalist Anne McElvoy also went to school in the village.