About 95% of those being buried have not yet been identified, but each grave was marked with a numbered stone in case the body was claimed and repatriated eventually

International News via Reuters:

In front of a dozen reporters and a handful of local people, a crew of gravediggers in disposable protective overalls and facemasks on Friday started burying some of the scores of migrants who died in a mass crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa three weeks ago.

A Muslim cleric read a quick prayer as the workers lowered the first four victims wrapped in white body bags into cinderblock-lined graves side-by-side at Ceuta’s Muslim cemetery, while hearses were bringing more bodies.

The cemetery’s acting manager, Said Mohammed, said the plan was to bury around 70 bodies in the coming days, with 10 to 12 burials each day.

About 95% of those being buried have not yet been identified, but each grave was marked with a numbered stone in case the body was claimed and repatriated eventually, he said. 

Authorities say between 5,000 and 8,000 people remain in Ceuta after at least 72,000 people crossed from Morocco on July 30 in a rush that left 82 migrants dead on the Spanish side of the border, with 14 more deaths confirmed by Morocco.

The migrants were buried with Muslim rites, which require the body to be placed facing Mecca and covered with soil, Mohammed said.

Authorities have only been able to identify six migrants, all Moroccan adult males, according to the latest data provided by Ceuta’s court. Desperate Moroccan relatives of missing migrants have been pleading for information on social media and pressing officials at the border.

The migrants’ fingerprint data was run through Spanish and Moroccan databases and their DNA samples compared with relatives who came forward, said Guardia Civil Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Atoche, who heads the police’s crime division and led a team of nine officers sent to Ceuta.

He said a major reason for the low number of identifications has been the difficulty for Moroccan relatives to legally cross into Ceuta to leave DNA samples at an office set up by Spanish authorities near the border.

Reporting by Michael Gore and Joan Faus, editing by Andrei Khalip

NATO allies have sought to avoid direct involvement in the Iran conflict, instead focusing on plans outside the alliance to reopen the strait, which before February carried about a fifth of all traded oil

International News via Reuters:

NATO’s top commander convened a videoconference earlier this week to facilitate possible contributions to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, his spokesperson told Reuters, adding that this is not a NATO mission. 

“Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe hosted a meeting of interested Allies at the chief of defence level on Wednesday, 19 Aug 26, in order to facilitate their possible contributions to support freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” a spokesperson for the alliance’s top commander U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich said on Friday.

“To be clear, this is not a NATO mission. But given NATO’s unique strengths in its ability to bring together Allies and understand the capabilities they bring to bear, it makes sense for NATO to facilitate in this way,” the spokesperson added. 

NATO allies have sought to avoid direct involvement in the Iran conflict, instead focusing on plans outside the alliance to reopen the strait, which before February carried about a fifth of all traded oil.

France and Britain have led efforts to build a coalition among roughly a dozen countries to guarantee safe passage through the ​strait once tensions ease or the conflict ​is resolved, though any long-term arrangement ⁠would ultimately require Iranian acquiescence.

Reporting by Lili Bayer; Editing by David Gregorio

Rocha, 77, a member of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, said he was resuming his duties after Mexican authorities found no evidence to support the accusations against him

International News via Reuters:

The governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha, returned to office on Friday after taking leave for more than three months following U.S. drug trafficking charges alleging ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a move likely to deepen strains between Mexico and the United States.

Rocha, 77, a member of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, said he was resuming his duties after Mexican authorities found no evidence to support the accusations against him.

In a statement posted on X, Rocha denied wrongdoing and cast the U.S. case as a politically motivated attack on Mexico’s sovereignty and on the leftist movement led by President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mexico has so far declined to act on U.S. efforts to bring Rocha into custody, saying Washington has not provided sufficient evidence to justify domestic arrest warrants or extradition.

For U.S. officials, the April indictment marked a rare expansion of anti-cartel action beyond drug bosses to include a sitting senior Mexican politician.

U.S. prosecutors alleged Rocha and nine other current and former officials conspired with a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Los Chapitos, helping it traffic drugs into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes.

Rocha has repeatedly denied the allegations. He stepped aside temporarily in early May as Mexican authorities reviewed the case, and said on Friday he was returning with his “head held high.”

Reporting by Diego Ore and Kylie Madry; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon

The Brent benchmark has gained more than 6% while WTI has risen more than 5% this week, with both touching their highest since July 24 in the previous session

International News via Reuters:

International and U.S. crude futures rose on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened economic sanctions on Iran’s trading partners, raising expectations of tighter supply in the coming weeks.

International benchmark Brent crude futures <LCOc1> rose 8 cents, or 0.09%, to $93.86 a barrel by 10:40 a.m. CDT (1540 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude <CLc1> was up 16 cents, or 0.18%, at $86.99. 

The Brent benchmark has gained more than 6% while WTI has risen more than 5% this week, with both touching their highest since July 24 in the previous session.

“Sanctions have been the only thing to bring Iran to heel,” said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital.

Iran said on Friday that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.

“The immediate impact on supply may be limited as Iranian exports are already heavily constrained by the U.S. naval blockade,” said Crispus Nyaga, research analyst at Empire FX.

“However, an increase in shipping incidents and retaliation against economic sanctions could exacerbate the current situation at a time when traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below normal levels.”

Oil prices have climbed on concerns over the continued curtailment of supply from major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. 

The earlier peace deal between the U.S. and Iran expired this week with no effort by either side to restart talks.

  Offers of Iranian crude to Chinese buyers have declined and prices have jumped this week as the U.S. blockade cuts Iran’s shipments, trade sources said, with the threat of more sanctions from Washington looming.

SUPPLY DISRUPTION CONTINUES

Seven commodity ships sailed along the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, which was only half the previous day’s tally, data from ship-tracker Kpler showed.

Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February, the Strait of Hormuz handled about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. As the war approaches the six-month mark, disruptions to energy flows through the waterway remain in place.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s military hit a Russian oil refinery in the city of Perm overnight, more than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Ukrainian border, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday.

Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston, Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Enes Tunagur in London and Sudarshan Varadhan in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman and Sanjeev Miglani

The central bank was looking closely at the impact of AI on prices, saying it could have an effect in both directions, Tschudin told newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft

International News via Reuters:

Artificial intelligence can push inflation higher in the short term although the overall effect of the technology remains unclear, Swiss National Bank governing board member Petra Tschudin said in an interview published on Friday.

The central bank was looking closely at the impact of AI on prices, saying it could have an effect in both directions, Tschudin told newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft.

“Investment flows are being partly redirected, which can mean adjustments and difficulties for the rest of the economy,” Tschudin said. 

“Shortages can occur, for example with chips, causing prices to rise. In the short or medium term, therefore, upward inflationary pressure can also arise.”

In the longer term artificial intelligence could also lower prices by increasing productivity and making goods cheaper, she said.

But because inflation was calculated on an annual basis, to have a deflationary effect, this price decline would have to repeat itself regularly, she said.

“Is that realistic? Productivity gains as such are not a new phenomenon. They do not, by themselves, lead an economy into structural deflation,” Tschudin said.

On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund’s new chief economist Silvana Tenreyro also warned in research published by Bank of England staff that even if artificial intelligence boosts productivity, it may not lower inflation.

In its latest forecast the SNB does not see inflation above or below its target range for annual price rises of 0% to 2% in the period up to the first quarter of 2029.

Still, Tschudin said this should not be seen as a forecast the central bank will not change its policy interest rate, which currently stands at 0%.

Instead the forecast was based on how the central bank saw inflation if interest rates remained unchanged.

“If there is new relevant information about inflation, we adjust monetary policy,” Tschudin said.

“The conditional inflation forecast should not be understood to mean that interest rates will remain at their current level for three years. We do not publish interest rate forecasts.”

Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Kirsten Donovan