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Spain on Saturday started border checks on travellers arriving from Italy, responding to similar measures Rome imposed following an unprecedented migrant rush into the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta.

“I don’t see a lot of the word ‘diplomacy’ used in these decisions, not by the Italian government, nor by the Spanish government,” said one 36-year-old Italian tourist, Maria Celeste Grillo, who had just flown into Madrid.

She said she had not seen any added checks as she stepped off the plane, but found their implementation “sad”.

Spain announced Friday it would proceed with the heightened controls, citing “persistent irregular migration pressure” facing Italy — deepening a row between the EU partners and NATO allies.

Spain’s left-wing government has complained that Italy’s hard-right government on July 31 unfairly imposed one month of border checks on travellers from Spain — suspending the EU’s Schengen Area visa-free travel arrangements — because of the Ceuta influx.

More than 70,000 migrants had crossed from Morocco into the Ceuta enclave on July 30 and 31, though almost all of them subsequently returned to Morocco within 48 hours.

The inflow alarmed European nations, especially right-wing ones urging tougher rules on irregular migrants. However, rules for Ceuta mean migrants cannot travel onward to continental Europe without passing another layer of border checks.

Spain’s interior ministry said the new checks on incoming travellers from Italy would apply until September 7.

AFP

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An appeals court on Friday upheld an order halting work on Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom, enraging the US leader and setting up another Supreme Court battle over the limits of presidential authority.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which had allowed construction to continue while it considered the case, agreed with a lower court that such a massive White House overhaul required the explicit consent of Congress.

It stayed its own decision for two weeks to give Trump time to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The Republican president lashed out after the 2-1 ruling, calling it “horrendous, politically motivated, and unlawful”.

The two majority judges were appointed by Democratic presidents, while the dissenting judge was nominated by Trump himself.

The President vowed in a lengthy social media post to immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.

“This decision, made after much of the work has been done and paid for, is a National Security Threat at the highest level. It is also a National Disgrace,” Trump said in another post on his Truth Social platform on Friday night.

Trump initially touted the construction of the ballroom as necessary to host galas but has since repeatedly pointed to the concurrent addition of an underground military bunker and other security features.

Under the district judge’s initial order, work was to be allowed to continue only on a limited set of structures, including those that were underground.

“This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable or not as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom,” the majority wrote on Friday.

“What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorisation, as the Constitution and laws require.”

Trump, who has repeatedly complained that the White House lacks sufficient space for grand galas such as state dinners, unilaterally ordered construction of the massive ballroom.

Work on the project began last year with the sudden demolition of the White House’s entire historic East Wing.

Since then, photographs have shown significant work on a basement complex, with some concrete walls rising above ground level.

Trump has insisted that the ballroom will be privately financed, but media reports in June showed that significant taxpayer funds were going towards the project, which could cost as much as $600 million.

While the White House initially cited a $200 million price tag for the project, it quickly doubled the estimate to $400 million.

The ballroom is just one of Trump’s pet projects aimed at leaving his mark on Washington by the time he leaves office in 2029, along with a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and other parks, as well as the construction of a gigantic arch.

Several of the projects have similarly faced legal challenges, but the ballroom project would be the first to reach the Supreme Court.

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Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden told the BBC on Friday that his father’s cancer is spreading, describing it as “very debilitating” and “painful.”

“It’s really hard,” Hunter Biden told the British broadcaster about his father’s condition in a televised interview. “It’s really sad to watch.”

“I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good. The cancer has spread; it has metastasized into his bones and further.

It’s very painful, and it’s very debilitating in many respects, but he’s still out there, and he’s still doing his thing,” he added.

His remarks come after former first lady Jill Biden told NBC News in June that Joe Biden would live with cancer forever.

“He’s doing OK,” she told “TODAY” show co-host Craig Melvin. “I think if he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, that’s one thing because that can be cured, but the fact that it metastasized to his bones, that makes it a whole different story. And so I think Joe will live with cancer till the rest of his life.”

Recall that in May 2025, months after he left office, the former president’s personal office shared that he’d been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

In September 2025, the Biden family shared that Joe Biden had wrapped up a course of radiation therapy and hormone treatment, though it was unclear whether the former president would require more cancer care.

Last year, Joe Biden’s office also shared that he’d undergone surgery to remove cancerous skin cells.

Speaking to the BBC about his father’s cancer, Hunter Biden was emotional, telling the outlet: “He is our rock.

He has been there for each one of us in a way that is hard for me to even possibly articulate and explain.”

In the interview, Hunter Biden also spoke about the pardon he was granted by his father just before he left office, which applied to any crimes committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.

At the time, Hunter Biden was facing federal gun charges and had pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.

On Friday, Hunter Biden said the pardon was “not fair” but added: “All I know is that I’m grateful that he did it for me.”

“It’s something that is easily criticized, and for good reason,” he said, adding later: “I was the only one in the world that could have gotten what I got from the only person in the world who could give it, my father.”

AFP