International
Facebook owner Meta to lay off 11,000 staff

| By AFP | Juliette Michel with Joseph Boyle in Paris |
Facebook owner Meta will lay off more than 11,000 of its staff in “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” boss Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday.
He said the cuts represented 13 percent of the social media titan’s workforce and would affect its research lab focusing on the metaverse as well as its apps, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The tech industry is in a serious slump and several major firms have announced mass layoffs — Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk fired half its staff last week.
“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” Zuckerberg said in a note to staff.
“I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.”
Ad-supported platforms such as Facebook and Google are suffering with advertisers looking to cut costs as they struggle with inflation and rising interest rates.
Zuckerberg told his 87,000-strong staff he had expected the boost in e-commerce and online activity during the Covid pandemic to continue, but added: “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”
The measures were also a message to Wall Street, where the company’s poor performance has sent the Meta share price plummeting by 70 percent since the start of the year.
The move on Wednesday was welcomed by investors with Meta shares showing major gains for the day of nearly six percent just ahead of the closing bell in New York.
The downturn has affected companies across the sector, with Apple and Amazon also recently announcing results that disappointed investors.
But Meta also faces some unique problems of its own.
The California-based company is being squeezed by Zuckerberg’s decision to devote billions of dollars to developing the metaverse, an immersive version of the web accessed via virtual reality headsets.
Zuckerberg renamed the company Meta a year ago to reflect the commitment to the project, but the division working on metaverse technology has since made losses of more than $3.5 billion.
Facebook is also struggling to fend off Chinese-owned TikTok, the now dominant social media for younger users to the detriment of Meta’s Instagram.
‘Last resort’
Mike Proulx, a research director at Forrester, said “Meta is amidst an identity crises” and that severe cost-cutting was “inevitable.”
“The company has one foot in a risky long-term metaverse bet and another foot failing to compete with TikTok,” he added.
Zuckerberg has hinted several times this year that belt-tightening measures were just around the corner and said in his letter on Wednesday that staff layoffs were a “last resort.”
Meta would also keep a hiring freeze going into next year, he said, and other spending cuts were envisaged.
“Fundamentally, we’re making all these changes for two reasons: our revenue outlook is lower than we expected at the beginning of this year, and we want to make sure we’re operating efficiently,” Zuckerberg wrote.
In the US, terminated Meta employees will receive four months severance pay and two additional weeks of pay for each year of service.
Last month, Meta announced profits of $4.4 billion in the third quarter, a 52 percent decrease year-on-year.
The slump in profits comes despite its platforms dominating the world in terms of users — Facebook alone claims to have around two billion people who log on daily.
Central America
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Return of Deported Salvadoran

The Trump administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court order requiring the return of a Salvadoran migrant who was mistakenly sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, despite having legal protection from deportation.
The U.S. government has until Monday to bring Kilmer Armado Ábrego García back to the United States, as ordered by Judge Paula Xinis in a Maryland court.
According to The Washington Post, the administration argues it lacks authority to comply because Ábrego García is currently in Salvadoran custody.
The U.S. had appealed Judge Xinis’ ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, but the court declined to act immediately—prompting the administration to take the case to the Supreme Court. In its filing, the government stated that “the Constitution entrusts the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and the protection of the nation from foreign terrorists, including through deportation.”
Ábrego García, a resident of Prince George’s County, Maryland, and married to a U.S. citizen, came under scrutiny in 2019 after an informant claimed he was a member of the MS-13 gang (Mara Salvatrucha).
Although he was initially slated for deportation, a judge later granted him a stay of removal after he requested asylum, according to the lawsuit.
Nevertheless, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him on March 12, claiming his status had changed, and sent him to a detention center in Texas.
International
Teachers in Southern Mexico Bring Education to Stranded Migrant Children

Teachers in southern Mexico have created a program to provide classes for migrant children stranded in the region, following a year-over-year increase of over 70% in irregular migration among minors—many of whom lose months or even years of education during their journey toward North America.
In Tapachula, the largest Mexican city bordering Central America, three teachers offer preschool, elementary, and secondary education through the Chiapas State Migrant Education Program (Pemch).
This initiative has been replicated in key municipalities across Chiapas, including San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Palenque, Comitán, and other border towns. Currently, there are around 1,345 migrant students and a total of 35 teachers working across farms and shelters.
Pablo Arriaga Velázquez, a teacher with the migrant education program in Tapachula, told EFE that the project was born in response to the large number of migrant minors, as enrolling them in regular schools is often difficult.
Central America
Mulino and Orsi Highlight Shared Vision After Panama Joins Mercosur as Associate State

The Presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, and Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, highlighted on Monday the path of integration both countries have undertaken in areas such as trade and the defense of democracy, following a meeting held at the Panamanian government headquarters.
In a brief statement to the press, both leaders emphasized that Panama and Uruguay share many values and are working together across different sectors. They also underlined a renewed connection following Panama’s accession last December to the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) as an Associated State.
“Panama has begun a new era of looking southward, seeking opportunities not only for work, business, and friendship, but also for regional integration in a positive sense. Today, I believe we have taken a decisive step in that direction,” said President Mulino.
The Panamanian leader stressed that his country and Uruguay “have much in common” and share “important values in terms of democracy, respect for institutions, and the rule of law—principles that must always be strengthened, no matter how much effort it takes.”
-
Internacionales2 days ago
Erik Prince Backs Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa in Fight Against Crime and “Narcoterrorism”
-
Central America3 days ago
Panama’s former president Martinelli claims political enemies tried to kill him
-
Central America2 days ago
Guatemala’s Legal Chief Shot Dead in Parking Lot: Investigation Underway
-
International3 days ago
Javier Milei vows to work ‘side by side’ with the U.S. on trade rules
-
Central America11 hours ago
Honduras Hosts CELAC Summit Amid Regional Concern Over U.S. Deportations
-
International11 hours ago
Teachers in Southern Mexico Bring Education to Stranded Migrant Children
-
Central America11 hours ago
Mulino and Orsi Highlight Shared Vision After Panama Joins Mercosur as Associate State
-
Central America11 hours ago
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Return of Deported Salvadoran