International

Musk ‘kills’ new Twitter label, hours after launch

Photo: Richard Drew / AP

| By AFP | Julie Jammot |

Twitter launched two new verification tools Wednesday but “killed” one of them hours later in a messy start to owner Elon Musk’s campaign to revamp the influential platform following his $44 billion buyout.

The social media platform unveiled its long-awaited Twitter Blue subscription service, which allows users to pay $7.99 per month for a coveted blue tick, as well as a separate gray “official” badge for some high-profile accounts.

But the new gray label was almost immediately scrapped, overshadowing the launch of Twitter Blue, which is currently only available on the mobile app on iPhones and in the United States.

“I just killed it,” Musk tweeted hours after the new tag was added to government accounts, big companies and major media outlets.

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“Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t,” the world’s richest man added.

The U-turn invited further scrutiny of Musk’s plans for Twitter a week after he laid off thousands of workers and drew a massive drop in spending by advertisers, who are wary of the site’s direction.

The blue tick has been a mark of an account’s authenticity and doubts emerged that public figures or media outlets would pay for it. The official gray tag was seen by observers as a workaround to solve that problem.

The launch of the new official label began Wednesday and was on the accounts of companies such as Apple and BMW, as well as public ones such as the White House and major media outlets.

But only hours later, it was gone for many of them.

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Accounts that had received the “official” badge — including Agence France-Presse, BBC News, Pope Francis and Kanye West — saw the mention disappear.

‘A lot of work’

Esther Crawford, an executive who announced the gray tick on Tuesday, insisted that the official label was still going to be part of the relaunch, but that “we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with.”

“There are no sacred cows in product at Twitter anymore. Elon is willing to try lots of things — many will fail, some will succeed,” she tweeted Wednesday.

“The goal is to find the right mix of successful changes to ensure the long-term health and growth of the business.”

During a panel for advertisers broadcast on Twitter, Musk exercised some damage control, admitting that a lot of work lay ahead to get the site to the place he wished to reach.

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“We’ve got a lot to do on the software side. I can’t emphasize that enough,” he said.

Musk took control of Twitter after a drawn-out legal battle in which the mercurial tycoon tried to renege on a deal that many believe he overpaid for.

It emerged on Tuesday that Musk sold $4 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help pay for a transaction in which he took on billions of dollars in debt.

Twitter Blue is seen as one way to overcome the loss in advertisers since Musk took over.

Twitter last week fired half of its 7,500 employees, which Musk said was necessary as the company was losing $4 million a day.

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International

Bogotá and Quito Seek Dialogue After Tariffs and Power Cut Escalate Tensions

Bogotá and Quito will hold an emergency bilateral summit next week amid recent developments that have strained relations between the two countries.

Tensions escalated this week after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa unexpectedly announced a 30% tariff on Colombian imports. Colombia responded with a reciprocal measure, imposing the same tariff on around 20 Ecuadorian products and suspending electricity exports to Ecuador.

Aware that electricity imports are critical to easing Ecuador’s recent energy crises, Quito further imposed a 30% tariff on the transportation of Colombian oil through its territory.

However, recent statements from the Ecuadorian government suggest that dialogue between the two sides has intensified in recent hours. Ecuador’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabriela Sommerfeld, confirmed that active conversations are under way.

In Colombia, segments of the business sector have welcomed the prospect of negotiations. The National Business Council (Consejo Gremial Nacional, CGN), for instance, urged both governments to restore commercial relations, warning that the dispute “puts jobs and regional economic stability at risk.”

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International

Trump-Era Defense Plan Prioritizes Border Security and Scales Back Global Commitments

The U.S. military will prioritize the defense of the homeland and the deterrence of China, while providing more limited support to its allies and elevating Latin America as a key focus of its agenda, according to a Pentagon strategic document released on Friday.

The 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) represents a significant shift from previous Pentagon policies, both in its emphasis on allies assuming greater responsibility with reduced backing from Washington and in its more moderate tone toward traditional adversaries such as China and Russia.

“As U.S. forces focus on defending the homeland and the Indo-Pacific, allies and partners elsewhere will assume primary responsibility for their own defense, with crucial but more limited support from U.S. forces,” the document states.

The previous defense strategy, published during President Joe Biden’s administration, described China as Washington’s most consequential challenge and characterized Russia as an “acute threat.”

The new strategy, however, calls for maintaining “respectful relations” with Beijing and makes no reference to Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China and allied with the United States. It also describes the threat posed by Russia as “persistent but manageable,” particularly affecting NATO’s eastern members.

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While both the Biden-era strategy and the Trump administration’s approach emphasize the importance of defending U.S. territory, they differ significantly in their assessment of the challenges facing the country.

The Trump administration’s NDS sharply criticizes the previous government for neglecting border security, arguing that this failure led to an “influx of illegal immigrants” and widespread narcotics trafficking.

International

Guatemala considers sending high-risk gang members to military prisons

Amid the escalating crisis in Guatemala’s prison system, the government is considering transferring high-risk gang members to military-run detention facilities, a move that analysts say could help address overcrowding and the lack of control in civilian prisons.

The debate has gained urgency following the killing of ten police officers by gang members, reportedly in retaliation after the government refused to meet demands made by Aldo Dupie Ochoa, alias “El Lobo,” leader of the Barrio 18 gang, which authorities identified as responsible for the attack.

Guatemala’s Minister of Defense, Henry David Sáenz, told local media that the possibility of relocating high-danger inmates to military brigades has not been formally discussed. However, he noted that the practice is not new to the Armed Forces and said it is something that “was already being done.”

One example is the detention center located within the Mariscal Zavala Military Brigade, in Zone 17 of Guatemala City, where several inmates are held under military supervision. The facility also houses high-profile detainees, including former official Eduardo Masaya, who faces corruption charges.

In 2015, a ministerial agreement authorized the establishment of the Zone Seventeen Detention Center within the brigade, with a maximum capacity of 114 inmates in Area A and 21 in Area B. The agreement specified that the facility would be used exclusively for civilians or military personnel considered at risk of assassination.

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Additionally, since 2010, a prison has operated within the Matamoros Barracks in Zone 1 of Guatemala City, holding dangerous or high-profile inmates. However, media outlets have described these military detention centers as “VIP prisons,” particularly for former government officials such as ex-president Otto Pérez Molina.