Briefly

UNITED STATES

Twitter scrambles to curb fake accounts

Twitter moved on Friday to curb fake accounts that have proliferated since Elon Musk's takeover, suspending sign-ups for a new paid checkmark system and reinstating a gray "official" badge on some accounts. The U-turn was the latest in a string of chaotic developments at the social network, which has lurched back and forth on the question of account verification since Musk's $44 billion buyout late last month. By Friday morning, the firm had also disabled sign-ups for Twitter Blue, the feature touted by free-speech proponent Musk as bringing "power to the people" by offering ordinary users a verified blue tick — until then reserved for prominent accounts — for $8 a month.

EUROPE

Tensions as migrant ship docks in France

Tensions over migration flared among European Union countries on Saturday after people on board a rescue ship turned back by Italy disembarked in France. The Ocean Viking, operated by a French NGO, had picked up more than 230 migrants at sea near the Libyan coast before spending weeks seeking a port to accept them. France allowed the boat to dock at the southern port of Toulon on Friday after Rome denied it access. The standoff has inflamed a dispute over the way EU countries handle migration across the Mediterranean. Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Malta on Saturday criticized the EU's system for managing migrant flows and called for the European Commission to intervene.

ETHIOPIA

Facilitation agreed for humanitarian access

Senior commanders of the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front have agreed to facilitate humanitarian access in conflict-hit parts of northern Ethiopia, the African Union said on Saturday. Parties to the conflict have agreed to promote unhindered humanitarian access for all in need in Tigray and neighboring regions, and facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid workers, the AU said in a statement released after a four-day senior commanders' meeting sponsored by the organization. They have also agreed to provide security guarantees for aid workers and humanitarian organizations.

Agencies - Xinhua