Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has indicated he would take a hands-off approach from vouching for online content amid the spat between Twitter chief Jack Dorsey and US President Donald Trump over the microblogging website fact-checking Mr Trump’s tweets.

Twitter had tagged two of Mr Trump’s tweets in which he claimed that more mail-in voting would lead to what he called a “rigged election” this November. There is no evidence that attempts are being made to rig the election, and under the tweets Twitter posted a link which read: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.”

Mr Zuckerberg, however, indicated that Facebook – the world’s biggest social networking website – has a different policy in handling such matters.

“I just believe strongly that Facebook should not be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” Mr Zuckerberg said in an interview posted online by Fox News.

“I think, in general, private companies, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that,” he said.

After Twitter’s action, Mr Trump launched a tirade – on Twitter – in which he claimed that the political right in the US is being censored. “Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices. We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen,” Mr Trump tweeted.

For years, Twitter has been accused of ignoring the US President’s violation of platform rules with his daily, often hourly barrages of personal insults and inaccurate information sent to more than 80 million followers.

Mr Dorsey today reinforced his stance on pointing out “incorrect or disputed information about elections globally”. He appealed to “leave our employees out of this” as the face-off with Mr Trump is likely to escalate.

“Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” Mr Dorsey tweeted.

“This does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions,” said the Twitter CEO.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi today questioned the Centre’s plan to control coronavirus in the days ahead, pointing out that the infections have been spiraling, defying the expectations of the government. Prime Minster Narendra Modi, he said, had promised that the infections will decline by the end of May, but the numbers clearly show it has not.

Asserting that the nationwide lockdown has “failed” at a virtual media conference this morning, Mr Gandhi said, “What is the Central government’s plan to go forward as the disease is growing exponentially in the country? The four stages of lockdown have not given the result that the Prime Minister expected”.

India is the only country in the world which is relaxing the lockdown when the virus is “exponentially rising”, he added.Mr Gandhi also tweeted his question to the government. His Hindi tweet read: “Two months ago, while announcing the lockdown, the Prime Minister had said that we will gain victory over coronavirus in 21 days. It has been more than 60 days and every day, the number of patients has been rising exponentially. The lockdown has not been able to beat this virus.

On March 26, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the countrywide lockdown for three weeks, 496 people had tested positive for coronavirus, nine patients have died. That figure has now gone up to 1.4 lakh, more than 4,000 people have died.

Since April, the government has been slowly easing the lockdown, with the Prime Minister announcing that the country needs to strike a balance between health and economy. While officially, the current phase of the lockdown extends till May 31, road, rail and air transport have resumed slowly.

“What is the strategy regarding opening India? What precautions will they take to now curb the disease? How will they support migrants? How will they support the state governments and MSMEs?” Mr Gandhi said.

The Centre’s big relief package, announced earlier this month by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has also fallen far short of expectation, he said.

“The Prime Minister said 10 per cent of the GDP but the reality is that less than 1 per cent of the GDP is being given and mostly in loans. Hardly any cash is being given to people,” he said. The Congress governments in states, which are giving cash to the people, also need support from the Centre, he added.

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has been accused of violating the coronavirus lockdown by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party after he returned to the state from Telangana on Monday by road even as domestic flights were resumed across India. As he reached Amaravati from Hyderabad after two months, the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister was welcomed by a huge crowd of supporters, triggering concerns about social distancing.

Slamming the 70-year-old TDP chief, YSRCP leader Gadikota Srikanth Reddy told news agency ANI: “The whole country is following lockdown till May 31 and everybody is maintaining social distancing and following other guidelines linked to COVID-19. However, Chandrababu Naidu took out a rally from Hyderabad where hundreds gathered, garlanded him without using masks. Being a senior politician how could he do so? He should apologise.”

“Coming from a red zone, he should go into quarantine. Chandrababu Naidu, however, is trying to politicise the situation. He was playing politics through the Zoom app while he was in Hyderabad and suddenly he came in a big convoy. He should be quarantined as he has crossed a state border,” Mr Reddy added.

The TDP chief had gone to Hyderabad on March 22. A nationwide lockdown to tackle the pandemic was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24.

Security experts have also expressed concern about Mr Naidu violating security protocols. The TPD chief traveled in his black Toyota Fortuner and other vehicles in his convoy were silver grey Tata Safari SUVs. “The target then is easily identifiable (in such a case) and that is not to be done at all,” a former CMO security officer said.

The former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister was given Z-Plus security after he was targeted in an attack at Alipiri in 2003 by People’s War Group, a Maoist outfit.

Mr Naidu is expected to attend his party’s annual conclave- TDP Mahanadu – virtually tomorrow and the day after. He is also expected to travel to Vizag after that to meet those affected by the LG Polymers gas leak incident.

Telangana CM KCR is hell bent on imposing his agenda on farmers on what to cultivate so that there will be a diverse crops in the state. KCR’s vision got a first step with a tribal farmer from Asifabad. This farmer identified as Kendre Balaji and he cultivated apples in his farm located at Dhanora village in Kerameri mandal.-

Balaji who was the winner of Best Farmer Award 2017, started farming apples since four years. He broke the myth that apples can be grown only in cold temperatures and learned that a variety of apples in Himachal Pradesh are cultivated at 40 degrees. He bought about 10 plants of HR-99 variety and when the horticulture department got to know about this, Balaji was supported technically.

The horticulture department also provided another 300 plants for Balaji’s three acres while Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology provided all the assistance in growing the crop.

Now that the apples are fully grown, he has sent a box of Telangana apples to horticulture department and requested them to send them to Telangana CM KCR. Learning about this, KCR is said to have called on Balaji and expressed his willingness to personally meet him.

In a day or two, CM KCR will be able to taste the first grow in Telangana apples. This will also enable KCR to go ahead with his agenda of ‘What farmers should grow when to ensure demand for agriculture produce.’

‘Living along’ and ‘co-existing’ with the coronavirus are most heard words in recent times when people and governments are slowly getting back to normalcy. But the rise in coronavirus cases on random days is sending shivers across as there is a fear of seeing a second wave from earlier predictions model and also due to misused relaxations.

Yet again, the number of coronavirus cases recorded on Monday in Telangana is 66, which is higher than the usual average in the state. The new 66 cases and three deaths in the state also alarmed the officials. Out of the cases recorded on Monday, 31 are from GHMC, one from Rangareddy, 18 are foreign returned and 15 are migrant laborers.

72 were discharged from hospital after recovery making the total recoveries to 1164. There are a total of 700 active cases and 56 deaths due to the coronavirus in Telangana state.

Telangana state has so far 1920 coronavirus positive confirmed cases. While transmission links and contact tracing are crucial in tracking the cases, the asymptomatic from the last few weeks are heard to have become major carriers.

Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan met State BJP’s president Bandi Sanjay yesterday and yet again he made a praising statement tweet for the latter on his Twitter timeline, like he is doing for all BJP leaders these days.

Bandi Sanjay mentioned it a fruitful discussion on current issues with a picture of him meeting Pawan Kalyan and the Janasenani reciprocated the same. But the discussion here started is that Pawan Kalyan’s praise for Telangana’s BJP Chief which he had not done since he shook hands with the national party.

Though Pawan used to get into harsh criticism on TRS biggies right from his party launch meeting, he later turned silent and even stayed away from contesting local elections last time. The Janasena chief recently made several praising statements on Telangana CM KCR for his governance.

With the latest developments from the alliance and Telangana BJP chief meeting him, speculations began that they want to use Pawan’s charm is criticizing the Telangana government and they want him to raise his voice against TRS party in Telangana. When Telangana Congress is struggling with many internal issues, BJP appears to be the only opposition TRS had in Telangana and the party is heard to be thinking of extracting the best with Janasena alliance.

But, the question here is if Pawan Kalyan wants to lock horns with KCR and contradict his own statements of praise for his good bond with BJP. Will he wish to go against KCR in Telangana? If the latest and changing ideologies of Pawan Kalyan are anything to go by, he will be starting to ‘question’ the TRS supreme ‘strongly’ and we all know how KCR handles the criticism from Pawan and BJP.

On the other side, the official statements from Pawan Kalyan and Janasena have been irking the Janasena supporters and his ‘Bhajana’ tweets are being denounced and blasted very badly.

A few days before the lockdown was imposed in March, Chandrababu Naidu had come to Hyderabad and since then Chandrababu is stuck in the city. He tried to travel to Amaravati and Vizag but he was denied permission and this morning, the TDP chief wanted to travel Vizag as flight operations resume.

However with AP government delaying fight service to recommence, Chandrababu’s plans turned upside down. But immediately the opposition leader made changes in his plans and decided to go to his residence in Undavalli, Amaravati. So Chandrababu took the road to reach Andhra Pradesh.

Before this Chandrababu had sort the permission of AP DGP Gautham Sawang and as soon as the police gave permission, Chandrababu in a special convoy started to Undavalli. Visuals of Chandrababu’s convoy was spotted on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

TDP leaders have been eagerly waiting for Chandrababu’s arrival so that they can get down with the real work. Hope this will re-energize them.

After two months of lockdown, it is pretty clear that coronavirus pandemic can’t be faced without massive testing to find out who have contracted COVID-19. If some leading nations have managed to keep their Corona cases and deaths tolls low, it is all because of high testing rate.

While the low testing rate in several states is one of biggest challenges India is facing during this pandemic time, Andhra has set an example by testing a record 3+ lakh people till date. According to state health secretary Jawahar Reddy, Andhra Pradesh has achieved a milestone by conducting 3,04,326 COVID-19 tests and took top position when it comes to testing.

After a “new map” claiming parts of Indian territory, Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli has delivered a new shocker in his offensive against India. Virus from India “looks more lethal” than Chinese and Italian, Mr Oli said in a speech in parliament, blaming India for the spread of coronavirus cases in his country.

“Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing,” Mr Oli said in his speech in Tuesday, his first in parliament since a major health scare.

“It has become very difficult to contain COVID-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected,” said the Nepal PM, in comments that have baffled New Delhi and outraged officials in India.

This has escalated the rift between India and Nepal over a new road inaugurated by India.In the same speech, his first in parliament since a health scare, Mr Oli also said Nepal would “bring back at any cost” the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh area, which is part of Indian territory.

Recently, the Nepal cabinet had endorsed a new political map incorporating Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani, which are part of Indian territory.

India and Nepal share a 1,800 km (1,118-mile) open border. The Lipulekh Pass is claimed by Nepal based on the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli it entered with the British colonial rulers to define its western border with India.

Kathmandu also claims the highly strategic areas of Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, although Indian troops have been deployed there since New Delhi fought a war with China in 1962.

After a new road was inaugurated on May 8 by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh connecting the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand with Kailash Mansarovar route in China, Nepal has protested against it and is also considering putting up a security post in the area.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said the road going through Uttarakhand”s Pithoragarh district “lies completely within the territory of India”.

It had said that the road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. “Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals, and traders,” the foreign ministry said.

Telangana CM KCR has gone all out in attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attacked Centre’s financial package for Corona pandemic as “Bogus”. Briefing the media over lockdown extension in Telangana last night, KCR told media persons on what Telangana cabinet has discussed on various prevailing issues including Centre’s package.

KCR has dubbed Union Government’s Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package as “cheating” and “bogus”. He went onto state that it is against the spirit and interest of federal system. KCR alleged that the Modi-led Union Government is trying to rule over the states by taking advantage of the financial crisis that was caused due to lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic.

Stating that the Centre’s package is “hollow” and mere “manipulation of numbers”, KCR said Telangana is rejecting Centre’s package. KCR went onto accuse Modi-led government of having “Feudal Attitude”. “Strictly speaking, the Central government has not doled out even Rs one lakh crore, out of the entire package,” KCR stated. He went onto blast Centre and alleged that it is treating states as “beggars”

“States did not expect these bogus schemes from Centre in this hour of crisis. We wanted financial assistance from the Centre. States never expected to be treated as beggars. This is not the way reforms should be implemented,” KCR said.

Responding to the increased borrowing limits from 3 to 5 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) where states could borrow more for the current fiscal year which is part of the Centre’s financial package and that allows Telangana could now borrow an additional Rs 20,000 crore loan, Telangana CM KCR said it is not a favour, but facility and the states need to repay anyway.

“The Centre will not give a single rupee from its pocket. Even for this, the Centre imposed several conditions for borrowing every Rs 2,500 crore, linking it to implementation of reforms like in power sector, municipal administration, one-nation-one-ration card, etc. How can the Centre impose restrictions even for borrowing loans?” he asked.

In a good news to all the students, the Andhra Pradesh government has announced the opening of schools from August 3rd. Generally the academic year begins from June second week but due to the Corona virus, there occurred an inevitable delay.

AP CM YS Jagan held a meeting with officials on Tuesday and instructed them to consider this date for beginning the academic year. In this gap, Jagan directed the officials to make necessary arrangements in the schools. As we know Jagan government is introducing English Medium in all schools from first to sixth standard, accordingly officials are summoned.

In the first phase about 15,715 schools would undergo infrastructural changes and for this the government allotted time till July last week. The government has sanctioned Rs 456 crore fund while district collectors were asked to monitor the day-to-day works of schools.

Telangana CM KCR is not mincing with words in any of his media meets. During his media meet to brief on lockdown, relaxations, and coronavirus cases, KCR also spoke about the water-sharing conflict between two Telugu states.

The Telangana CM reacted for the first time on rumors about his friendship with Jagan on rocks. There were several reports in media that all is not well between KCR and Jagan due to the ongoing exchange of allegations and complaints with water-sharing. KCR now rubbished all of them, actually pretty clearly.

Stating that he will be straight forward and won’t be sparing any obstacles that could trouble the benefit of Telangana people, KCR also said that everything is fine with YS Jagan. When asked about the cracks in his friendship with Jagan, due to water-war, KCR underlined that they are very much friends, and are still together. KCR also asked of ‘somebody’ is not happy with their friendship and bonding.

KCR clarified that he has complete knowledge on projects in Telangana and the government is constructing the projects within the boundaries and abiding by the law. KCR said he mentioned earlier too about Rayalaseema needs water and that should be diverted from Godavari’s surplus waters.

KCR said he always wanted to share water between the two states and recalled how Chandrababu went on war with challenges during his regime in AP and could not win over even with 1 TMC. KCR explained that he went seven times to convince Maharashtra CM and managed to get 100 TMCs water through Kaleswaram.

The Telangana CM concluded that there is no scope for cheap politics and talks here. He reiterated that everything is fine between him and Jagan, before saying that it will be a fight for a fight unless both sides go by the law.

Finally, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao’s demand has been heeded and the Centre has increased the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRMB) Act permit to the states. The relaxation of the norms will help the state borrow more loans so that it can take up development schemes.

While speaking about Lockdown 4.0, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Rs 20 lakh crore package under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan which would act as a stimulus scheme for various sectors that faced the brunt of the shutdown.

Detailing about the package, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the loan limit for states was increased to 5 per cent from the present 3 per cent of GSDP. She also made it clear that there would be no conditions to increase the loan limit to 3,5 per cent from the present 3 per cent.

However, there will be some conditions applicable to increase the loan limit from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent. This relaxation will allow states to borrow an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore.

She said that the Centre would also extend all the necessary help to the states to tode over the Covid-19 crisis. She added that SDRF funds to the tune of Rs 11,092 crore have already been kept available for the states.

This apart, the states will also be provided the facility to take overdrafts to pay the salaries of government employees. The time limit to draw the overdraft has also been extended to 52 days. She also said that allocation of Rs 46,000 crore was done as part of tax income to the states.

When the National Institution for India (NITI) Aayog members called up KCR recently, he told them that the FRBM guidelines for raising funds through borrowings for revenue surplus states, should be on par with the Centre. Rao told them that this relaxation will enable the state invest in improvement of infrastructure to bring momentum to economic growth. He demanded that Telangana should be allowed to borrow loans up to 3.49 per cent of GSDP against the existing limit of less than 2.7 per cent.

In the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown, the economy of many countries was hit badly and India is no exception. Even before India declared lockdown, Telangana CM KCR had complained of the state’s economy in a very bad state due to recession, declaring it in the Budget session.

A massive crowd of migrants gathered at a ground in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Monday to try and get on special trains to take them home.Physical distancing was tossed aside as thousands of workers gathered at Ram Lila Maidan in Ghaziabad, waiting their turn to register themselves for buses. The buses would take them to various points from where special trains will leave for Bihar.

Photos showed a few counters where officials sat to take down details of the migrants.In the name of caution amid the josting, the workers had a cloth covering their faces.

When it was pointed out that such carelessness could leave them exposed to the virus, one worker said: “I don’t know about the disease, but I don’t want to die of hunger.” He said he was willing to wait for hours, but he had to go home.

Another migrant hit out at the officials for what he believed was a chaotic arrangement and mismanagement.The special trains were allowed earlier this month with distancing and other precautions to stop migrants stranded by the lockdown and left without jobs or shelter from walking hundreds of kilometres to their villages.

However, many migrants found the paperwork too tough or the fares too high.The UP government recently ordered that no migrant should be seen on the roads or rail tracks and if they are, they should be taken to a shelter or put on a bus or train.

In Ghaziabad, the administration announced special counters to help migrants take buses to the stations from where the special trains left.The number of coronavirus cases in India has crossed 96,000. Yesterday, the government extended the lockdown till May 31, but eased some restrictions in areas least affected by the virus.

A truck driver left the body of a migrant worker along with his three minor children on the roadside amid nationwide lockdown in Karera area in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, Karera Tehsildar Gauri Shankar Bairwa said.

Mr Bairwa informed that the migrant workers were travelling in a truck from Mumbai to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

“One worker died in the truck after which the truck driver left the body on the roadside in Karera area. We have informed the Collector about this incident,” Mr Bairwa said.He added that further investigation in the case is currently underway.

The Visakhapatnam gas leak tragedy took away 11 lives and left hundreds of people suffering from breathing complications since the day. The LG Polymers, the manufacturing unit from which the gas leaked out, released a second press statement about the accident and the company’s response to it.

LG Polymers, in its official press statement, revealed that a team of eight from Seoul arrived at Visakhapatnam to analyze and completely review the reasons for the cause of Styrene gas leak and also its effects on the environment. The team would also be studying the future consequences due to the gas leak and is here to implement measures to avoid such tragedies again. As a part of preventive measures, the Styrene Monomer gas tanks here are planned to be moved to South Korea.

LG Polymers also assured to work towards helping the people in affected villages. The company mentioned providing health facilities, tests, and other facilities to the villagers. Some from the gas leak affected were discharged from the hospital and the state ministers handed over the ex-gratia checks to some families already.

Thousands of migrant workers all over the country are reaching their native places in this lockdown with no work. Daily we have been seeing workers on the roads and railway tracks. Getting tired of walking all day, migrant workers are sleeping on the train tracks and losing lives.

Regarding the migrant workers, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court that respective state governments should provide food and shelter to them. Taking up this petition, the Supreme Court made disappointing comments.

The advocate general on behalf of Centre argued that the government has taken all the measures to move migrant workers. But they need to wait for their turn. Many are in no mood to wait and are taking their own route to reach their places. Even if the government stops them, unprecedented circumstances may occur.

After listening these arguments, Supreme Court said, how is it possible to avoid the train mishap when migrant workers sleep on the tracks? In fact state governments should take necessary steps to prevent such incidents and dismissed the petition.

We were hearing reports of pregnant ladies walking hundreds of kilometers and are evening delivering babies on the highways. At least for the sake of women, the court should have directed states to take necessary steps to prevent migrant workers from taking their route.

States would be able to borrow more money, the Centre said today, increasing their borrowing limit from 3 per cent to 5 percent. This would give them an Rs 4.28 lakh crore, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiling the Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus in the fifth and the last tranche.

The states are facing sharp decline in revenues following the countrywide lockdown imposed to counter coronavirus. “We have consistently provided the necessary support because they are at the front end of fighting the pandemic,” Ms Sitharaman said.

The states have a net borrowing ceiling, the minister said. They can borrow upto 3 per cent of state’s GSDP. “The government is increasing the borrowing limit to 5 per cent from 3 per cent. This will give an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore to states,” the minister said.

The minister said the government has also asked the Reserve Bank to increase the advance limits for states by 60%.

The number of days a state can stay in continuous overdraft days has been increased from 14 days to 21 days and from 32 to 51 days quarterly, Ms Sitharaman said.

The states have been demanding financial assistance for long. Last week, during their videoconference with Prime Minister Narenra Modi, all Chief Ministers underscored the point. The Centre must release their share of the Goods and Services Act, they said, and provide further assistance in the battle against coronavirus.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is addressing the media to share details of the fiscal and monetary measures worth Rs 20 lakh crore announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, to tackle the impact of coronavirus and weeks of lockdown on the economy. This is the first of a series of press briefings by the Finance Minister in the coming days.

The Finance Minister’s address comes at a time when the country remains in a nationwide lockdown with few exceptions to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The coronavirus-triggered lockdown has pushed an already-ailing economy into a standstill, hampering businesses and landing thousands jobless. Economists say details of the package will be watched closely for assessing its effectiveness to aid the economy’s fight against COVID-19.