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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday promised the weavers that the five per cent goods and services tax (GST) imposed on handloom products by the BJP government will be withdrawn if the party comes to power at the Centre, besides revisiting the entire tax regime itself.

He also assured tribal farmers that lakhs of pending applications seeking podu rights on forest land would be cleared and that agriculture rights would be given to them if the Congress forms the government in Telangana.

Gandhi interacted with the weavers, tribal farmers and Lambada community members during his Bharat Jodo yatra in Mahbubnagar district of Telangana on Friday.

Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk wasted no time on Thursday firing CEO Parag Agrawal, legal head Vijaya Gadde and three other top executives of the company moments after he took charge, tweeting “the bird is freed” to indicate the social media platform would now be more open to unfettered and uninhibited speech.

“Spoiler Alert. Let the good times roll,” Musk, 51, tweeted early Friday morning.

As reported by an English daily on Thursday, dismissal of the two Indian-American principals was inevitable as soon as Musk completed his acquisition. Agrawal and Gadde, who clashed with Musk in the days leading to the takeover over purported fake accounts and censorship, were literally shown the door, reportedly escorted out of the Twitter headquarters.

The air quality in Delhi deteriorated on Saturday as the AQI index reflected being in the ‘severe’ and ‘very poor’ categories at most stations. The AQI at Anand Vihar station reached a whopping 456, while Ashok Vihar saw the index at 422.

Pollution levels crept up on the night of October 23 amid a drop in temperature and wind speed and due to people bursting firecrackers and a rise in the number of farm fires. Since then, the air quality has remained mostly in the ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’ category, with little respite.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club on Thursday. Putin said that PM Modi carried out an independent foreign policy which serves the interests of his people.

"Despite all attempts to impose some kind of restrictions on India, he is like an ice-breaker and continues moving in the direction which the Indian state needs," the Russian President said as quoted by Sputnik.

Putin further added has achieved tremendous success in its development and has a great future ahead. "Russia and India have a special relationship built on the foundation of close cooperation," reported the Russian news agency quoting Putin as saying. Notably, India maintained a neutral stance after Russia attacked Ukraine.

Other than fighting terrorism and bringing down violence in conflict theatres, the Centre has also tightened the functioning of NGOs that were engaged in “anti-national activities” and “religious conversion”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday.

Delivering the inaugural address at the first “chintan shivir”, or brainstorming session, of home ministers and top police officers from all states, Shah also said that at a time when crimes have become “borderless” and many trans-border laws have been enacted, states must come together to fight crime. “It is our collective responsibility that we combat crimes together, beyond national, state or regional boundaries,” he said. Shah said that by 2024-end, every state would have a branch of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).