Facebook to train 1 mn US entrepreneurs in digital skills
San Francisco, June 9: Aim to give individuals and companies the tools they need to flourish in an increasingly digital economy, Facebook has vowed to train one million people and small business owners across the US by 2020.
"Our plan is to work side by side with communities to provide more free in-person training, mentorship and online courses," Amy Brooks, Facebook's Business Education Director, said in a statement on Friday.
"We're developing local partnerships across the US so we can create free training for skills like coding, digital marketing, and more," Brooks added.
"By the end of the year we plan to establish new local partnerships which include teaming up with 20 community colleges to offer digital marketing training," said Brooks.
Facebook said it also plans to train more US businesses on how to use Facebook and Instagram to build and grow their businesses using "Blueprint", which includes a free e-learning programme available in 14 different languages.
Facebook launched Blueprint in March 2015.
"So far, more than 160,000 US small businesses have been trained using Blueprint, and by 2020 we plan to train an additional 250,000," Brooks said.
Facebook also announced it will launch in autumn of this year "Learn with Facebook", a free online training resource to equip people with the skills they need to grow and become drivers of their local economies.
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UN: India calls on international community to act together against ISIS, Al Qaeda
United Nations (PTI): India has called on the international community to act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies, underlining that terrorism is an “existential threat” to international peace and security.
“Terrorism is an existential threat to international peace and security. It knows no borders, nationality, or race, and is a challenge that the international community must combat collectively,” First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Raghoo Puri said on Wednesday.
In remarks to the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) annual ambassadorial level briefing to Member States, Puri recalled the April 2025 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, carried out by The Resistance Front, a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN listed terror organisation. The terror attack led to the loss of lives of 26 tourists.
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“We must act together against ISIS and Al Qaeda and their proxies,” he said, adding that as a country which itself has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for the past nearly three decades, “India is acutely aware of the socio-economic and human cost of terrorism, especially for its victims.”
India added its voice in stressing on the importance of the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) as a central instrument for multilateral cooperation.
Puri said India will remain steadfast and engaged in the consultations for the 9th review of the GCTS, assuring full cooperation to co-facilitators Finland and Morocco during negotiations in the process.
Puri also highlighted that as Chair of the Counter Terrorism Committee in 2022, India has striven to bring these principles into the counter-terrorism architecture of the UN and into the debate on terrorism at the United Nations.
“Our follow up initiatives both in New York and around the world stand testimony to our commitment,” including the ‘Delhi Declaration’ - a landmark document to deal with the issue of countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, an issue Puri said is of acute importance for several Member States.
In October 2022, the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), chaired by India that year, had organised a special meeting in New Delhi and Mumbai on the overarching theme of ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’.
As an outcome of the special meeting, the committee had adopted the ‘Delhi Declaration’ on countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes.
India continues to work closely with the UN via its various entities to build capacity and make its partners future ready to take on the ever-evolving scourge of terrorism, he said.
