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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Bengaluru (PTI): The Lokayukta on Thursday conducted simultaneous raids at the premises of several government officials across different districts of Karnataka in connection with alleged possession of disproportionate assets, officials said.

The searches were carried out at multiple locations linked to officials working in various government departments in districts including Bengaluru, Mandya, Dharwad, Hassan, Mysuru, Vijayapura and Yadgir, among others, they said.

According to Lokayukta officials, the raids targeted officials holding posts such as Assistant Executive Engineer, Junior Engineer, Deputy Electrical Inspector and Taluk Backward Classes Welfare Officer.

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Among those raided was Assistant Executive Engineer M C Satyanarayana of the Hassan Municipal Corporation.

High drama unfolded during the raid at Satyanarayana’s residence in Hassan, where Lokayukta officials were forced to wait outside the house for more than an hour before gaining access as the door was not opened, sources said.

When Satyanarayana failed to respond to requests to open the gate, officials attempted to enter the house by climbing to the first floor.

In another case, officials conducted searches at the residence of Chief Engineer Vasantappa Nayak of Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited located in Akshaya Colony in Hubballi, sources said.

Currently serving in Bengaluru, Nayak had been transferred from Hubballi to Bengaluru in April last year. Officials are carrying out searches at his residence in Akshaya Colony, they said.

The raids were conducted by multiple teams of Lokayukta officials early in the morning at the residences and offices of the suspects following complaints regarding disproportionate assets.