Twitter India head quits, Balaji Krish new interim chief
New Delhi, Sep 5: Taranjeet Singh, who was elevated as Twitter's Country Director for India in May 2017, has decided to move on.
In a series of tweets late on Tuesday, Singh announced his resignation, saying that Balaji Krish, Twitter's Global Head of Revenue Strategy and Operations, will become the interim country head.
"Hello everyone, after four amazing years, I have decided to move on from @TwitterIndia -- from being one of the first @Twitter employees in #India, to building up the sales team from the ground up, to leading our expansion and investments as the India Country Director," Singh said.
He was earlier leading the charge for sales and marketing support for Twitter's advertisers in India.
"India is one of our largest and fastest growing markets worldwide today. We have hired many Tweeps at @TwitterIndia, diversified our client base across the country and continue to be the pulse of Indian society," Singh said.
Before joining Twitter, Singh was sales director, South Asia for BBC Advertising. Prior to the BBC, he held various positions at Outlook Publishing.
"I'll spend the next month transitioning my country duties to colleague and friend @BalajiKrish, our global head of revenue strategy and operations.
"He's coming from the US to be interim country lead until my replacement is hired," Singh informed.
During his career, he saw the launch of "Twitter Lite", a more accessible, faster and affordable way to get real-time information.
When it comes to Twitter's alignment with the government, the micro-blogging platform is working with the government on real-time citizen engagement through "Twitter Seva".
"As an India-first innovation, 'Twitter Seva' is currently being used by the Ministry of Commerce (@DIPPGOI), the Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) and the Department of Telecommunications (@Dot_India) under the Ministry of Communication," Singh had said in an IANS interview.
Twitter also explored new revenue streams and ways of innovation in India during Singh's career.
"The launch of Twitter Data' services in APAC with Discovery Networks Asia Pacific as the first client in the region is one such step and India is one of the focus markets for this," Singh said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
