Written by Manjiri Sachin Chitre | Edited by Swati Bhasin
World’s richest person Elon Musk on Friday made an unexpected comment about US president Joe Biden, two days after saying he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Biden’s predecessor – Donald Trump. Sharing his views on why he thinks Biden was voted to power, the 50-year-old Tesla owner said: “Biden’s mistake is that he thinks he was elected to transform the country, but actually everyone just wanted less drama.”
“Even though I think a less divisive candidate would be better in 2024, I still think Trump should be restored to Twitter. (sic)” another post read.
Also read: Will Jack Dorsey head Twitter again? His response
Ever since he bought Twitter in a whopping $44 billion deal, Musk has been tweeting about his political stand. In one of the tweets, he had shared about his shift from left of centre to right of centre.
His takeover of the social media giant has sparked concerns about the likelihood of Twitter giving up the moderation practices.
And his comments on Trump have just fuelled the fire. Musk on Tuesday had said that he would like to reverse the permanent ban on Trump’s Twitter account. According to Musk, banning Trump’s account was “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter shortly after the riots on the US Capitol on January 6, after Twitter cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” in its decision.
Also read: ‘If Donald Trump gets back to Twitter’: Elon Musk agrees to Dogecoin developer’s 3 scenarios
Former CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday also agreed with Elon Musk over his plan to reinstate Trump’s account on Twitter. Clarifying his stance, Dorsey said that he agrees with Elon Musk that permanent bans are a failure. “It was a business decision, it shouldn’t have been, and we should always revisit our decisions and evolve as necessary. I stated in that thread and still believe that permanent bans of individuals are directionally wrong,” Dorsey said.
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Biden’s press secretary says she will miss confrontations with Fox News reporter
The outgoing White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she will miss her confrontations with Fox News journalist Peter Doocy during media briefings. US President Joe Biden reportedly called the Fox News reporter soon after and apologised, saying it wasn’t “personal, pal.” Karine Jean-Pierre will replace Psaki to become the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ person to hold the post. The White House says Jean-Pierre will bring strong personal expertise and personality to the briefing room.
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Why US is vulnerable to Covid without new shots? White House top expert explains
White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha issued a dire warning Thursday that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments. He warned that the U.S. is at risk of losing its place in line to other countries if Congress doesn’t act in the next several weeks.
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Biden makes $150 million commitment to ASEAN leaders, with China in focus
U.S. President Joe Biden opened a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders with a promise to spend $150 million on their infrastructure, security, pandemic preparedness and other efforts aimed at countering the influence of rival China. On Thursday, Biden started a two-day summit with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Washington with a dinner for the leaders at the White House ahead of talks at the State Department on Friday.
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US says Russia has forcibly taken ‘thousands’ of Ukrainians
The United States on Thursday accused Russia of forcibly taking onto territory under its control tens of thousands of Ukrainians, often singled out for their resistance to the invasion. The remarks support allegations by the Ukrainian government which estimates nearly 1.2 million people have been deported into Russia or Russian-controlled territory and has denounced so-called “filtration camps” in which Moscow interrogates detained people.
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Covid hits North Korea: 6 die of ‘fever’, US says no plans to send vaccines
North Korea said Friday that six people who were sick with fever have died, with one of them testing positive for Covid-19, the official Korean Central News Agency reported as per news agency AFP. “A fever whose cause couldn’t be identified explosively spread nationwide from late April… Six persons died (one of them tested positive for the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron,)” it said.