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Twitter is facing a class action lawsuit from former employees who say they were not given enough notice under US federal law that they had lost their jobs, finding out they had been made redundant when they were locked out of their work accounts on Thursday.
In a company-wide memo, staff were informed on Thursday that they would receive an email to their personal email accounts if they were being fired as part of the mass sackings at the platform, in which up to half of the company could go.
Before those emails arrived, dozens of staff began posting on Twitter that they had been dismissed – after discovering they were no longer able to access their work email accounts or log into their work laptops.
Meanwhile, General Mills is the latest to join a growing group of companies halting advertising on Twitter. The firm, known for its Cheerios and Lucky Charms cereals, confirmed it would pause advertising. “We will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend,” said a spokesperson.
Why is Musk cutting so many staff? Musk’s job cuts come as part of a broader effort to make the company profitable after purchasing it for $44bn, a price he said was “overpaying”. To complete the deal, he put forward a combination of his own funding and loans of approximately $13bn, which he is now under pressure to pay back.
Russia thought to be threatening to shoot retreating soldiers, says UK Ministry of Defence
Owing to low morale and reluctance to fight, Russian forces have probably started deploying units threatening to shoot their own retreating soldiers, the UK Ministry of Defence says.
An intelligence report released early this morning described these Russian units as “barrier troops” or “blocking units” used to compel offensives. The report reads: “Recently, Russian generals likely wanted their commanders to use weapons against deserters, including possibly authorising shooting to kill such defaulters after a warning had been given. Generals also likely wanted to maintain defensive positions to the death.
“The tactic of shooting deserters likely attests to the low quality, low morale and indiscipline of Russian forces.”
Meanwhile, as of last night, 4.5 million Ukrainians in the capital, Kyiv, and 10 other regions were temporarily without power, the latest outages caused by Russian attacks, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a video address.
What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 254 of the invasion.
Bernie Sanders hits the campaign trail with days left before the US midterms
San Marcos’s Sewell Park, on Texas State University’s campus, was packed with people on Saturday, writes Joan E Greve, and Erum Salam in Austin. Harry Styles’s As it Was and Dua Lipa’s Levitating provided the soundtrack to a mostly young crowd, who gathered around the stage and eagerly awaited its headliner: senator Bernie Sanders.
With just days left before polls close and Republicans’ midterm fortunes seemingly on the rise, Sanders is hitting the campaign trail, holding nine rallies across five battleground states in the week-and-a-half leading up to election day.
Sanders and his progressive allies hope to make a closing argument to young and working-class voters that Democrats are the better stewards of the US economy, with the aim of avoiding a Republican landslide on 8 November.
Sanders’ rallies come as Democratic candidates appear to be on the defensive in key races that could determine control of the House and the Senate. Republicans have regained their lead on the generic congressional ballot, according to the poll analysts FiveThirtyEight, and voters’ mounting concerns over the state of the economy appear to be hurting the Democrats’ prospects in the crucial final stretch of campaigning.
Why do the midterms matter? The midterm elections on Tuesday will decide control of Congress as well as 36 state governorships – but will also be a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency and fire the starting gun for the race to the White House in 2024. Guardian writers lay down what is on the line.
In other news …
Donald Trump has sued the attorney general of New York state, Letitia James, over what he claims is a “relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him, in the shape of her recent civil lawsuit against the former president and three of his adult children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, spoke of the need for greater cooperation between China and Germany during “times of change and turmoil” in his first meeting with chancellor, Olaf Scholz, with talks expected to touch on Russia’s war on Ukraine, the climate emergency and developing economic ties.
The FBI said yesterday it had received credible information about a “broad” threat to synagogues in New Jersey. The FBI’s Newark office released a statement urging synagogues to “take all security precautions to protect your community and facility”.
Paul Pelosi, the husband of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has been released from the San Francisco hospital six days after being attacked by a man wielding a hammer in the couple’s home. The House speaker said in a statement that her husband “continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence”.
The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said yesterday any nuclear attack on the US or its allies by North Korea would “result in the end of the Kim regime”. Kim Jong-un’s government has in recent days mounted a number of missile tests, with Japan calling the launch “outrageous and absolutely intolerable”.
Stat of the day: Homelessness has risen 70% in California’s capital
During the pandemic homelessness has soared across California, but the increase in Sacramento has been particularly alarming, with an almost 70% rise in homelessness since 2019. The region now counts more homeless people than San Francisco, with at least 9,278 people estimated to be without a home. Most of them are sleeping outdoors or in vehicles, with encampments seen on levees, near schools and next to busy roads. The primary reason behind the dramatic rise, according to the 2022 point-in-time count, is the high cost of housing.
Don’t miss this: ‘She’s like Princess Di’ – Selena Gomez and the extraordinary film about her mental health
Using six years of footage, the director of In Bed With Madonna, Alek Keshishian, has charted the former Disney child star’s troubled but successful pop reinvention, her remarkable empathy and love-hate relationship with fame. Keshishian’s superpower as a director is eliciting a trusting relationship with his celebrity subjects. “I do fall in love with my subjects. Really, it’s about my relationship, our relationship,” he says. “And once you build that trust, I almost become that person. I almost literally can feel Selena’s mood. I almost became like a big brother, rather than just a director.”
… or this: How I turned $15,000 into $1.2m during the pandemic – then lost it all
I kept the news in all the way out of the terminal until halfway through the airport parking garage, which was as far as I could hold it, writes Alexander Hurst. It was the kind of announcement that was too voluminous for the inside of a car, so I blurted it out to my parents in the open air in a half-mumble, half-laugh. “So, umm, I turned $15,000 into $1.2m in the past year.” They both stopped and looked at me, silent. Within four weeks, the bulk of it was gone. In the span of a year, the numbers came, danced, disappeared. What took longer was un-becoming the asshole they almost made me.
Climate check: ‘A renewed sense of urgency’ – climate on the ballot in US midterm elections
Climate is on the ballot in a big way this November, despite the fact that it is not front and center in any of the campaigns. Even when it comes to voter turnout, the mood of climate voters has been a topic of conversation among political consultants for months. “Several months ago I was very concerned about the apathy we were seeing in young climate voters because of Democrats’ failure to even talk about the successes they have had,” Rania Batrice, a political strategist, says. “But I do feel like there’s been a little bit of a renewed sense of urgency. In Georgia, for example, early voting just started and it’s already breaking all kinds of records.”
Last Thing: Beauty queens Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina marry in a secret ceremony
The former pageant queens Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina have revealed a romantic secret: not only have they been in a relationship, but last weekend they tied the knot. After two years together, Fabiola Valentín of Puerto Rico and Mariana Varela of Argentina posted an Instagram reel celebrating their romance. “After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day,” the caption said, surrounded by heart and ring emojis. The pair appear to have met while competing at the Miss Grand International pageant in Thailand.
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