the facial recognition technology that's helping to identify photos of holocaust victims and survivors. this picture, i don't know if you have seen this before... that's me, yeah.— you have seen this before... that's me, yeah. and you can tell? that's _ that's me, yeah. and you can tell? that's me, _ that's me, yeah. and you can tell? that's me, yeah, - that's me, yeah. and you can tell? that's me, yeah, for - tell? that's me, yeah, for sure. and americans flock to buy powerball tickets, as the rolloverjackpot reaches more than $1.5 billion. welcome to the programme. elon musk has defended his decision to sack thousands of staff at twitter without warning. the world's richest man bought the social media platform last week.

he tweeted that he was forced to make cuts because twitter was losing nearly $4 million a day. mr musk also attempted to allay concerns about the spread of hate speech, saying twitter�*s commitment to content moderation remained unchanged. but president biden has said the tycoon has bought an outfit that "spews lies across the world". many big firms have paused their advertising on twitter while uncertainty about its content controls remains. here's our technology editor zoe kleinman. elon musk did not speak to any of the thousands of twitter employees laid off today. instead, he was a surprise guest at this investor conference in new york. meanwhile, many twitter staff woke up locked out of their work laptops. they were later told via an email to their personal accounts that it was their last working day at the firm. some have been told they will be paid until february next year, getting some sort of certainty after months of speculation. a mixed range of emotions. certainly upset, certainly frustration, certainly some

anger — but you know what? also, in some cases, some relief, right? because this was a thing that played out over the course of the majority of this year. there were, understandably, lots of emotional tweets. another said: for others, it was simply: elon musk made it clear when he bought twitter last friday that big changes were coming. twitter�*s regarded as influential but it hasn't made a profit in years, and it's also failed to attract new users. twitter makes its money from adverts, and businesses are spending less on that as the financial crisis bites. there have been calls for brands to boycott twitter in protest against mr musk�*s leadership — something he addressed today. a number of major advertisers have stopped spending on twitter, so this —

but this is, this doesn't seem right because we've made no change in our operations at all. elon musk is planning to charge a monthly fee for verification, currently given out for free to high profile accounts as a badge of authenticity. he is also looking at setting up a moderation board to oversee decisions about banned accounts. for those staff who remain, twitter under elon musk — who says he expects an extreme work ethic — will be a very different environment, and the platform itself might also start to feel like a new experience. mr musk is the world's richest man. he knows how to do business. he may well be able to turn twitter around, but it will be done on his terms. zoe kleinman, bbc news. earlier, i asked erin woo from the information about how twitter employees past and present are feeling about the situation. people are shocked at the speed that this is happening at, and they are also, they are angry that there has not been more communication from elon musk and his team

and they are also worried about what's going to happen to the future of the platform. what specifically are their concerns, what direction do they see the platform heading in? so, what is important to remember is that this is all happening days ahead of the midterm elections in the united states. and so, days ahead of the midterms, half of the staff has been fired and said they are worried there won't be enough content moderation staff, and they are also concerned about what could happen if elon musk goes ahead with his plan to start charging for verification on monday, just one day before the midterm elections. elon musk tweeted earlier and said twitter�*s strong movement to content moderation remains "absolutely unchanged" and he says, "in fact, we've actually seen hateful "speech decline below our prior norms, "contrary to what you may read in the press." does that tally with what you are seeing? sure. i cannot confirm or deny

what he's saying about the amount of hateful speech on the platform changing, but what i can say is for example, the curation team which was responsible for essentially helping to determine what people saw through trending topics, the team has been absolutely decimated by these cuts. so people are concerned that those changes and others may lead to more misinformation on the platform ahead of tuesday's elections. thinking longer—term about the platform, how does twitter look to you kind of short—, medium— and long—term under elon musk? i think all we can say at this point is it will be incredibly different. like, we have seen a few of the changes already. he is planning on changing verification, there is talk of bringing back vine, the short—form video product, there has also some indication of what he is planning on shuttering, and so that is reviewed and some of the longer—form content. so there is a lot of product changes coming and what is left to be seen is how well

he is able to execute. he says this was necessary to make these cuts because the platform was losing $4 million a day. sure. it is now his company, and his right to do with it as he pleases, really, isn't it? sure, i mean, yes — that's definitely one way to look at it. i think it's also important to add that the amount of financial pressure that twitter is under has been increased by the way that he financed his bid to buy the platform, and so he has added around $1 billion of debt that needs to be repaid every year, and it obviously ups the financial pressure quite a bit. the former prime minister of pakistan, imran khan, has accused members of the current government of being involved in a plot to assassinate him. he made the comments from a hospital in lahore, where he spoke for the first time since being shot in the leg during a protest march. after being ousted from office in april, mr khan has been demanding fresh elections. samira hussein reports from lahore. all chant. people took to the streets in pakistan a day after the former

prime minister imran khan was shot at a protest rally. outside the hospital where he is recovering, supporters left flowers as security forces kept a watchful eye. members of his political party say the attack was an assassination attempt. and at a press conference, mr khan pointed the finger directly at members of the current government. you maintain that, in fact, it is members of the government that are responsible. what evidence do you have of that, and is this just a political ploy to gain favour? there can be no investigation if the prime minister, the interior minister and this isi guy, faisal — major general faisal. if these three are involved, there can be no independent investigation. well, what evidence do you have that the government and the head of the — the director of the isi is involved? i think they tried to disqualify me. that failed. they've tried to, you know,

put terrorism cases on me, then they — some other case by the election commission. and i think they are petrified of the long march. because they saw the crowds joining us. and they are scared that, you know, by the time we reach islamabad, they will — which i know — whenever we start — restart the march, there will be a sea of people in islamabad. so, that's when they planned this. and i have inside information. all i want is a proper investigation into this. the government has already said that it is not going to hold fresh elections. what now is the goal of this long march? look, it is — you know, a political party, does not accept if a government says it is not going to hold an election and says "thank you very much, "we'll go home." political parties mobilise public, and that's how you —

that's why you are democratic. and so, the democratic thing to do is to mobilise the public and protest. and protest, they did, some throwing rocks and police throwing tear gas in return. the former prime minister has made it clear he will not back down. samira hussain, bbc news, lahore. in the last hour south korea's military has announced that the us air force plans to deploy b—i bombers in the joint military exercises that have been extended due to north korea's launch of dozens of ballistic missiles. b—i's are supersonic heavy bombers, with a range of up to 12,000 kilometres. the russian private military company, the wagner group, has opened its first official headquarters in st petersburg. mercenaries employed by wagner have been accused of committing human rights abuses in ukraine and in west africa. tom brada reports. this may look like just another

unremarkable office block. it is, in fact, the headquarters of the wagner group, a russian militia unit notorious for brutality both on and off the battlefield. translation: the creation of such a centre was - a long time coming. the only thing is that it appeared so late. it should've been opened before the special military operation. the wagner group has been active during conflicts across africa, in syria and, most recently, in ukraine. in september, reports emerged that the group was recruiting prisoners to fight in ukraine in exchange for their sentences being reduced. translation: the biggest sin is desertion! _ no—one backs down, no—one retreats, no—one surrenders! british military intelligence says there are 1000 wagner mercenaries deployed in ukraine and their involvement fits

into a broader pattern of russian ruthlessness. ukraine says it has identified tens of thousands of possible war crimes by russian forces — something which russia denies. and on friday, president putin changed russian law. the army can now call up serious criminals who've recently left prison, meaning convicted murderers and drug dealers could soon be on the front lines. imagine how desperate he is as he promised to take over ukraine, the whole biggest nation by size in europe, to take it over in days. and now, after almost eight months here, to scrap for even the criminals to replenish his forces. critics say mr putin's latest decision reflects how badly russian troops are faring on the battlefield. ukrainian troops are currently pushing hard to recapture the city of kherson in the south. the wagner group used to be an organisation which traded in secrecy and operated in the shadows. the establishment of

an official wagner head office suggests russia is willing to be upfront about more underhand tactics. tom brada, bbc news. you're watching bbc news. the headlines this hour: elon musk has defended his decision to sack thousands of staff at twitter but president biden has described the platform as "an outfit that spews lies." the former pakistan prime minister imran khan says he knew about a plot to kill him before he was shot during a protest march. he has blamed members of pakistan's current government. the nazi holocaust claimed the lives of six millionjewish people, ripping apart families and communities. photographs have helped to identify some of those killed, but many people in pictures from the time remain unidentified. now, facial recognition technology is being used to try to bring names to faces. our north america technology reporterjames clayton has the story.

as soon as my aunt heard the boots, she knew that she has to hide me. blanche fixler was a child in poland when the nazis came looking for her. germans came and they looked every little place, they looked in every corner, and i said, "you'd better not breathe "or sneeze or anything, or you'll be dead." blanche's mother and her siblings were murdered but, thanks to her aunt rose, blanche survived. today, she has few photos from her childhood. many pictures from the 1930s and �*aos do survive, though, and hundreds are on display here in the museum ofjewish heritage in new york. butjust like many other museums devoted tojewish heritage, a lot of the people in the photos here are unnamed. often, whole families were killed. no—one was left to identify people. the pictures only have numbers. software engineer daniel patt has been working to help solve this problem using artificial

intelligence and facial recognition tech. he calls the project from numbers to names. let's say, for example, you're looking for a photo of your family member. and we scan through hundreds of thousands of photos, millions of faces in seconds. using the program, daniel believes he's found a picture of blanche that she's never seen before. the algorithm only gives probabilities of matches so today, dan is going to meet blanche to see whether the picture he found, taken in france, is really her. hi! nice to meet you! so, here we go. this is a picture that i found of you. this picture — i don't know if you've seen this before. does this look...? that's me, yeah. the one here? yes _ you can tell? yeah, that's me, yeah, for sure. i'll zoom in so you can get a closer look. oh, wow! 0h, some of these guys i remember. one was my boyfriend! chuckles.

and in the picture, her aunt rose — the aunt that saved her. wow, so i think to the best of my knowledge, there's only three people in this group that have been identified so far. we do know who these children are, but in hundreds of thousands of other photos, people murdered by the nazis remain nameless. the hope is this tech could help. scott miller is not part of the from numbers to names project but says trying to identify victims — even 80 years later — is vital. even just to name somebody, to give somebody a name, you're restoring some semblance of dignity to them. for blanche, the pictures bring back memories — a song that she learnt in her brief time in france. # quand j�*etais mademoiselle, mademoiselle, mademoiselle. # quand j'etais, mademoiselle, mademoiselle j'etais!

james clayton with that report. the former us president donald trump has strongly hinted that he may run for the white house again in 202a. at a rally in iowa, mr trump said he would "very, "very, very probably do it again". americans are heading to the polls next week to vote in the country's midterm elections. and a key group which could make an impact is the new christian right, as barbara plett usher has this report. in this divided nation, the christian right has found a new voice. this country belongs to god almighty. this is not a church service. hundreds of people are being baptised after a rally in pennsylvania. some overwhelmed by their experience of god. thousands have turned out because they believe their christian values are under attack and that god belongs in government. you cannot separate god from politics. you can't take him out of our government.

these events tap into people's anger about covid lockdowns and donald trump's election loss. eric trump! the man himself dialled in while his son was on stage. donald trump on phone: we love you all and we're gonna bring - this country back because our country has never been in such bad shape. they are reframing american conservative politics as spiritual warfare against a radical left. chris and bobby foley have travelled here from north carolina. they took away the bible, they took away the jesus and everything, so now we are being run by devils, we are being run by satan, because it is a spiritual war. some call this rise of the religious right christian nationalism — the belief that america was founded as a christian nation and should remain one. it's taken on a new intensity in this fractured political world. breaking cover during the storming of the capitol where christian symbols, and prayers were on display. greg locke was one of many pastors at the capitol that

day. he has millions of followers online and preaches to hundreds every week. you ain't seen the insurrection yet. he's managed to weave his political views into an apocalyptic worldview, laced with conspiracy theories. you god—hating communist americans, you will find out what an insurrection is, because we ain't playing your garbage. you're calling fellow americans evil and putting it in the context of an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. there is an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. and that is the kind of language that could be used to incite violence against such people. that is not my responsibility. i have a responsibility to speak the truth. you don't see that is your responsibility to stay away from possibly inciting violence? i'm not inciting violence. i'm preaching the bible. but many christians are fighting back against this interpretation of the bible. pastor kevin riggs is a community activist. he believes scripture teaches that god cares most about social justice. my concern with the religious right has been that they are damaging the reputation of the church. i have had friends who

were pastors of churches and because they spoke out against the religious right or against president trump, then they were asked to leave their church. next week's election will be the first test of this vocal minority at the polls. if the republicans win big, it could become a powerful force pushing the party further to the right. barbara plett usher, bbc news, pennsylvania. i asked lauren wright, a political scientist at princeton university, how worried she was by the conspiracy theorists. there are quite a few of them but i think what is more telling is that they are moving away from that message and focusing on the economy and crime which are consistently the top polling issues for americans. there is about 30%—40% of american voters who think the 2020 election was stolen, but if you ask them to rank issues that affect their lives the most and what they are voting based on, that is not

anywhere near the top. so even these trump fringe candidates have moved towards this position where they think they can court moderates and win in a general election. as we mentioned earlier the former president, donald trump, has said he may very, very likely run again. what will he be looking to get out of these midterms? i am not sure what he is looking for because if we know one thing about the former president, it is that he will do what he wants and he will frame the debate in terms that he thinks will benefit him. and so if republicans do very well i am sure he will claim some kind of credit for that, continue to attack joe biden which is a popular message and if democrats do better—than—expected which, honestly, these polls are very close, they don't know about some of the senate races, then he might claim fraud or he will use that to try and build more enthusiasm for his cause. so probably in his mind there is not a certain scenario that will make you behave any differently.

issues do differ from state to state but broadbrush, what will many americans think about when they go to the polls? that is a great question. they do differ slightly, but in most polls, consistently for the last few weeks, it has been the economy, particularly inflation, and that is for all groups of voters, republicans, democrats independents, and crime is a big issue. so i think why you see polls tightening and republican surging is because, historically, republicans are seen as more credible on those issues than democrats are. in some polls, immigration is also really important, education, but those top two issues really are issues that the gop is stronger. lottery players in the us have their fingers crossed

for an enormous cash prize after the powerball jackpot grew to a record breaking $1.6 billion. no ticket had the winning numbers on wednesday and the jackpot has rolled over to saturday. earlier, i spoke to drew svitko, executive director of pennsylvania lottery, and asked him if the cost of living crisis will impact the chances of finding a winner. over time and throughout history, lottery sales are affected negatively by negative influences in the economy. but in general, i think, there is a lot of entertainment value in a $2 powerball ticket and the ability to dream about what you would do with all that money. that is the question. this is a life—changing amount of money, $1.6 billion. what have previous winners spent it on? we do not keep track of our previous winners. occasionally we hear, and they can vary from helping their friends and family, but lots of charitable work,

establishing clinics, respiratory clinics, and all kinds of great things to help the community with their newfound riches, and i think that is the wonderful thing about such a huge jackpot. imagine the number of people you could help with that money. well, if you do happen to win that kind of money, this could be an opportunity to spend some of that cash. the autumn auction season is kicking off in new york and geneva, with the major houses expecting record breaking sales. emer mccarthy reports. how would this lucien freud look hanging in your lounge room? or perhaps a picasso is more your scene? they are just two pieces up for auction at christie's week. the collection, from the estate of paul allen, also includes works by georgia o'keeffe and paul cezanne. the late microsoft co—founder�*s collection includes more than 150 pieces spanning 500 years.

paul allen's collection is truly singular. it is a collection that is made up of extraordinary quality and unbelievable breadth and depth of the collection. meantime at sotheby�*s, it is all about andy. this is andy warhol's white disaster from 1963. it is one of very few largescale death and disaster paintings that he did in the early �*60s that epitomises his practice at this pivotal point in his work. not only the monumental scale when you stand before it is so powerful, but the image repeated in such stark clarity 19 times across the expanse of the canvas really gives it an immense visual power that characterises warhol's greatest contributions to pop art. it is estimated to sell in excess of $80 million. at sotheby�*s in switzerland, you could find yourself zipping around in michael schumacher�*s

ferrari. if you have a spare $9.4 million, that is. so whether you are in the market for cars or art, there is certainly something for everyone, if you can afford to splash the cash, that is. emer mccarthy, bbc news. that's it for now. much more on the bbc news website, bbc.com/news, or download the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. all of us in the team here in london, thanks for your company and see you next time. bye—bye. hello there. a ridge of high pressure on friday brought a cold and frosty start, but a beautiful day right across the country, hardly a cloud in the sky for many. and temperatures did recover to highs ofjust under 1a degrees in swanage in dorset. there's the clear skies.

but it is all change as we move into the weekend, the satellite picture showing this area of low pressure, the isobars tightly squeezed around it, and it is going to throw yet more cloud, wind and rain in our direction. ahead of it we will see those temperatures falling away, but as the night progresses, cloud will continue to build and the rain arrives so here not quite as cold. but it does mean sheltered, rural parts of eastern scotland once again could see a touch of frost and low single figures across eastern areas. that is where the best of the morning sunshine is likely to be on saturday. but the cloud, wind and rain will continue to push in from the west, and that is going to gradually spread its way steadily eastward. by the middle part of afternoon, it will be sitting across scotland, down through the spine of the country and it will weaken a little bit, but it's certainly going to be cloudy with outbreaks of rain around. blustery winds as that rain pushes through. the best of the brighter weather through northern ireland, northern england and the bulk of scotland. in terms of the feel of the weather, similar temperatures to the last couple

of days, about where they should be for the time of year, 10—14 degrees. but it does mean if you have plans for bonfire night, if we draw a line really from, let's say south—east england through the wash, down to the isle of wight, anywhere south and east of that could be rather cloudy with outbreaks of light, patchy rain. and we could see that the rain pep up through the south—east into the early hours of sunday morning and lingerfor a time. but whatever happens on sunday, low pressure not too far away, and it will throw in bands of rain or showers which may well merge together for longer spells of rain for a time on sunday. so be prepared for a little bit of everything for the second half of the weekend. there will be some drier, brighter interludes and those temperatures similar values, 11—14 celsius. now as we move out of sunday into monday and tuesday, it stays blustery with plenty of showers around. but the winds turning more southerly so it will be just a degree or so milder. that's it — whatever you're

doing, have a lovely weekend. # quand j'etais, mademoiselle,

mademoiselle j'etais! this is bbc news, the headlines: elon musk has defended his decision to sack thousands of staff at twitter, after claiming the cuts were "essential" for the future of the platform. but as concerns have grown about the regulation of hate speech, president biden has said the tycoon has bought "an outfit that spewed lies".