this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. elon musk defends his decision to sack thousands of staff at twitter, but admits revenues will drop. in britain, there's been disruption on the railways, despite a series of strikes being called off by the unions. vladimir putin publicly approves the evacuation of civilians from russian—occupied kherson — as ukraine's forces gear up for battle. thousands of people gathered in seoul to remember the victims of last week's halloween crush — many are demanding the president resign.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. twitter�*s new owner elon musk has defended his decision to sack about half the workforce without warning. mr musk tweeted that he'd had no choice when the social media platform was losing more large sums of money. and he's insisted twitter�*s commitment to content moderation remains unchanged, despite the loss of key staff. in an interview, elon musk revealed that twitter was losing around four million dollars a day and costs needed to be cut. he promised twitter wouldn't degenerate into what he called

a "free—for—all hellscape�* when content moderation is loosened but advertisers including general motors have withdrawn their business which may lead to a drop in revenues. and now twitter faces lawsuits from the hundreds of employees over the way they were fired. out technology editor zoe kleinman reports. he was a surprise guest at this investor conference in new york. . meanwhile, many twitter staff were locked out of their work laptops and were later told by an e—mail to their personal accounts that it was their personal accounts that it was their last working day at the firm. some had been told they will be paid until february next year, getting some sort of certainty after months of speculation. some sort of certainty after months of speculation-— of speculation. certainly frustration, _ of speculation. certainly frustration, set - of speculation. certainly frustration, set in - of speculation. certainly frustration, set in the i of speculation. certainly - frustration, set in the anger, and in some cases some relief because this was a thing that played out over the course of the majority of there were, understandably, lots of emotional tweets.

for others, it was simply by, literally, everyone. elon musk medically of any but it twitter last friday that big changes were coming. twitter is regarded as influential but has not made a profit in the event has failed to attract new users. twitter makes money from adverts. businesses are spending less on as the financial crisis bites. there have also been calls for brands to boycott twitter. number of major advertisers have stopped spending on twitter, but this doesn't seem right because we've made no change in our operations at all.— we've made no change in our operations at all. elon musk is ”lannin operations at all. elon musk is planning to — operations at all. elon musk is planning to charge _ operations at all. elon musk is planning to charge a _ operations at all. elon musk is planning to charge a monthly. operations at all. elon musk is i planning to charge a monthly fee operations at all. elon musk is - planning to charge a monthly fee for verification currently given a four feet high profile account has a badge of authenticity. he is planning to set up a board to oversee band accounts. he says he

expects an extreme work ethic. the platform itself they also start to feel like a new experience. he 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. i'm joined now byjames hayton, professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at warwick business school. hejoins us from stratford—upon—avon. thank you very much for your time today. let's pick up but that advertising angle. when advertisers get nervous, how difficult is it to woo them back and what sort of difference is there's going to make to elon musk�*s plans for twitter? well, it is quite interesting, isn't it? we've gone through this round of scares two years ago over social media and elections and i think the advertisers returned to social media

and, if the platform continues to stabilise after this initial shock, i don't think advertisers will stay away if they think it is a viable platform for selling their wares. obviously, concerns over the moderation of hate speech which will be a factor as well, won't it? elon musk is a pretty divisive figure, clearly, himself. could he and his new role be a lightning rod for that kind of hate speech for attracting the enemies and making the sort of comment is that many don't want to see on twitter as a platform? weill. see on twitter as a platform? well, i su ose see on twitter as a platform? well, i sunpose we _ see on twitter as a platform? well, i sunpose we will — see on twitter as a platform? well, i suppose we will wait _ see on twitter as a platform? well, i suppose we will wait and - see on twitter as a platform? well, i suppose we will wait and see - i suppose we will wait and see whether he does or not. i think, is a lightning rod, he also attracts a lot of negative attention because he speaks his mind. he doesn't tend to filter very for various reasons and that turned a lot of people off. i'm not sure, again, with twitter, two years ago, we were concerned with

this problem as well. this is not a new problem and i think the concern is whether it has been implemented successfully up until now. this led to him wanting to buy the company in the first place but the owners of the first place but the owners of the company sell their shares to him. so they decided it was ok to sell the company and now he's going to try to make it or remake it in a different image and it probably will be a quite different product five years from now. find be a quite different product five years from now.— be a quite different product five years from now. and by sacking the bodies allowed _ years from now. and by sacking the bodies allowed himself— years from now. and by sacking the bodies allowed himself the - years from now. and by sacking the bodies allowed himself the space, i bodies allowed himself the space, the ability to do things in the way he wants at the rate he wants. absolutely. i mean, it was clear of the past few years the boarded quite ineffective. the company has not grown. it has become, it has remained unprofitable and has not innovated. if you want to move the company quickly and change a company quickly centralising control as a normal thing to do. and removing

executives as a normal thing to do. it may appear unpleasant but you've got to move swiftly in these situations but you've got to move swiftly to make change happens. maw; swiftly to make change happens. many uses are very — swiftly to make change happens. many uses are very invested _ swiftly to make change happens. many uses are very invested in the profiles they have on twitter. do you think that elon musk was right to rip the band—aid off in the way that he has done rather than to make changes at a slower pace? i personally think he is right to do it quickly. he has already telegraphed his intentions a long way ahead. it was not really a surprise there were lay—offs. he was saying that there would be a now he's going to act to execute the changes quickly. i think there will be a period of experimentation. we don't know what kind of changes will be successful. i think the kitchen sink meant for sending a signal that twitter will be a much bigger app up until now. it will include messaging but will probably go far beyond.

it will include messaging but will probably go far beyond. in the uk — passengers are being warned to expect "significant disruption" on the railways , despite strike action being called off. tens of thousands of rail workers had been due to walk out in the long—running dispute over pay and working conditions. strikes planned for monday and wednesday have also been cancelled — as negotiations between the rmt union and train operators are stepped up. our business correspondent, marc ashdown reports. today's strike action may have been called off but widespread disruption will continue. network rail welcomed the decision but said that services which had been cancelled can't be reinstated at such late notice. a reduced strike timetable means just 20% of services will run across england, scotland and wales. those which do will start much later and finish by the early evening. thousands of members of the rmt union at ia rail companies, and network rail, are involved in the long—running dispute about pay, jobs

and terms and conditions. we are at a late venue tonight and then we are coming back tomorrow morning, so it will affect us. we are at definitely affected by that, i am going to london now and i have to take taxi back which costs us £200. the problem i findl is the information's not conveyed very well, so i know there's somel trains running but i don't- from what stations or what times, at the moment. the union said that previous strikes had made the rail companies see sense, and it looks forward to intensive negotiations to try and reach a settlement. the rail delivery group said it's glad the union stepped back from the brink, and it too is committed to negotiating, but it warned passengers will see disruption on monday as well, as it's too late to change strike rosters. the advice is to only travel if absolutely necessary. mark ashdown, bbc news. staying in the uk, immigration minister, robertjenrick, says he will meet council leaders from kent in the coming days to discuss how to deal with the rising number of migrants arriving

across the channel. earlier this week, a group of councillors sent a letter to the home secretary, suella braverman, saying the county is at breaking point. simonjones is in dover. the british prime minister rishi sue naicker said the issue of channel crossings, people travelling over from funds in small boats, is serious and unprecedented. he is about to do all they can to stop the dangerous crossings. to give you a sense of our seriously the british government is taking this, the immigration minister has visited kent three times over the past week. on sunday, he was at a immigration detention centre. there have been issues with overcrowding and concern about disease spreading. he was here at the port of dover and yesterday

he came to meet local residents to hear about their concerns. also concerned our politicians here in kent. the leaders of all the councils here in kent have written to the home secretary saying the system is under unprecedented pressure and they are struggling to cope because when migrants are brought to shore they initially come here to dover and then get taken to processing. there is a former military barracks here which is used to house asylum seekers. hotels are used to accommodate people and kent has also accepted the largest number of ukrainian refugees anyway in the uk and they say the system is close to being overwhelmed. now, in terms of what we're hearing from the government, they say they're giving local authority support. the latest on channel crossings as it is very clear today, you can seal the way

over to france but it is quite choppy out at sea and these crossings are very much dependent upon the weather. it's in a helicopter in the sky, one of the border force cutters out on the channel, also drones. so they are preparing for the possibility of but it will depend very much on the wind dropping but we are getting very close now to 40,000 people having made the journey so far this year. boats are being packed with more and more people in real concern. talk of potentially a new deal between britain and france which will ultimately involve written giving more money to funds to increase patrols on beaches over northern france. this is a big issue and governments are really struggling with how best to deal with it. prime minister rishi sunak has warned that people can't expect the state to �*fix every problem' — but is confident that the public will find his autumn budget to be �*fair and compassionate'. mr sunak was speaking

to the times in his first interview as prime minister. with me to discuss this is our political correspondent david wallace lockhart picking up on that issue of migrants, was there any indication in this interview about how he, his controversial home secretary suella braverman plan to deal with this issue where previous incarnations of the conservative government have failed too. ~ ., ., , , failed too. what he does say in this interview with _ failed too. what he does say in this interview with the _ failed too. what he does say in this interview with the times _ failed too. what he does say in this interview with the times is - failed too. what he does say in this interview with the times is that - failed too. what he does say in this interview with the times is that he l interview with the times is that he is determined to get to grips with the issue. he said there is no silver bullet to deal with it and says it is a big challenge. we know the government has its deal with the wonder that it hopes to implement at some point. it is currently tied up in legal challenges and people claiming asylum with the government believe doesn't have the right to be

here would be taken to rwanda. they would be processed there and even if the claim is then successful they would be settled in rwanda, not in the uk. the government is keen to implement more of these deals with other countries. a controversial deal. what else was controversial last week the home secretary using that word invasion using boats crossing the channel. he was asked about that in an interview in defence the use of that word base well above man said what she was trying to do was show the scale of the challenge the country currently faces. most of it is about the economic challenges the uk is currently facing and how rishi sunak plans to deal with it. we know there is a big financial event on november

17, the autumn statement. government is giving away very little on the run up to that but essentially saying a lot of things on the table. we know there is talk of cuts. we know the treasury is considering tax rises which will effectively household in the country. this is in expressing the fact he wants to be fair and the count for the most vulnerable in society but were to take an issue that raising benefits and should any base be in line with inflation keeping up with rising prices, we don't have a guarantee on that from the government, we don't have a guarantee on pensions for these acts in question and there big questions about how government departments can cope with potential cuts given that many of them are already struggling at the moment so rishi sue next thing you want to be further cut for the most vulnerable but as soon as we get this budget on november 17 will be a lot of analysis about what the impact is likely to be for the most vulnerable in society. the labour party of course saying they believe the economy is in such a bad place because of the 12 years of conservative rule we have had. this is an egg is adamant he is the person to see the country through this economic turmoil and championing his experience as chancellor and experience that

coronaviruses placing into as the best person to do so. coronaviruses placing into as the best person to do so. thousands of people are taking part in candlelight vigils and rallies in south korea to remember the 156 people killed in a halloween crowd crush. the victims, mostly young people, were among around 100,000 who had flocked to the popular itaewon nightlife district in the capital seoul. let's go live now to seoul where we can speak to the bbc�*s nick marsh. and to what extent is this memorial also protest about the circumstances in which this tragedy happened? this is in which this tragedy happened? in 3 is technically a in which this tragedy happened? in 1 is technically a vigil. in which this tragedy happened? t'i1 is technically a vigil. there in which this tragedy happened? t1i1 is technically a vigil. there are thousands here in central seoul. emotional speeches and we've heard the parents of victims as well but you are quite right. really, this is a protest. this event here has been organised by the main opposition

party here in south korea and you can tell. i spent the afternoon walking around, speaking to people. they are saying things like the president is responsible for this tragedy in which so many people lost their lives. placards here they say their lives. placards here they say the best way of expressing your condolences is to resign. one thing i've noticed, having been here the entire week, is that the initial grief, the shock is turning to angen grief, the shock is turning to anger. people want answers. they want to know how such a tragedy could possibly have occurred and whether that responsibility extends all the way up to the president. halal all the way up to the president. how much danger — all the way up to the president. how much danger is _ all the way up to the president. how much danger is that the president in because of this if we think back to the awful ferry disaster which saw the awful ferry disaster which saw the loss of the lives of 250 teenagers and which ultimately led

to the then president losing her job. to what extent do you think it is going to take that sort of action to make people feel that their grievances, their loss, their sorrow is being listened to? that comparison _ is being listened to? that comparison you _ is being listened to? that comparison you made - is being listened to? thatl comparison you made with is being listened to? twat comparison you made with a ferry disaster, that is a comparison that has been made by so many people that i've spoken to over the course of this week. the perception was not enough was done. no fundamental conclusive reason as to what went wrong. the president is under a lot of political pressure. it's only beenin of political pressure. it's only been in the job a few months. his ratings in the poll are quite low and you have to think long and hard but how is government takes responsibility about this and how

much responsibility wants to take. he's come out with a kind of hard apology. he said that, as the president, is responsible safety of the people and is deeply sad. a lot of people don't think that is enough and let's not forget what the fundamental failures were. and let's not forget what the fundamentalfailures were. on fundamental failures were. on saturday fundamentalfailures were. on saturday night to overly policing failures, failure to anticipate such large crowds. such a huge number of people. the local councillors as well held meetings. neither made any reference to crowd control or the numbers that would be there on saturday night. and the fact that so many emergency calls were made and the response of the police was inadequate. like i said, this is up to south koreans to decide how much this is going to fall on the government and therefore the president and how much it is going to authorities on saturday night.

thank you very much. russia's president, vladimir putin has publicly approved the evacuation of civilians from parts of russian—occupied kherson in southern ukraine. kyiv�*s forces have been steadily advancing on the strategic port city. mr putin says people living in dangerous areas should leave as "the civilian population should not suffer". our correspondent catherine byaruhanga is in the ukrainian capital kyiv and has the latest. it is really difficult for us to get information from journalists. it is under russian control but really, these comments, the statement from president vladimir putin may be gives us an insight on what could be

happening. he has spoken publicly for the first time, supporting civilian evacuations from this strategic we understand, up until now, since the middle of last month, about 70,000 people have been removed from certain parts of the western bank of the region towards the eastern bank of the region. now, ukraine has spoken out against these movements of people, calling them forcible deportations and saying they go against international law but why this is important is that once again it puts the focused on this important city. it was the only major city under russian control. these forces are trying to hold onto it. as you mentioned there, the ukrainian forces have been taking parts of the city and this really points to an incoming battle for this port city. 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. let's get some of the day's other news. north korea fired four short—range ballistic missiles into the western sea on saturday morning, according to south korean military. they say the missiles flew about 130 kilometres at an alitude of 20 kilometres. it's the latest in a series of launches this week including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile. a group of tourists being held captive on an amazon cruise boat

in peru for 24 hours has been released. indigenous people stopped the boat as part of a protest about their community being damaged by an oil leak from a pipeline in september. the us climate envoy, john kerry, is calling on richer countries to "step up" and provide money to help developing nations reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. speaking to the bbc on the eve of the cop—27 climate conference in egypt, mr kerry praised the development of renewable sources of energy, but said the war in ukraine and the cost of living crisis had slowed progress. the un has accepted that there is no credible pathway towards keeping the rise in global temperatures to one point five degrees celsius above pre industrial levels.

before we go — have a look at this. a chilean reporter was live on air when a parrot landed on his shoulder and stole his earphone. nicolas krumm, a journalist for the chilevision channel, was speaking about the rise in robberies in the local area when it happened.luckily for him — the parrot ended up dropping the device and he was able to get it back. antarctica may seem like a far—off place to most people, but it's about to get a whole lot closer for 10 teenagers from across the uk. all from underpriviliged backgrounds, they've been nominated by members of their community to be part of the first carbon neutral expedition of its kind aboard a specially chartered ship. john maguire reports. they are travelling from the four corners of the uk to the end of the earth.

antarctica. the ten underprivileged young people will spend the next two weeks here, exploring, experimenting, experiencing. ok, so you have the one for malachi? it is the brainchild of two adventurers who believe people from a wider range of backgrounds deserve the chance to visit the world's wildest places. we want them to know that antarctica is not this place that is a myth, legend, only on tv. it's a real place and has a lot of consequences to us and we need to protect it and we think the best way to get these young people to start looking at nature and the outdoors as a viable career path and something worth looking after is by taking them out into the thick of it. the whole idea and motto is it is not about planting flags, it's about planting seeds and by picking the young people from some of these deprived areas, we have planted the seed that anyone from any area or any background can do this and we want them to plant

that the seed in their own community to show that everyone can do good. ten chosen from 700, most of whom were put forward by their local communities. owen was recommended by a police officer. i think there is a link- between inner city challenges in certain pockets of merseyside and his ability to sort _ of turn his back on that l and access the outdoors, and through the outdoors i and through his engagement with school and working alongside other partner agencies, _ i was happy to nominate for this opportunity. - why would someone pay for just a random lad from liverpool to go to antarctica? so it was quite a shock. the expedition aims to be carbon neutral, so the team has been planting trees. the teenagers had to take part in a pay it forward scheme, earning their place on the trip by volunteering in their local area. i did litter picking to help our community, so there is not much rubbish

going around to make the place prettier and better for everyone. i am really excited to go see what is happening on the adventure i'm going to have, being everything and also very interested in the science part of it, the experiments we will be doing. guys, in front of you, you see i the suitcases, these are yours. this has all of your specialist antarctica equipment in it. they do not quite know what they will discover but one thing is for certain, it will be cold! so the wetwo foundation has made sure they are properly equipped. antarctica is normally the preserve of scientists, wealthy tourists and penguins. lots of penguins. but for the next few weeks, it will also be home to ten young people on, it is hoped, a life—changing adventure. very best of luck to all ten of them. now it's time for a look

at the weather with chris fawkes. we will all see a spell of rain at some point today. it has been a fine and bright start to the day across northern and eastern scotland. some lovely sunrise pictures earlier on this morning but the cloud is gathering. this is rain bearing clouds and the the rain stretches out into the atlantic. it would be more heavy rain to eastern england for tomorrow as well so it is going to stay pretty unsettled. this radar picture showers you where the rain has been over recent hours. moving across ireland, rain easing here but we've got wet weather heading across england and wales. it will tend to turn light and patchy nature so no huge amounts of rain across central and eastern areas and across the north—west of the country will brighten up to the afternoon with some sunny spells. all the while, south—westerly winds were being

madhur. and for bonfire