President to speak in Maryland while predecessor travels to Ohio, amid surge in early voting

Volker Türk, the new United Nations high commissioner for human rights, yesterday urged Twitter owner Elon Musk to make respect for human rights central to the social media platform, amid savage cuts to the tech company’s staff under its new chief.

In an open letter, Türk said that reports of the new owner laying off the platform’s entire human rights team were “not, from my perspective, an encouraging start”.

Democrats frame election as referendum on US democracy while Republicans say they will better address economic woes

US political leaders from both sides of the aisle on Sunday made their closing arguments to voters two days before the hotly contested midterm elections, with several top Democrats framing the election as a referendum on American democracy.

President Joe Biden accused Republicans of reveling in political violence, saying hundreds of the party’s candidates for state, federal and local office were “election deniers, who say that I did not win the election, even though hundreds of attempts to challenge have all failed, even in Republican courts”.

History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm, and Democrats seem likely to follow that pattern

With just a few days left before polls close in America’s crucial midterm elections, Republicans appear better positioned than ever to regain control of the House of Representatives and potentially the Senate as well.

History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections, and despite some optimistic signs over the summer, Democrats now seem likely to follow that pattern on 8 November.