Twitter ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, two others sue Elon Musk for job-related legal bills
The trio filed a lawsuit on Monday requesting compensation for expenses related to litigation, investigations, and congressional inquiries linked to their former roles
Pramod Thomas is a senior correspondent with Asian Media Group since 2020, bringing 19 years of journalism experience across business, politics, sports, communities, and international relations. His career spans both traditional and digital media platforms, with eight years specifically focused on digital journalism. This blend of experience positions him well to navigate the evolving media landscape and deliver content across various formats. He has worked with national and international media organisations, giving him a broad perspective on global news trends and reporting standards.
A group of three high-ranking Twitter officials who were fired by Elon Musk after he assumed control of the social media platform last year have taken legal action.
They filed a lawsuit on Monday (10) requesting compensation for expenses related to litigation, investigations, and congressional inquiries linked to their former roles.
Former CEO, Parag Agrawal, and the former chief legal and financial officers are seeking a combined amount of over $1 million, contending that Twitter has a legal obligation to pay them.
Twitter responded to an AFP request for comment with a poop emoji, as has become its practice.
The court filing outlined numerous expenses related to inquiries by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), but does not include details on the nature of the investigations or whether they are still ongoing.
Agrawal and then-chief financial officer Ned Segal provided testimony to the SEC last year and "have continued to engage with federal authorities," according to court documents.
The SEC is investigating whether Musk complied with securities rules when he amassed Twitter shares.
Former Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde was called on to take part in a US congressional hearing about big tech and free speech following Musk's release late last year of so-called "Twitter Files" related to the site's content moderation.
Gadde was also named as a defendant in a lawsuit by a man who claimed he was "doxed" at Twitter as a white supremacist, the filing said.
Musked terminated Agrawal, Gadde and Segal from their posts in late October after closing his contentious $44 billion takeover of Twitter.
The three former executives argue that Twitter is bound by agreements to reimburse them, but has done no more than acknowledge it received their invoices.
After taking over Twitter, Musk quickly slashed the ranks of employees, with the cuts so broad it raised concerns about the platform's stability and its ability to fight misinformation and other abuse.
Complaints have also been filed accusing Twitter of not paying rent or other bills as Musk follows on a vow to "cut costs like crazy."
Meanwhile, market trackers say advertising revenue has plunged at Twitter due to concerns over misinformation and hateful content flourishing as Musk dials back moderation efforts.
New ‘We Like the Way You Move’ campaign launched by Sport England initiative This Girl Can.
Focus on improving representation of South Asian Muslim women in sport and physical activity.
Research highlights stark under-representation of women of colour in public sports imagery.
Campaign calls on providers to create inclusive, women-only and culturally sensitive spaces.
This Girl Can has unveiled a powerful new campaign spotlighting South Asian Muslim women in sport, aiming to redefine what being active looks like and tackle deep-rooted barriers. The We Like the Way You Move drive, launched by Sport England, uses strong visuals with community-driven storytelling to encourage participation and promote inclusivity. It comes alongside new data exposing how women of colour remain overlooked in public representations of physical activity.
South Asian Muslim women embrace movement in the We Like the Way You Move campaign www.easterneye.biz
Why does the new This Girl Can campaign matter?
The We Like the Way You Move campaign seeks to correct years of invisibility for South Asian Muslim women in British sport and physical activity. While they make up 6.8% of the population, a study analysing over 4,000 publicly available images from gyms, parks, swimming pools and sports clubs found only 61 featured South Asian women.
Almost half of those rare images came from London facilities, with many other regions showing none at all. This lack of representation, campaign organisers say, contributes to feelings of exclusion and reinforces barriers to participation for women who already face cultural and logistical challenges.
What barriers do South Asian Muslim women face in sport?
Findings from Sport England reveal that cultural and structural obstacles discourage South Asian Muslim women from getting active. Forty-seven per cent of respondents said they would feel more comfortable attending women-only sessions, while 31% cited the need for greater flexibility around clothing and dress codes, and 25% called for staff who understand their specific needs.
These women also emphasised holistic health benefits, such as improved sleep, social connection and self-empowerment as major motivators. Campaign leads stress that inclusive, culturally sensitive environments are crucial to helping more women take their first steps towards sport and fitness.
This Girl Can pushes for culturally sensitive fitness spaces across the UK
Who is featured in the campaign?
Thirteen women from across England, street-cast for their authentic stories, appear in the We Like the Way You Move advert. Their activities show real life, from family bike rides and dancing in the kitchen to wheelchair rugby, pregnancy yoga, boxing and walking football.
One participant, Sara from Walsall, is a 32-year-old mother of three who wears a headscarf and is reclaiming movement for her mental health. “After struggling with my mental health, I realised I needed to look after myself as well as my family,” she said. “Movement has lifted me, whether that’s cycling with my kids or carving out time on my own, it boosts my energy and reminds me that health is wealth.”
Yashmin Harun, founder and chair of the Muslimah Sports Association, welcomed the campaign and highlighted the need for safe, supportive environments where Muslim women can be active without compromising their cultural or religious values.
Founder and chair of the Muslimah Sports Association Yashmin Harun
“South Asian Muslim women have long faced barriers to being active, from a lack of women-only spaces to limited flexibility with clothing,” she said. “When provided with the right environment, many women are motivated to overcome their barriers and get active. With This Girl Can’s campaign bringing to light what South Asian Muslim women need, it’s an exciting time to create spaces where we can move, belong, and thrive on our own terms.”
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Apple Intelligence adds features such as Live Translation and Image Playground
iPadOS 26 introduces Apple’s Liquid Glass design, the biggest aesthetic overhaul in a decade.
Windowing and multitasking bring MacBook-like usability to the iPad.
Productivity gains include a new Files app, Background Tasks and a Menu Bar.
Apple Intelligence adds features such as Live Translation and Image Playground.
Reviewers say the update makes the iPad more powerful, though with a learning curve.
Apple has released iPadOS 26, a free update for compatible tablets, and early reviews describe it as one of the most significant overhauls in the iPad’s history. With a striking new design language and laptop-style productivity tools, the software pushes the iPad closer than ever to being a true alternative to the MacBook.
Liquid Glass wins over critics
The most visible change is Apple’s new Liquid Glass aesthetic. First revealed at WWDC 2025, the design uses translucent layers and fluid animations to create the effect of glass surfaces shifting across the screen. Critics say it looks especially impressive on the iPad’s larger display, where the Control Centre, Lock Screen and Camera app now feel more modern and dynamic.
Reviewers note that performance has not been compromised, with the animations running smoothly even on mid-range iPad models. Many describe it as Apple’s boldest visual refresh since the move to flat design a decade ago.
Windowing and multitasking narrow the gap with Mac
The headline functional upgrade is windowing. Apps can now be opened in separate, resizable windows that can be moved and grouped on the screen. Combined with multitasking, this allows multiple apps to run side by side — making it easier to write, browse and use productivity tools simultaneously.
A new Menu Bar at the top of apps, complete with familiar File, Edit and View options, adds further Mac-like usability. The inclusion of the familiar red, yellow and green window buttons makes managing the screen more intuitive.
Analysts say these changes will appeal particularly to creative professionals and productivity users who have long wanted the iPad to behave more like a laptop.
Productivity and pro-level features
The redesigned Files app makes locating and organising content simpler, with list views, custom folders and drag-and-drop integration. Background Tasks mean large video or image files can continue processing while users move on to other apps, a feature aimed squarely at professionals.
Paired with Apple’s M-series chips, reviewers say iPads now rival many laptops in performance, while remaining lighter and more portable.
Apple Intelligence and other additions
iPadOS 26 also extends Apple’s suite of AI-powered tools. Live Translation works across FaceTime, Messages and Phone, while Image Playground allows users to generate custom visuals and emoji. New Shortcuts expand automation, while an updated Games app introduces an overlay for adjusting settings without leaving play.
Other changes include improved audio recording for professionals and expanded options in Apple Music, such as lyric translation. While some reviewers believe Apple is still behind rivals in AI, most agree the additions add useful creativity and communication options.
A learning curve for users
Not all feedback is uncritical. Reviewers highlight a learning curve in adjusting to gestures and swipes required for window management. Those accustomed to macOS may also find themselves trying to apply laptop shortcuts that do not carry over directly to iPadOS. For casual users who rely mainly on streaming and gaming, some of the professional tools may feel excessive.
Despite these challenges, the consensus is that iPadOS 26 represents the most significant step forward for Apple’s tablet in years. The combination of Liquid Glass design and MacBook-like multitasking makes the iPad more versatile than ever. For professionals, creatives and productivity-minded users, the update transforms the device into a true laptop competitor, while even casual users benefit from the refreshed design and expanded features.
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Piyush Goyal with Jonathan Reynolds at Chequers during the signing of the UK–India Free Trade Agreement in July
IN SIR KEIR STARMER’S cabinet reshuffle last week, triggered by the resignation of Angela Rayner, the prime minister shifted Jonathan Reynolds from business and trade secretary and president of the board of trade after barely a year in the post to chief whip, making him responsible for the party.
The move doesn’t make much sense. At Chequers, the UK-India Free Trade Agreement was signed by Reynolds, and the Indian commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal. They had clearly established a friendly working relationship.
Reynolds apparently bought Goyal an ice cream some weeks ago when they were walking in London’s Hyde Park and ironed out the last remaining problems.
Goyal will have to start all over again with Reynolds’s replacement, Peter Kyle.
At least, Lisa Nandy, who managed to sign a cultural agreement with India, remains culture secretary, despite persistent reports she was due for the sack. I have high hopes of Kanishka Narayan, who has been appointed parliamentary under-secretary in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Crucially, chancellor Rachel Reeves has not been given another job.
But, in his heart of hearts, Starmer must know he cannot win the next general election if she remains his chancellor. Her vindictive VAT raid on private schools has ruined the lives of many children and forced school after school to close. And the rules on inheritance tax and non-doms have driven many Indian entrepreneurs to flee to Dubai. Starmer should be “pragmatic” – a word he likes – and reverse these policies for the good of the country.
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Princess Karam of Kapurthala, photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1935
A FAMOUS photograph taken by Cecil Beaton of an Indian princess features in an exhibition of his work, Fashionable World, at the National Portrait Gallery.
Beaten made his name by taking pictures of the English upper classes and also Hollywood stars, but some of his most striking – and evocative – images are of Indian royalty.
One taken in 1935 was of Sita Devi, Princess Karmajit of Kapurthala, who was also known as Princess Karam and eulogised as “the Pearl of India”.
She was the muse of several photographers, including Beaton, and considered “one of the most beautiful women in the world”. Born into the Hindu Rajput royal family of Kashipur in 1915, she embarked on a remarkable journey at the age of 13 when she married Prince Karamjit Singh, the younger son of Maharajah Jagatjit Singh I of Kapurthala in Punjab. She died in 2002.
According to one report, “her frequent visits to Paris saw her rubbing shoulders with the crème de la crème of European society, enchanting the Parisian elite with her exquisite blend of traditional Indian elegance and European haute couture. Her sartorial choices were a seamless fusion of her royal Indian heritage and the avant-garde fashion of Paris, making her a muse for esteemed designers like Mainbocher and Madame Grès. She effortlessly carried saris with the same grace as she did the luxurious gowns and fur coats designed by these fashion legends, often accessorised with jewels from Cartier and Boucheron.
“At the age of 19, Vogue hailed her as a ‘secular goddess’, a title that reflected her transcendent appeal and impeccable fashion sense. Her influence extended beyond borders, captivating the imagination of the Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who was so inspired by the princess’s saris that she dedicated her 1935 collection to them. This collection was a homage to the traditional Indian garment, reimagined through the lens of European haute couture. Schiaparelli’s designs captured the fluidity and grace of the sari, while infusing it with the avantgarde spirit of the time, thus bridging two distinct cultural aesthetics. The princess’s impact on the fashion world was profound, as she brought the elegance of Indian attire to the forefront of the Parisian fashion scene, influencing styles and trends across continents.”
Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur at Rambagh Palace
Fashionable World will be the first exhibition to exclusively explore Beaton’s pioneering contributions to fashion photography. “From Hollywood stars and titans of art, to high society and royalty, the exhibition will feature portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most iconic figures, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret; as well as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí,” the NPG has announced.
The exhibition is curated by photographic historian and contributing editor to Vogue, Robin Muir.
In 2020, he curated another Beaton exhibition, Bright Young Things, at the NPG but this had to be closed because of the pandemic. That, too, had a photograph of Princess Karamjit.
The caption to her photograph then read: “A fixture on the social scene in the pre-war years, the Princess was in demand, frequently for jewellery stories, not least because her husband commissioned extravagant pieces from Cartier and Van Cleef and Arpels. Cecil photographed her in diamond bracelet by Cartier, emblazoned with an emerald, which he recalled, was ‘the size of a small fruit’. The princess’s credentials as a style leader were cemented when (Italian fashion designer) Elsa Schiaparelli based a collection on her colourful saris.”
She also merited a whole page in the 2020 catalogue which explained: “Beaton had been transfixed by one Indian in particular, the beautiful Sita Devi, Princess Karam of Kapurthala.
“Her mondaine chic inspired Ira Gershwin’s lyrics to Maharanee(A Night at the Races in Paris), a number from the Broadway revue, The Ziegfield Follies of 1936.”
The lyrics went: Even if you were just half as sweet, /It would still be like heaven to meet/Such a gay Maharanee/Paris is at your feet!
Fashionable World, which will open next month, will display around 250 items, including photographs, letters, sketches and costumes.
Muir commented: “Cecil Beaton needs little introduction as a photographer, fashion illustrator, triple Oscar-winning costume designer, social caricaturist, elegant writer of essays and occasionally waspish diaries, stylist, decorator, dandy and party goer. Beaton’s impact spans the worlds of fashion, photography and design. Unquestionably one of the leading visionary forces of the British twentieth century, he also made a lasting contribution to the artistic lives of New York, Paris and Hollywood.”
Victoria Siddall, director of the NPG, pointed out: “The National Portrait Gallery has a long and distinguished history with Cecil Beaton. His work was the subject of the NPG’s first dedicated photography exhibition in 1968, made in collaboration with Beaton himself, as well as being the first solo survey accorded any living photographer in any national museum in Britain. We are honoured to be working with Vogue’s Robin Muir, whose exhaustive research, vision and flair will guide us through Beaton’s innovative and storied influences on the fashion world.”
Actress Elizabeth Taylor, 1955
The exhibition catalogue will explain why “Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) was an extraordinary force in the 20th century British and American creative scenes. Renowned as a fashion illustrator, Oscarwinning costume designer, social caricaturist, essayist, and decorated writer, Beaton’s impact spans the worlds of fashion, photography, and design.”
The NPG added, “Known as ‘The King of Vogue’, he elevated fashion and portrait photography into an art form. His eradefining photographs captured beauty, glamour, and star power in the interwar and early post-war eras.
“Through several interwoven themes, the world of Cecil Beaton will be examined in detail. The exhibition will follow Beaton’s career from its inception, as a child of the Edwardian era experimenting with his first camera on his earliest subjects, his two sisters and mother (c. 1910), his years of invention and creativity as a student at Cambridge University, to his first images of the high society patrons who put him on the map. Including Stephen Tennant and the Sitwell siblings.
“The exhibition will journey through the London of the 1920s and 1930s, the era of the Bright Young Things and Beaton’s first commissions for his greatest patron, Vogue, to his travels to New York and Paris in the Jazz Age. Drawn to its glamour and star wattage, Beaton photographed the legends of Hollywood in its Golden Age. Cecil Beaton’s first royal photographs appeared in the late 1930s. As the Second World War loomed, he defined the notion of the monarchy for a modern age. Appointed an official war photographer by the Ministry of Information, his wartime service took him around the globe.
Beaton at the opening of his painting exhibition in London, 1966
“The war’s end ushered in a new era of elegance and Beaton captured the high fashion brilliance of the 1950s in vivid, glorious colour. The exhibition will end with what many consider his greatest triumph and by which he is likely best known: the costumes and sets for the musical My Fair Lady, on stage and later on screen.
“Almost entirely self-taught, Beaton established a singular photographic style; a marriage of Edwardian stage portraiture, emerging European surrealism and the modernist approach of the great American photographers of the era, all filtered through a determinedly English sensibility.”
In India he also photographed Gayatri Devi, the Maharani of Jaipur; the Maharani of Pratapgarh, Chimnabai II; and Maharani Kusum Kunwarba of Chhota Udepur in Gujarat.
Photographing Indian royals helped Beaton obscure his own middle-class origins, which greatly embarrassed the photographer. In 1923, he admitted: “I don’t want people to know me as I really am, but as I am trying and pretending to be.”
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The deal makes Microsoft’s pledges legally binding for at least 7 years
The European Commission accepted Microsoft’s commitments to unbundle Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365.
The deal makes Microsoft’s pledges legally binding for at least seven years, avoiding a heavy antitrust fine.
Changes include reduced-price Office suites without Teams, easier switching for long-term customers, and improved interoperability.
The case followed a 2023 complaint by Slack, now owned by Salesforce.
Critics say Microsoft’s bundling harmed competition and denied customers choice.
The European Union has accepted binding commitments from Microsoft to unbundle its Teams communication platform from its Office software suites, sparing the company a potentially heavy antitrust fine. The move follows a lengthy investigation triggered by a complaint from rival service Slack.
EU decision
On Friday, the European Commission confirmed that Microsoft’s commitments would become legally binding under EU competition rules for a period of at least seven years. Regulators had accused the company of “abusive” tying practices by packaging Teams with Office products, a move that they said prevented rivals from competing fairly.
“With today’s decision, we make binding for seven years or more Microsoft’s commitments to put an end to its tying practices,” said Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice-president for clean, just and competitive transition.
Microsoft’s commitments
The commitments, first announced in May, require Microsoft to:
Offer Office 365 and Microsoft 365 suites without Teams at a reduced price.
Allow long-term licence holders to switch to versions without Teams.
Ensure better interoperability between Teams rivals and Microsoft products.
Facilitate the transfer of data from Teams to competing services.
Following a market test of its initial pledges, Microsoft also agreed to widen the price gap between bundles with and without Teams by 50% and to display alternatives without Teams more clearly on its websites.
“We appreciate the dialogue with the Commission that led to this agreement, and we turn now to implementing these new obligations promptly and fully,” said Nanna-Louise Linde, Microsoft’s vice-president of European government affairs.
Slack’s complaint and industry reaction
The case originated from a July 2023 complaint by Slack, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2021 for $27.7 billion. Salesforce executives argued that Microsoft’s bundling had distorted the market.
Sabastian Niles, Salesforce’s chief legal officer, welcomed the EU’s announcement, saying the ruling confirmed that Microsoft’s practices “harmed businesses, denied customers fair choice, and resulted in many years of lost competition.”
“This settlement is a meaningful step forward, and we applaud the Commission’s efforts to hold Microsoft accountable,” he added.