## Gazprom, Russia's energy giant, is discussing a 40% cut to its HQ staff as the war keeps Moscow cut off from Western customers

Authored by businessinsider.com

Russia's state-owned gas giant is mulling a sweeping cut to its managing staff in St. Petersburg.

A letter from Gazprom's board to its CEO suggested layoffs of 40% for its headquarters amid "challenges.".

Russian energy giant Gazprom is considering a 40% cut to its headquarters staff after posting its first loss in 24 years, according to a letter from one of its board members to the firm's CEO.

The letter, first reported by St. Petersburg-based outlet 47News on Monday, proposed that the central office head count be reduced from 4,100 to 2,500 people.

Ilyukhina added that the company could instead rely on "automation and digitalization" for roles like accounting and planning.

47News wrote that Ilyukhina also estimated a 40% cut would align Gazprom's management-to-employee ratio with that of Rosatom, a state-owned nuclear energy firm.

More recently, Kyiv allowed the expiration of a pre-war contract to pipe Russian gas to Western customers such as Austria. »

### Mastodon’s founder cedes control, refuses to become next Musk or Zuckerberg

Authored by arstechnica.com

As founder, Rochko initially took the reins to ensure the decentralized platform would never be for sale and "would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual."

The news comes after leaders of other social networks, like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have sparked backlash over sudden changes to popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter).

That could make it possible to discover more content without depending on a "For You" algorithm mining user data. »

### Man was ‘awake and conscious’ when his face caught fire during surgery, lawsuit says

Authored by lawandcrime.com

The family of an Oregon man who suffered from severe burns after his face caught on fire during surgery is suing the hospital for $900,000.

He checked in to Oregon Health & Science University hospital for a tracheostomy to have a breathing tube inserted into his throat.

Part of the preparation for that surgery involved his face being swabbed with isopropyl alcohol for sterilization. »

### Judge to allow release of Jack Smith's report on Trump election interference case

Authored by nbcnews.com

Cannon kept in place a prohibition on releasing the part of the report about the classified document case, which the Justice Department said it didn't intend to release at this point.

After Cannon’s ruling on Monday, Trump's lawyers filed a last ditch effort asking her to prevent the release of Smith’s entire report.

Trump was indicted on four federal felony charges in connection with his attempts to overturn his election loss, but the case was stymied by delay tactics, and it was ultimately dropped after Trump won the 2024 election. »

### Zelenskyy offers firefighting help from Ukraine for Los Angeles-area wildfires: "Nothing short of extraordinary"

Authored by cbsnews.com

"The situation there is extremely difficult, and Ukrainians can help Americans save lives.

This is currently being coordinated, and we have offered our assistance to the American side through the relevant channels.

"Ukraine's offer of support to California during these devastating wildfires is nothing short of extraordinary," said a post on X. »

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