Twitter sacked half of its 7,500-strong staff on Friday as new owner Elon Musk launched his major overhaul of the troubled company just a week after his blockbuster takeover.

Just a month before the Group of Seven rich countries plan to cap the price of Russian oil, officials are racing to finalise details, leaving traders, shippers and insurers with questions about the price level and how it will work.

At least 14 people, including two children and a teenager, were shot in a drive-by shooting in western Chicago on Halloween night on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities, police said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed rivalry between two superpowers and Russia’s war in Ukraine in a call Sunday, State Department and Beijing’s foreign ministry said.

President Joe Biden cast his ballot in the US midterms Saturday, participating in early voting ahead of elections that could cost his Democrats their Congressional majority.

US President Joe Biden will attend next month’s COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt, the White House said Friday, vowing he would “highlight the need for the world to act.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the United States next month in Bangkok in the third in a trio of Asian summits, the White House confirmed Friday, as President Joe Biden returns for his granddaughter’s wedding.

Former US president Donald Trump on Friday hailed Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro as a “great” leader and called on Brazilians to vote him in for another term.

A man who clubbed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband over the head with a hammer, shouting, “Where is Nancy?”, faced charges of attempted murder and other felonies a day after the violent break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home.

Former US president Barack Obama said Friday that democracy is at stake in next month’s midterm elections in the United States, as he hit his first stop on the campaign trail.

Elon Musk yesterday began his first full day leading Twitter, with critics and fans anxious to see how the planet’s richest man will run one of the world’s leading social media platforms.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights the “acute threat” posed by Moscow, but China is the most consequential challenge for the United States, the Pentagon has said.

If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon? He’s been very dangerous in how he’s approached this.

Nasa’s robotic InSight lander, in the twilight of its service after nearly four years on Mars, is revealing new details about Earth’s closest planetary neighbour based on data from two big meteorite impacts that shed light on the Martian crust’s structure.

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi was assaulted during a break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home early yesterday and a suspect has been arrested, authorities said.

Two people were killed on Monday and several were injured by a gunman who opened fire at a high school in the midwestern US city of St. Louis, police said.

Ashton Carter, who served as US secretary of defense during Barack Obama’s administration, has died at age 68, his family said.

A 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday, killing two people and injuring seven others before officers fatally shot the suspect, the city's police commissioner said.

Plastic recycling rates are declining even as production shoots up, according to a Greenpeace USA report out yesterday that blasted industry

Joe Biden, the oldest person ever in the US presidency, said Friday it’s his “intention” to run again in 2024 and that his wife Jill thinks he should not “walk away.”