(Reuters) -Volkswagen is in talks with its joint venture partner SAIC about whether to conduct an independent audit of its

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will purge accounts that have been inactive on the social media platform for a long time. The Twitter chief had already expressed interest last November in purging inactive accounts. He said in the following month that Twitter would “soon” start freeing the usernames of 1.5 billion accounts, adding that inactive accounts would be deleted in the process. “We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop,” Mr Musk tweeted on Monday. “It is important to free up abandoned handles,” the multibillionaire said. Responding to a user, the Tesla and SpaceX chief said several usernames will become available as a result of the move. Many users replied to Mr Musk’s tweet, asking if there will be a way to memorialise accounts of deceased users. The multibillionaire hinted that deleted accounts “will be archived”. The latest decision comes as Twitter continues to make new changes to the platform to boost revenue even as some of the measures have alienated users and advertisers. Earlier last month, the company did away with free blue check marks, and monetised its user verification process, charging people $8 each month for the “blue tick” badges. Mr Musk, however, proceeded to reinstate the blue tick on some celebrity, media and other high profile accounts even as some of the recepients protested receiving free verification. Twitter has also tried several different approaches to boost revenue, including relaxing some of its policies that ban political advertisements and adding a more expensive ad-free subscription option to the platform. The social media company also announced that it was planning to charge companies from $42,000 to as much as $210,000 per month for access to its Application Programming Interface. Twitter has also changed its content policies, announcing it will rely more on artificial intelligence to moderate posts on the platform. The platform is also trying to attract more content creators. On Tuesday, the Tesla chief tweeted to his followers that their “support of content creators” on the platform is “very much appreciated”. “We keep none of the subscription revenue for the first 12 months & only 10 per cent thereafter,” Mr Musk said. Read More New Twitter rules expose election offices to spoof accounts Bluesky: Twitter alternative surges in popularity as celebrities join and people fight over invites AI isn’t falling into the wrong hands – it’s being built by them

A restaurant in China that challenged its customers to eat more than 100 dumplings in return for a free meal has fallen foul of authorities, who are investigating whether it has violated the country's anti-food waste law.

Popular archiving tool WinRAR has patched a serious flaw that could be exploited to launch

Moody's Investors Service warned Thursday it could downgrade Israel's credit rating due to the severity of the military conflict with Hamas.

Pep Guardiola claims the hunger shown by his Manchester City players so far this season has amazed him. After the draining end to the treble-winning 2022-23 campaign, there were fears City could be off the pace come the start of the new term. Any drop in energy levels, however, seems to have been more than compensated for by a strong desire and focus, even after the loss of key players. On Saturday, City followed up their European Super Cup triumph over Sevilla in Athens three days previously by beating Newcastle to maintain their winning start in the Premier League. “We are who we are,” said City manager Guardiola. “(There are) a lot of young players on the bench and that’s the difference – the guys who want to be here are here. The difference is always here (heart) – at the top of our bodies. “The people respond because they see still we are there and I like it. We won already one title and we are six points from six, we’ve scored goals we don’t concede many chances. “When you see that after what we have done, what can you say? Apart from thank you my friends, I love you so much. “When you have that it is because a team is so special. Otherwise we cannot do what we have done for many years, it’s impossible. Saturday amazed me and made me happy.” City have lost influential playmaker Kevin De Bruyne to an injury that could sideline him for up to five months while John Stones and Bernardo Silva were also absent at the weekend. With Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez having left over the summer, and Aymeric Laporte another possible departure, Guardiola’s squad is taking on a different shape. Guardiola said: “Over the next one or two months the club have to take some important decisions with the squad. We didn’t expect (the situation) with Kevin and we didn’t expect with Riyad.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Kim and Usher were first spotted together at the Met Gala on May 1, engaging in conversation alongside Kim's ex-boyfriend Pete Davidson

Louisiana’s gubernatorial election is one of three in the country this year

A single dose of an experimental drug from Eli Lilly & Co. cut by 94% a risk factor

Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth will start in this weekend's Rugby World Cup game against Ireland after recovering from a shoulder injury, South...

Report reveals how Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani could use Elland Road to help fund takeover of another club.

Anderson Cooper also talked about his childhood nanny and why his mother fired her