The Republican Party has taken control of the Senate in the US mid-term elections, increasing their power in the final years of President Barack Obama's presidency. After gains in Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia and Colorado, North Carolina clinched victory. Kentucky's Mitch McConnell will become the Senate majority leader.
The United States Senate leaders ended an impasse over stalled free-trade agreements, agreeing to vote after the August recess on benefits for workers who lose their jobs because of overseas competition, which opens the way for the approval of pending agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama.
United States government and opposition senators are crafting a plan that could avert an unprecedented US government default if by next 2 August the national debt limit is not raised.