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A gunman has opened fire at a St Louis high school, killing at least two people and wounding six others before officers fatally shot the suspect, the city's police commissioner says.

When police arrived at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School at 9.10am on Monday in response to an active shooter call, students were running out, telling officers that a shooter was inside with a "long gun," Commissioner Mike Sack said during a news conference.

Entering the building, officers soon exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who appeared to be about 20 years old, fatally wounding him, Sack said.

An adult female and a teenage female were killed in the shooting, Sack said.

The other victims suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds.

Eight people were transported to the hospital while one died at the scene.

"While on paper we might have nine victims... we have hundreds of others," he said.

"Everyone who survived this is going to take home trauma."

The doors had been locked at Central Visual, a magnet school attended by about 380 students, before the shooting, Sack said.

Security staff identified how the suspect entered the building but he declined further comment on how the gunman got inside.

The shooting was one of dozens in US schools that caused death or injuries this year alone.

© RAW 2022

Leslie Jordan, the Emmy-winning actor whose wry Southern drawl and versatility made him a comedy and drama standout on TV series including Will & Grace and American Horror Story, has died. He was 67.

"The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan. Not only was he a mega talent and joy to work with, but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times," a representative for Jordan said in a statement on Monday.

"Knowing that he has left the world at the height of both his professional and personal life is the only solace one can have today."

The Tennessee native, who won an on outstanding guest actor Emmy in 2005 for Will & Grace, appeared recently on the Mayim Bialik comedy Call Me Kat and co-starred on the sitcom The Cool Kids.

Jordan's other eclectic credits include Fantasy Island and The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Jordan earned an unexpected new following in 2021 when he spent time during the pandemic lockdown near family in his hometown. He broke the sameness by posting daily videos of himself on Instagram.

Many of Jordan's videos included him asking "How ya'll doin?" and some included stories about Hollywood or his childhood growing up with identical twin sisters and their "Mama," as he called her. Other times he did silly bits like complete an indoor obstacle course.

"Someone called from California and said, 'Oh, honey, you've gone viral.' And I said, 'No, no, I don't have COVID. I'm just in Tennessee," said Jordan.

Celebrities including Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Alba and Anderson Cooper, along with brands such as Reebok and Lululemon, would post comments.

Soon he became fixated with the number of views and followers he had, because there wasn't much else going on.

"For a while there, it was like obsessive. And I thought, 'This is ridiculous. Stop, stop, stop.' You know, it almost became, 'If it doesn't happen on Instagram, it didn't happen.' And I thought, 'You're 65, first of all. You're not some teenage girl.'"

The spotlight led to new opportunities. Earlier this month he released a gospel album called "Company's Comin'" featuring Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder and Tanya Tucker.

He wrote a new book, How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived.

© AP 2022

Rishi Sunak will become the United Kingdom's youngest prime minister in modern times after he won the race to lead the Conservative Party, tasked with steering a deeply divided country through an economic downturn set to leave millions of people poorer.

One of the wealthiest politicians in Westminster, Sunak, 42, will become the country's first prime minister of Indian origin - and its third prime minister in less than two months - as he takes over during one of the most turbulent eras in UK political history.

He replaces Liz Truss, who only lasted 44 days before she resigned, needing to restore stability to a country reeling from years of political and economic turmoil, and seeking to lead a party that has fractured along ideological lines.

He told his MPs on Monday that they faced an "existential crisis" and must "unite or die".

He told the country it faced a "profound economic challenge".

"We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together," he said.

The multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss will be expected to launch deep spending cuts to try to rebuild the UK's fiscal reputation just as the country slides into one of the toughest downturns in decades, hit by the surging cost of energy and food.

A recent mini budget by Truss, which triggered her downfall, pushed up borrowing costs and mortgage rates, and sent investors fleeing.

UK government bonds rallied aggressively in the run-up to Sunak's victory, and extended their gains on Monday.

Sunak, who will be appointed prime minister by King Charles on Tuesday, will also have to work hard to hold the UK's dominant political party together after some accused him of treachery earlier this year when he resigned from the cabinet of former leader Boris Johnson, triggering his downfall too.

Other Conservatives say he is too rich to understand the day-to-day economic pressures building in the UK, and worry whether he could ever win an election for a party that has been in power for 12 years.

Johnson led his party to a landslide victory in 2019, only to be driven out of office less than three years later after a series of scandals.

His successor Truss lasted just over six weeks before she too was forced out.

Political biographer Anthony Seldon told Reuters that Sunak had the most difficult economic and political inheritance of any British leader since World War II and would be constrained by the mistakes made by his predecessor Truss.

"There is no leeway on him being anything other than extraordinarily conservative and cautious," he said.

Amid the turmoil, polls show that Britons want an election.

The Conservatives do not have to hold one until January 2025.

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the Conservatives had "crowned Rishi Sunak as prime minister without him saying a single word about how he would run the country and without anyone having the chance to vote".

Labour has held record leads in opinion polls of more than 25 points ever since Truss's budget sent shock waves through financial markets.

Economists and investors welcomed Sunak's appointment but questioned whether he can tackle the country's finances while holding the party's warring factions together.

Many Conservative MPs appeared relieved that the party had at least selected a new leader quickly.

Penny Mordaunt, who lost out to Sunak, said his election was an "historic one and shows, once again, the diversity and talent of our party," she said.

"Rishi has my full support."

The first real test of unity will come on October 31, when finance minister Jeremy Hunt - the fourth person in the role in four months - is due to present a budget to plug a black hole in the public finances that is expected to have ballooned to up to 40 billion pounds ($A72 billion).

© RAW 2022