26 killed in Texas’ deadliest mass shooting A man armed with an assault rifle* opened fire inside a church in a small South Texas community in the United States on Sunday, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others in what the governor called the deadliest mass shooting in the state’s history. The Pentagon has confirmed that the suspect, Devin Kelly, previously served in the Air Force and had been discharged for allegedly assaulting his spouse and child.SD-Agencies1. Saudi prince killed in helicopter crash A senior Saudi prince and seven other officials have been killed in a helicopter crash near the country’s border with Yemen, media reported. Prince Mansour bin Muqrin, the deputy governor of Asir province, was returning from an inspection tour when his aircraft came down near Abha on Sunday, the interior ministry said. It did not give a cause for the crash. But it occurred only hours after a major purge* of the kingdom’s political and business leadership took place. 2. Death toll from typhoon in Vietnam rises to 27 The death toll rose to at least 27 on Sunday from the typhoon that pummelled* central and southern Vietnam just days before the region is due to host the APEC summit of Asian-Pacific leaders. Typhoon Damrey, the 12th major storm to hit Vietnam this year, made landfall on Saturday with winds of up to 90 km/h that damaged more than 40,000 homes, knocked down electricity poles and uprooted* trees. 3. Catalan leader ‘turns himself in to police’ Ousted Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont and four former ministers have reportedly turned themselves in to Belgian police. Belgian state broadcaster VRT said on Sunday all five have arrived at the Brussels prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor is due to make a statement about a European arrest warrant issued for Puigdemont and the other four as Spain seeks their return for an investigation related to Catalonia’s independence bid. They had fled to Belgium last week after being removed from power by Spanish authorities. 4. Lebanon PM resigns, assails Iran and Hezbollah Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned on Saturday, saying he believed there was an assassination plot against him and accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing* strife* in the Arab world. His resignation, a big surprise to Beirut’s political establishment, brought down the coalition government and plunged Lebanon into a new political crisis. 5. Leaks: Queen’s estate invested in offshore funds Millions of pounds from the private estate of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II have been invested in offshore tax haven funds, a huge new leak of financial documents revealed on Sunday. Around 10 million pounds (US$13 million) of the Queen’s private money was placed in funds held in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, according to the leaked papers, which were first reported in Britain by the BBC and The Guardian. (SD-Agencies) | 