GLOBAL SNAPSHOT
Victims mourned
DALLAS: Hundreds of mourners crowded into the tiny town of Sutherland Springs for the first Sunday service since a gunman stormed the First Baptist Church a week earlier, killing more than two dozen people in the worst mass shooting in Texas history. After a sermon outdoors under a white tent, congregants and the public were invited to return to the church for the first time since the tragedy. A memorial set up inside the church included 26 white chairs — including one for the unborn baby of a victim who was pregnant — bearing each victim’s name or nickname painted in gold.
No dogs or cats
LONDON: Dogs and cats would be unable to cross the Channel and British planes may not be allowed to land in Britain if we don’t get a Brexit deal, an EU boss has warned. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier made the warning ahead of next month’s European Council meeting, where it is hoped trade talks can finally begin, reports The Sun. Confirming that EU bosses are planning for no deal with Britain, Mr Barnier said it was a “possibility” that needed to be prepared for.
Pope’s climate blast
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has blasted “shortsighted human activity” for global warming and rising sea levels and urged leaders at climate talks in Germany to take a global outlook as they negotiate ways to curb heat-trapping emissions. Francis met with a delegation of Pacific leaders and told them he shared their concerns about rising sea levels and increasingly intense weather systems that are threatening their small islands. He decried in particular the state of oceans, where overfishing and pollution by plastics and micro-plastics are killing fish stocks.
Elephant kills pair
LUSAKA: A Dutch and a Belgian tourist were trampled to death by an elephant in Zambia as they got too close to the animal when trying to take pictures, police said on Sunday. The elderly holidaymakers, whose identities have not been released, were killed on Saturday while on safari at Maramba River Lodge in the tourist town of Livingstone.
Trump in Manila
MANILA: US President Donald Trump is winding down his lengthy Asia trip with an international summit and a trio of meetings with Pacific Rim allies, including his host in the Philippines who is overseeing a bloody drug war. Mr Trump, in Manila, attended the opening ceremonies of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations conference, which began with pageantry, including a group photo of the leaders and the summit’s traditional handshake.