First Run News

BURAIDA, Saudi Arabia — For decades, Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment wielded tremendous power, with bearded enforcers policing public behavior, prominent sheikhs defining right and wrong, and religious associations using the kingdom’s oil wealth to promote their intolerant interpretation of Islam around the world. Now, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is curbing their power as part of his drive to impose his control on the kingdom and press for a more open brand of Islam.

LONDON — A midnight blitz of arrests ordered by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia over the weekend has ensnared dozens of its most influential figures, including 11 of his royal cousins, in what by Sunday appeared to be the most sweeping transformation in the kingdom’s governance for more than eight decades. The arrests, ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman without formal charges or any legal process, were presented as a crackdown on corruption.

About 70 years ago, Beulah Wilson and her husband, Jonah, set out to find a new place to call home outside San Antonio. They searched for seven years, looking for a safe area with good schools and friendly neighbors, before they found the perfect community: Sutherland Springs. When they arrived, the area’s most promising days in south-central Texas had come and gone. The Great Depression had ended the wintertime flow of wealthy northern tourists who came to bathe in the sulfur springs on the Cibolo Creek. A 52-room luxury hotel had been deserted. But Ms.

The mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Tex., on Sunday, in which at least 26 people died, was the latest and by far the most deadly shooting at a church in recent years. Here are some notable previous fatal shootings at churches. Sept.

• Twenty-six people were killed and about 20 more injured on Sunday when a gunman opened fire during morning services at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., about 30 miles east of San Antonio. • Two law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, identified the gunman as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex. — A gunman clad in all black, with a ballistic vest strapped to his chest and a military-style rifle in his hands, opened fire on parishioners at a Sunday service at a small Baptist church in rural Texas, killing at least 26 people and turning this tiny town east of San Antonio into the scene of the country’s newest mass horror. The gunman was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. Mr.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex. — A gunman clad in all black, with a ballistic vest strapped to his chest and a military-style rifle in his hands, opened fire on parishioners at a Sunday service at a small Baptist church in rural Texas, killing at least 26 people and turning this tiny town east of San Antonio into the scene of the country’s newest mass horror. The gunman was identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. Mr.

North Korea has abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens since the 1970s and 80s, including a 13-year-old girl kidnapped in 1977 on her way home from school, Japanese embassy spokesman Takehiro Shimada said. While the U.S.

President Trump said mental health, not guns, is to blame for the church shooting massacre that left at least 26 people dead in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, calling the assailant a "very deranged individual." "Mental health is your problem here. This was a very, based on preliminary reports, a very deranged individual, a lot of problems over a long period of time. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries.

Kentucky's Republican House speaker resigned his leadership position Sunday after acknowledging he settled sexual harassment claims from one of his staffers last month. Jeff Hoover denied sexually harassing the staff member, but said he sent inappropriate text messages that were consensual. Hoover's wife and two of his three daughters were in the room as he spoke. "I engaged in banter that was consensual but make no mistake it was wrong on my part to do that. And for that, I am truly sorry," Hoover said.