A week that purport to show just how widespread tax avoidance is among Big Companies and the wealthy find out whats in the socalled Paradise Papers coming up. Im sara harmon welcome to the program we begin with some breaking news reports say more than twenty people have been killed in a Church Shooting in the United States now that number has not been confirmed but we are standing by for more information the incident happened in the u. S. State of texas in the town of Sutherland Springs which is west of houston a gunman reportedly opened fire inside the church before he was shot himself. In the story im joined now by jenny hoff shes a reporter in the texas state capital austin jenny do we know anything else about the shooter right now. Well we are waiting still to get more reports on his identity and what the motive might have been but at this moment authorities havent released that information but we do know from witnesses who have spoken is that they saw one person walk into the church around eleven thirty in the Morning Church started at eleven a. M. And opened fire witnesses say they heard about twenty gunshots in there were then told by a local Law Enforcement official that he took off in a vehicle there was a short chase that ended in the suspect being killed we dont know yet if he killed himself or of deputies killed him that information should still come out today and it should come out very shortly all right jane we are standing by right now for a press conference that we expect to begin any minute now at stockdale city hall where were hoping to get some confirmation you can see the microphones there are set up reporters are getting in place so we will cut to that when it begins but jenny tell us a little bit about the local media reporting the shooter is dead can you confirm that. Well a local Law Enforcement official county commissioner said that the that the shooter was dead and there was a shootout that happened essentially in a vehicle there is a short chase right outside into a neighboring county we dont know if police shot him or if he shot himself but that is what that local Law Enforcement official confirmed and hopefully in this press conference well get more information on that shortly but this is a very small tight knit community about four hundred people there all together and this church was fifty people so you can imagine that Everybody Knows everybody there and for the people who live in this area it is a very shocking and tragic situation indeed a shocking and tragic situation for the Small Community how are people reacting. Well many people in the community im being told have gone to the church to to say their prayers to find out about family members to find about a friends i was i was hearing from a local parish that is down the street from them that when they got news of what happened immediately people in that church wanted to leave and wanted to go find out if their family members or their friends had been injured so as again with four hundred people in the community you can just imagine Everybody Knows everybody theres many people who are going out there trying to find out information about their relatives about their loved ones and also saying their prayers and and leaving flowers and hoping to get more information as soon as possible were all hoping to get more information as soon as possible as we wait for that press conference to begin at stockdale city hall we still dont know just how many people are dead but jenny we are seeing reports that perhaps half of the congregation had been killed in the shooting today have you seen anything like that. You know weve seen from again this local county commissioner in that area whos been doing a lot of reports with media he said about twenty four to twenty seven people have been killed again that number hasnt been confirmed by the official authorities yet so that could change as if this is a developing situation of course and so a lot of theres still a lot of unknowns but were heard that more than twenty people were killed and the other half of the congregation it sounds like twenty people or more are injured and theyre in neighboring hospitals several children are in those Hospitals Trauma Centers so we dont know yet how severe those injuries are there are going to be any more deaths but its certainly a situation where it seems like everybody at that Church Nobody really came out unscathed and its its really terrifying for people in the in a small town and youre in there and you feel safe and its a sunday morning and somebody walks in and suddenly everybody becomes a target so its its a bit shocking for people in that whole community and the surrounding areas for us to hear and often a horrific situation in Sutherland Springs that youre describing jenny hoff shes a reporter in austin thanks for bringing us up to date well go back to you if we do manage to get more information and the next few minutes from now jenny thanks so much. Well as we stand by waiting for that press conference to begin in stockdale weve got reactions pouring in on social media including from u. S. President donald trump whos currently on a tour of asia heres what trump may god be with the people of southern springs texas the f. B. I. And Law Enforcement are on the scene and monitoring the situation from japan Texas Governor greg abbott says hes on his way to sever one springs or earlier he tweeted our prayers are with all who were harmed by this evil act our thanks to Law Enforcement for their response more details from the department of public safety. All come back to the story if we do get more information or if that press Conference Begins in the next few minutes from now what we do know that we have unconfirmed reports of at least twenty people dead in that shooting at a Baptist Church turning out to one of the other big stories today a massive new league of files from an offshore law firm showing just how widespread tax avoidance is among Big Companies and the super rich it was released by a top german newspaper working with an International Consortium of news outlets the thirteen million documents reveal how politicians celebrities and corporations place their money in secret tax havens. Bermuda is a well known tax haven the Appleby Law Firm is based here its offshore experts advise clients in tax avoidance and shielding business from the public its among the companies exposed by this massive data leak over four hundred reporters from a consortium of news organizations spearheaded by germanys pseudo git citing have spent months sifting through the data uncovering a complex corporate web aimed at hiding money. U. S. Commerce secretary wilbur ross is among those implicated. According to the Paradise Papers ross had secret business contacts from congress. The new data shows hes tied to a shipping firm through a series of dummy corporations. And this company has ties to Russian Company z. B. Or energy. A major shareholder is a sanctioned Russian Oligarch with close ties to russian president Vladimir Putin as well as putin son in law. That suggests ross has profited from this company with close ties to the kremlin. Sports label nike and u. S. Tech giant apple also featured prominently in the Paradise Papers apple apparently sent secret emails inquiring about tax friendly domiciles for their head offices a blatant effort to avoid taxation but not illegal. Just because it is legal does not mean for us that it is legitimate or morally ok were taking a close look and were seeing that billions that should rightly be going to taxes are disappearing so. Now that the Paradise Papers have been released the journalists involved hope even more light can be shed on these offshore havens. Our Political Correspondent simon young joins me now in the studio for more simon what else can you tell us about these Paradise Papers big bombshell today indeed sara just to give you a scale of this sense of the scale is a huge jump of sensitive Financial Information said to comprise thirteen point four million documents from nineteen different tax havens in the data is said to refer to more than one hundred twenty senior Global Political figures from fifty Different Countries so those are just some of the some of the numbers around this is a huge revelation and people are going to be trawling through it the main material comes from a leak possibly a computer hack from a basic law firm called apple bay and this information was passed to a major german paper the zip tortured site and its been passed on to ninety other media organizations around the world they spent a year would you believe sorting through this before releasing these details tonight its are tremendous amount of information i can guess that journalists are going to be sorting through this and parsing the details for days and weeks to come one thing that does seem to be clear that is that trumps commerce secretary bubba ross is reportedly involved in this how exactly yeah wilbur ross the claim is that he has a close confident of President Trump has been profiting as a private citizen from his business dealings with a firm that has ties with or belongs to the son in law of Vladimir Putin the russian president and also is also owned by other people with close links to the kremlin now we dont know many more the details at this stage but clearly in view of the investigation into links between Donald TrumpsElection Campaign in last years president ial election and russia thats something thats going to put even more pressure on donald trump has these details to emerge right. Most of our viewers will remember the Panama Papers coming out a few years ago is this leak bigger put it in context for us yeah it is similar its a leak of information from off shore banks and investment firms you know it implicates notable political figures in the Panama Papers led to changes of Political Leadership in countries like iceland and pakistan and many other examples of fallout from there so there is a similarity that was eleven and a half million documents i think so this is slightly bigger in that sense one interesting thing sara some insiders say that applebee the firm here is much cleaner than second which is the firm at the heart of the panama scandal in that sense you know some people saying if this was at the heart of wrongdoing if the shown to be wrongdoing we should say not all the activity described here is illegal but if there is wrongdoing then it could be that you know theres a lot bigger problem in this area of offshore investments than was previously even realized it sounds like were going to be learning a lot more very soon simon young our Political Correspondent thanks for your insights. So to arabia has arrested dozens of princes and government ministers and a high level purge in a News Conference a spokesman for the brussels prosecutor said the five will now appear before a judge among those arrested billionaire all waleed magazine named sam the richest man in the arab world the arrests have been sanctioned by king selman under a new Anti Corruption body hes put his son in charge of the move is seen as cementing crown prince muhammads power in the kingdom. In the studio with me now is daniel garrulous hes the editor in chief of the magazine zenith which focuses on middle Eastern Affairs daniel welcome this feels unprecedented dozens of arrests at the very top is this really just about corruption i dont think so i think it is popular to fight corruption and it is necessary for corruption and also the idea that members of the royal family and there are thousands of them in saudi arabia would be immune to penalties that is over and that is a positive signal to many but i think what is really happening here is is mama been some on the crown prince is preparing take over of power and i think we will soon in the next couple of months see that and so this night of the long knives that have been yesterday was also intended to silence those in the palace with the royal family that might be able to counter such of such a move or that might even be able to i dont know stage a coup against it and is because this is not the only reason that saudi arabia has been in the news this weekend because saudis foreign tires are coming into sharper focus yesterday we saw the lebanese Prime Minister resign and announcement he made from riyadh where hes now fled in exile put this in context for us what are the broader implications for the region lebanese Prime Minister saad how d. D. Was somehow saudi arabias man in lebanon as was his father who was assassinated spectacularly i think everybody all the viewers of this program know of saudi arabia. How they need to step. Because i think what were looking at is preparations for another military conflict for another war in the middle east i think saudi arabias gamble is that they think israel in the United States may be in a position to attack hezbollah in lebanon and saudi arabia would obviously support such a move because hezbollah is the proxy of iran of its rival in lebanon and i think my speculation i cannot of course i have no no evidence of that at the moment but i think that saudi cannot be member of a government that would need to defy or attack such such a military move cannot be a member of a government in union with hezbollah and at the same time know about this this military move of the saudi government i think thats why he stepped down thats why the saudis convinced him to step down and i think they will bail him out because they also knew that he was in a deep financial crisis he has business not going well and i think saudi arabia will support him financially that is again my speculation but i think it is permitted speculation on this thats why we invited you here from the magazines thanks for being with us today thank you. Youre watching news more coverage at the top of the hour im sara harmon in berlin thanks for watching. Protection for the earth ideas designed to preserve our ecosystems the exist around the world