A 17-month-old girl is among the injured as the Texas mass shooting death toll rises to 7, & more in News in 5.

– With AAP.

1. A 17-month-old girl is among the injured as the Texas mass shooting death toll rises to 7.

The death toll in a Texas shooting rampage has increased to seven with another 22 injured, including a 17-month-old girl who was shot in the face.

It is the second mass shooting in Texas in four weeks.

On Saturday afternoon, the bloodshed between Midland and Odessa began when two state troopers pulled over a car on Interstate 20 for not using its turn signal and the lone occupant fired at their patrol vehicle with a lightweight semi-automatic, wounding one of them.

A seventeen-month-old girl is among the victims of a mass shooting in west Texas, where a gunman opened fire in a highway rampage. @ccroucher9 #9News pic.twitter.com/2OBVUO4JhZ

— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) September 1, 2019

After fleeing, the suspect hijacked a postal van and opened fire on passersby, police said.

The shooting ended when the suspect, a white male in his 30s, was cornered by officers in the parking lot of a cinema complex.

Police, motorists and shoppers were all caught up in the chaos that unfolded between the cities of Odessa and Midland during a busy Labor Day holiday weekend.

According to authorities, the gunman was previously known to police and lived locally.

They said the investigation continues, but there was no apparent link to domestic or international terrorism.

“There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone,” Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference.

“My heart aches for them all,” Gerke said, offering his condolences to the victims’ families.

Among the wounded was a toddler, Anderson Davis, who was shot in the face but survived the attack, according to officials. An online fundraising campaign has been started by her family. Nearly $150,000 has been raised to assist with the medical bills.

Three police officers were also shot and wounded and remain a stable condition.

In a statement on Facebook, Odessa police named the gunman as Seth Aaron Ator, 36, of Odessa.

The shooting comes less than one month after a gunman killed 22 people in another Saturday shooting on August 3 at a Walmart store about 410km west of Midland in the city of El Paso, Texas.

US President Donald Trump called the Odessa-Midland shooter “a very sick person” but said background checks on gun buyers would not have prevented recent US gun violence.

In remarks to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he would be working with Democrats and Republicans on gun legislation when Congress returns this month.

“I think you’re going to see some interesting things coming along,” he said.

2. “This is senseless cruelty.” Tamil family awaits deportation decision.

A Tamil asylum seeker family in an Australian detention centre on Christmas Island has a nervous wait to find out if a court will allow them to stay.

Priya, her husband Nadesalingam and their Australian-born children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, were taken to the island over the weekend.

Carina Ford, their Melbourne-based solicitor, is due back in the Federal Circuit Court on Monday and Federal Court on Wednesday in regards to the family’s possible deportation.

Federal Court Judge Mordy Bomberg on Friday extended an interim injunction until Wednesday after lawyers argued Tharunicaa hadn’t been assessed for a protection visa.

The family had been held at a Darwin military base after a temporary injunction thwarted their deportation from Melbourne to Sri Lanka last week.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in all capital cities, and in the Queensland town of Biloela, on Sunday calling on the federal government to allow the family to stay.

"This is senseless cruelty, this is cruelty for the sake of being cruel," federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters at the rally in Melbourne.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Sunday night responded to the criticism.

"Richard Di Natale supported decisions that resulted in 1200 people drowning at sea. His comments today are self-indulgent and promote nothing more than his own failed agenda. They are disgusting and should be condemned," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Dutton also reiterated that the family were not refugees and that the government's tough approach discouraged asylum seekers from arriving by boat.

"I have not had one death at sea on my watch and I don't intend to let that happen now," he wrote in an opinion piece in The Courier-Mail titled "Why Tamil family must go".

It was also revealed that the Australian Border Force stopped a boat carrying 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka on August 7.

The fishing boat was stopped west of Christmas Island and the 13 people on board returned to Sri Lanka, The Courier-Mail reported.

Federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese begged the government to make an exception and let the Tamil family return to their adopted community of Biloela.

More than 230,000 people have signed an online petition to let them stay.

3. Eurydice Dixon's murderer to be sentenced.

The man who raped and murdered aspiring Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon is about to learn how long he'll spend in jail.

Jaymes Todd stalked Ms Dixon, 22, for more than an hour before attacking her as she walked through Princes Park following a comedy gig on June 12 last year.

After the murder, the then-19-year-old bought a pie and coffee, went back to the Carlton North crime scene, and googled rape and pornography as well as stories about his victim.

Todd is due to be sentenced on Monday but could one day walk free from jail as prosecutors have not asked for a life-sentence, citing his age, lack of prior convictions and early guilty plea.

He has autism and has been diagnosed with sexual sadism disorder since being in custody.

Before the murder Todd fantasised about violent non-consensual sex culminating in a woman's death, Victoria's Supreme Court was earlier told.

But the young man claimed the rape and murder didn't go as he planned, psychologist James Ogloff said.

Justice Stephen Kaye has previously indicated he would consider sentencing Todd to life without parole, if he found the man had premeditated the murder.

4. Poland marks 80 years since start of WWII.

In the early hours of 1 September 1939 Germany's Luftwaffe started bombarding the Polish town of Wieluń. The attack is considered to be the first war crime committed by Nazi Germany in World War II. Bombs destroyed ca. 70 percent of the town's buildings. pic.twitter.com/GKD6BQxw0N

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) September 1, 2019

Germany's president has asked for forgiveness for his country for the suffering of the Polish people during World War II as Poland marked 80 years since the Nazi German invasion that unleashed the deadliest conflict in human history.

The ceremonies began at 4.30am local time on Sunday in the small town of Wielun, site of one of the first bombings of the war on September 1, 1939.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave speeches.

Few places saw death and destruction on the scale of Poland. It lost about a fifth of its population, including the vast majority of its 3 million Jewish citizens.

After the war, the shattered capital of Warsaw had to rise again from ruins and Poland remained under Soviet domination until 1989.

Speaking at an event in Warsaw, Steinmeier asked for forgiveness on behalf of Germany.

"As a German guest I walk before you here barefoot. I look back in gratitude to the Polish people's fight for freedom. I bow sorrowfully before the suffering of the victim," he said.

"I ask for forgiveness for Germany's historical guilt. I profess to our lasting responsibility."

US Vice President Mike Pence paid tribute to the courage of the Polish people.

"None fought with more valour, determination, and righteous fury than the Poles," Pence told the gathering of leaders in Warsaw that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

Pence attended the ceremony instead of US President Donald Trump, who cancelled his trip due to the arrival of Hurricane Dorian.

Trump's cancellation was a disappointment to Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is seen as one of Washington's biggest allies in Europe.

"America and Poland will continue to call on our allies to live up to the promises we have made to one another," Pence said. He will hold bilateral talks in Warsaw on Monday.

For Poland's PiS party, the memory of the war is a major plank of its "historical politics", aiming to counteract what it calls the West's lack of appreciation for Polish suffering and bravery under Nazi occupation.

PiS politicians have repeatedly called for war reparations from Germany, one of Poland's biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the EU and NATO, and several onlookers yelled "reparations" after Steinmeier spoke.

Berlin says all financial claims linked to World War II have been settled but Steinmeier continued with his theme of responsibility.

"Because Germany - despite its history - was allowed to grow to new strength in Europe, we Germans must do more for Europe," he said.

Underscoring the Warsaw conservatives' distrust of its European allies, President Duda said World War II may have been prevented had Western nations shown more opposition to the "manic visions" of Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler.

"It's a big lesson for us," Duda said in a speech in Warsaw.

5. "Give me an hour and I'll be right." Ash Barty bombs out of US Open.

No time to dwell, Ashleigh Barty has set her sights on retaining the US Open doubles crown after crashing out of the singles with a fourth-round shocker at Flushing Meadows.

A philosophical Barty preferred to reflect on a watershed grand slam season, highlighted by her magical French Open triumph in June, than mope about after a 6-2 6-4 loss to Qiang Wang on Sunday.

"It's been incredible. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough day at the office today, but it's been a year where we've hit our goals. Obviously I would have loved to have kept going here in singles, but we've got an opportunity to do that in doubles," Barty said.

"Knowing what it was like last year to be able to lift the trophy in doubles was really cool. To be able to have another opportunity to do that now, still being able to play in doubles, is a bonus.

"We've had a great season in grand slams for singles. We've made the second week every single one, which has been really special.

"Now we'll sit back, reflect, and look forward to a big couple months to finish off the year."

World No.18 Wang was the highest-ranked rival Barty had played since the French Open semi-finals two months ago - and she was simply unable to rise to the occasion.

Formerly coached by Australian Davis Cup winner, the late Peter McNamara, Wang was like the Great Wall of China, her relentless defence and counter-punching driving Barty mad.

The second seed's numbers told the story, Barty committing 39 unforced errors in 18 games and unable to convert any of nine break-point chances.

"Q was very good, very solid. I felt like she was able to put the ball with great depth in difficult positions for me," Barty said.

"I still was able to create opportunities. Just very frustrating that on the big points today, Q played a lot better.

"It's frustrating now. Again, give me an hour and I'll be right. It's an opportunity, it's a new day tomorrow.

"Just because we've had a tough hour and a half on the court, it doesn't reflect on the year that I've had or the couple of weeks I've had here in New York.

"It's still going. Still have an opportunity to try to do well with Vika (Azarenka) tomorrow."

Champion last year with Coco Vandeweghe, Barty and Azarenka are through to the last 16 of the women's doubles.

The eighth seeds will play either American teenage prodigies Coco Gauff and Caty McNally or the Czech American pair of Kvete Peschke and Nicole Melichar for a place in the quarter-finals.

"Obviously playing with Coco last year, I had every intention to play with Coco in Australia (at the start of the year), kind of begin that again," Barty said of her switch in partners.

"But after her (ankle) injury, it was a bit of a last-minute thing where I just texted Vika and said: 'Look, I don't have a partner. Would you be keen to play in Australia?"

"We've just kind of gone from there."

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