U.S Domestic News Roundup: Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Trump's new tax cut plan

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Control of U.S. Senate may hinge on possible Mississippi runoff

A crowded U.S. Senate race in Republican stronghold Mississippi could set the stage for weeks of uncertainty over which party ends up controlling the upper chamber of Congress after the Nov. 6 elections. Two Republicans and two Democrats are contesting a special election to serve out the remainder of retired Republican Senator Thad Cochran's term. Under state law, if no one gets 50 per cent of the vote, the top two candidates regardless of party affiliation will go to a Nov. 27 runoff.

Pittsburgh synagogue victims include 97-year-old, pair of brothers

A 97-year-old woman, two brothers in their 50s and a married couple in their 80s were among the 11 worshipers shot dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath prayers in the deadliest attack ever on America's Jewish community, officials said on Sunday. The names of the dead were released a day after a gunman, armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, stormed the Tree of Life temple in the city's heavily Jewish Squirrel Hill neighbourhood yelling "All Jews must die" as he opened fire on the congregation.

Who is Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect?

The suspect in Saturday's mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue is a 46-year-old local man named Robert Bowers who posted virulent anti-Semitic messages on social media filled with slurs and conspiracy theories. Two hours before a gunman burst into the Tree of Life synagogue and opened fire during a Shabbat religious service, Bowers posted on chat site Gab.com about the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a non-profit that helps Jewish refugees relocate to the United States.

Gab.com fights to stay online after Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

The website where the suspected Pittsburgh synagogue gunman posted anti-Semitic views said on Sunday it was "working around the clock" to stay online after being cut off by payment processors and forced to switch web hosts. The 46-year-old suspect Robert Bowers posted on Gab.com just hours before murdering 11 people on Saturday in the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the United States, saying a non-profit that helps Jewish refugees relocate to the country was helping to kill "my people."

Trump's new tax cut plan probably waits for 2019: lawmaker

The U.S. House of Representatives' leading lawmaker on taxes suggested on Sunday that a new tax cut plan touted by President Donald Trump was unlikely to see action in Congress before 2019, and then only if Republicans keep their majority in Nov. 6 elections. "Really common sense tells you that this (Trump's new tax cut plan) is something, that as the Republicans retain the House and the Senate, that will advance in the new Congress," Representative Kevin Brady said on Fox News.

What the gunman didn't get: In Squirrel Hill, diversity made us strong

In the 1960s, when I was growing up in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill district, we used to take the trolley up cobble-stoned Murray Avenue heading downtown, passing through a tableau of European-American Jewish life. There were Silverman's and Rosenbloom's, the two bakeries where we bought our dark rye bread. There were kosher butcher shops, delicatessens, synagogues and a Hillel academy, small jewellery shops and clothing stores.

Shooting triggers lockdowns then locked arms in Pittsburgh community

The gunshots that tore through a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday first triggered lockdowns in houses of worship across the city. Then they brought forth an outpouring of unity and support. Following the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in the United States, residents rushed to provide comfort, give blood, organize vigils and bring therapy dogs to a Jewish community centre.

Winning numbers for Powerball's $688 million jackpot drawn

Are you a newly minted millionaire? The winning numbers for the estimated $687.8 million Powerball jackpot, the fourth largest in the lottery's history, were drawn Saturday night.

New U.S.-bound group of migrants sets off from El Salvador

A new group of migrants bound for the United States set off from El Salvador on Sunday, following thousands of other Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence who have taken similar journeys in recent weeks. The group of more than 300 Salvadorans left the capital San Salvador on Sunday. A larger group of mostly Hondurans, estimated to number at least 3,500, who left their country in mid-October and are now in southern Mexico, has become a key issue in U.S. congressional elections.

Charleston church grieves synagogue massacre, angry at Trump rhetoric

Parishoners at the historic black Emanuel church in Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday grieved this weekend's Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and recalled a 2015 mass shooting at their church while chiding President Donald Trump's "rhetoric of hate". "Words do matter," Reverend Eric Manning told more than 100 parishioners attending the Sunday service. The church planned a prayer vigil for the Pittsburgh victims later at a Holocaust memorial a block away.

(With inputs from Reuters)