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Police in Colorado Springs are investigating the motive for a weekend shooting at an LGBTQI nightclub that killed five people and injured 25 others in what rights advocates suspect was a hate crime.

Police said patrons who rushed the gunman, halting the attack on Saturday night at Club Q, in Colorado's second-largest city, were heroes.

Authorities said on Sunday they were investigating whether the attack was motivated by hate.

Police identified the suspect as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich and said he used a long rifle.

They said multiple firearms were found at the scene.

Police said at least two people subdued the gunman shortly after he burst in just before midnight, preventing further carnage, but did not identify them nor say whether they were shot or injured.

One of the patrons grabbed a handgun from the shooter and pistol-whipped him with it and was still on top of the suspect, pinning him down, when police arrived, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told the New York Times.

"It was quite something. It happened quite quickly. This individual was totally disabled by 12:02. That had a lot to do with the intervention of these patrons," Suthers told the Times.

Suthers said the shooting "has all the appearances of being a hate crime".

United States President Joe Biden acknowledged no motive had been established but said in a statement LGBTQI people have been "subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years".

The shooting was reminiscent of the 2016 Pulse club massacre in which a gunman killed 49 people at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before he was fatally shot by police.

Club Q, a long-standing venue in a modest mall, was described by many as a safe haven for the LGBTQI community.

One of the victims was identified as Daniel Aston, 28, a transgender man and bartender at the club who also performed in shows as a dancer, according to a Colorado Public Radio interview with his mother, Sabrina Aston.

"He was the happiest he had ever been," Sabrina Aston said.

"He was thriving and having fun and having friends. It's just unbelievable. He had so much more life to give to us and to all - to his friends and to himself."

Anxiety within many LGBTQI communities in the US has risen amid a divisive political climate and after a string of threats and violent incidents targeting LGBTQI people and events in recent months.

"America's toxic mix of bigotry and absurdly easy access to firearms means that such events are all too common," said Kevin Jennings, chief executive of Lambda Legal, a gay rights group.

Colorado has a grim history of mass violence, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, a 2012 rampage inside a movie theatre in a Denver suburb and a supermarket attack that killed 10 people last year.

Colorado Springs suffered a mass shooting in 2015 when an anti-abortion gunman killed three people and injured nine at a Planned Parenthood facility.

© RAW 2022

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Jason David Frank, who played the Green Power Ranger Tommy Oliver on the 1990's children's series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, has died at the age of 49.

Justine Hunt, Frank's manager, said in a statement released on Sunday that Frank had passed away.

She did not name the cause of death or say when he died, but asked for "privacy of his family and friends during this horrible time as we come to terms with the loss of such a wonderful human being".

Walter Emmanuel Jones, the original Black Power Ranger who co-starred with Frank in Power Rangers, wrote on Instagram, that he couldn't believe it.

"My heart is sad to have lost another member of our special family," Jones wrote.

Thuy Trang, who played the original Yellow Power Ranger, died in a car accident in 2001 at 27.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, about five teenagers deputised to save Earth from evil, debuted back in 1993 and went on to become a pop culture phenomenon.

Early in the first season, Frank's Tommy Oliver was first seen as a villain, brainwashed by the evil Rita Repulsa.

But soon after, he was inducted in the group as the Green Ranger and became one of the show's most popular characters.

Though his role wasn't intended to be permanent, Frank was later brought back as the White Ranger and the leader of the team.

Across spin-off TV series, Frank's Tommy Oliver returned as other rangers, as well, including Red Zeo Ranger, the Red Turbo Ranger and the Black Dino Ranger.

He also played him in the films Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movi" and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and made a cameo in the 2017 reboot Power Rangers.

A practitioner of martial arts, Frank fought in several mixed martial arts bouts in 2009 and 2010.

TMZ earlier reported that Frank's second wife, Tammie Frank, filed for divorce from him in August.

Frank is survived by four children, one from his marriage with Tammie Frank and three from his first marriage to Shawna Frank.

© AP 2022

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Sydney Roosters forward Angus Crichton is facing a two-game NRL suspension after being sin-binned in the Rugby League World Cup final.

Crichton was given 10 minutes on the sideline by referee Ashley Klein after he knocked Samoa hooker Chanel Harris-Tavita out cold during Saturday's (Sunday AEDT) final with a raised forearm.

The Roosters back-rower apologised for the incident but Samoa coach Matt Parish was "dumbfounded" that Crichton hadn't been dismissed.

Parish labelled Klein as "weak" and the tournament's match review committee found in his favour, handing Crichton a two-game suspension.

If he chooses not to appeal the decision, Crichton will be forced to sit out the Roosters' two opening games of the 2023 season when they take on NRL newcomers the Dolphins and the Warriors.

© AAP 2022

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Qatar's first ever World Cup match ended in dismay for an overmatched team and with a place in unwanted soccer history.

The controversy-laced tournament opened with the hosts outplayed and embarrassed in a 2-0 defeat to Ecuador in front of 67,372 fans at Al Bayt Stadium.

In 92 years of soccer's biggest event, a host team had never lost their opening game.

The first World Cup in the Middle East is a chance for Qatar, a tiny Arab country jutting out into the Persian Gulf, to showcase itself to the wider world.

Its soccer team, playing at this level for the first time by virtue of hosting the tournament, couldn't live up to the moment as Ecuador captain Enner Valencia scored both goals in the first half.

The match took place after a colourful 30-minute opening ceremony -- fronted by Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and attended by powerful dignitaries including Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- that promoted inclusivity and mankind living "under one tent."

For many, that would jar with this World Cup being hosting by an emirate where homosexual acts are illegal, one that has come under strong criticism for how migrant workers have been treated building stadiums and tournament infrastructure since Qatar won the scandal-shrouded vote in 2010.

The yearslong scrutiny was never going to stop just because the soccer had begun, but a win for the host nation would have at least put a favourable light on Qatar, soccer-wise.

Instead, Qatar's players, fresh from spending seven months together in a pre-tournament training camp under Spanish coach Felix Sanchez, froze in front of an expectant crowd and a disciplined Ecuador team that might just pose a danger to more high-profile opponents over the next few weeks.

Valencia thought he had scored in the third minute when he headed in from close range following an acrobatic cross from Felix Torres. After a video review of about two minutes, Ecuadorian celebrations were cut short when the goal was ruled out for what appeared to be a marginal offside.

Ecuador did take the lead, however, in the 16th minute when Valencia was tripped by Saad Alsheeb after rounding the goalkeeper, who was booked for the challenge. Valencia was nonchalant as he trotted up and converted the spot kick into the bottom corner.

The 33-year-old striker added his second in the 33rd by heading in a right-wing cross from Angelo Preciado.

With Qatar's passes often going astray and its defensive raggedness repeatedly exposed, Ecuador had no problem holding onto its lead as Sanchez stood helpless in his technical area and the home fans fell quiet.

There were lots of empty seats for a second half that was almost a damage-limitation exercise for Qatar.

© AP 2022