PARIS (AFP) - Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss sparred with opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer at the House of Commons at her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. The often rowdy weekly session, which saw the prime minister quizzed by MPs, tested Truss’s political mettle and rhetorical skills as well as her level of Conservative support. Speaking at her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions, Truss said Britons want a government that would help fix their problems, notably a sharp rise in the cost of living and energy in particular. She said she would announce her plan to help people pay spiralling energy bills on Thursday.

 

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police searched into a fourth day on Wednesday for the remaining suspect in a stabbing spree in which 10 people were killed in and around an indigenous community, rattling a country unaccustomed to acts of mass violence.  Myles Sanderson, 30, whose brother and accused accomplice was himself found killed a day after Sunday’s attacks in Saskatchewan province, was briefly believed to have resurfaced on Tuesday in the vicinity of the rampage, about 320 km (200 miles) north of the provincial capital of Regina. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued an alert on Tuesday of a possible sighting of the surviving brother in the indigenous reserve of James Smith Cree Nation, urging residents to remain indoors and be vigilant. CBC News reported a heavy police presence on the indigenous reserve following that alert, but then said its investigation had determined the suspect was elsewhere.

 

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 BEIJING (Reuters) - China has reopened roads leading to the epicenter of Monday’s 6.8 magnitude earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan and traffic has resumed, state media reported on Wednesday, while the death toll has risen to 74. In addition, a total of 259 people were injured in the disaster and 26 remained missing as of Tuesday night, the People’s Daily reported. The strongest earthquake to hit the province since 2017 destroyed numerous buildings and caused severe damage to power and water infrastructure as well as telecommunications.

 

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YAOUNDE, (Reuters) - At least six civilians were killed and eight injured when separatists in southwest Cameroon opened fire on a public bus, officials and the head of a regional hospital said. Anglophone insurgents fighting to carve out an independent state out of Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions have escalated attacks, killings and kidnappings this year. The bus, travelling from the economic capital Douala to the city of Kumba, came under fire near the town of Ekona, said a transport syndicate official who did not wish to be named for security reasons.

 

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SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October election has narrowed to 10 points from 12, a Genial/Quaest poll released on Wednesday showed. Lula is seen winning 44% support in a first-round vote against Bolsonaro’s 34%, the poll said. They had 44% and 32%, respectively, a week ago. In an expected run-off, Lula’s lead has also shortened by two percentage points to a 12-point gap - taking 51% of the votes against Bolsonaro’s 39%.