International news brief: Stabbings in Canada kill 10, UK PM race in final countdown for Rishi Sunak, Liz Trus

London, Sep 05: The final countdown in the over six-week-long gruelling campaign for the governing Conservative Party to elect a new leader who will succeed ousted Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister is now underway, with the winner between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to be declared on Monday.

The winner of the contest will be announced on Monday at 12:30 BST (17:00 IST) by Sir Graham Brady -- chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs and returning officer of the leadership election.

If elected, 42-year-old Sunak will go on to make history as the first Prime Minister of the UK of Indian heritage -- whose Indian grandmother migrated to Britain over 60 years ago from East Africa.

Stabbings in Canada kill 10, wound 15; suspects at large

A series of stabbings at an Indigenous community and at another town nearby in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan left 10 people dead and 15 wounded, Canadian police said on Sunday as they searched for two suspects.

The stabbings took place in multiple locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, police said. Rhonda Blackmore, the Assistant Commissioner of the RCMP Saskatchewan, said some of the victims appear to have been targeted by the suspects but others appear to have been attacked at random. She couldn't provide a motive.

Germany-bound private plane crashes off Latvia

NATO fighter jets were scrambled on Sunday evening after a private jet carrying four people veered off course and crashed off the coast of Latvia, authorities said.

The Austrian-registered Cessna 551 aircraft was flying from Jerez in southern Spain to Cologne-Bonn airport in western Germany.

German newspaper Bild reported that the plane, which was carrying the pilot, a man, a woman, and a child, had reported cabin pressure issues to air traffic control.

Bild said radio contact was lost as the plane left the Iberian peninsula.

Emergency declared as flash flooding hits northwest Georgia

Thunderstorms and heavy rain pounded parts of northwest Georgia on Sunday, sparking flash flooding in some areas. Local news reports showed roads under water and homeowners struggling to keep water out. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon in Chattooga and Floyd Counties, directing all state resources to help with "preparation, response and recovery activities."

The National Weather Service said rainfall of up to one inch per hour was causing creeks, streams, roadways and urban areas to experience unusually high levels of water. Up to 12 inches of rain was estimated to have fallen in the area, according to Kemp's executive order.

with agency inputs