Canada

The countries accuse Israel of preventing tents and other vital supplies from entering Gaza, despite the humanitarian crisis.

Australia, Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom have ⁠⁠⁠⁠urged Israel to allow immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza, highlighting that recent floods have “brought further suffering” for Palestinians living there.

The countries’ foreign ministers co-signed Sunday’s joint statement, the latest international warning about the dire humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

“People in Gaza desperately need shelter and humanitarian assistance,” the statement said. “Yet 150,000 tents and other vital supplies are being held at the border and prevented from entering Gaza.”

For years, Israel has restricted entry and exports into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people.

But since the start of its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has placed the Palestinian territory under a full-scale blockade, limiting access to even essential supplies like food and water.

Under the Geneva Convention, denying civilians access to humanitarian aid can constitute a war crime.

“We today urge the Government of Israel to stop the delays now and allow immediate, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza,” Sunday’s statement said.

Heavy rain this month swept away tens of thousands of tents in the territory, leaving many without shelter.

“This situation is entirely reversible”, Sunday’s statement said, “and there is still time to act before the winter fully sets in”.

More than 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza, according to the United Nations, many of them suffering displacement multiple times.

As of November 1, the Global Shelter Cluster, a humanitarian organisation that coordinates with the Red Cross and the UN, estimated that Gaza residents need at least 1.7 million mattresses and 121,000 tents to face this season’s cold, rainy weather.

During Israel’s genocidal war, entire neighbourhoods and cities were levelled. Some of the structures that remain are unstable.

In September, at least 20 people were killed when a building they were sheltering in collapsed.

Shelter is only one factor in the ongoing humanitarian crisis, though.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been plunged into poverty since Israel began its genocidal war. The price of basic goods has soared as incomes have shrunk due to the war and Israel’s tightened siege.

Sunday’s statement follows a similar appeal from the UN’s Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Friday.

“The devastating impact of the latest rainstorm in Gaza was preventable,” the team wrote.

“Children and adults were killed, critical services suspended, and thousands of family shelters flooded, swept away, or torn apart – not by the storm alone, but by policy decisions.”

The European Union also released a statement on Saturday, expressing “grave concern” over the humanitarian crisis.

It urged Israel to “allow immediate, unimpeded access” to humanitarian aid and “reopen all Gaza border crossings”.

Sunday’s joint appeal also called on all parties to “implement the Comprehensive Plan for Gaza”, a plan unveiled in 2025 that called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

But attacks have continued, including on Thursday, when an Israeli air strike on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital killed six Palestinians.

Israel is the subject of an ongoing genocide case before the International Court of Justice, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, have been issued arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court.

They have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Southeast Asian countries that comprise the ASEAN economic bloc will meet in the Philippines this week as the region continues to bear the brunt of oil shortages caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, as well as by US-China rivalry, which has hit economies hard.

The Manila summit will be held from November 15 to 17 and will include US President Donald Trump and several other world leaders.

The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) aims to establish a single market, although it cannot impose decisions on members. It comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and East Timor, with a combined population of nearly 694 million, or 8.4 percent of the world’s population.

Several ASEAN meetings are held annually. This week’s summit is expected to be the final one for this year.

Beyond the energy crisis, other pressing issues include disputes over the South China Sea and trade.

Here’s what we know:

Who is attending?

In addition to leaders and representatives from the 11 member countries, other guests include:

• US President Donald Trump – Trump is expected to hold a special summit with ASEAN members on November 17 as Washington’s trade tensions with China continue. He is also set to hold a one-on-one meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Afterwards, Trump is due to head to China for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting on 18-19 November.
• India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi – Although India is not part of ASEAN, India is a key trading partner to member states.
• Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney – Carney is set to give a speech at the summit.
• Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – His visit will be the first by a sitting Brazilian president to the Philippines. He is expected to discuss trade, defence and other areas of cooperation with ASEAN members.
• Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – His visit comes after the Russia-ASEAN summit in July.

What are the key issues?

US-Iran war

The summit is being held at a time when Southeast Asian countries have been hit hard by shortages in oil and gas supplies from Middle Eastern suppliers amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia are among the most vulnerable to the energy disruptions in the Gulf, with Manila declaring a state of national energy emergency in March.

Millions of ASEAN citizens also live and work in the Middle East, where the war threatens their safety and earnings.

Meanwhile, Asian countries are worried the conflict could spill into the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Trade

The US’s tariff war has seen ASEAN countries slapped with 10-12.5 percent tariff hikes since the beginning of US President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, prompting the bloc to strengthen trade relationships elsewhere.

South China Sea

China and four ASEAN members – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – as well as Taiwan, have been locked in decades of territorial standoffs in the busy waterway.

The area is important as it is believed to host undersea deposits of oil and gas.

In 2005, the bloc began negotiating a “code of conduct” with China to discourage aggression and prevent major clashes. The negotiations have often stalled, however, partly due to flared tensions, especially between Manila and Beijing in recent years.

In 2023, the two sides agreed to speed things up and release a finished draft this year. At least 10 rounds of talks have been held this year, led by Malaysia, with a final round taking place in October.

However, analysts doubt a definite conclusion will be reached at the summit this week, meaning talks could continue into next year.

Thailand-Cambodia tensions

Armed clashes broke out between the two ASEAN member states late last year along an 800km (500-mile) contested border area, as well as over competing claims to sacred religious sites, such as the Preah Vihear Shiva temple.

At least 150 people were reported to have been killed, and nearly one million displaced.

ASEAN members, as well as China and the US, intervened, leading to talks. Although a ceasefire has been in place since December, the wider border dispute remains unresolved, and the bloc is calling for more dialogue and the participation of third-party observers.

Myanmar conflict

The ongoing civil war in Myanmar, which has compounded the Rohingya refugee crisis, has been at the top of the agenda as the bloc pushes for the restoration of democracy in the country.

Multiple rebel forces, some of them ethnic-based armed groups, have been fighting the military government since the country’s February 2021 coup.

ASEAN has already restricted Myanmar’s participation at important summits to non-political representatives as concerns about violence and a humanitarian crisis grow.

The bloc’s five-point Myanmar peace plan, launched in April 2021 and calling for dialogue and improved humanitarian aid access, has meanwhile failed to alleviate the situation.

Cross-border haze

Months of widespread wildfires in drought-hit Indonesia have scorched an estimated 2.88 million hectares (7.12 million acres) and resulted in at least 3,500 deaths.

The resulting haze has severely impacted not just the country’s residents, but also those in neighbouring Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and East Timor.

Jakarta has faced criticism for failing to effectively respond to the fires, but the government has defended its approach, saying thousands of responders have been deployed.

Steelmaker promises back pay for workers whose layoffs its US owner blamed on tariffs, weak demand and imports.

Canadian steelmaker Stelco says it will recall all 175 workers laid off at its plant in Hamilton and pay them retroactively, following a weeks-long standoff that pitted workers and the Canadian government against its owner in the United States.

The announcement on Friday came shortly after Canada’s Industry Minister Melanie Joly said she would seek a court order to force Cleveland-Cliffs to sell Stelco unless she heard from management by the end of the day.

The company said in a statement on Friday that it had reached agreements with enough customers to restart its finishing operations and that workers would be recalled on December 1. They would receive back pay for the standard wages they would have earned while laid off.

The president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, Ron Wells, welcomed the announcement and credited pressure from workers, the union and the government.

At a news conference, he called the layoffs “illegal” and “immoral” which should never have happened.

Alongside him was Joly, who said the outcome sent a message to investors that Canada was “a country of the rule of law and that the law applies to everyone, notwithstanding the size of your wallet.”

“This fight was absolutely worth it,” she said.

Cleveland-Cliffs, which bought Stelco in 2024, announced in late September that up to 500 workers would be laid off at Stelco’s plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, citing weak demand and difficult market conditions for cold-rolled and coated steel products used to make everything from cars to appliances.

It blamed US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel, which made it more expensive in the US, as well as competition from cheaper foreign steel, which it argued was eating into domestic demand for Canadian steel.

Ottawa said the layoffs violated binding commitments the company made when it bought Stelco, including keeping the same number of Canadian unionised employees through 2029.

The government and the union also argued that Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO Lourenco Goncalves violated a commitment to advocate for policies that would benefit the steel industries in both Canada and the US when he publicly supported Trump’s tariffs on steel, including Canada’s.

Goncalves’ open support for the tariffs raised questions, given that he also blamed them for Stelco’s financial troubles.

In its statement, Cleveland-Cliffs said its customers had committed to supporting its operations in Hamilton “despite the lack of response from the federal government to address the shortfalls in their tariff response program.”

It didn’t provide details on the agreements it had reached with customers or explain what had changed to make restarting operations viable.

Cleveland-Cliffs did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 1.5 million passengers face travel disruption as domestic and international airlines warn of knock-on delays.

More than 1.5 million air passengers, including sports teams in the NBA, NHL and college football, have faced travel disruption after the United States halted departing flights nationwide for more than four hours, with airlines warning they would take days to recover.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the ground stop at 8:15pm Eastern time on Friday (01:15 GMT on Saturday), after a telecommunications outage affected the country’s 22 regional air traffic control centres.

Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, said about 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers were scheduled to depart US airports after 4pm Eastern time (21:00 GMT), and that at least 827 flights had been diverted by 7:05pm on Friday (00:05 am on Saturday).

FlightRadar24 counted more than 4,700 cancellations and 10,000 delays on Friday, with 700 flights already cancelled for Saturday.

Only 336 flights worldwide were in the air bound for the US at the lowest point during the ground stop, FlightRadar24 reported on X.

Passengers stranded

At Los Angeles airport, Nicholas Erdodi, who had travelled from New Zealand to attend a conference in Chicago, told Al Jazeera’s John Hendren he had spent six hours at the airport after being forced off his plane.

“The challenge is you cannot ask anyone here what to do,” he said. “Lack of information is what bothers me.” He had been rebooked, but was unsure whether his next flight would go.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it would “take us some time” to restore capacity and that “we’re going to have some makeup to do.”

He acknowledged that tens of thousands of travellers had been stranded, saying he expected operations to be back to normal for the Thanksgiving rush, which begins in less than two weeks.

Sports weekend in chaos

The Associated Press news agency reported that the shutdown left NBA, NHL and college teams stranded, with NFL teams wondering whether they could travel in time for their games.

The Nets were among five NBA teams scheduled to fly on Friday for Saturday games.

There are 14 NHL games set to play Saturday.

The San Jose Sharks were left waiting to fly to Utah, while the Florida Panthers reached St Louis before the stoppage.

The Texas Longhorns had boarded their plane before it was grounded. “We are grounded and waiting to see when we can leave,” a team spokesman said.

If they have to take a bus to Baton Rouge, the trip for Saturday’s 6:30pm kickoff would take about seven hours.

The Washington Huskies’ buses, carrying almost 200 people, had just reached the airport when the order came, The Washington Post reported.

College football teams due for matches had not yet reached their destinations.

The Big 12 conference said it was evaluating possible changes to Saturday’s schedule, and the Southeastern Conference said it was “aware” of the impact on team travel.

Airlines and airports

Delta Air Lines said it was “safely resuming operations”, offering flexible rebooking, and warned that repositioning aircraft and crews would take time.

United Airlines said it was resuming a number of Friday night flights.

JetBlue plans to resume on Saturday morning.

Air Canada said operations would return gradually, with disruption likely on Saturday, and Aeromexico was working to resume operations.

In Mexico City, the Benito Juarez International Airport said about 70 flights scheduled for Friday could be affected.

In Canada, Toronto Pearson said flights that did not need to cross US airspace were operating as normal and that it had increased staffing to support affected passengers.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada – Chelsey Masteij had heard layoffs might be coming at Stelco, so she decided to use up some of her vacation days. She was making the most of the time off with her new dog when she got a call telling her not to come back to work.

The 34-year-old had spent years trying to break into the male-dominated steel industry before finally landing a job at the company’s Hamilton plant about three years ago.

She started as a general labourer in the cold-rolling department, later training to operate cranes and taking on shifts in the coke ovens.

The work was gruelling and physically demanding, but Masteij grew to love the routine and the close-knit community of coworkers she came to consider family. When she shared photos of herself with Al Jazeera, all in protective gear at the plant, she joked that she hardly had any pictures outside of work.

Masteij thought she might stay at Stelco until retirement. Instead, she was laid off on October 9.

The news hit hard, and she spent much of the next two weeks sleeping.

“I was in a complete mess,” she told Al Jazeera, her voice cracking as she recalled the experience. “I was kind of depressed.”

Now, instead of working 12-hour shifts, Masteij spends much of her time at home, cutting back on expenses while she collects employment insurance.

Masteij is among hundreds of Canadian steelworkers facing layoffs after Stelco’s American owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced in late September that it would temporarily shut down parts of its operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario.

Stelco blames the move on United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which it says have made it harder to sell Canadian steel to US customers, and on competition from cheaper foreign steel entering Canada.

But government officials and plant workers, including Masteij, are not convinced that is the whole story.

“Right now, there are a lot of lies going on with what’s happened,” Masteij said.

While US tariffs have hurt the Canadian steel industry, the union representing Stelco workers questions whether Cleveland-Cliffs is using difficult market conditions to serve its own business interests, with Canadian workers paying the price.

“Everyone knows we’re being used as pawns, that these layoffs weren’t necessary,” said Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, speaking to Al Jazeera at his Hamilton office.

The pressures facing Stelco

In June 2025, Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including from Canada, to 50 percent, making them more expensive for US buyers.

According to Stelco, Canada’s exports of cold-rolled and coated steel to the US – used to make everything from cars to building materials – fell by 58 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the quarterly average before the trade war.

But demand has also fallen in Canada, where the auto industry, a major buyer of the cold-rolled steel produced at the Hamilton plant, has also been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs, said Colin Mang, an assistant professor of economics at McMaster University in Hamilton.

“When they say that there is less demand for the product coming out of the Hamilton mill, that is correct,” Mang told Al Jazeera.

But it is not just Trump’s tariffs that Cleveland-Cliffs blames for Stelco’s problems.

During a July earnings call, CEO Lourenco Goncalves warned that the company might scale back production in Canada unless Ottawa did more to protect its steel industry from imports.

“And that will have consequences for employment in Canada, but will have a positive financial impact on Stelco and on Cleveland-Cliffs,” he said.

That was the first time Wells had heard jobs might be at risk. The union later offered to help Cleveland-Cliffs lobby Ottawa for stronger protections against foreign steel imports, believing Canadian workers might have more sway with the government.

“They never took us up on our offer,” Wells said.

Instead, the next call brought news of the layoffs.

As of Saturday, 175 workers at Stelco’s Hamilton plant had received layoff notices, with the announced cuts expected to affect up to 500 workers there and in Nanticoke.

Late last month, about 30 attended an information session the union organised in Hamilton, where they could learn about employment insurance and retraining opportunities.

Many were frustrated by the lack of clarity about how long the shutdown would last.

Some asked how their benefits would compare to their wages, while others wondered whether they would qualify for the full amount.

For workers who had spent decades at Stelco, another daunting prospect loomed: having to look for work for the first time in the digital era, competing for jobs with younger applicants as they neared retirement.

Some are already considering heading out west to find work.

“It’s hard for them to make those decisions,” Wells said, describing what he had been hearing from members. “Do I leave my family, go out west, make some money? Because they don’t know how long this is going to be.”

Masteij worries about what that could mean for Hamilton, a city where generations of families have worked in steelmaking, an industry that has shaped its identity for more than a century.

“I’m a steel city girl, and I can’t imagine the city without steel manufacturing,” she said. “We are losing tradesmen.”

Were the layoffs necessary?

But as workers grapple with what the layoffs mean for their families and their city, the union has been asking another question: whether these layoffs needed to happen at all – and it is not alone.

The US company has come under fire from the Canadian government, which is threatening legal action, accusing it of breaking promises it made when it bought Stelco in 2024.

Those included keeping at least the same number of unionised jobs and most non-unionised jobs in Canada, and pushing for trade policies that would benefit the steel industries in both Canada and the US.

Cleveland-Cliffs denies violating the agreement, saying it expects to meet its employment commitments for the year. It also maintains the layoffs are needed to “ensure the survival of Stelco” amid US tariffs, weaker demand and competition from cheaper foreign steel.

But the union and the government point to Stelco’s recent financial performance. Earlier this month, Goncalves reported the company’s strongest quarter since the acquisition.

“Mr Goncalves is not a victim,” Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly told Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, pointing to the company’s earnings. “He’s never made so much money.”

Experts have also challenged Goncalves’s claim that Canadian steelmakers are struggling because of “an avalanche of imports”.

Mang points out that nearly 80 percent of Canada’s cold-rolled steel imports come from the US, as does about half of the galvanised and painted steel coming into the country.

“What he’s trying to sell people on is the idea that there’s all this European or Asian steel coming into Canada,” he said. “This stuff is coming from his own country.”

The union and the government have also asked why, as Goncalves pushes for stronger protections in Canada against foreign steel, he has also been a vocal supporter of Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel.

In testimony to US lawmakers in January, Goncalves argued that no country, including Canada, should be exempted from the steel tariffs. In an interview with Politico last year, he said he was “very happy” with the 50 percent tariffs on steel imports, adding, “I have my fingerprints on that 50 percent.”

Two countries, one company

For Wells, the irony is that Goncalves helped create the same conditions Cleveland-Cliffs now blames for the layoffs. He believes the company is using Canadian workers to pressure Ottawa to impose more restrictions on foreign steel, while also helping Trump argue that his tariffs are working.

Mang explained why Goncalves’ seemingly contradictory position might make sense for Cleveland-Cliffs.

“He wants trade barriers in both countries to seal off their domestic markets from each other and also from the rest of the world,” Mang said, “so that his companies in each country can benefit in their own domestic markets.”

Cleveland-Cliffs has been under growing pressure from Ottawa, which gave the company 15 days from October 22 to honour its commitments to Canadian workers or face legal action.

Amid that pressure, comments Goncalves made to CBC late last month appeared to support the union’s suspicions that the layoffs have less to do with tough market conditions and more to do with Cleveland-Cliffs’ broader business interests.

Asked why he supported tariffs on Canadian steel despite promises to protect workers and advocate for the Canadian steel industry when Cleveland-Cliffs bought Stelco, he said: “I bought Stelco because I could not afford anymore having Stelco flooding the market here in the United States to the detriment of my own company.”

The admission caught the attention of Joly, who said the comments could strengthen the government’s case against Cleveland-Cliffs if Goncalves meant that he had bought Stelco to keep its Canadian operations idle. She added that Ottawa could force the company to sell its Canadian assets.

On November 6, as Ottawa’s 15-day deadline expired, Joly asked Canada’s Competition Bureau to investigate the 2024 acquisition and whether the company’s conduct violated Canadian competition law.

“If negotiations and acquisition were conducted in bad faith, Canadians deserve to know. The company needs to face the consequences,” she said in a statement.

Cleveland-Cliffs maintains that it has complied with its obligations under the Investment Canada Act.

Goncalves has rejected the prospect of a forced sale but suggested he might sell Stelco himself in a year.

“I will sell the company after we operate the company for a while, and now that I know that I’m persona non grata in Canada, I will do that,” he told CBC.

In a statement to The Canadian Press news agency late last month, he said he hoped to bring laid-off workers back before Christmas.

“It will depend on Canadian customers buying Canadian steel, made by Stelco,” he said.

Al Jazeera contacted Cleveland-Cliffs for comment on the union’s allegations and Goncalves’s remarks.

What comes next for workers?

For Masteij, even as she waits to hear whether she will be recalled, she is preparing for the possibility that her time at Stelco is done. Her low seniority means she would be one of the last to be called back.

Masteij plans to use the time she is eligible for employment insurance to take a heavy equipment training programme, hoping it will open the door to other opportunities and give her something to focus on. The training could also help her if she returns to Stelco, which is still what she is hoping for.

For Wells, what is especially frustrating is how the company is treating workers, given the years of hard work and sacrifices many have made in their jobs.

“It’s not glamorous. You work shifts, nights, days, in the hot and the cold,” he said. “Our members miss Christmas meals with their families or their kids’ hockey games because they’re expected to work.”

“And that’s why this is particularly tough because that loyalty isn’t being repaid,” Wells added. “It’s actually being exploited, if anything.”

He worries about what a drawn-out legal battle could mean for those workers.

“Our members don’t have a lot of time,” he said. “We’re hoping things get settled as soon as possible.”

WANT to know where’s hot (not literally) this winter? Expedia has just revealed its top trending destinations.

From far-flung islands in The Bahamas to famous UK university cities, all of these spots have seen a surge in interest, and for good reason.

Expedia has used data from lodging searches made on its website between July and October 2026 for travel this winter, compared to the same period in 2025, to find the rising spots.

The top trending international destination this winter is Exuma in The Bahamas, which is up 115 per cent from last year.

Exuma is made up of over 365 islands and cays – the largest being Great Exuma, which is only 37 miles long.

The islands which sit at around 25C in winter, are surrounded by bright blue waters and are well-known for having spots where you can swim with pigs.

OFF THE MENU

Lesser-known Christmas items banned from UK – are your favourites on the list?

SUNSATIONAL

Jet2 reveals short-haul holiday destinations ALREADY getting booked up for 2027

In second spot is Quebec City in Canada, where interest is up 75 per cent.

The French-speaking destination is much cooler in the winter months with average highs during the day of around -5C.

But there’s plenty to do including wrapping up warm to explore its enormous castle called Fairmont Le Château Frontenac.

Or take a walk through historic Old Quebec which makes for a pretty picture spot thanks to its cobbled streets and historic buildings.

In third spot is the city of Malmo in Sweden which is up 45 per cent.

It’s considered a quieter alternative to Stockholm and has an enormous Turning Torso skyscraper as well as pretty castles.

Thanks to its Lebanese and Palestinian immigration history, Malmo has a thriving falafel street food scene too giving it the nickname ‘Falafel City’.

It’s not just far-flung destinations either, there’s plenty of close cities for Brits to visit that have seen a surge in interest.

At the very top of the list of trending places in the UK is Cardiff, which is up 45 per cent.

The capital of Wales is regularly voted the UK’s best city and has a thriving restaurant and nightlife scene.

There are lots of independent eateries, or head to Cardiff Market filled with stalls selling fresh Welsh cakes and cheeses.

The second on the list is Oxford which is up 35 per cent.

The city is steeped in history and one popular activity is to take a tour of Oxford University – after all, it’s one of the most prestigious in the world.

Riverboat cruises are popular, and for any Harry Potter fans, check out the tours which go behind the scenes of some of the locations you’ll recognise from the films.

Also on the list are Harrogate, the Cotswolds and Torquay.

Here’s the full list of Expedia’s trending destinations this winter…

International

1. Exuma, The Bahamas (+115%)
2. 2. Quebec City, Canada (+75%)
3. Malmo, Sweden (+45%)
4. Hakone, Japan (40%)
5. Curaçao (+40%)
6. Phu Quoc, Vietnam (+30%)
7. Martinique (+30%)
8. Zakopane, Poland (+20%)
9. Ocho Rios, Jamaica (+20%)
10. Turin, Italy (+20%)

Domestic

1. Cardiff (45%)
2. Oxford (35%)
3. Harrogate (30%)
4. Cotswolds (30%)
5. Torquay (20%)

Russian, Belarusian athletes and officials will be prevented from entering Canada regardless of their visa status.

Canada says it will prevent Russian athletes and officials from entering the country for ice hockey’s World Junior Championship in Alberta, effectively barring their participation weeks before the tournament begins.

Canada’s Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden said on Wednesday that Ottawa opposes Russian and Belarusian participation in international sport “as long as Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine with Belarus’s complicity”.

The minister for immigration, refugees and citizenship “will take measures to individually assess and prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from entering Canada to compete, regardless of whether they already hold valid visas”, Van Koeverden said.

Hockey Canada has previously said it supports the government’s position.

Late last month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ordered the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to admit Russian teams to five upcoming championships, beginning with the World Junior Championship.

The IIHF, which has barred Russia from most international competitions since Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said it disagreed with the CAS decision.

The hockey federation’s statement followed announcements from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic that ⁠⁠their national teams will refuse to play against Russia at next year’s men’s World Championships in Germany.

Latvia and Finland have also said their teams will not play Russia, while the Finnish city of Turku threatened to ⁠⁠drop its hosting duties for the 2028 World Junior Championship.

Belarus’s team will not participate in the championship following a separate decision by the IIHF.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has previously said Ottawa would not permit Russian athletes to compete for their country on Canadian soil, a statement some perceived as keeping the door open for their participation as neutrals.

Van Koeverden said Canada allowed neutral participation only by individual athletes, ruling out the option for the Russian team.

“Canada’s position is unequivocal: as long as Russia continues its war of aggression against Ukraine, there can be no return to business as usual,” he said. “Canada will continue to stand with Ukraine.”

The World Junior Championship runs from December 26 to January 5.

Canadian PM Carney announces progress in Canada-US trade deal talks ahead of US midterm elections on November 3.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced progress towards a future trade deal with the United States, which could help ease tensions between the two North American neighbours.

The Sunday announcement came just two days before the November 3 US midterm elections, which will determine control of the US Congress.

“Good conversation with US President Donald Trump on the future of Canada-U.S. trade,” Carney posted on X on Sunday.

Ties between Ottawa and Washington have been strained by an escalating trade war, with Canada and the US imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on each other’s goods in recent months.

“Teams from both countries will be working in the coming weeks to deliver that outcome,” Carney said. “This builds on recent constructive discussions on the outlines of a mutually beneficial trade deal.”

In his second term, Trump has upended global trade by imposing tariffs on many of the US’s allies, including Canada – one of the US’s biggest trading partners.

In August, high-level trade talks between Ottawa and Washington broke down, and Trump imposed a 50 percent levy on $20bn of Canadian goods, or 5.5 percent of its exports. Canada responded with equivalent tariffs on US steel, dairy, appliances, farm equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.

Trump said last week that he expected a new trade agreement with Canada to be reached “pretty soon”, but offered no details.

The trade tensions with Canada have become an issue in the midterm elections, particularly in Michigan and Maine, where Republican candidates have faced pressure over tariffs that have hurt local businesses.

Canada has sought to diversify its trade options and recently welcomed a European Union offer to become an “associate member”.

Carney praised the proposal’s ambition, describing his goal as a “unique alliance” rather than conventional EU membership.

It is being called the biggest cryptocurrency heist in history – and the shocks are still reverberating through the industry.

The target of this recent hack was Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Attackers stole about $6.3bn in client assets.

Analysts suspect hackers backed by the North Korean government carried out the theft.

Critics are calling for more regulations to restore the trust of investors.

So, is cryptocurrency still safe? And can these kinds of attacks even be prevented?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom

Guests:

Lee Reiners – Lecturing fellow at Duke University and a former US Federal Reserve Bank examiner

Geoff White – Investigative journalist and author of The Lazarus Heist

Anupam Chander – Professor of law and technology at Georgetown University, who specialises in the global regulation of new technologies

Both sides signed a digital trade deal, as Trump’s trade threats push Washington’s allies to seek closer ties elsewhere.

The European Union and Canada have launched what they described as an Alliance for the Future, as Ottawa prepares to become the bloc’s first so-called “associate member”.

Prime Minister Mark Carney hosted the Canada-EU summit in Montreal and signed a digital trade deal, alongside other agreements. Also at the Friday summit were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

The term “associate member” has no legal basis and is contested by some EU states. However, its use underscores the desire of Canada and the EU to forge closer relations, as United States President Donald Trump continues to threaten Washington’s traditional allies with trade tariffs if they do not play by his rules.

“Canada and the EU are working to establish the closest possible partnership, which will be far from full membership, but which will make Canada the first associate member of the European Union,” Carney posted on X.

“Today in Montreal, we have taken a major step forward by establishing more than twenty measures that will increase affordability, create opportunities and ensure our sovereignty on both sides of the Atlantic.”

In a joint statement following the summit, the two sides announced an agreement under which the European Investment Bank will invest in critical Canadian resources, particularly raw minerals. They also said they would advance cooperation on artificial intelligence security and safety.

“A more dangerous and divided world has fundamentally changed the requirements of sovereignty. It is no longer enough for nations to feed, fuel and defend ourselves,” the statement said.

It added that “true sovereignty” requires secure access to critical minerals, semiconductors, payment systems, energy, vaccines, space-based communications and AI.

Ukraine was also on the meeting agenda, with Carney announcing Canada’s participation in the EU’s 90 billion euro ($103bn) support loan for Kyiv. Carney said Canada would make an initial contribution of 500 million euros ($558m).

Opportunities for students in Canada and the EU were also discussed. Both sides said they would launch negotiations aimed at deepening Ottawa’s participation in Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship student exchange programme.

Carney and Trump are currently engaged in a trade dispute, with talks under way to reach a deal between the two countries.

MONTREAL — Prime Minister Mark Carney called Canada “the most European of non-European countries” early in President Trump’s trade war. Now, he’s hosting European leaders to pursue an unprecedented alliance, but the proposed European Union “associate member” designation faces resistance even as the EU’s top official champions it.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa are in Montreal for a two-day summit aimed at deepening trade, defense and economic ties as Canada and Europe seek to reduce their dependence on Washington in a changing world order.

Speaking in Montreal on Thursday, Von der Leyen warned that economic relationships once considered sources of stability were increasingly being used as instruments of pressure. Without naming Trump, she described the consequences for ordinary families and warned that national sovereignty was under threat.

“When trade becomes a tool of economic pressure, it is families that pay the price, from the supermarket shelf to the cost of a new car,” Von der Leyen said. “We are seeing in real time our sovereignty being attacked.”

She warned that dependence on a single supplier for energy, semiconductors or critical minerals could be exploited and said countries faced a choice between acting alone or working with trusted partners to protect their economic security.

Trump has suggested Canada’s proposed EU arrangement could be a “hostile act” and threatened tariffs on Europe if he considered it unfriendly. Asked Wednesday about possible retaliation, a senior Canadian government official told reporters the closer relationship was not directed against the United States but reflected long-standing shared interests.

The summit puts Carney’s vision for a new global order to the test. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, he warned that the U.S.-led international order was breaking down and urged middle powers to unite against economic coercion.

Von der Leyen stands by her plan for Canada’s new status

The structure and even the name of the proposed partnership remain unsettled, with some EU member states questioning the “ associate member ” designation proposed last month by Von der Leyen.

Despite resistance from EU member states, Von der Leyen showed no sign of abandoning the idea.

“Canada cannot become a full-fledged member of the EU because of geography, but we both want to bring our relationship to the highest level possible,” she said. “This is why we are discussing the idea of Canada becoming the first associate member of the European Union.”

Von der Leyen described the proposed relationship as an “association without accession,” saying it could bring Canada closer to EU membership than any previous arrangement with a country outside the bloc. She said the arrangement would deepen cooperation on everything from artificial intelligence and energy to defense and trade.

Anand Sundar, a special adviser at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said France and Germany are among the countries unhappy with the designation and that it may not survive the summit.

“The fact that member states have rejected the associate membership framing is very embarrassing for Von der Leyen,” Sundar said.

More talks ahead, Carney said

Carney said Tuesday the summit would be followed by further negotiations over the next year.

“It doesn’t matter about specific names or nomenclature,” Carney said. “What matters is the difference that it will make to lives of Canadians.”

Carney said the partnership could create new opportunities for Canadian students, businesses and researchers while strengthening the country’s independence and sovereignty.

Carney has ruled out formally joining the EU, saying any enhanced partnership would require approval by Canada’s Parliament.

An alliance without membership

The summit is expected to launch an “Alliance for the Future,” a framework for closer cooperation on trade, defense, critical minerals, technology and research.

Von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would finalize an agreement Friday giving Canadian companies, startups and researchers access to Europe’s network of 12 advanced supercomputers, strengthening cooperation on artificial intelligence.

She also announced plans to strengthen strategic supply chains and encourage joint investment in industries critical to economic security.

The partnership could expand opportunities for Canadian students and researchers through the EU’s Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe programs and make it easier for professionals to work on both sides of the Atlantic.

European commissioners and Canadian Cabinet ministers will hold sector-specific meetings, beginning with a business forum Thursday before formal leaders’ talks Friday. Officials hope to develop the broader partnership for possible endorsement next year.

A changing world order reshapes economic and defense ties

Canada is the only non-European country participating in the EU’s $167-billion SAFE defense procurement program, allowing Canadian companies to take part in joint European military purchases.

But deeper defense cooperation faces obstacles. Sundar said France is pushing for strict “Made in Europe” rules that could limit Canadian companies’ access to future EU defense spending, while Germany favors broader participation. He said negotiations over the EU’s next seven-year budget could prove more consequential for Canada than anything announced in Montreal.

The two sides already have a sweeping free trade agreement, known as CETA, that eliminated most tariffs. Most provisions have been in force since 2017, although some EU member states have yet to ratify it.

The United States accounted for 71.7% of Canada’s merchandise exports last year. Carney wants to double exports to other countries over the next decade.

Canada and the EU are seeking closer cooperation on critical minerals as both sides work to diversify supply chains. Von der Leyen said the value of EU imports of Canadian critical raw materials rose 62% last year to 3.3 billion euros, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite.

Tobias Gehrke, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the disagreement over terminology was unlikely to derail closer cooperation.

“There is no magic shortcut to rapidly reducing Europe’s and Canada’s reliance on the U.S. economy and military — not least since Washington might retaliate,” Gehrke said. “But the political window is now wide open to take a much bigger step than was previously conceivable.”

Gillies writes for the Associated Press.

The victory helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking.

Elena Rybakina blazed past unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-2 in the Ningbo Open final to retain her title and lift her first trophy as the world number one ahead of the WTA Finals next month.

The victory on Sunday also helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking, further burnishing a spectacular season in which she won the Australian Open title before adding the US Open crown to reach the summit.

Top seed Rybakina made the breakthrough with her trademark power in the fifth game and then unleashed a searing crosscourt backhand winner to go 4-2 up, before the 27-year-old wrapped up the opening set in only 38 minutes.

World number 30 Fernandez made a bright start to the next set but Rybakina absorbed the pressure and raised her level to force an error and break for 2-1, with the three-time Grand Slam champion breezing to victory from there.

Rybakina’s latest triumph is a timely lift after setbacks in Beijing and Wuhan, as she turns her attention to the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week before launching her title defence at the season finale in Indian Wells from November 8.

It’s true, this is far from panic stations. In 2016, England were the defending world champions when they lost to France and beaten finalists Canada. Since then, they’ve been imperious, winning a second World Cup, reaching the final in 2017 and 2022, and lifting nine of the past 10 Six Nations titles.

This is only their third defeat in 74 matches, so perspective is required.

But England’s performances throughout the WXV Global Series highlighted areas for improvement.

They have lacked their usual clinical edge in attack. In Ottawa, Sarah Bern was held up over the line and England conceded a turnover less than five metres out as they failed to make their dominance pay before the break.

Tellingly, they opted to kick a penalty early in the second half to close the deficit – perhaps a lesson learned from last month’s 26-26 draw in Exeter, where they turned down a shot at goal to snatch the win in the dying moments.

In defence, they have conceded 18 tries across their past five matches in the WXV, compared to eight in six at the World Cup. They have trailed at the break three times, something they hadn’t experienced since 2020.

Last week, ill-discipline repeatedly gifted Canada field position before a late handling error, which put a clearing kick under pressure, opened the door for the hosts’ winning try.

On Friday night, Gabrielle Senft picked off a bouncing ball from a missed pass to set up Canada’s second try. Minutes later, England were lucky not to concede a similar try when a pass bisected Jess Breach and Jones, who pounced on the ball just before Lizzie Gibson got to it.

“We were riding the waves, building phases, scrum, set piece, we were very strong. Sometimes it’s the bounce of the ball or it doesn’t swing your way. We couldn’t execute when we got in their 22, that’s a big one to reflect on for sure,” said Jones.

WXV Global Series

Canada (12) 31

Tries: Omokhuale, De Goede 3, Bauder Cons: De Goede 3

England (7) 22

Tries: Feaunati, Cokayne, Sing Cons: Harrison, Sing Pens: Harrison

England suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time in a decade as Canada won 31-22 in the WXV Series in Ottawa.

The hosts ran in five tries to England’s three, including a hat-trick for captain Sophie de Goede, as they backed up last weekend’s 24-21 win in Toronto, which ended the Red Roses’ 41-match unbeaten streak, with another statement victory.

It completes a 2-0 series win for Canada after the two sides also shared a 26-26 draw in Exeter in September.

After losing multiple matches in a calendar year for the first time since 2016, world champions England head into their meeting with the USA in New Jersey next Friday (21:15 GMT) hoping to avoid three consecutive losses for the first time since 2013.

England made a promising start, Maddie Feaunati crashing over from close range inside 10 minutes, but Canada led 12-7 at the break.

Gabrielle Senft pounced on a bouncing ball and broke down the left wing with De Goede on her shoulder to score, only four minutes after Julia Omokhuale had brought the Maple Leafs level.

Zoe Harrison kicked a penalty early in the second half before England turned to their driving maul to overturn the deficit, Amy Cokayne walking in their second score.

However, De Goede restored her side’s lead three minutes later and completed her hat-trick just after the hour-mark, before Savannah Bauder danced down the left wing to put Canada out of sight.

Emma Sing added a consolation try for England in the 80th minute.

High winds propelled the blaze across the army base in Wainwright, killing four soldiers and injuring dozens more.

A fire that killed four soldiers at a western Canadian military base was sparked by an exercise using live grenades, a military official said.

The deadly fire broke out on a grenade launcher range during military exercises on Saturday, with high winds propelling it across the base, Brigadier-General Vanessa Hanrahan, commander of the Canadian Forces Military Police Group, told reporters on Thursday.

“A subsequent change in wind direction and velocity significantly increased the fire’s intensity,” she added, with the flames spreading to a training area at the Wainwright military base in Alberta.

Due to the blaze being in the “permanent danger area” of the range, firefighters were unable to directly combat it, Hanrahan added.

The fire spread on Saturday afternoon during high-intensity combat training involving Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

The military base lies in the prairies, a landscape of wide, open grasslands, rolling plains and scattered groves of trees.

About 84 soldiers were split between a grenade range and an area where they practised attacks on simulated enemy positions. The fire swept into the second training area.

Four soldiers died and 39 were injured, with 27 requiring hospitalisation. The incident was one of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada’s military.

The soldiers and reserve members were participating in exercises ahead of a planned deployment to Latvia, where Canadian forces have their largest international military operation.

The Wainwright base is one of the largest bases operated by the Canadian Armed Forces. It regularly hosts training exercises involving military personnel from NATO countries.

During the final months of World War II and for several months in 1946, the base was used as an internment centre for German prisoners of war.

On trade, investment and innovation, leaders will work toward conclusion of a Canada-Turkiye Free Trade Agreement.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have announced the launch of a Canada-Turkiye Strategic Partnership, backed by a three-year action plan.

“In an increasingly complex global security environment, rising geopolitical uncertainties, and evolving humanitarian challenges, a strong and resilient Canada-Turkiye partnership is essential, providing a foundation to mitigate shared threats and capitalise on new opportunities,” said a statement by the two leaders on Thursday.

This comes as Carney is on a two-day visit to Turkiye, seeking to forge a new partnership as Canada looks to reduce its dependence on the United States.

The partnership’s three-year action plan rests on four pillars: trade and investment; defence and security; energy; and ties between people, the statement said.

On trade, investment and innovation, the two leaders agreed to “work toward successful conclusion of a Canada-Turkiye Free Trade Agreement”, it said. They will also expand bilateral trade and investments in priority sectors including energy supply, defence production, aerospace, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

On defence and security, the leaders “underlined their intent to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation”. They also agreed to “strengthen cooperation in support of peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic region and beyond including Ukraine, South Caucasus, and the Middle East, in particular Gaza”.

Meanwhile, energy ministers from both countries will work on areas such as LNG, nuclear energy and critical minerals.

‘Launching a new era’

Speaking to reporters in Ankara alongside Carney on Thursday, Erdogan said the two countries “hope to increase our trade volume, which currently stands at around $3 billion, to $5 billion initially and then to $10 billion through the steps we will take”.

He said the two sides had agreed to begin free trade agreement negotiations before the end of the year to boost trade and investment, adding that elevating Turkiye-Canada relations to the level of a strategic partnership would not be merely a symbolic step on paper.

“We have today overcome the disconnect that had persisted between Turkiye and Canada for many years. Now we are launching a new era between Turkiye and Canada,” he said.

Canadian and Turkish leaders will convene next month in Ankara for the first round of trade talks, the joint statement said.

Carney is on the first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister to Turkiye, although he travelled to Ankara in July to attend the NATO summit.

He was scheduled to meet with Erdogan and other officials before travelling to Istanbul for talks with Turkish business groups as the two countries seek to deepen trade ties.

The Canadian prime minister has sought to diversify partnerships and reduce reliance on the US amid an escalating trade war with President Donald Trump, marked by US tariffs on Canadian goods, retaliatory measures by Canada and statements questioning Canadian sovereignty.

The United States has accused Canadian politicians of trying to influence its midterm elections, pointing to Canada’s efforts to push back against President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign.

In a fact sheet released on Wednesday, the US embassy accused Canada of being dismissive of its allegations of election interference.

“The Canadian government brushes off concerns about potential interference in U.S. elections, even as its ministers and premiers openly describe plans to influence American politics in official documents and public appearances,” the fact sheet reads.

The two countries have been locked in a trade war since the start of Trump’s second term in 2025, with Canada responding to US tariffs with import taxes of its own.

But the US embassy identified public statements about the tariffs as being attempts to sway the November 3 midterm election.

Among the politicians singled out in the fact sheet was Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly. The fact sheet pointed to comments Joly made in August about responding to Trump’s tariffs.

“We’re also targeting products that will target states in the US. And so we’re being wise and strategic to put political pressure,” Joly said at the time.

The embassy also took issue with Joly’s meetings with Democratic officials in Boston and Chicago in September. When asked by a reporter what she thought might happen with regard to tariffs if Democrats won the midterms, she said, “That’s exactly why I’m meeting so many governors and potential presidential candidates.”

Joly has rejected the suggestion that her actions could amount to interference, saying Canada would never meddle in US elections. She said her meetings with US politicians, both Democratic and Republican, were about building Canada’s economy.

“Fundamentally, what I’ve done in the US is to attract investments,” she told reporters on October 14.

The embassy also pointed to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s calls for retaliatory measures on US products, as well as his government’s advertising campaign against Trump’s tariffs, launched last year.

The campaign, which featured clips of former US President Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs in a 1987 radio address, prompted Trump to call off trade talks with Canada in October 2025.

While the embassy laid out several examples of Canadian officials trying to influence US trade policy, it didn’t explain how those efforts amounted to interference.

Other instances of alleged election interference included Liberal MP Anthony Housefather saying he had campaigned in Florida on behalf of Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, ahead of her primary election in August.

The fact sheet also accused individual Canadians of illegally participating in US elections, naming 11 people who had been charged or sentenced for voting between 2012 and 2024.

The sheet did not, however, present any evidence linking those citizens to a Canadian government effort to involve itself in US elections.

“All Canadians should refrain from attempting to participate in or influence U.S. elections in any way,” the US embassy’s statement said. “Americans decide America’s elections.”

The fact sheet comes a week after US Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said Washington was closely watching Canada for signs of interference ahead of the midterms.

“We’re monitoring it, we’re evaluating it and if some of it becomes election interference then America will respond to it,” Hoekstra said in a podcast interview on The Really Big Show, according to The Canadian Press.

The US and Canada have long been allies, but relations have frayed since Trump returned to office.

Not only has the Republican leader triggered a trade war with Canada, but he has also repeatedly threatened to make Canada a 51st state.

There have also been reports that separatist leaders from Alberta had sought support from Trump administration officials ahead of a failed referendum on the province’s independence this week.

Ahead of Monday’s provincial vote, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed concerns about potential US interference in the referendum, saying Canada expected foreign governments to stay out of its elections.

“Our expectation is, to be absolutely clear, on foreign governments, United States included, is we don’t get ourselves involved in their elections, they don’t get themselves involved in our elections,” he told Global News.

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office and Global Affairs Canada for comment, as well as the office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Industry Minister Joly.

Publisher Boreal says investigations confirmed the Hatian-Canadian Thelyson Orelien used AI in his breakthrough novel.

The publisher of best-selling Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien says it has severed its professional relationship with the author after confirming he used artificial intelligence to help write his novel, “It Was Either That or Die”.

Boreal said on Wednesday that it conducted a further investigation after allegations surfaced in September to determine whether AI was used to write the novel.

“New information, confirmed over the past few days, indicates that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process” of the novel, a Boreal statement said.

Orelien had previously denied allegations surrounding his breakthrough novel, and last week, the Canadian publisher said it was standing by the 38-year-old writer.

Boreal said it did not know the extent of AI’s use in the writing process “and we will likely never have a definitive answer”.

It said it gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyse the various drafts.

“The results obtained this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents,” Boreal said.

The publisher said it had tried to work with Orelien to gather the evidence necessary to prove his innocence.

That effort was inconclusive, and Orelien “subsequently announced that he would not provide any further information,” the publisher said.

‘Slander and heresy’

Orelien’s novel about migration, known by its original French title “C’etait ca ou mourir”, had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries.

France’s top book prize, the Goncourt, removed “C’etait ca ou mourir” from its shortlist after tests with the AI detector Pangram indicated a 100 percent probability that it contained computer-generated text.

But Orelien called the allegations “slander and heresy” in a statement sent to AFP earlier this month.

“Here and there I did use tools for research, particularly for foreign idioms,” he said.

“But not a single sentence in this book was created by a machine, nor the meaning or the structure of a story that comes from my gut,” Orelien said.

On Wednesday, he stood firm, telling the French newspaper Liberation that he had used AI “in the creative process” for “historical research”.

The author said he began writing the book in late 2017, before AI services such as ChatGPT were widely available.

When the allegations first surfaced in September, Orelien said he suspected racism was behind the attacks on him.

Emma Sing comes in at full-back in Kildunne’s place for Saturday’s rematch (00:00 BST) against Canada in Ottawa, while Tatyana Heard and Claudia Moloney-MacDonald – backline starters in the defeat – drop out of the matchday squad entirely.

Helena Rowland and Mia Venner replace Heard and Moloney-MacDonald at inside centre and wing respectively.

In the fourth change to the starting line-up, Sadia Kabeya, who appeared off the bench last week on her comeback from a leg injury, starts with Alex Matthews, two-time Rugby World Cup winner, dropping to the bench.

Exeter’s Flo Robinson and Sale’s Hollie Aitchison are included on the bench as a new-look set of half-back replacements.

Sing, a rangy runner who can also kick goals, started two matches at full-back during England’s Six Nations campaign, with Kildunne switching to a different position on the wing on each occasion.

Sing’s Gloucester-Hartpury team-mate Venner made her England debut in 2020 aged just 17.

Venner has won only another four caps since but was putting pressure on England’s more established back three at the start of this year, appearing in wins over Scotland and Italy.

The 24-year-old finished as the PWR’s joint top try-scorer last season, crossing 12 times.

Moloney-MacDonald cost her side an early try in the defeat by Canada when, after doing superbly to pick Jess Breach’s pass off her toes, she spilled the ball over the line in the sixth minute.

“We’ve earned a strong period but nothing about it is owed to us going forward,” said Mitchell.

“Friday [Saturday 00:00 BST] is an opportunity to apply sustained pressure, learn from what we missed and come out the other side better than we went in.”