Publisher Boreal says an investigation confirmed that Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien used AI in the writing process for his breakthrough novel, “It Was Either That or Die”, and that it has ended its professional relationship with him. Boreal said it could not determine how extensively AI was used. Orelien maintained that no sentence in the book was machine-generated.

publishingartificial intelligenceliteratureThelyson Orelien

Quebec author Thélyson Orélien has been at the centre of controversy for weeks. On Wednesday, Canadian publisher Les Éditions du Boréal acknowledged that AI was indeed used to write his latest novel.

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Canadian publisher Les Editions du Boreal said on Wednesday that it had ended its professional relationship with Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien after finding that he used AI to write his award-winning book.

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A Canadian publisher said Wednesday that it had ended its relationship with prize-nominated writer Thélyson Orélien after new information indicated he did use AI to write his acclaimed first novel.

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Quebec publishing house Éditions du Boréal said Wednesday it is ending its professional relationship with Thélyson Orélien, who has been accused of using AI in an award-winning novel.

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The US State Department has ordered nonemergency government employees and their families to leave its mission in Saudi Arabia, citing increasingly hostile actions by Iran-aligned Houthis. US officials said missions in other Gulf states would also ask family members to depart.

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The US State Department ordered non-essential staff and family members to leave its embassy in Riyadh as strikes on Saudi Arabia by Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen intensify.

United StatesSaudi ArabiaHouthisembassy evacuation

Reports say all US staff and their families have been ordered to leave the US embassy in Riyadh.

United StatesSaudi Arabiaembassy departure

Artificial intelligence helped identify two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, which powers most websites. The US National Security Agency advised organizations to take sites offline if they could not update immediately, while authorities in several countries temporarily shut government websites to apply security patches.

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The FBI’s cyber division warned Wednesday that two “critical vulnerabilities” had been found in PHP, a widely used programming language that supports many websites and web applications.

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Two critical flaws in PHP have caused major problems for websites, prompting some Dutch and Finnish government agencies to take theirs offline as a precaution. The NSA Cybersecurity account and the UK’s National Cyber Security Center advised organizations to disconnect systems if an immediate update was not possible. Researchers say AI has made the roughly 20-year-old bugs easier to exploit; PHP’s maintainers warn attackers could run code remotely without logging in.

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Governments and agencies urged websites to patch two critical flaws in PHP, advising organisations unable to update promptly to take systems offline. Finland shut its public government web services, while Dutch agencies and the US National Security Agency also issued shutdown advice. AI helped uncover the flaws, which Wiz described as the most severe vulnerabilities ever found by AI.

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Developers of the PHP programming language released a security fix on Wednesday after a vulnerability came to light. They urged users to apply it promptly, while some governments took websites offline as a precaution.

PHPcybersecuritygovernment websites

Government agencies and companies worldwide shut down websites on Thursday as they hurried to guard against hacks after AI found critical flaws in PHP, a widely used programming language.

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Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry says debris from an intercepted drone fell at an Aramco-operated oil field, killing two people and injuring two others.

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Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone attempting to strike Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil-field facility in the Eastern Province, the Energy Ministry said. A car outside the site caught fire; two foreign nationals were killed and two others wounded. The incident did not affect operations.

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Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry says debris from an intercepted drone struck an Aramco-operated oil field, killing two people and injuring two others.

Saudi Arabiadrone attackAramcooil field

Elon Musk says a special committee has been formed to assess a possible Tesla–SpaceX merger, but no agreement has been reached and a deal is not guaranteed. With combined valuations of about $3.5 trillion, it would be the largest corporate merger ever. Shareholder approval, regulatory scrutiny, and Tesla investors’ smaller stake and the car business’s standing in a merged company are among the issues raised.

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Elon Musk confirmed Tesla and SpaceX are exploring a merger that could bring their Bitcoin holdings together under one company. On SpaceX’s Oct. 20 earnings call, he said both firms had formed independent-director committees to assess a potential combination and described it as a good idea.

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Elon Musk made headlines on SpaceX’s earnings call yesterday, confirming that SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to explore a possible merger.

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A decade ago, Elon Musk saw little reason for SpaceX and Tesla to combine, describing their ties as “really quite tenuous.” In 2026, he is openly backing the idea, saying there is “a lot of merit” in bringing the companies together.

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A day after SpaceX reported its third-quarter results, Tesla is scheduled to update investors. Elon Musk had called a SpaceX merger a “good idea.”

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Investors hoping that clarity on a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger would jolt Tesla shares out of their sluggish performance may have to wait longer.

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One person was killed and eight wounded when Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia was attacked late Wednesday, Al Arabiya reported, citing the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation. Damage is being assessed.

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An attack targeting King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, killed one person and injured eight others.

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Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday evening killed one resident and injured eight others.

Saudi Arabiaairport attackDammam

Real Madrid beat RB Leipzig 4-1 for a third straight Champions League win. Bernardo Silva, Arda Guler, Kylian Mbappe and Yan Diomande scored for Madrid, while Tidiam Gomis got Leipzig’s goal.

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Follow live text updates and team news from Real Madrid’s Champions League match against RB Leipzig, with Mbappe and Bellingham in the spotlight.

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The Vatican says tests after Pope Leo XIV’s surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung confirmed that his lung cancer had not spread, so no further therapy is needed. He has been discharged and is gradually resuming his activities.

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Doctors say tests found the cancer was confined to the portion of Pope Leo’s right lung that was removed, so he needs no additional treatment.

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Tests showed Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer was confined to one area, so he will need no further treatment, the Vatican said Wednesday. The 71-year-old pontiff had part of his right lung removed last week, left hospital Saturday and will gradually return to his activities.

Pope Leo XIVlung cancerVatican

Doctors said Pope Leo XIV needs no further treatment after an operation on his right lung lasting an hour and a half, eight days earlier. The tumour was localised.

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Doctors say Pope Leo XIV requires no further treatment after surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his lung. Tests confirmed lung adenocarcinoma that was confined to one area. After leaving hospital, he held his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday.

Pope Leo XIVlung cancersurgeryVatican

Pope Leo will not need additional therapy after having lung cancer surgery last week, his doctors said in a statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday.

Pope Leolung cancersurgeryVatican

Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola case since the East African outbreak began in May is the wife of a diplomat based in Abuja, who spent two and a half weeks in Kampala. Officials say she became ill after returning home and 44 contacts are in isolation. Nigeria is working with Uganda, Ethiopia and Africa CDC to trace her movements and determine where she contracted the virus.

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Nigeria has reported its first Ebola case, raising fears that the epidemic, which began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May, could become a wider regional crisis.

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Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case, making it the fourth country to report one. The patient is in isolation, and her contacts, including her Swiss national spouse, are being monitored. African health ministers are due to hold crisis talks.

EbolaNigeriapublic health

Nigeria has announced its first Ebola case after Kenya and Uganda. The patient, a woman, travelled from Uganda and was admitted to a private hospital in Abuja. The outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May and health officials have called it the fastest-spreading on record.

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Nigeria confirmed Ebola in a woman who travelled from Uganda to Abuja, where she is receiving care in isolation. Authorities have identified 44 close contacts and begun tracing them, while the source of her infection remains under investigation.

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Nigeria reported its first Ebola case in more than a decade on Tuesday, becoming the fourth African country—and the most populous—to be affected by an outbreak health officials have called the fastest-spreading on record.

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Vice President JD Vance told Republicans to stop complaining about a controversial ad by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton.

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Airbnb has updated its policies to restrict how much cleaning hosts can require guests to do before leaving. Once the changes take effect, guests will have fewer chores to complete at checkout.

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Under Airbnb’s new policy, hosts can no longer require guests to strip beds or wash and put away dishes.

Airbnbshort-term rentalscleaning rules

New Mexico prosecutors have sued Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn, alleging they profited from his sex-trafficking operation and helped conceal abuse at his ranch. Both men deny knowing about or assisting the crimes; their attorney called the claims categorically false.

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New Mexico’s attorney general has sued Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer and accountant, accusing them of hiding a sex trafficking operation.

New MexicoJeffrey Epsteinlawsuitsex trafficking

Meta Platforms raised its capital spending outlook and announced plans for a new class of nonvoting stock, intensifying its already enormous bet on artificial intelligence.

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