There are 16 surviving members of the Al-Zurai family, enduring a life the grandmother says has come to feel like death. “We die 100 times daily from fear and horror,” she said. It's morning in Khan Younis, and the Al-Zurai family wakes up in a tent pitched on the rubble of the cement house they once shared. The tiles that used to be the floor of their home are loosely laid across the sandy ground, marking the space of what is now a makeshift outdoor kitchen. “Today, God sends us cans, so we’re cooking them for the children,” Suad Al-Zurai, 57, said of the canned beans that she stirs in a simmering pot. It's the 558th day of the war, and the children, along with the adults, are hungry, covered in dust, haunted by death and facing another day of scraping together a life from the ruins of the Gaza Strip. Suad's exhaustion is palpable as she stirs the pot under a blazing sun. For her, enduring survival has begun to feel like death. “We all die 100 times, every day,” she said, “we die 100 times daily from fear and horror.” Her slain loved ones are among more than 51,000 people who have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local health ministry, since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks. Some 1,200 people were killed during the attacks in southern Israel and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Throughout the course of the day, worries over food, water and other necessities dominate the family's discussions, and finding those supplies takes up much of the rest of their time as humanitarian groups warn that aid is running out. At one point, Hamed Al-Zurai's 3-year-old daughter, Anwar, throws herself to the floor, crying out for rice, but there isn’t any more to give her. “My children are constantly crying,” he said. “They want to eat. And I answer them, ‘How? There are no open crossings, so how can I get you food, my love?’” Before the war, most of the children spent their mornings at school. Now, they dedicate hours each day to trying to find food and water. Pushing their fears for their missing father aside, Khaled Al-Zurai's children, Mohammed, 13, and Suad, 12, dutifully pick up their pots and pans and head to the soup kitchen with their cousin, Shadi, 7, taking NBC News' crew with them on the roughly 30-minute walk. At the soup kitchen, there's already a crowd of other children, along with some women and men, waiting for food under the hot sun. The younger Suad stands with her empty pot in her hands, gazing into the distance, bored and exhausted, as she waits, later joining her brother and sister and sitting in a ditch in the shade before they try again. On offer is rice — and after waiting for an hour, they fill their pots, carrying it back to their tent. While they're getting food, Hamed and young Anwar are out to get water for the family. Anwar walks swiftly as she carries two water jugs, each nearly half the size of her small body. Before the war, Hamed Al-Zurai had a cart and a donkey that he would use to rent out transportation services, but after the donkey died in the war and he lost his cart, he no longer has a way to make money. Unable to buy food or water, the family is left dependent on swiftly dwindling aid.“The situation is dire,” he said. But even at a time of incredible darkness, there are moments of light for the Al-Zurais: smiles as they gather together in their tent, finally sharing their hard-won lunch. After eating, Mohammed gives his younger siblings and cousins old rubber tires to play with. Anwar grins as she wheels one across the sandy ground. As the sun goes down, the children huddle in a circle outside, laughing as they play hand-clapping games. And for a moment, they look just like any other children anywhere else in the world.Then, they return to their makeshift tent to eat a meager dinner of more rice and beans, before eventually settling down for bed, huddling together on the ground, wrapped in blankets. “We hate the nighttime,” Suad Al-Zurai said. And, she added, “the daytime.”

Israel’s complete blockade has passed seven weeks, and “people are running out of ways to cope,” the U.N. agency said. “The fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled.” The World Food Programme has run out of food, the United Nations agency said Friday, 54 days after Israel imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip. “Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip. These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days,” it said in a statement on Friday. Since Israel imposed its blockade on March 2, stopping the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into the enclave, WFP has been the only steady source and the largest provider of hot meals in Gaza. Only a few smaller agencies are still providing food in Gaza, including World Central Kitchen, which said in a post on Facebook Saturday that it was “working nonstop to stretch flour supplies and bake as much bread as possible” inside its bakery, the last one still operating in Gaza. With all border crossings closed, no humanitarian or commercial supplies, including more than 116,000 tons of food from the WFP waiting at aid corridors, have entered Gaza in more than seven weeks, the aid agency said. “This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems,” it said, adding: “People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled.” The news comes after the WFP in late March said that all of its 25 bakeries in the Gaza Strip had shut down because of a lack of fuel and flour in the territory. Israel says its blockade is crucial to its goal of weakening Hamas’ control over the population, while Israeli officials have repeatedly stated there is “no shortage” of aid in Gaza and accused the militant group of withholding supplies. After a meeting at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with senior Republican Party officials, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on X Wednesday, “They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to return our hostages home safely.” The Israeli government has been accused of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which the U.N. said could amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law. With essential food commodities including safe water and cooking fuel in short supply, more than 2 million people in Gaza now face an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death, WFP warned. The extreme food insecurity has also raised serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under the age of 5, pregnant women and the elderly. The Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups, warned that in March alone, 3,708 children were identified for acute malnutrition, out of 84,000 children screened — a marked increase from February, when 2,053 children were admitted from a total of 92,000 screened, the U.N.’s humanitarian office for Palestinians said in a report on Thursday. Video footage posted by the WFP showed depleted food stocks in a warehouse in Gaza, and children lining up at food stands to receive hot meals and bread. The agency said that despite providing a “critical lifeline” to those in need, it had reached just half the population in Gaza. With food prices inside the strip also skyrocketing to 1,400% of prices during the ceasefire, people are now being forced to scavenge for items to burn for cooking, the WFP said. More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local health ministry, since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks. Some 1,200 people were killed during the attacks in southern Israel and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. The situation has raised widespread concerns among international NGOs and U.N. agencies working in Gaza, with the CEOs of 12 major aid organizations in mid-April warning of aid systems collapsing as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reached the worst levels in 18 months. “Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza,” the CEOs said in a statement posted by Oxfam, adding: “Let us do our jobs.” On Thursday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom also urged Israel to restart the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. “Palestinian civilians — including one million children — face an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death. This must end,” they said in a statement. They added, “We urge Israel to immediately re-start a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in order to meet the needs of all civilians.”

Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the remains of 51 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours, the local Health Ministry said Sunday, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the 18-month-old Israel-Hamas war to 52,243. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise bombardment on March 18, and has been carrying out daily waves of strikes since then. Ground forces have expanded a buffer zone and encircled the southern city of Rafah, and now control around 50% of the territory. Israel has also sealed off the territory’s 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, for nearly 60 days. Aid groups say supplies will soon run out and that thousands of children are malnourished. The overall death toll includes nearly 700 bodies for which the documentation process was recently completed, the ministry said in its latest update. The daily toll includes bodies retrieved from the rubble after earlier strikes. Israeli strikes killed another 12 people after the ministry’s update. Eight of them, including three children and two women, were killed in a strike on a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. A strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed four people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed, and all the hostages are returned. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire reached in January. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took 251 people hostage. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Gaza’s Health Ministry says women and children make up most of the Palestinian deaths, but does not say how many were militants or civilians. It says another 117,600 people have been wounded in the war. The overall tally includes 2,151 dead and 5,598 wounded since Israel resumed the war last month. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and it blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings.

SEOUL, South Korea — A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week, making them the first international travelers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year. The latest trip indicates North Korea may be gearing up for a full resumption of its international tourism to bring in much-needed foreign currency to revive its struggling economy, experts say. The Beijing-based travel company Koryo Tours said it arranged a five-day trip from Feb. 20 to Feb. 24 for 13 international tourists to the northeastern North Korean border city of Rason, where the country’s special economic zone is located. Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell said the travelers from Britain, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy crossed by land from China. He said that in Rason, they visited factories, shops, schools and the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the late grandfather and father of current leader Kim Jong Un. “Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea,” Cockerell said. “Our first tour has been and gone, and now more tourists on both group and private visits are going in, arranging trips,” he added. After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian Covid-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders.In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and major ally. A total of about 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said, citing official Russian data. Chinese group tours to North Korea remain stalled. This signals how much North Korea and Russia have moved closer to each other as the North has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed its reluctance to join a three-way, anti-U.S. alliance with North Korea and Russia, experts say. Before the pandemic, tourism was an easy, legitimate source for foreign currency for North Korea, one of the world’s most sanctioned countries because of its nuclear program. North Korea is expected to open a massive tourism site on the east coast in June. In January, when President Donald Trump boasted about his ties with Kim Jong Un, he said that “I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. He’s got a lot of shoreline.” That likely refers to the eastern coast site. A return of Chinese tourists would be key to making North Korea’s tourism industry lucrative because they represented more than 90% of total international tourists before the pandemic, said Lee Sangkeun, an expert at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea’s intelligence agency. He said that in the past, up to 300,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea annually. “North Korea has been heavily investing on tourism sites, but there have been not much domestic demand,” Lee said. “We can assess that North Korea now wants to resume international tourism to bring in many tourists from abroad.” The restrictions that North Korea has typically imposed on foreign travelers — such as requirements that they move with local guides and the banning of photography at sensitive places — are likely to hurt its efforts to develop tourism. Lee said that Rason, the eastern coast site and Pyongyang would be the places where North Korea feels it can easily monitor and control foreign tourists.

At a rally in London, Ontario, on Friday, the crowd booed as Mark Carney delivered his core campaign line about the existential threat Canada faces from its neighbour. "President Trump is trying to break us so that America could own us," the Liberal leader warned. "Never," supporters shouted back. Many waved Canadian flags taped to ice hockey sticks. Similar levels of passion were also on display at the union hall where Pierre Poilievre greeted enthusiastic supporters in the Toronto area earlier in the week. The Conservative leader has drawn large crowds to rallies across the country, where "Bring it Home" is a call to arms: both to vote for a change of government and a nod to the wave of Canadian patriotism in the face of US tariff threats. In the final hours of a 36-day campaign, Donald Trump's shadow looms over everything. The winner of Monday's election is likely to be the party able to convince voters they have a plan for how to deal with the US president. National polls suggest the Liberals have maintained a narrow lead entering last stretch. Still, Trump is not the only factor at play - he was only mentioned once in Poilievre's stump speech. The Conservative leader has focused more on voters disaffected by what he calls a "Lost Liberal decade", promising change from a government he blames for the housing shortage and a sluggish economy, and for mishandling social issues like crime and the fentanyl crisis. His pitch resonates with voters like Eric and Carri Gionet, from Barrie, Ontario. They have two daughters in their mid-20s and said they were attending their first ever political rally. "We're pretty financially secure - but I worry about them," said Eric Gionet. While he and his wife could buy their first home while young, he said, "there's no prospect" their children will be able to do the same. "I'm excited to be here," said Carri Gionet. "I'm hopeful." Tapping into voter frustration has helped opposition parties sweep governments from power in democracies around the world. Canada seemed almost certain to follow suit. Last year, the Conservatives held a 20-point lead in national polls over the governing Liberals for months. Poilievre's future as the country's next prime minister seemed baked in. Then a series of shockwaves came in quick succession at the start of 2025, upending the political landscape: Justin Trudeau's resignation, Carney's subsequent rise to Liberal leader and prime minister; and the return of Trump to the White House with the threats and tariffs that followed. By the time the election was called in mid-March, Carney's Liberals were polling neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, and by early April they had pulled slightly ahead, national surveys suggest. It has been a stunning reversal of fortunes. Seemingly dead and buried, the Liberals now believe they could win a fourth successive election, and even a majority in Parliament. Carney is pitching himself as the man most ready to meet this critical moment - a steady central banker who helped shepherd Canada's economy through the 2008 financial crisis and later, the UK through Brexit. For Conservative voter Gwendolyn Slover, 69, from Summerside in the province of Prince Edward Island, his appeal is "baffling". "Many people think Mark Carney is some kind of Messiah," she said. "It's the same party, he's one person. And he's not going to change anything." For Carney's supporters, they see a strong CV and a poise that has calmed their anxieties over Trump's threats of steep tariffs and repeated suggestions the country should become the 51st US state - though the president has been commenting less frequently on Canada during the campaign. "I'm very impressed by the stability and the serious thought process of Mark Carney," said Mike Brennan from Kitchener, Ontario, as he stood in line to meet the Liberal leader at a coffee shop in Cambridge, about an hour outside Toronto. Mr Brennan is a "lifelong Liberal" who did not initially plan to vote for the party in this election because of his dislike for Trudeau. The departure of former prime minister Trudeau, who had grown increasingly unpopular over his decade in power, released "a massive pressure valve", said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit public opinion research organisation. "All of these angry Liberals who are either parking their votes with the [left-wing] NDP or parking their votes with the Conservatives start re-coalescing," she said. Then more disaffected Liberals and other progressive voters began to migrate towards Carney's Liberals, driven by Trump, this election's "main character", Ms Kurl said. "The threats, the annexation talk, all of that has been a huge motivator for left of centre voters." It has worked to Carney's advantage, with Trump's tariffs threats giving the political neophyte - he is the first prime minister never to have held elected public office - the chance to publicly audition to keep his job during the campaign. Trump's late-March announcement of global levies on foreign automobile imports allowed Carney to step away from the trail and take on the prime minister's mantle, setting up a call with the president and meeting US Cabinet ministers. He's never been tested in a gruelling federal election campaign, with its relentless travel, high-pressure demands for retail politics and daily media scrutiny. Yet on the campaign trail, and in the high-stakes debate with party leaders, he is considered to have performed well. Poilievre, in contrast, is a veteran politician and polished performer. But on the shifting political ground, Conservatives appeared to struggle to find their footing, pivoting their message from Canada being broken to "Canada First". Poilievre had to fend off criticism from political rivals that he is "Trump lite", with his combative style, his vows to end "woke ideology", and willingness to take on the "global elite". "I have a completely different story from Donald Trump," he has said. Canadians have historically voted in either Conservative or Liberal governments, but smaller parties - like the NDP or the Bloc Québécois, a sovereigntist party that only runs candidates in the province of Quebec - have in the past formed Official Opposition. In this campaign, both are languishing and face the possibility of losing a number of seats in the House of Commons as anxious voters turn towards the two main political parties. If the Liberals and Conservatives both succeed in getting over 38% of the vote share nationally, as polls suggest is likely, it would be the first time that has happened since 1975. The message from the NDP - which helped prop up the minority Liberals in the last government - in the final days of campaigning has been to vote strategically. "You can make the difference between Mark Carney getting a super majority or sending enough New Democrats to Ottawa so we can fight to defend the things you care about," leader Jagmeet Singh said earlier this week. The campaign has also highlighted festering divides along regional lines. With much of the campaign dominated by the US-Canada relationship and the trade war, many issues - climate, immigration, indigenous reconciliation - have been on the backburner. Even when the campaigns have focused on other policies, the discussion has centred on the country's economic future. Both frontrunners agree in broad strokes on the priorities: the need to pivot away from dependence on the US; the development of oil, gas and mining sectors; protection for workers affected by tariffs; and increased defence spending. But they disagree on who is best to lead Canada forward, especially when so much is at stake. "It's time for experience, not experiments," Carney told his supporters in London. Poilievre closing message was: "We can choose change on Monday. We can take back control of our lives and build a bright future."

Steve Rai, Vancouver Police's interim chief, told a news conference that there had been one vehicle and one suspect involved in the incident. Mark Carney said police were calling it a "car-ramming attack". The owner of a food truck selling bao buns at the festival, Yoseb Vardeh, told the BBC World Service that the attack happened right in front of his van. "This guy, he killed some of my customers," he said. "There was people waiting for their buns that got hit." Mr Vardeh added: "I stepped outside of my food truck and I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, husbands crying out for their wives or their kids... it was just horrible." Unverified footage posted on social media showed a number of police cars, ambulances and fire engines at the scene, with injured people lying on the ground. Police initially said nine people were killed in the incident, but that was revised up to 11 during an update on Sunday morning. Prime Minister Mark Carney changed his campaign events on Sunday, less than 24 hours before the country's national election, to offer his condolences. "Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter, those families are living every family's nightmare," Carney, the Liberal Party leader, said. "I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you." Large rallies with thousands of supporters registered in Calgary and in Richmond, British Columbia, have been cancelled "to reflect an appropriately respectful approach and tone as the day proceeds" according to a Liberal Party source. Smaller community-focussed engagements in Saskatoon and Edmonton are proceeding. Sources said there was a "continued conversation with Vancouver and British Columbia authorities" about heading to the city. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident", adding in a post that his "thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time." One of Vancouver's city councillors, Peter Fry, told the BBC that local residents were struggling to process what had happened. "This celebration was a huge, fun, vibrant, family-orientated street party, and it was a fantastic event. To see it turn so horrible so quickly and unexpectedly has, I think, our entire city is in shock," he said. Harjit Sajjan, who represented Vancouver South as a Liberal MP but is not seeking re-election this year, described events as "absolutely tragic" and said he would be supporting "the community as best as we can." Lapu Lapu Day is celebrated every year in the Philippines on 27 April to commemorate Lapu-Lapu, a national hero who resisted Spanish colonisation. The festival was officially set up in Vancouver - which is home to 141,230 Canadians of Filipino descent - in 2023. Its website says it "symbolises the cultural harmony and mutual respect that thrive in the province of British Columbia". Philippines President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr said he was "shattered to hear about the terrible incident", adding that the Philippine consulate general would work with Canadian authorities to ensure the tragedy was thoroughly investigated. King Charles III, who is also head of state of Canada, said he and Queen Camilla were "profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver". He added in a statement: "Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonising time for so many in Canada." Leaders of different Canadian political parties have also shared messages of condolence. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, called the incident a "senseless attack", while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was "shocked and heartbroken". New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh - who had attended the festival but was not present when the incident occurred - said he was "horrified to learn" that innocent people had been killed and injured. "As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families - and Vancouver's Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience," he added. Singh, Poilievre and Carney are all running in Canada's federal election on Monday. Singh's constituency of Burnaby Central lies just east of where the incident took place.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed tests of newly developed reconnaissance and attack drones this week and called for their increased production, state media said Thursday. Kim has been emphasizing the development of drones, and the tests were the latest display of his country’s growing military capabilities. Photos released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency showed Kim observing what appeared to be a large reconnaissance drone roughly resembling Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail airborne warning and control aircraft. Other images showed exploding drones crashing into military vehicles used as targets. The agency said the test demonstrated the reconnaissance drone’s ability to track multiple targets and monitor troop movements on land and at sea, potentially enhancing North Korea’s intelligence-gathering operations and ability to neutralize enemy threats. The report said the new exploding drones were designed for various attack missions and featured unspecified artificial intelligence capabilities. Kim expressed satisfaction with the drones’ performance and approved plans to expand production, emphasizing that drones and AI should be “top” priorities in efforts to advance his armed forces and adapt them to modern warfare, KCNA said. The agency said the tests took place as Kim visited a drone technology complex and an electronic warfare research group on Tuesday and Wednesday. The South Korean Defense Ministry did not immediately comment on the North Korean report. Kim previously inspected other demonstrations of drones that explode on impact in November and August last year. North Korea also accused South Korea last year of sending its own drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over the North’s capital of Pyongyang, and threatened to respond with force if such flights occurred again. The South Korean military did not confirm whether the North’s claims were true. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated recently as Kim continues to expand his military capabilities, which now include various nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Kim is also aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, sending troops and military equipment to support Russia’s efforts. This has raised concerns that he may receive Russian technology transfers in return, further strengthening the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a report Thursday that it believes North Korea sent around 3,000 additional troops to Russia in January and February and has continued supplying ammunition, short-range missiles, self-propelled howitzers, and multiple rocket launchers. The Joint Chiefs assessed that, of the approximately 11,000 North Korean troops sent to fight in the war against Ukraine, around 4,000 have been killed or injured.

A Canadian judge overseeing a high-profile sexual assault case against five former members of the country's world junior hockey team has declared a mistrial, and ordered that a new jury be seated to hear the case. The decision on Friday came shortly after the prosecution called its first witness. A new jury was swiftly chosen to replace the 14 jurors dismissed from the case. Superior Court Justice Maria Carrocci did not give a reason for the mistrial. The reasons for it are covered by a publication ban, according to Canadian media. All five players, who each formerly played for the National Hockey League (NHL), have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The accused players are Michael McLeod, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé and Alex Formenton. According to reporters in court, on Wednesday the judge informed the jury that "something happened over the lunch hour that I need to think about and to discuss with the lawyers". The discussion was not heard by jurors, and is covered by the publication ban. On Friday, the judge declared a mistrial and began the process of selecting new jurors. The trial will re-start on Monday, and is expected to last around eight weeks. According to Canadian law, a mistrial can be declared if there is a "real danger that trial fairness has been compromised". The charges are tied to an alleged sexual assault that took place in London, about 190km (118 miles) southwest of Toronto, in 2018, following a Hockey Canada Foundation fundraising event in the city. A 24-year-old woman initially filed a lawsuit against Hockey Canada alleging that she had been assaulted by eight players on Canada's World Junior team in a hotel room that night. In her lawsuit, she said she felt pressured not to report the incident to the police. In May 2022, sports network TSN revealed Hockey Canada, which manages programmes and teams in the country from entry-level all the way to world championships and the Olympic Games, quietly reached a settlement with the woman. The revelation was met with national outcry in Canada, resulting in the organisation losing federal funding and several high-profile sponsorship deals. Police in London later reopened their investigation into the alleged assault, and apologised for waiting nearly six years to pursue the case. Under Canadian law, a sexual assault conviction carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Standing in front of a crowd of about 100 squeezed into a small event hall in the city of Lethbridge, Dennis Modry is asking locals about Alberta's future. Who thinks Alberta should have a bigger role in Canada, he asks? A dozen or so raise their hands. Who thinks the province should push for a split from Canada and form its own nation? About half the crowd raise their hands. "How many people would like Alberta to join the US?" Another show of support from half the crowd. Mr Modry, a retired heart surgeon, is a co-leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a grassroots organisation pushing for an independence referendum. The possibility of a split has long been a talking point in this conservative-leaning province. But two factors have given it new momentum: Trump's comments about making Canada the 51st US state, and the subsequent boost that has given the Liberal Party in the polls ahead of Monday's federal election. Mr Modry told the BBC the separatist movement has grown in recent months - driven in part, he believes, by the president's rhetoric. "We're not interested in that", he said. "We're interested in Alberta sovereignty." Jeffrey Rath, however - a lawyer and rancher from Calgary who is another of the project's co-founders - was not as dismissive of Trump's 51st state suggestion. Although he agrees independence is the priority, he could see a future where Alberta joined with the US. "We have a lot more culturally in common with our neighbours to the south in Montana… [and] with our cousins in Texas, than we do anywhere else," he said. Previously on the political fringes, the possibility of a unity crisis is now being discussed out in the open. In an opinion piece for national newspaper the Globe and Mail, Preston Manning - an Albertan considered one of the founders of the modern conservative movement in Canada - warned "large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it". Accusing the party of mismanaging national affairs and ignoring the priorities of western Canadians, he added: "A vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession – a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it." This sense of "western alienation", a term used to describe the feeling that the region is often overlooked by politicians in Canada's capital, is nothing new. For decades, many in the oil and gas-rich prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have bemoaned how they are underrepresented, despite the region's economic significance for the country as a whole. That resentment grew under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, which brought in environmental policies some Albertans view as a direct attack on the region's economic growth. National polls suggest the Liberals, now under the leadership of Mark Carney, could be headed for their fourth consecutive win come election day on Monday. That it could come in part because of a surge of support in Ontario and Quebec - the eastern provinces where so much of the population is concentrated - only adds to the regional divide. Judy Schneider, whose husband works in the oil industry in Calgary, told the BBC she would vote "yes" in an independence referendum. She said she didn't see Carney, who spent much of the last decade away from Canada but was raised in Edmonton, Alberta's capital, as a westerner. "He can come and say 'I'm from Alberta,' but is he?" Ms Schneider said. An independent Alberta remains an unlikely prospect - a recent Angus Reid poll suggested that only one in four Albertans would vote to leave Canada if a referendum were held now. A majority of Canadians, however, feel the issue should be taken seriously, a separate Nanos poll indicated. Political analysts say the divide will pose a challenge to the country's next prime minister, especially if Carney wins. And even a victory for Calgary-born Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would "not solve the imbalance that presently exists between the East and the West," Mr Modry, the activist, said. That wider sentiment has pushed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who leads the United Conservative Party, to strike her own path in trade talks with the US, while other provincial leaders and the federal government have co-ordinated their efforts closely. She even visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. In Canada, Smith has publicly warned of a "national unity crisis" if Alberta's demands - which centre around repealing Trudeau-era environmental laws to accelerate oil and gas production - are not met by the new prime minister within six months of the election. While Smith has dismissed talk of outright separation as "nonsense", critics have accused her of stoking the flames at such a consequential time for Canada's future. Even those within the separatist movement have different ideas on how best to achieve their goals. Lorna Guitton, a born-and-bred Albertan and a volunteer with the Alberta Prosperity Project, told the BBC in Lethbridge that her aim was for the province to have a better relationship with the rest of Canada. She described the current union as "broken", and believes a referendum, or the threat of it, will give Albertans "leverage" in future negotiations with Ottawa. But Ms Guitton also dismissed any notion of it becoming a 51st US state. "They've got enough of their own problems. Why would I want to be part of that?" she said. "I would rather be my own independent, sovereign province, or a province with a better deal in Canada." At his ranch outside of Calgary in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Mr Rath has a different view. As he tended to his race horses, he spoke of the political and social attitudes of free enterprise and small government that are shared by Albertans and many Americans. "From that perspective, I would see Alberta as being a good fit within the United States," he said. He is currently putting together a "fact-finding" delegation to travel to Washington DC and bring the movement directly to the Trump administration. Many voters in Alberta, however, dismiss the notion of independence altogether, even if they agree that the province has been overlooked. Steve Lachlan from Lethbridge agrees the West lacks representation in Ottawa but said: "We already have separation, and we need to come together." And the Liberals are not entirely shut out from the province. Polls suggest that Alberta may send more Liberal MPs to Ottawa than in 2021, partly due to changing demographics that led to the creation of new ridings in urban Edmonton and Calgary. James Forrester, who lives in the battleground Calgary Centre district, told the BBC he had traditionally voted Conservative but has leaned left in recent years. This time, he will vote Liberal because of the "Carney factor". "I feel he's the best guy to deal with Trump," he said. As for the separation sentiment: "I'm not worried about it."

Donald Trump raised the matter of making Canada the US's 51st state in a March call with Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal Party leader acknowledged. The two men spoke on 28 March, the first week of the Canadian election season, but Carney had not previously shared this detail of the call, according to the Globe and Mail. "The president brings this up all the time. He brought it up yesterday. He brought it up before," Carney said at a Thursday campaign press conference. Pressed by reporters, he added, "I said that he did. He has these things in his mind. This is not news." Canada will hold elections on Monday, and Trump's tariff policies and musings about making its northern neighbour part of the United States have become critical issues in the race. "To be clear, as I've said to anyone who's raised this issue in private or in public, including the president, it will never happen," Carney added. On Wednesday, Trump said he'd spoken to Carney several times. "We had a couple of very nice conversations. Very good," he said in response to a BBC question. "But I don't think it's appropriate for me to get involved in their election." Despite Trump's insistence on staying neutral, he looms heavily over Canada's election. Since his re-election, Trump repeatedly has mentioned making Canada the "51st state" of America, which rattled Canadian leaders and infuriated residents. He referred to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "governor"- the title for the leaders of individual US states. His talk of a "51st state," coupled with the trade war sparked by Trump's tariffs, has unleashed a patriotic fervour in Canada. Even in Quebec, a province where talk of independence has long simmered, voters told the BBC they wanted leadership that would stand up to Trump. At a French language debate last week, all four major federal party leaders were grilled on how they would respond to Trump. Both Carney, who leads the Liberal Party, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, have sought to convince voters that their party is the best choice to address the trade war with the US and guide Canadians through the resulting economic uncertainty. Trump has placed a 25% tariffs on goods imported to the US from Canada, but has exempted products covered by a North American trade deal known as USMCA. He also hit Canada with global US tariffs on steel, aluminium and automobiles. In March, when Trump placed a 25% tariff on Canadian-made automobiles, Poilievre delivered remarks "condemning, without equivocation, the unjustified and unprovoked tariffs that President Trump has now announced against our auto sector."