Front Burner - Weekend Listen: Your World Tonight

Episode Date: July 27, 2024

It’s more important than ever to sort out what’s real, what’s relevant and what’s truly new — and Your World Tonight does exactly that every night, seven days a week, with correspondents around the world. Our colleagues at YWT set the bar on the daily news catch up. Every night, they offer context, analysis, surprise — all in about 25 minutes. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/FJTUitZQ

This is a CBC Podcast. speak to the moment. They offer context, analysis, surprise, all in about 25 minutes. I don't need to tell you that it's more important than ever to sort out what's real, what's relevant, what's truly new. And they do it every night, seven days a week, with correspondents from around the world. So if you already start your day with FrontBurner, and I do hope that you do, consider wrapping it with Your World Tonight. Here's their latest episode. Take a listen. Hi, I'm Julianne Hazelwood. This is Your World Tonight. Military help arrives to fight the wildfire that rages on in Jasper, Alberta.

Israel blames Hezbollah for a rocket strike that killed several children. And polls suggest the opposition could win Venezuela's election. But will President Nicolas Maduro allow that to happen? But first, FIFA punishes Canada's women's soccer team over the drone spying scandal. It's been a day of ups and downs for Canada at the Paris Olympics. The country scored silver in the pool, but on the soccer field, Canada's women were given a red card by the sport's governing body. FIFA handed Team Canada fresh sanctions over the drone spying scandal.

Salima Shivji reports from Paris. It's going to be McIntosh for silver. In the pool glory, with 17-year-old Summer McIntosh capturing the silver in the 400-meter freestyle, Canada's first medal of the Paris Games. Christophe, Canada's first medal of the Paris Games. Even as the country continued to bask in the glow of a dazzling performance from Céline Dion Friday to kick off the Games, high points of these Olympics to counter a low point. Canada soccer embroiled in a cheating scandal that's deepening. It started when a staffer was charged for using a drone to spy on the team's opponents and took only days for the federation to say that spying is likely systemic in Canadian soccer. At practice today the players were trying hard to ignore all that

and keep their focus on the game says winger Adriana Leon. It's been important for us to come together as a team at the moment and all we can do right now is focus on the performance. Yeah as players we had no control over what happened. Midfielder Jessie Fleming says she and her teammates didn't know a thing and had never seen any drone footage of opposing teams. Yeah I can tell you that the 22 players here absolutely deserve to be in this tournament and to compete in this tournament. It's a message Canada Soccer has been pushing hard this week, that the players are not to blame, even as it took action to contain the scandal, suspending head coach Bev Priestman and sending two staffers home,

including the one who piloted the drone. But late today, heavy sanctions handed down by FIFA, soccer's international governing body. Canada will lose six points at this tournament. Its Soccer Federation has to pay a more than $200,000 fine, and Priestman and her two assistants are banned from any soccer-related activity for a full year. The six-point deficit makes it very hard for Canada to get past their first round. Sunday's game against France, the world number two, is now a must-win, as is the next one.

Canada's Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer are going to appeal FIFA's ruling, which they called excessively punitive towards the players, who they say were not involved in any unethical behaviour. What's transpired is very, very unfortunate. With the coaching staff in turmoil and spying in the spotlight, interim coach Andy Spence has a tough job ahead. As you can imagine, over the last two or three days, I've been asked to step up into a position that I didn't come into the tournament thinking I would have.

But for some, this isn't out of the ordinary in the world of soccer. Is this something that happens? It happens a few times. Former international soccer star Didier Drogba told CBC Sports that even if spying is common practice, it doesn't affect the end results. For me, I mean, they just caught them. That's it. You know, it's part of the game. He may be shrugging it off, but others are livid with the ongoing scandal engulfing Canadian soccer, with international and social media describing it as embarrassing, disgraceful and absolute idiocy. Salima Shivji, CBC News, Paris.

Israel says at least a dozen people are dead after a rocket struck a soccer field in the occupied Golan Heights. Many of those killed are children. And Israel blames Hezbollah. The militant group denies any involvement. The IDF and the Iran-backed militia have been trading rocket fire since last October. Philip Lishanak reports. Air raid sirens wail over the Golan Heights as a rocket hits a soccer field in the Druze town of Majd al-Shams, killing and wounding children and teenagers.

Israel says the rocket was fired by Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. The attack came after an Israeli strike killed four Hezbollah fighters. Daniel Hagari is an Israeli military spokesperson. The Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon fired a rocket at children playing soccer in a soccer field. In a written statement, Hezbollah says it categorically denies any involvement in the strike. Higari says the Israeli military intends to strike back. We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah.

We will finish our assessments and we will act. Those words echoed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I can say that the state of Israel will not let this pass in silence. We will not overlook this, he says. While Itamar Ben-Gavir, a far-right member of Netanyahu's cabinet, tweeted war in the north now. Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in cross-border hostilities since Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel last October. Meanwhile, in central Gaza, Israeli defence forces say its jets targeted a Hamas-commanded control centre in the town of Dar al-Bala. At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded

when a school where injured Palestinians were sheltered was hit. Om Hassan Ali says she and her daughter were hurt. We are already wounded, she says, adding that they returned from Egypt where her daughter was treated. And now my daughter is wounded again, she says. At the United Nations this week, the UN Security Council renewed its push to get Israel and Hamas to end hostilities. Barbara Woodward is the United Kingdom's ambassador to the UN. There is no military solution to this conflict. We urge both sides to accept the deal on the table endorsed by this council. Ceasefire talks are expected to resume in Rome this weekend, with representatives from Qatar, Israel's intelligence agency Mossad,

and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Phil Tishanok, CBC News, Toronto. Still ahead, elections are about to get underway in Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro has warned there will be a bloodbath if he's not re-elected, and a loss looks possible based on the polls. What's at stake in Venezuela? That's coming up on Your World Tonight. The wildfire that swept through Jasper National Park and devastated the historic town is the largest in the last century. That's according to Parks Canada, which also says the fire remains out of control. But as Karen Pauls tells us from Hinton, Alberta, more help is arriving.

Nearly 100 members of the two Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry arrived overnight from CFB Shiloh in Manitoba. They're setting up camp today, taking over a recreational centre in Hinton as they await their orders. Lieutenant Colonel Chelsea Braybrook is the battalion's commanding officer. Our soldiers do receive limited firefighting training, which allows them to do shovel- type work pickaxe type work water pump backpacks so they can go into areas that have already been addressed by more highly trained firefighters and they can make sure that the fire is out and like it's completely safe.

But that's not the case just yet. This remains an evolving emergency situation. Christina Doe is the incident commander for the municipality of Jasper. She says one-third of the structures in Jasper, mostly homes, have been destroyed. But that includes apartment blocks. At this time, it is not possible for residents to return to Jasper to view their property or collect their belongings. The town site is not safe. We are still very early in our recovery process.

The chemicals released by structural fire are a serious risk to health. There is still an active wildfire on the perimeter of town. Firefighters and first responders need space to do their job safely. Crews do hope to extinguish all of the fires inside the township by the end of the day. They're also building containment lines and assessing the damage to utilities, roads and bridges. Officials hope to arrange bus tours soon so residents can get back to check on their homes.

But, says Landon Shepard of Parks Canada, This fire is the largest one that Jasper National Park has recorded in the last 100 years. So the evacuation order is still in effect and the park remains closed. Merv Bashforth is waiting for official word on his home and business. He owns the Jasper PharmaSave. It looks like that our house is still standing. It appears the pharmacy building itself is still standing,

although we have no idea what kind of structural damage might await us. Meanwhile, they're still trying to help their patients. The phone calls I've received from patients as much need help with their medications as just need to talk. We're all kind of grieving together. Rain and cooler temperatures have suppressed the wildfire in the last few days, but warmer, drier weather is on its way. Officials say the fire risk is still critical. Bad news for so many hoping it will soon be safe enough to return

and start to rebuild. Karen Pauls, CBC News, Hinton, Alberta. After weeks of lightning storms and hot and dry weather, firefighters in BC are expected to get some relief in the coming days as cooler than normal temperatures settle over the interior. lightning storms and hot and dry weather, firefighters in B.C. are expected to get some relief in the coming days as cooler than normal temperatures settle over the interior. Erica Berg is an information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service. She says while fire activity has decreased, some communities are still at risk. We do have a number of evacuation orders and alerts that remain in place, 18 orders and 31 alerts. That said, there have also been a steady downgrade and even rescind of some of those evacuation orders and alerts. We want folks to be back in their homes when it's safest to do so.

So seeing that steady decrease is great to see. Berg says there are now just under 400 active fires burning in the province. It's been more than a month since part of a gold mine in central Yukon failed. Engineers and other experts say that failure is not only a mess, but a disaster. And one that's playing out in real time. As Julian Green reports, the Yukon government is now at odds with the mining company over efforts to clean up the site. There's just too much water on that site. If you can even call it water, it's more of a toxic soup made with sodium cyanide and used in a process called heap

leaching to extract gold from rock, it's draining into nearby haggard creek engineer cord hamilton is part of the affected first nation's emergency response team he says victoria gold and the territory are locked in a battle to find solutions all the while fish like arctic grayling and chinook salmon are at risk it seems inevitable that there will be some amount of impact haggard creek we don't know seemed inevitable that there will be some amount of impact in Hager Creek. We don't know how significant that impact will be. It will depend on how much is diluted. It's been 34 days since the heap leach facility failed. That prompted a rock slide involving roughly four million tons of material, including an estimated 300 million liters of cyanide solution

that was lost. Experts like Hamilton warn it's already in the groundwater. The company has had adequate time to show they either have the willingness or ability to manage this disaster. And so far, they've accomplished very little. Yes, they've captured surface water. They've ignored the groundwater. The groundwater is now beyond the point of control. We need to treat and discharge water.

The territorial government on Friday confirmed cyanide levels in the environment are increasing, but couldn't estimate the amount of contaminated water still on site. It says monitoring and intercepting groundwater is the priority right now. But with the risk of another landslide, the site remains unsafe. The government has ordered Victoria Gold to build a barrier so crews could safely install wells to collect and eventually treat the contaminated water. But according to the deputy minister of mines, the company has not met these deadlines. Lauren Haney says now the territory has stepped in and hired a private company to do the work instead. But there's another problem, wildfire.

And it has crossed the access road to the mine site. That, for now, is impeding our contractors' access to the site. So they are in a holding pattern, waiting until it's safe. the site. So they are in a holding pattern waiting until it's safe. For weeks, the territory has been pressed to explain why it's not taking over the site to quickly get work done. Haney says the territory would only take control if Victoria Gold abandons the site. Whether that'll happen, she says, remains unknown. Julian Green, CBC News, Whitehorse. Venezuelans are getting set to vote in what could be a consequential election. Polls suggest the opposition could end the regime of President Nicolas Maduro. It will be an uphill battle, though, and as freelance reporter Manuel Rueda

tells us from Caracas, even if Maduro loses the vote, many fear he won't go quietly. Thousands of people pack a White Avenue in Caracas, watching opposition leader Maria Corina Machado deliver her final campaign speech. Machado is on a truck next to Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition's presidential candidate. After lifting his arm triumphantly, she calls on people to vote on Sunday. Take your families to the polls, because this will be a historic day, she says. For over 25 years, Venezuela has been ruled by Chavismo, the left-wing movement founded by the late president Hugo Chavez.

But a prolonged economic crisis that has forced 7 million people to leave the country has shattered the popularity of Chavez's successor, President Nicolás Maduro. And now, the opposition has a 20-point lead in the most recent polls. has shattered the popularity of Chavez's successor, President Nicolás Maduro. And now, the opposition has a 20-point lead in the most recent polls. José Gregorio Bastidas is a construction worker from Antímano, a working-class neighborhood on the city's periphery. The economy is in chaos, and if you go to a hospital, they don't even have band-aids, he says. I'm confident that with a flood of votes, we can change this situation.

How free or fair the election will be is uncertain. President Maduro's government has a firm grip on the media, the military, and the nation's justice system. His 2018 re-election is considered fraudulent by many countries, including the United States and Canada. Many people now warn that it'll be hard to convince Maduro to accept defeat, and his fellow Latin American leaders have condemned his recent warning of a bloodbath should he lose on Sunday. Will Freeman is an expert on Latin American politics at the Council on Foreign Relations. You need to see a critical mass of defections from the military, from his civilian allies. You need to see them saying, no, look, we need to concede the election because we've lost. And then you'd need to see that trend start

to snowball in the days after the election. Maduro supporters say there will be no need for defections. They blame the country's economic malaise on U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports, but say that most voters will still back Maduro. Studies conducted in Venezuela, however, suggest that a victory by Maduro would lead to a new wave of migration from the country. And it could also be met by massive protests from opposition groups, who are now convinced they represent the majority of Venezuelans. Manuel Rueda for CBC News, Caracas. Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden have a lot in common. They're liberals, they've been in the

public eye for a long time, and they're also both facing serious questions about their leadership. But while the U.S. president was compelled to end his bid for re-election, our prime minister is still standing his ground. For more on the prospects for Trudeau's political future, I spoke to Aaron Wary in Ottawa. Aaron, why do you think Trudeau has so far been able to avoid suffering a similar political fate? Yeah, I think there are a few things that sort of set Joe Biden's situation apart or make it distinct and unique. The first is he was facing a real inherent problem, right? Something he couldn't change or do anything about. And that's his age and his

physical condition. The second part of it is that, you know, his party really didn't have a lot of time. If it was going to change leaders, it needed to act really fast. And the third part of it is that the American election, this US election, you know, from the perspective especially of the Democrats, this isn't just a normal presidential election. This is an election that, you know, could have existential consequences for American democracy. I think those, you know, three factors really combined to drive Democratic donors and senior party figures to push Joe Biden to make a decision and essentially drop out and sort of force his hand. You know, he obviously tried to stay on for as long as he could, but his leadership had really become untenable. And you don't see that yet. In Justin Trudeau's case, you don't see a concerted push by senior liberals to say you need to step

aside, you need to go. I think in the absence of a push, Justin Trudeau has had an easier time staying on as leader. I'm curious, the Montreal riding of LaSalle and Mard Verdon, a liberal stronghold, it's going to face a by-election soon. Should the liberals lose that seat, as they did with the Toronto St. Paul's riding? How much would that change the calculus on Trudeau's political future? Yeah, I think a loss in that by-election would definitely, at the very least, breathe new life into questions about Justin Trudeau's leadership. You know, by-elections are imperfect barometers when you've got, you know, more data points, when you've got two by-elections in a row,

and you've got those by-elections, you know, seeming to confirm what's in polling, you know, so as much as Justin Trudeau's liberals, if they were to lose that by-election might say, well, look, this one result is, you know, dependent on a number of distinct factors. It just gets that harder to dismiss the idea that the liberals are in serious trouble. Right. It could add up. After Biden ended his campaign, the Democratic Party quickly coalesced around Vice President Kamala Harris as its presumptive nominee. But Trudeau has no heir apparent. How much of a challenge does that pose for the liberals? Yeah, I think the lack of an obvious heir apparent likely helps explain why Trudeau isn't facing more of a push.

If there was an obvious heir apparent, you'd conceivably see more of a push to get that person in there, to push Trudeau out. The question for the liberals, I guess, is whether the leader they know is still somehow worth sticking with or whether they should take a chance, a gamble on the leader they don't know. you know, a chance, a gamble on the leader they don't know. With up to 15 months before the next scheduled federal election here, how much time does Justin Trudeau have to turn things around before questions about his leadership potentially become too loud to ignore? You know, for Trudeau, that idea of 15 months at least, you know, presents some amount of hope. But for the liberals, you know, outside of Justin Trudeau, they really can't look at this, I don't think, as 15 months. We can get into hypotheticals about,

you know, trying to delay an election past October 2025. But Liberals, their window for changing leaders is going to close at some point before then. Because you want to give a Liberal leader, a new Liberal leader, if you were to bring one in, you would want to give them some time to get established before a general election. You don't, in an optimal situation, want to throw someone into the fire that soon before a general election. So, you know, look, leadership speculation is a lot of fun for those of us in the press gallery. For Justin Trudeau and the liberals, they really do have, you know, only a certain amount of time to really settle this question. All right, Aaron, thanks for this.

Anytime. That is Aaron Wary in Ottawa. After a couple of disappointing years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has clawed its way back to the top of the box office. The big-budget bromance of Deadpool and Wolverine is already one for the record books. The foul-mouthed mercenary and the hairy wild man both call the Canadian prairies home. And as Eli Glasner tells us, the people behind the scenes say, that dash of maple syrup is the secret to the movie's success.

I am Marvel Jesus. After months of box office hits and misses, Deadpool and Wolverine is being positioned as the summer movie savior. But this is no mere Marvel movie. It's a superhero spectacle riddled with Canadian connections, familiar landmarks, and Easter eggs for fans. Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool. Speaking with him on the red carpet for the Canadian premiere in Toronto, at first he was joking about the patriotic mentions. Yeah, I mean, initially we were going to shoot in Canada, so this is just CanCon. Straight up CanCon.

But eventually he retreated to sincerity. Canadian. They're Canadian characters. What an opportunity to have two, you know, hugely, I think, iconic superheroes enter the MCU and do it draped in maple syrup. It turns out there's a surprising amount of Canadiana in this Marvel movie.

You probably know Vancouver's very own Ryan Reynolds is Canadian, but according to the comics, so are Deadpool and Wolverine. Wolverine, born in Cold Lake, Alberta, while Deadpool is actually from Regina. Back on the red carpet, Hugh Jackman, the actor who plays Wolverine, was more than happy to be included. And don't forget, I'm Australian, but we're from the Commonwealth. I get it. I feel part of it. And listen, these two, they're two of the coolest characters.

They're Canadian. Yeah, they march to the beat of their own drum, and they're not going to be pushed around by anybody else. In 2016, Ryan Reynolds' raunchy, R-rated vision for Deadpool smashed records. Jackman says it's Reynolds' filmmaking prowess that makes the character sing. Here's the other thing that Ryan won't tell you, that he's a writer and a producer and one of the very few actors that I'm more than happy to tell me how to do something better.

But for the third Deadpool, they had another secret weapon. One of Canada's highest grossing directors, Montreal's Sean Levy, the man behind Free Guy, The Night at the Museum, and Stranger Things. Exactly what Marvel wanted, according to Levy. From the very beginning, Ryan and Kevin Feige made it clear to me they wanted a Sean Levy movie. And that means, yeah, it's going to be funny, it's going to have spectacle, but it's going to have big heart. For the last month, Levy, Reynolds, and Jackman

have been running a promotional marathon with red carpets from Shanghai to New York. But as the release date approached, it was time to come home for the Canadian premiere in Toronto. From the very beginning, we told Disney and Marvel, we're like, we'll travel all over the world talking about this movie, but we're coming to Canada. We're coming to Canada. Sure to put a whole new spin on Canadian content, Deadpool and Wolverine is already smashing ticket sale records

as it blasts into theaters this weekend. Eli Glaster, CBC News, Toronto. As you heard earlier, Canada has its first medal at the Paris Olympics. Summer McIntosh took silver in the women's 400-meter freestyle race. As Heather Hiscox tells us from the poolside in Paris, McIntosh will be defending her world record at another swim event next week. 38, it's going to be tetanus for gold, it's going to be McIntosh for silver. The first medal of these Olympics for Canada has come from the teenager

who many expect will be the face of these Olympics for Canada, 17-year-old Summer McIntosh, a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle, finishing just behind Ariana Titmuss from Australia, the current world record holder. Summer McIntosh second and in bronze medal position, Katie Ledecky from the United States. Summer McIntosh used to keep one of Ledecky's swim caps pinned to her wall. She was her idol. It's Summer McIntosh used to keep one of Ledecky's swim caps pinned to her wall. She was her idol. It's Summer McIntosh who finishes one step up on the podium this time around. She was calm and cool and smiling as she received that silver, especially with that very special addition

to the Olympic medal here, an actual piece of the Eiffel Tower in each and every medal. Monday is her signature event, the 400-meter individual medley. Butterfly, back, breaststroke, and freestyle. She holds the world record. She is the prohibitive favorite. The summer of summer is well and truly here. Heather Hiscock, CBC News, Paris. And finally, it's time to pump up the music for Olympic athletes in Paris. The moments when the competition is on are critical. Thousands of hours, years of work can boil down to minutes, even seconds, striving for gold. But the moments before athletes compete are also essential.

It's time to focus, to get out of their heads, and turning up the music is the way some athletes do that. They listen to their jam, their pump-up song. That's Penny Oleksiak's tune, Girls by Dom Dalla. The Canadian swimmer says she listens to the track before a race, an EDM flavor for the country's most decorated Olympian. Seven medals in total, with hopes of more in Paris. And then there's Rebecca McGowan. She began Taekwondo at five years old and never stopped.

Now she's representing Great Britain in Paris. McGowan opts for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop when she's walking out to her match. It's the beat, she says, that gets her going. For Fernando, Dejan or Enrique, it's important to listen to a song that matches his energy. The athlete who competes in the canoe sprint turns on legendary by Welschley Arms. Jorge Enrique is originally from Cuba, but is now part of the refugee Olympic team, one of 37 athletes from 11 countries around the world.

Here in Canada, sprinter Andre de Grasse says music is key to keeping calm before he runs. As the country's most decorated male summer Olympian, we're talking six medals in eight years, the pressure, the pressure, I'm sure, will be intense in Paris. And so he sticks with what's familiar. He rotates old favorites, a routine of rhythm. And that includes anything Beyoncé.

We're gonna roll up tonight. Black lives. Spaceships flying. Spaceships flying. This has been Your World Tonight for Saturday, July 27th. I'm Julianne Hazelwood. Thanks for listening. At you, you'll see stars. At you, you'll elevate. At you, you'll meet guys. I still feel like falling in love.

Okay, that was Your World. Tonight, the podcast that helps you wrap your day with the world's biggest stories. Find and follow them wherever you get your podcasts. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.