The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/19 at 10:00 EST

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/19 at 10:00 EST

1942, Europe. Soldiers find a boy surviving alone in the woods. They make him a member of Hitler's army. But what no one would know for decades, he was Jewish. Could a story so unbelievable be true? I'm Dan Goldberg. I'm from CBC's personally, Toy Soldier. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is giving the green light to a high-speed rail network between Toronto and Quebec City.

It'll span a thousand kilometres with a hundred percent electric trains that will reach speeds of 300 kilometres an hour, getting you from Toronto to Montreal in three hours. The Toronto to Quebec City line will include stops in Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Laval. The project is a public-private undertaking, with the initial development of the corridor expected to take four to five years. Trudeau says the rail service will be known as ALTO. U.S. President Donald Trump is brushing aside Ukraine's complaint that it has yet to be

invited to join talks on ending the war with Russia. I think I have the power to end this war. But today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. Trump is not only suggesting that Ukraine is responsible for the war, he's also claiming

that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has an approval rating of only 4%. Zelensky, meanwhile, answered these claims today at a news conference in Kyiv. Anna Cunningham reports. Anna Cunningham The real standout line from President Zelensky this morning was when he said that President Donald Trump was living in a disinformation sphere. Now, he referenced the comments made about President Zelensky's approval ratings being at 4%. He said this was Russian disinformation.

He did say that he wouldn't normally talk about his own popularity, but that it's 58%. And he said if anybody wants to replace him right now, it won't work. In terms of that meeting yesterday between US and Russian officials, President Zelensky said the US is helping Putin to end his isolation. And he did go on to say that he would like President Trump's team to have more truth about Ukraine as something we can expect. He'll talk more about when he meets President Trump's envoy, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, who arrived in Kyiv this morning.

Anna Cunningham, CBC News, London. Meanwhile, European Union envoys have approved a new round of sanctions against Russia. They target dozens of Russian officials and organizations and impose new trade and bank restrictions. They'll be added to a list of already existing sanctions. EU foreign ministers will finalize the new measures at some point next week. In the face of mounting criticism about cuts being made to US governmental services, US President Trump is standing behind the man responsible, Elon Musk. Trump and Musk sat down for a joint interview last night on the Fox News Network.

Katie Simpson has more. President Trump is a good man. Elan Musk sat next to Donald Trump, flattering his boss with a steady shower of compliments during the hour-long interview on Fox News. At this point, I spent a lot of time with the president, and not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or wrong. The president himself didn't miss a beat, returning the favor with compliments of his

own. He's a very good person and he wants to see the country do well. Both Musk and Trump defended the work of Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency. Led by Musk, Doge is spearheading the federal government purge, dismantling agencies and firing tens of thousands of workers in the name of cost cutting. I think he's going to find a trillion dollars. If Trump and or Musk watched the live broadcast, there's a chance they saw the commercial paid for by the province of Ontario promoting it as a steady trading partner. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. La Blanc has announced plans to open 80 new grocery and pharmacy stores. A Canadian retailer

says the new locations are part of a $10 billion investment initiative. And it says the majority of the new openings will be discount stores. And that is The World This Hour. Remember, you can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. The World This Hour is updated every hour, seven days a week. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.