The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/23 at 08:00 EST

Episode Date: February 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/23 at 08:00 EST

In Scarborough, there's this fire behind our eyes. A passion in our bellies. It's in the hearts of our neighbors. The eyes of our nurses. And the hands of our doctors. It's what makes Scarborough, Scarborough. In our hospitals, we do more than anyone thought possible. We've less than anyone could imagine.

But it's time to imagine what we can do with more. Join Scarborough Health Network and together, we can turn grit into greatness. Donate at lovescarborough.ca. From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Gavin Day. The Vatican says Pope Francis has had a peaceful night after a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions. The Pontiff

has been in hospital for over a week suffering from pneumonia. He was said to be in critical condition on Saturday. Megan Williams has more. This morning the Vatican said the Pope had slept through the night. Still he remains in critical condition after his worst health crisis so far when on Saturday he suffered from what the Vatican called a prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis that required high flow oxygen. The Vatican health update last night also said that blood tests showed thrombocytopenia. That's a condition that makes it harder for blood to clot and increases the risk of bleeding.

Pope Francis also has anemia, a low red blood cell count that adds to his weakness. The real danger, said his doctors on Friday night, is the Pope getting sepsis, germs from the pneumonia leaking into his bloodstream and reaching the heart or liver. Still, the prognosis remains uncertain, with many Cardinals and Vatican officials here saying only that they're praying for the Pope. Francis was hospitalized nine days ago for bronchitis that developed into double pneumonia. Megan Williams, CBC News, Rome.

Voting is underway in Germany. Polls suggest a strong result for the far-right AFD party, but the center-right opposition appears poised to win. As Abbie Kuodafson reports, no party is likely to form a majority on their own. Nationwide some 59 million people are eligible to cast their ballots, but one in five potential voters remain undecided this week. Hoping to sway some of them, the conservatives who lead in the polls with about 30% held their final rally last night. Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz has been being tough on immigration, a central part of his platform, but looked to differentiate himself from the far-right AFD, which seeks mass deportations.

Merz said if all immigrants left the country for 24 hours, nothing would work in Germany anymore. Even though the far-right has about 20 percent support and may finish second, Meritz has made it clear he would not form a coalition with them if he wins. A similar pledge has been made by all the other major parties too. Abbie Kuhldassen, CBC News, Berlin. Tens of thousands of people on the streets of Beirut as they head to the funeral for former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September. The ceremony is being held at Lebanon's biggest sports arena. It is also recognizing dozens of Hezbollah fighters killed in the recent war with Israel. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia launched more than 200 drones overnight. It comes as France and Britain prepare for face-to-face meetings with President Donald Trump in Washington. The CBC's Anna Cunningham has more from London. Monday the president will host France's president Emmanuel Macron and on Thursday the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit the White House as well. The White House is preparing.

So too is Europe. At the Elysee Palace in Paris and Downing Street in London, there's a sense that these meetings will be a moment of tension in the relationship between Europe and the US. The UK's Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirming today that Britain will unveil a significant package of sanctions against Russia Monday. Europe and Ukraine were excluded by the US from negotiations with Russia to end its war in Ukraine, the biggest war on the European continent since 1945. Macron and Stammer hope to change that.

Anna Cunningham, CBC News, London. Health Canada has issued a recall for a kid's sunscreen. It includes the kids by baby Gannick's SP 50 mineral sunscreen. It says an impurity was found in the products at levels above the allowed limit, which may pose health risks. Officials asked the public to stop using the products and contact a health care professional if there are any concerns. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Gavin Day.