The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/02/25 at 11:00 EST

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/02/25 at 11:00 EST

Okay look, we are deep into awards season right now and maybe you've heard the names of the movies like Anorah or The Brutalist but maybe you haven't gone around to seeing them just yet. Allow us to catch you up. The Oscars are on Sunday, March 2nd and will Conclave win Best Picture? Will Demi Moore win Best Actress and prove that she's more than a quote unquote popcorn actress? Look out for commotion March 3rd.

That is the day right after the Oscars. We will recap all the big moments of the night. You can find commotion wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, it's the World This Hour. I'm Joe Cummings. The four candidates looking to succeed Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party faced each other last night in the first debate of the leadership campaign. The debate was in French, which for frontrunner Mark Carney proved to be a problem at times. Tom Perry reports. It was a remarkably polite affair, the four candidates for liberal leadership avoiding

any harsh attacks on each other, focusing instead on who would be best to take on a common foe, U.S. President Donald Trump. Former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland pointing out she negotiated a new North American free trade agreement with the first Trump administration. Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney at times stumbled in French. We agree with Hamas. We agree with all states. We do not agree with Hamas.

But we do not support Hamas. Carney's rivals correcting him during a discussion on the Middle East when he mistakenly said he agreed with Hamas. The two other contenders, businessman and former Liberal MP Frank Bayless and former government house leader Karina Gould, both more fluent and more comfortable on this night. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. The English language debate is set for tonight again in Montreal and you can watch it live on the CBC News Network or the CBC News app. As the Trump administration looks to shift American foreign policy priorities away from Europe, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is announcing a major increase in defense spending.

Crystal Gemensing has more. This government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War. The move to ensure UK security, says Keir Starmer, means spending £13.4 billion, or just over $24 billion Canadian, on defence every year starting in 2027. Meeting a renewed US demand for NATO countries to spend more to ensure their own security. For peace to endure in Ukraine and beyond we need deterrence. To increase defense spending the Labour government is cutting development aid. A move saved the Children UK's office called a betrayal that makes the world a more dangerous

place for children. Stalmer acknowledged extreme difficult and painful choices having to be made to prioritize security. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News, London. The World Health Organization says an unidentified illness is spreading across northwestern Congo. It's believed to have claimed at this point more than 50 lives, with one medical official reporting that the majority of the deaths occurred 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. The outbreak began last month with over 400 cases reported to the WHO. It says initial testing has ruled out Ebola and anything related to the Marburg virus.

The Canadian naval vessel HMCS Margaret, is on its way to Antarctica. It's supporting a scientific expedition led by Canadian scientists. And CBC News is the only media outlet aboard the vessel. Here's Susan Ormiston. We're navigating the Beagle Channel. It's in the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel was named after an HMS Beagle ship in the 1800s and carried Charles Darwin here in 1833.

This is a first. The Canadian Navy has never sailed this far south to the tip of South America and never hosted a science expedition like this. The icy continent is warming at an accelerating rate, not unlike the Arctic. And 15 scientists from Canada will be measuring the extent of those changes, drilling ice cores, taking sea and snow samples, analyzing how much contaminants like microplastics have

made it down here. You know, the Antarctic really helps to regulate our climate. It's hugely important and it's a pristine lab to gauge what's happening and compare it to the Canadian Arctic. Susan Ormiston, CBC News in Southern Chile. And that is the World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.