The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/07 at 12:00 EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/07 at 12:00 EST

What does a mummified Egyptian child, the Parthenon marbles of Greece and an Irish giant all have in common? They are all stuff the British stole. Maybe. Join me, Mark Fennell, as I travel around the globe uncovering the shocking stories of how some, let's call them ill-gotten, artifacts made it to faraway institutions. Spoiler, it was probably the British. Don't miss a brand new season of Stuff the British Style. Watch it free on CBC Gem. From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings.

We start with the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump. He says he's considering a new round of sanctions on Russia. In a social media post, he says the sanctions would stay in place until a peace agreement is finalized. And he's urging Russia and Ukraine to begin ceasefire talks, quote, before it's too late. This comes after a series of overnight Russian missile strikes killed at least 18 people in Ukraine. Once an emergency crew in Kharkiv fighting a fire at a building targeted in the Russian strikes,

the missile and drone assault saw a number of energy facilities across the country come under attack. The latest update on the state of the Canadian economy comes today from the February jobs report, and it appears to show the U.S. tariff action is affecting the labor market right across the country. Scott Peterson has the details. 1100 positions were created for February. That was disappointing.

We were expecting 20,000. The unemployment rate stayed at 6.6%. We also saw a loss of full-time jobs, about 20,000. The unemployment rate stayed at 6.6%. We also saw a loss of full-time jobs about 20,000 and that was replaced by part-time jobs. So that's a worry as well as far as a hollowing out of the good secure jobs in the country. So job losses in the scientific field, we saw gains in finance, infrastructure and leasing. And this is where the story gets interesting. We saw a big gain, 51,000 positions. It was the largest sector gain of all the sectors that Canada has in wholesale and retail trade. And that comes on the back of a record surplus that Canada had with the US at 14.4 billion dollars.

That's a trade surplus for the month of January. So clearly the indication here is that. companies were going to record import levels to get as much Canadian goods as they possibly could to get under the threat of the tariff deadline. Scott Peterson, CBC News, Toronto. Meanwhile, as it stands today, and at least for now, the Trump administration has temporarily paused some of its tariff actions on Canada. And while this confusing on-again, off-again campaign continues, Canada's response remains unchanged. Kate McKenna has more.

One message is loud and clear from Ottawa and the provinces. This 30-day partial tariff pause is not good enough. The federal government won't lift $30 billion in retaliatory tariffs, even if it won't proceed with a second and bigger wave of retaliation in a few weeks. The on-again, off-again tariffs leave Canadian businesses in turmoil and uncertainty. Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc says the majority of trade to the US can now meet the bar of being compliant with the existing free trade agreement and avoid tariffs for now. But there are other looming deadlines. There's a steel and aluminum tariff that could come into effect next week.

There could be more tariffs on April 2nd. Plus, yesterday's announcement from Trump is being described as a pause, not a total walk back. Kate McKenna, CBC News, Ottawa. HOFFMAN The dates differ from province to province, but this year's March break travel season is now underway. And it turns out a growing number of Canadians are deciding against vacation trips to the United States. Linda Ward reports. But it turns out a growing number of Canadians are deciding against vacation trips to the United States.

Linda Ward reports. Leisure bookings to American cities are down. We're hearing from Flight Centre Travel Group Canada who says that they have dropped 40% in February from the same month last year. And we're also hearing numbers from a number of airlines as well. Air Canada is offering 10% fewer flights to Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas, popular sun destinations for Canadians at this time of the year. WestJet is reporting a shift in bookings from the U.S. to Mexico and the Caribbean. Flares, U.S.-bound flights are down

24% year-over-year for March, and Sunwing Airlines has just scrapped all its US flights altogether. And it's not just that people aren't booking, but they're also cancelling. One in five customers cancelled their trips to the United States over the past three months. Flight Centre now also says it has seen a pause in business travel to the United States. And if that gets worse, that would have a much larger impact. Linda Ward, CBC News, Toronto. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.