The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/16 at 05:00 EDT

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/16 at 05:00 EDT

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 is sour. I'm Khalil Hassan Ali. Canada, along with several European countries, took part in a virtual summit on Ukraine on Saturday.

As Anna Cunningham reports, the so-called Coalition of the Willing is planning to put military pressure on Moscow. Prime Minister Mark Carney joining French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as leaders from Australia, New Zealand, European nations and EU and NATO chiefs. We agreed we will keep increasing the pressure on Russia, keep the military aid flowing to Ukraine and keep tightening restrictions on Russia's economy. Led by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he says the group rejects Russian President

Vladimir Putin's yes-but approach to a ceasefire. Starmer says his group is now moving to an operational phase. Our militaries will meet on Thursday this week here in the United Kingdom to put strong and robust plans in place to swing in behind a peace deal. Discussions then will be about the possibility of a peacekeeping force, something Moscow rejects. The US did not take part in the meeting. President Donald Trump still sounding positive on Russia agreeing a peace deal. Anna Cunningham, CBC News, London.

To Serbia. An estimated 100,000 people converged in Belgrade on Saturday to protest the country's President Alexander Vucic. The rally is believed to be the biggest anti-government protest ever held in the country. This is the biggest challenge to Vucic's grip on power after 13 years in charge. The almost daily protests began after 15 people died in a railway station collapse last November, which some blamed corruption under Vucic's leadership. And at least 50 people are dead and 100 have been injured following a fire at a nightclub in northern Macedonia.

Club goers in the town of Kočani were watching a local pop group around 2.30 early this morning. Officials say pyrotechnics were used, which caused the roof of the club to catch fire. Video on social media shows chaos inside the club. Police have arrested one man but didn't provide the details on the person's involvement. And public health officials are warning Canadians about the dangers of measles as cases surged across the country. Dr. Isaac Bogosh is an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto General Hospital. We had a death related to measles last year in Canada. The United States has had two deaths related to measles as part of this current outbreak.

And even in Ontario, as part of this current outbreak, 8% of the cases have been hospitalized. So it's not just a benign routine illness that people used to get decades ago. It should be routine and it's not benign. This measles outbreak is spanning several provinces. It's the third highest number of cases since the virus was eliminated in Canada and officials expect the number to rise further. If the Hudson's Bay Company can't secure financing to keep itself afloat, the once iconic Canadian company could begin the process of liquidating. As Philip Leishanek reports, that could be next week. For more than 9,300 people, they could be out of a job. Employment lawyer Andrew Hatney represents some of them.

The payment or non-payment of severance, and given the financial reporting we see publicly, that looks ominous. And then there's the pension. The company only has three million in cash and owes more than 400 million to secured creditors such as the Bank of America and U.S. hedge funds. Employees are considered unsecured creditors along with landlords and suppliers like Ralph Lauren, Chanel and Jason Thompson. We don't have loads of cash sitting on hand, right?

Thompson owns Superior Strategies, an indigenous business supply company in Thunder Bay. He says the bay owes him $80,000 for cash register thermal paper. The Hudson's Bay Company will be in a Toronto court Monday hoping to figure out a restructuring plan to avoid closing for good. Philip Lee Shannok, CBC News, Toronto. That's the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Khalil Hassan Ali.