The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/16 at 20:00 EDT

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/16 at 20:00 EDT

Struggling with debt? Help is available. Discover reliable solutions to help you get back on track. Visit Canada.ca slash debt-solutions for support you can trust. A message from the Government of Canada. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Julie-Anne Hazelwood. Mark Carney is about to leave on his first foreign trip as prime minister. But earlier today he was in Montreal to meet with Quebec Premier Francois Lago, enjoying the city's St. Patrick's Day parade.

Why are you a fat St. Patrick's move? Carney not only celebrating the holiday but also his 60th birthday. The trip will take him to Paris tomorrow, then to London for talks on Russia's war on Ukraine as well as Trump's tariffs. Carney is also expected to have an audience with King Charles. On his way back to Ottawa, he'll visit a Cali wheat where Arctic security will be on the agenda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he and Carney have spoken on the phone.

He posted online that the two talked about increasing pressure on Moscow, in part by imposing all-out sanctions on suppliers of Russia's war on Ukraine. Zelensky says he also thanked the Canadian Prime Minister for the support Canada has provided over the years. In North Macedonia, the country's Prime Minister says a nightclub that burned down overnight Saturday had a fraudulent license that was issued for a bribe.

Fifty-nine people died after pyrotechnics set the venue ceiling on fire. That fire spread rapidly as the more than 1,000 people inside rushed for the exit. Around 150 people were rushed to hospitals. North Macedonia's Interior Ministry says about 20 people had been arrested, including government officials and the club's manager. Houthi authorities are now saying 53 people were killed when U.S. missiles hit a militant stronghold in northern Yemen. Leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi is vowing more tax on Red Sea shipping. But U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says airstrikes on Houthi targets will continue

until they lose the capacity to hit the Red Sea. This strike in Yemen is about their ability, the ability of the Houthis to strike global shipping and attack the U.S. Navy and their willingness to do it. What we can't ignore and the reason why the president mentioned Iran is because the Iranians have supported the Houthis. They provided them intelligence, they provided them guidance, they provided them weaponry. There's no way the Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is calling for both sides to cease military activities, warning they could further destabilize the region. It may sound early, but this weekend marks the start of wildfire season in PEI Nova Scotia, meaning there's daily restrictions on burning depending on conditions. Last year, Nova Scotia experienced a dramatic decrease in wildfires after the historic 2023 season that saw 25,000 hectares burned in the province. Karen McCarty is the wildfire mitigation program manager for the Halifax region. She says nearly all wildfires in the Maritimes are caused by humans. You know in Nova Scotia we're looking at anywhere from 97 to 99 percent human caused fires,

which is unique for Canada. If you look across Canada a lot of the provinces have a high percentage of lightning caused fires and we don't have that here in the Maritimes. A lot of reasons, you know, because of our weather, the amount of lightning storms we get, and things like that. McCarty says last year's low numbers of wildfires can be partly attributed to a $25,000 fine for breaking restrictions. New Brunswick's wildfire season begins next month. And in Alberta, more than six months after wildfires ravaged Jasper, many people are facing the reality they won't be able to return home.

More than 600 people in the town have applied for interim housing, but other residents who lost their homes have decided it's time to move on. Bill Nixon found a placement in supportive housing for seniors in the town of Stony Plain. He's leaving Jasper after 13 years. I met a lady online and she cast a spell over me and I moved to Jasper. And she left most of my social life. So I was kind of a lame duck there anyway.

I have a daughter with four grandkids, so I just figured, you know what, it was an easy call for me rather than staying in a motel for unknown period of time. Nixon lived in a seniors lodge that burned down. Of its 33 residents, only two have moved back to Jasper. And that's your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Julianne Hazelwood.