The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/18 at 13:00 EDT

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/18 at 13:00 EDT

Hey, it's me, Michael Buble. You hear that? That's the sound of the Junos, the biggest party in Canadian music. I'll be there hosting. Sum 41 will be rocking out on stage for the last time, plus a whole lineup of amazing performances. And guess what?

You're all invited. All bring the tux, you bring the snacks. Let's make it a night to remember. Don't miss the Junos, live from Vancouver, March 30th at 8 Eastern on CBC and CBC Jam. From CBC News, the world is our. I'm Tom Harrington. We begin at the United Nations Security Council. The blame for the resumption of hostilities lies solely

with Hamas. The acting US ambassadorS. ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, says Washington supports Israel's actions. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli airstrikes overnight killed more than 400 people. Those strikes ended weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled. Shea says Hamas had refused every proposal and deadline to extend the first phase of the ceasefire and release more hostages. Hamas insisted on moving on to the second phase, meaning the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The White House says US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have wrapped up a highly anticipated phone call. Reports say their conversation lasted about two hours. call. Reports say their conversation lasted about two hours. The U.S. wants to persuade the Russian leader to sign off on the 30-day ceasefire proposal as a possible way to end the war. Ukrainian officials agreed to the American proposal last week. The Kremlin calls it a historic call, but details of the conversation are not yet known. Four Eastern European countries are on the verge of pulling out of an international agreement on landmines. It's known as the Ottawa Treaty, and its goal is to eliminate anti-personnel mines. Dominic Vallaitis has the details.

In a joint statement, the defence ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania blamed Russian aggression for their move to recommend withdrawing from the so-called Ottawa Treaty, the 1997 landmark international agreement created and promoted by Canada to address the global humanitarian crisis caused by anti-personnel landmines. More than 160 countries have signed the treaty. To date, none have left. If approved by their respective parliaments, quitting will allow Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to start stockpiling landmines again. The four countries, which all share a border with Russia, say their defence forces need flexibility and freedom of choice to potentially use weapons to protect their borders and bolster

NATO's vulnerable eastern flank. Dominic Velaitis for CBC News, Riga, Latvia. Prime Minister Mark Kearney is in Iqaluit after leaving London early this morning. Sovereignty, reinforce and affirm our sovereignty in Nunavut, but more broadly in the Arctic, protect our people. This hour he will be announcing a major influx of funding for the region. It solidifies plans for an early warning radar system along the Canada-U.S. border, a partnership announced with Australia in 2022.

There will also be more than $900 million in new funding. Canada's inflation rate took a big jump last month. Statistics Canada says it surged to 2.6% up from 1.9 in January. Nneesadari has more. 2.6% in February. That's how much the consumer price index increased by. That's a jump from the month before. So that means prices went higher faster in February than they did in January. While 2.6 is higher than that dead center Goldilocks just right 2% the Bank of Canada likes for inflation it is still within their target range and in particular

Statistics Canada points out the end to the temporary cut on GST and HST Spiked inflation because they calculate it based on many after-tax prices That's possibly one reason restaurant food prices contributed the most to inflation speeding up in February. Now with inflation ticking up in February, Economist Eyes and the Bank of Canada will be watching to see what happens with things like tariffs in the coming months because those could also increase inflation. The Bank of Canada makes its next decision on interest rates in March. And he's hit our CBC News, Calgary.

Your Brunswick's projected deficit is expected to balloon to nearly $600 million in the coming fiscal year. It includes a $50 million contingency fund to deal with U.S. tariff threats. This is the first budget tabled by the Liberal government since it won election in October. Finance Minister Rene Lagasse says despite the financial strain, the government will fulfill its promise on health care. And that is Your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Tom Harrington. Thanks for listening.