The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/18 at 00:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/18 at 00:00 EDT

Every language is a note in the symphony of our heritage. Together, they create a harmony that cannot be silenced. Discover your voice on the new APTN Languages TV channel. From CBC News, the World This Hour, I'm Neil Kumar. The leaders of the four main federal parties have squared off for the second night in a row. The English language debate, which is the final debate of this election campaign, took place tonight in Montreal. Tom Perry reports.

This is the 2025 federal leaders debate. Once more in English, after fending off attacks from his three rivals in French, liberal leader Mark Carney was back in the crosshairs. Justin Trudeau made exactly the same promises that you are now repeating today. He promised— Conservative leader Pierre Poliev trying yet again to link Carney to his predecessor. Mr. Poliev, you spent years running against Justin Trudeau

on the carbon tax, and neither—they're both gone. While Carney versus Poliev was the main event, the other two contenders on stage held their own. You can't entrust all the power to Mr. Carney. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh urged voters to elect new Democrats to hold the liberals and conservatives in check, while Bloc Québécois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, whose party doesn't even run candidates outside Quebec, railed against what he called federal intrusion in the province's jurisdiction. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. Two people are dead and six are wounded after shooter open fire

at Florida State University. Authorities say they shot the gunman and took him into custody. The shooter is believed to be a student and is receiving medical attention. According to police, he's a 20 year old and the son of a sheriff's deputy had obtained access to a weapon that belongs to his mother and shot the victims using her former service handgun. Canada's measles cases continue to grow. Ontario has added more than 100 confirmed and suspected cases in just one week. And Alberta is also reporting an increase. But officials in Quebec are much more hopeful. Alison Northcott has the details.

As of Thursday, 89 cases of measles have been reported in Alberta. Pediatrician Dr. Tehseen Lada says the latest available data from 2023 shows immunization rates were far below the target. The vaccination rates are actually terrible. Lada is urging people to get vaccinated. She says multiple studies show the shots are safe and effective. On the other hand, getting measles, especially in a child, is high risk. We're looking at a 10-plus percent risk of being hospitalized and a one in a thousand risk of your child dying

if they are unimmunized and get measles. Ontario has the largest outbreak right now with more than 900 cases and nearly 70 hospitalizations. In Quebec, health officials say the outbreak there could soon be declared over with no new cases recorded in nearly a month. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. At least four people have been killed in Italy in a cable car accident. The cable car in the south of the country is a popular

attraction offering views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. Officials say a cable snapped just a week after the destination reopened for the season. One person is still missing. In this very galaxy, far, far away, lies a planet that scientists say has a remarkable chemical signature, one that could be made by living organisms. Science reporter Anand Ram has more. This moment in history of science will be viewed as a paradigm shift. Niku Madhusudan isn't shy about what his latest research could mean.

He's with the University of Cambridge and suggests new data from a planet more than 120 light-years away carries signs of life. We have found signs of biosignature molecules, both of which are produced uniquely by life here on Earth. The planet K2-18b is thought to be an ocean world. The smelly signal detected is dimethyl sulfide, produced here on Earth by cabbage and marine algae.

I understand that thes are necessarily excited. But scientists urge caution. Yanqin Wu studies the makeup of exoplanets at the University of Toronto. Once the signal is confirmed, we have to figure out whether it's made by life exclusively. Confirmed or not,

Wu expects more discoveries like this as the James Webb Space Telescope uncovers endless worlds that we never knew existed. Anand Ram, CBC News, Toronto. And that is your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Neil Kumar.