The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/08/13 at 16:00 EDT

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/08/13 at 16:00 EDT

All right, look, I am not going to lie to you. I love when an album drops, and it just, I know it's going to define my entire summer. And that is how I'm feeling about this new Lord album. My name is Alameen Abdul-Mahmood. I host a show called Commotion, and that is where we talk about the biggest stories in entertainment and pop culture, like this new Lord album or the Haim album or whatever great new music is defining our soundtrack for the summer. Come hang with us. Follow Commotion wherever you get your podcast. From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Gina Louise Phillips.

Police are investigating a series of arsons in downtown St. John's. The news comes as out-of-control wildfires continue to burn across Newfoundland and Labrador. Nicola Sagan has more. The investigation into those fires, we do believe they are suspicious in nature, and we suspect that one person is responsible. Constable James Cattigan says the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is investigating, is investigating at least five suspicious brush fires set overnight in downtown St. John's. This comes as the province continues to grapple with out-of-control fires, including one just

kilometers from St. John's. As this continues to get worse over the last few days, it's very clear that all Newfoundlanders and Labradorian's level of anxiety continues to rise. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan issued new evacuation orders yesterday, and close to 20,000 people are under evacuation alerts. The province's largest fire, the Kingston fire, continues to grow, keeping more than 3,000 people from their homes and destroying houses. As for the forecast, no rain until Friday at the earliest.

Nicholas Sagan, CBC News, Halifax. Air Canada will begin canceling flights starting tomorrow in anticipation of potential strike action by its flight attendants. Some 10,000 workers could walk off the job as early as Saturday after contract talks stalled. Air Canada has issued a notice of a lockout also starting Saturday. Wesley Lassoski is president of the Air Canada branch of QPi. He says he's holding out hope for a deal before then.

Thus far, it's been waves of up and downs, positive and standstill. Hopefully they'll see that the traveling public want to continue traveling and the flight attendants don't want to strike and that they have an opportunity to come to an agreement. The key sticking points are pay increases and unpaid work hours. The U.S. President says there's a very good chance. His meeting with Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will open the door to more talks. The summit in Alaska on Friday is aimed at discussing the end of the war in Ukraine. That country's president, however, was not invited.

In a call today, Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed Ukraine's position. Donald Trump says if talks with Putin goes well, it could pave the way for a second meeting. I would like to do it almost immediately between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself if they'd like to have me there. Certain great things can be gained in the first meeting. It's going to be a very important meeting.

But it's setting the table for the second meeting. Trump promised severe consequences if Putin didn't agree to end the war on Friday, though he didn't specify what that would mean. In business news, Canadian t-shirt maker, Milden is buying storied U.S. underwear company Haynes Brands. The deal is valued at more than $3 billion. Just last year, the Montreal-based company itself was a potential takeover target,

as it dealt with leadership turmoil. Well, this might sound obvious, but now it's been confirmed by science. A new study shows people increase their levels of physical activity when they move to a neighborhood that is more walkable. Alison Northcott reports. A walkable city or nays, neighborhood is one where you can quickly get to places like grocery stores, parks and schools without relying on a car. A new study published in the journal Nature found when people moved

from less walkable U.S. cities to more walkable ones, they increased their levels of physical activity, says author Tim Altaff with the University of Washington. To put this in numbers, you might add about 1,100 steps a day on average. That's about 11 minutes of extra walking. Epidemiology professor Laura Rosella from the University of Toronto says this adds to other Canadian studies looking at potential health benefits of walkable cities. The environment is our first step at creating health. And we have to think about all the changes we make

to our environment as either promoting health or working against it. The authors of the nature studies say evidence like theirs can help influence how cities are designed in the future. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Gina Louise. Phillips.