The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/08/22 at 07:00 EDT

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/08/22 at 07:00 EDT

We are gathered here today to celebrate life's big milestones. Do you promise to stand together through home purchases, auto-upgrades, and surprise dents and dings? We do. To embrace life's big moments for any adorable co-drivers down the road. We do. Then with the caring support of Desjardin insurance, I pronounce you covered for home, auto, and flexible life insurance. For life's big milestones, get insurance that's really big on care at Dejardin.com slash care. from cbc news it's the world this hour i'm joe cummings for the first time the u.n department that assesses

global hunger is officially confirming there is famine in gaza tom fletcher is the u.s. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs it is a famine on all of our watch everyone owns this The Gaza famine is the world's famine. It is a famine that asks, but what did you do? A famine that will and must haunt us all. The UN agency declares a famine when at least 20% of households are experiencing extreme food scarcity. Last month, it warmed of famine-like conditions. Now it's confirming the situation has worsened dramatically.

It says hostilities, frequent displacement of blockades are creating the emergency. This says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that there is a hunger crisis in the territory. The Trump administration says it's in the process of scrutinizing more than 50 million people who currently hold a U.S. visa. It is looking for violations that could lead them to being thrown out of the country. That includes criminal activity, terrorism, or what they deem to be, threats to public safety. Among other things, government officials will be examining social media accounts and police records. It's an expansion of what is already being done to international students who the Trump White House have declared to be either anti-Semitic or

pro-Palestinian. There are mounting concerns among health care advocates about the state of Canada's National Pharmacare Program. To date, Ottawa's finalized agreements with three provinces and one territory, but it isn't saying if it has plans to negotiate deals with the rest of the country. Ian Fraze has more. On the front line, when you tell someone that they don't have to pay anything, they're happy. Aaron McKenzie says National Pharmacare has left some Islanders surprise. Now, their diabetes meds and prescription birth control are free, fully covered by the federal government. McKenzie is with the PEI Pharmacists Association. I think a lot of pharmacy teams have the affected list of drugs hung up somewhere close to the computer and are becoming quite savvy with.

which ones those are. So far, there's only drug coverage from the feds in PEI and Manitoba. It'll be expanded next March to BC and the Yukon, and after that, who knows? Prime Minister Mark Carney's government has only promised to protect existing pharmacare deals, leaving many to wonder when and if any other deals will be made. Elizabeth Thompson advocates for reproductive health in Ontario. For us to not be signed on to a program like this, you're missing nearly a third of the population of Canada. Ian Fraze, CBC News.

Ottawa. A B.C. ostrich farm has lost its legal bid to save its birds from a cull order issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The order was made after two ostriches on the farm tested positive for avian flu. Yesh mean Renea has more. It's devastating. We've made it this far. After months of legal battles, the federal court of appeal has ruled that a cull of about 400 ostriches belonging to Katie Pasitney and her parents can go ahead. Last year, two of the birds tested positive for avian flu on the farm in a remote part of the BC interior, prompting the CFIA call order. Dozens of ostriches died after the outbreak, but hundreds survived.

The farmers believe the herd is now immune to the disease and should not be killed. We have a recovered flock here that we are shielding from the world of our research. The case has become an international flashpoint in the management of avian flu, attracting the attention of prominent members of the Trump administration, including U.S. Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The CFIA says it implements disease control measures necessary to protect public health and minimize the economic impact on Canada's poultry industry. Yasmin Ganea, CBC News, Vancouver.

The farm owners say they are in the process of filing a request for another court stay. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe. Show Cummings.