The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/08/28 at 06:00 EDT

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/08/28 at 06:00 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 as prolonged wildfire seasons become the norm here in

canada were being offered a disturbing look at what it means to our long-term health researchers at the university of chicago have examined canada's 2023 wildfire season and have determined it may have touched off a trend that is reversing any progress made at improving air quality. Nicole Mortillero has more. It's hard not to remember the 2023 wildfire season when more than 16 million hectares of forest were lost and thousands were displaced from their homes. Today's report found that during the 2023 wildfire season, more than half of Canadians breathed air that surpassed our national standard.

And if those levels continued for a person's lifetime, the average Canadian would lose roughly two years of their life expectancy. The worsening air quality is a frustrating reversal of progress made by Canada to reduce air pollution. Michael Greenstone is one of the report's authors. Air pollution is like the zombie that we thought we had killed, but it's coming back to life. But with climate change worsening droughts, the risk of wildfires increases. This year has been the second worst wildfire season on record. And experts warn that the risk to Canadians from exposure to smoke will likely increase each year. Nicole Mortillero, CBC News, Toronto.

Now to Ukraine, where an overnight drone and missile strike on Central Kiev has killed at least 14 people. Let's believe that at least three children are among the dead. As many as 100 buildings have been damaged in the bombardment, including a kindergarten and a shopping mall. Cruise across the city continued to pull people out of the rubble. It's one of the rare examples of Russia targeting Central Keeve. Multiple vigils were held overnight in Minneapolis in honor of the victims of yesterday's deadly school shooting.

Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed with another 17 people wounded. Don't let anybody tell you that it's not about guns, because it is. That is Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Fry, calling for stricter gun. control laws in the United States. It's a sentiment shared by other Democratic politicians, including Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor of Minnesota. God weeps. Jesus weeps in this moment because we have free will and we have been given all of the tools necessary to stop this violence against our children. Investigators say the shooter was a 23-year-old male identified as Robin Westman. Police say Westman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The White House says it has fired the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and comes on the same day as the CDC announced new restrictive measures governing COVID-19 vaccines. Steve Futterman has more. The sudden move to dismiss Susan Meneras comes after a clash over vaccine policy with controversial health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy has been seen by many as a vaccine denier. The White House says Maneris isn't aligned with the Trump agenda. Her lawyers counter saying she is being targeted for standing up to science.

What you sought at the CDC was a wholesale destruction of the leadership of the organization. Dr. Ashish Jha was the COVID-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration. Along with the attempt to remove Maneras, four other high-ranking CDC officials resigned later. Wednesday, one of them accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing public health. All this comes as the Kennedy-influenced Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday restrictive guidelines on who is eligible to get the latest COVID-19 vaccines this fall. Steve Fetterman for CBC News, Los Angeles. And that is the world this hour.

For news anytime, go to our website, cBCNews.ca. For CBC News, news, I'm Chia Cummings.