The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/08/31 at 22:00 EDT

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/08/31 at 22:00 EDT

Book club on Monday. Gym on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good to have a routine. And it's good for your eyes too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers,

you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexsavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. Eye exams provided by independent optometrists. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Neil Hurland. An evacuation order is now in effect for Fort Providence in the Northwest Territories, with a fast-moving wildfire burning about two kilometers away. An expected shift in wind direction could drive the flames toward the hamlet.

Mike Westwick is a fire information officer. Our forecast weather is winds from the south through much of the the day changing to north by late afternoon to early evening. This is our troublesome wind. That's the type of wind that would push the fire towards the community. There is a risk that the fire does reach the community by this evening. Structure protection teams are in Fort Providence trying to save homes and critical infrastructure. On Friday, another fire forced the evacuation of Wattie. Firefighters say they've had favorable winds for the last 24 hours. That fire has grown, but it's moving away from Wattie. The number of new wildfires in British Columbia

has shot up over the past few days caused by hot and dry conditions and lightning strikes. The coastal fire center in southwest BC saw more than a thousand lightning strikes just on Friday, and a number of fires were sparked near Pemberton. Sambellion is a fire information officer. Fire danger rating across the coastal fire center right now is a mix of moderate to high. So in these conditions, any spark can cause. wildfire. We did see some precipitation along with this lightning event, but it won't be enough to soak those finer fuels on our forest floors that are sort of primed for ignition or to extinguish any fires. Bellion says that many of the fires were located in high

alpine areas. In Nova Scotia, officials say the Long Lake Fire in the Annapolis Valley is still out of control. The good news, no more damage has been reported, and favorable weather is helping fire crews make progress on containing the flames. But as Julia Wong reports evacuees are worried and want to go back home. Anxiety is absolutely increasing. Jonathan Gillis is trying to keep evacuees calm. It's been more than two weeks since the Long Lake Wildfire forced hundreds of people from their homes in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

It's destroyed 20 houses and damaged many others. Gillis, the president of the West Dalhousie Community Hall, says residents were not prepared to be out of their homes for this long, and some, like Robert Howie, are losing patience. It would be nice to know when we're going back in, not as a date, but what we're working towards. Officials say they're working to keep the fire from spreading to other communities and say they're aiming to get evacuees home as soon as possible. Julia Wong, CBC News, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia.

The president of China is welcoming a group of national leaders that don't always get invited to meetings of Western leaders. He's hosting a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It's a chance for two particular leaders to flex their political muscle in a time of upheaval. Philip Lee-Shanock reports. A steady parade of world leaders arrive in the Chinese port city of Chen Zhen. Among the heads of state greeted warmly on the red carpet by Chinese president Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and India's Narendra Modi.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia, and India, and the likes of Belarus. Pakistan and Iran. It's a large and growing alliance encompassing about half the world's population, and it's looking to counterbalance the influence of the group of seven nations and an increasingly unpredictable United States. This summit has already seen efforts to repair relations between India and China, with President Xi telling Prime Minister Modi, the world is in the midst of a once-in-a-century transformation, and the two most populous countries can be partners in. success. The dragon and the elephant can dance together. Philip Lishadok, CBC News, Toronto.

We're following a developing story in Nevada. A man has been found dead at the annual Burning Man Festival in the Desert, and police are investigating it as a murder. Rangers found the body of a white adult male lying on the ground in a pool of blood. And that

is your world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Neil Hurland. Thank you.