The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/11/18 at 20:00 EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/11/18 at 20:00 EST

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Stephanie Scandaris. The bill to release the U.S. Justice Department's files on Jeffrey Epstein is rocketing through Congress. The Senate approved it before it even came to their chamber. What remains is the U.S. president's signature. This comes after Donald Trump abruptly changed his mind about the release and urged Republicans to vote in favor. Katie Nicholson has the latest.

Let the truth come out. Let transparency reign. Even before the measure officially left the House, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed his chamber unanimously approve it, and it passed. This is about holding accountable all the people in Jeffrey Epstein's circle who raped, groomed, targeted, and enabled the abuse of hundreds of girls. This, after it earlier, sailed through the House and with just one representative voting against it. The bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider.

is laid on the table. There was applause from lawmakers and many of Epstein's victims and accusers who watched from the gallery. After official approval from both chambers, the bill will now move to the president's desk. Donald Trump has said he would sign it into law. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. Meanwhile, Donald Trump welcomed Saudi Arabia's crown prince to the White House. Muhammad bin Salman came with promises to invest nearly a trillion dollars in business deals and security agreements. The U.S. is also poised to sell F-35 fighter jets as it seeks closer ties with the Gulf Nation.

The meeting largely skirted human rights concerns, despite U.S. intelligence that directly ties bin Salman to the 2018 killing of a Washington Post journalist. Trump dismissed accusations. The Crown Prince ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happened, but he knew nothing about it. Bin Salman once again denied any involvement in Khashoggi's death, he insists Saudi Arabia took all the right steps in the investigation. Here in Canada, Nunavut has a new premier. MLAs elected John Main in a secret ballot after he and rival David Akiyaguk made their pitches.

Nunavut operates under a consensus government, which means there are no political parties, all MLAs are independent. Maine was most recently the territory's health minister in the previous assembly. He is the first non-Inuk Premier Inunovut's history, though he was raised there and speaks fluent inuctitude. Nearly a year after passing controversial legislation that impacts transgender people, Alberta's government is now proposing another bill

that would shield those laws from legal challenges, including at the Supreme Court. Aaron Collins explains how the notwithstanding clause could do that. Bill 9 uses the notwithstanding clause to stop challenges to three laws passed last year. All impact transgender Albertans. But opponents like trans advocate Marnie Pannis say using the notwithstanding clause impacts everyone. It is not just targeting one group. It's attacking the very foundation of our democracy. The laws shielded by today's bill cut a wide swath, restricting access to some gender reassignment treatments for youth,

requiring parental consent for students under 16 to change their pronouns, and limiting In participation in women's and girls' sports to those who are born female. These measures reflect the views of an overwhelming majority of Albertans. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith says using the notwithstanding clause is about ensuring that elected bodies aren't overruled by the courts. The province insists today's bill will stop ongoing court challenges of its existing transgender laws in their tracks. Erin Collins, CBC News, Calgary. The company behind much of the Internet's infrastructure is a policy. apologizing for today's disruption. Cloudflare says the outage happened after a key

configuration file did not work as intended, and it was not a result of a cyber attack. A number of high-profile websites and services went down early this morning, including X, chat GPT, Zoom, and Canva. The services have since been restored. And that's the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Stephanie Scandaris. Thank you.