The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/11/19 at 08:00 EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/11/19 at 08:00 EST

Don't you just love those days when you're sitting alone, maybe reading or listening to a podcast and not talking to anyone? According to Kieran Desai, author of The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, sometimes solitude can be a gift. There was nothing more beautiful than being alone, watching the snow falls slowly outside, starting to write myself. So it was kind of a heaven, really. Next time you're settling in for some quality alone time, head to bookends with Matea Roach to hear that conversation. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, it's the world this hour.

I'm Joe Cummings. As early as today, a bill that calls for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files could be on the desk of U.S. President Donald Trump for final approval. The bill cleared both the House and the Senate yesterday. But as we hear now from

Willie Lowry, even with Trump's signature. There's no guarantee we'll see the files anytime soon. There is a caveat to all of this. The bill allows for the Justice Department to withhold information that pertains to ongoing investigations. President Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to open investigations into Epstein's connections with several top Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn. That move could give the Justice Department cause for not disclosing some of the documents.

Here's Democrat Representative Robert Garcia. Right now, he's putting this investigation together, and we're very concerned that he's going to use it as an excuse to not release the full file. And several Epstein victims are also pleading with the president to release the documents in full. Willie Lowry, CBC News, Washington. On his way to this weekend's G20 summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Mark Carney is making what could be a controversial stop in the United Arab Emirates. Karina Roman has more.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet the United Arab Emirates president this week, with hopes the two countries will sign a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement. The Gulf State is home to some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, and Carney's growing list of major projects needs capital. But the UAE faces allegations, ones it denies, that it's financially supporting a paramilitary group, committing atrocities in Sudan. And human rights experts argue any deal should come with a condition

that the UAE stopped backing the violence in Sudan. Yona Diamond is Senior Legal Counsel at the Raul-Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. How will he go down in history? Will he be remembered as someone who puts profits over the particular? of a population facing destruction. After the UAE, Carney heads to the G20 summit in Johannesburg, where he will continue his bid to diversify Canada's trading partners. Karina Roman, CBC News, Ottawa.

It was another deadly and destructive night in Ukraine. That's Russian drones hitting an apartment building in Harkiv. Ukrainian security officials say there were more than 400, 170 drones launched across the country. They had an energy facility and an industrial site in Lviv, and in the western city of Ternople, an apartment building, was completely destroyed. Officials say 20 people, including two children, were killed in that attack. A new warning is being issued about the long-term health risks associated with ultra-processed, ready-made food.

Jennifer Yoon has more. At the Parkdale Community Food Bank in Toronto, Executive Director Kitty Rahman Costa wants to make sure her clients have access to whole food, even though many have no choice but to reach for ultra-processed options. They're not just more convenient. They're the only option for people depending on their circumstance. In Canada, more than half the foods we buy are ultra-processed, say researchers,

meaning they have additives, high amounts of sugars, flavors, or emulsifiers, Experts around the world are warning in a series of studies published by The Lancet, the rise in ultra-processed foods poses a major public health threat. John Claude Mubarak is one of the co-authors and the professor at the University de Montreal. We have a great opportunity to address the chronic diseases that we're facing in this country by changing the food system. He says Canada could learn from other countries, like Brazil, which has a free school lunch program, focused on whole foods and limiting ultra-processed foods. channel for you in CBC News, Toronto.

And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.