World Report - January 30: Friday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre faces a critical leadership review today.Ontario's PC party faces criticism for barring media from weekend policy convention.Canada’s industry minister and the Bloc Québécois leader are pushing back against Donald Trump’s threat targeting Bombardier.Journalist Don Lemon has been arrested in connection with an anti-immigration protest at a Minnesota church.A New York judge has barred federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione.Halifax RCMP change gun inventory protocol after losing track of their weapons.A Canadian crypto fugitive accused of stealing tens of millions has resurfaced — contacting The Fifth Estate while evading police worldwide.

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Conservative leader Pierre Palliav faces a crucial leadership test today. Party delegates in Calgary will decide whether he keeps his job. After the Conservatives lost last spring's federal election to Mark Carney and the liberals, Olivia Stefanovic has more. We are united. Our movement is united and our party is united. Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lansman, urging party faithful to stand with Pierre Paulyev. Vote yes for an affordable Canada. Yes for affordable homes. Yes for affordable food on the table. And yes to Pierre as our leader.

Pauliev became conservative leader four years ago in a landslide victory. Now he's fighting to keep his job. After a leadership review was triggered, following last spring's federal election laws. We love Pierre Boliv. That's why we're here. The decision to keep Polyev at the helm lies in the hands of more than 2,500 delegates. After our gil from BC is one of them. He has a great plan for Canada. That's why we love him. And we really want to become one day prime minister.

Pauliev supporters are hoping the party will break from its habit of turfing its leader after a single turn. term, like it did with Erin O'Toole and Andrew Shear. I am so proud of our conservative movement and so proud of our leader Pierre. Polyev is ringing in some big endorsements, including former interim leader Rana Ambrose, who posted a video praising Pauliev on social media. We will show Canadians that we can bring change to this great country. But surviving the leadership review is one hurdle, convincing the wider public that Poliev should lead the country the bigger challenge.

Olivia Estevanovich, CBC News, Calgary. As federal conservatives gather in Calgary, Ontario's progressive conservatives are holding a policy convention in Toronto. For the first time, the party is barring media from attending. As Sean Jeffords reports, the move is drawing some strong criticism. Yeah, well, you know, something, it's a convention, and I'm out in the media almost every second day. That's Premier Doug Ford defending his party's decision to ban reporters

from a party gathering this weekend. The Ontario progressive conservatives have given no reason for the decision, which breaks from political norms for years. This is a party convention, so we're going to keep it as a party convention. Hundreds of provincial Tories are set to meet this weekend in Etobico. They'll debate policy, attend workshops, and hear from Ford during a fireside chat. University of Ottawa professor Jean-Vier-Telier says the move raises questions. And everything should be going smoothly. But now with this decision, we will talk about it and wonder why.

Critics are slamming the PCs for meeting behind closed doors. NDP strategist Melanie Rechase says the move sends a bad signal to the public. It seems like it's a position of weakness instead of a position of strength. Former Ontario Liberal Cabinet Minister John Malloy says the move is strange. Parties are normally eager for the coverage in front of an audience of die-hard supporters. It really strikes me as strange. They should be projecting strength. They should be hitting up news stations to cover the Premier Speech.

The PC Convention is taking place at the same time as a federal conservative gathering in Calgary. Sean Jefford, CBC News, Toronto. U.S. President Donald Trump is again escalating trade tensions with Canada, threatening to decertify and impose tariffs on Canadian-made aircraft, singling out bombardage. Trump accuses Canada of delaying certification of U.S.-made Gulfstream jets and is warning of a 50% tariff if the issue. issue isn't resolved. Industry Minister Melanie Jolie says the certification request is recent and is already underway. We believe that this can be resolved, of course, and we will make sure that

we fight for every single job at Bombardier and across the sector, because this is a really important sector not only for Montreal in Quebec, but also for the rest of the country. There are many people working in the aerospace sector in Calgary and also in Ontario. Black Quebecua, Leader E. Francois Blanchette warns any flight ban could undermine air safety and economic stability across North America. Former CNN journalist Don Lemon is under arrest in connection with an anti-immigration protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota earlier this month. Federal agents arrested Lemon in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. It's still unclear what charges he and three others may face. Lemon says he was at the protest strictly as a judge.

journalist not an activist, and his lawyer argues the arrest violates the First Amendment. The Justice Department says the case stems from a coordinated disruption of a church service in St. Paul. A judge in New York is barring federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione. Mangione is accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, who was shot outside a Hilton Hotel in 2024. The judge dismissed the federal murder charge as technically flawed. Though Mangione still faces other charges that carry a possible life sentence, he has pleaded not guilty.

RCMP in Halifax are changing how they track their firearms. The move comes after the force lost track of three weapons for seven months. Kayla Hunsel has more. There was no evidence to suggest they were out in the public realm. Constable Mandy Edwards of the Halifax RCMP acknowledges, while police believed three unaccounted for carbines were still in their custody somewhere, they had no idea where the guns were for seven months. They discovered the issue during a routine audit in June 2025. Carbines are semi-automatic rifles which officers are required to sign in and out when needed. We never

believed that they were stolen. When CBC News asked about the long guns, Edwards confirmed the force had done a thorough search over seven months and still could not locate them. Three and a half hours later, she said the guns had been found, and the matter had just been clerical. She said the carbines had been listed on the inventories for two detachments in Nova Scotia. They showed up in one detachment's audit, but because they were registered twice, showed up as missing in the other audit. Michael Arndtfield is a criminology professor at Western University. The ability of police departments to maintain accurate records and chain of custody of items in their possession is central to their authority and the public trust.

The Halifax Detachment is now conducting inventory audits once a month instead of four times a year. It's also implemented a new system allowing officers to scan QR codes on long guns with their phones and supervisors to conduct random compliance checks from any location. Kayla Hounsel, CBC News, Halifax. A young Canadian math-wiz at the center of an international manhunt continues to evade police, but has recently been. made contact with the CBC's Fifth Estate.

And Ian Majedovich, she is accused of stealing tens of millions in cryptocurrency and is facing criminal charges in the Netherlands and the U.S. as well as a civil suit in Ontario. The fifth of the state has uncovered details about him since he went into hiding, including where he might be now. Here's Joanna Ramiliotis. Let's just check this. Our investigation took us to an apartment complex in Sarajevo, an address linked to a young Canadian math prodigy turned crypto fugitive.

With the help of investigative journalists based in Bosnia, we spoke to the building manager, who told us police had been there recently too. Someone already asked for him. Here? Yes. Authorities are hot on Andy and Majadavitch's trail. Majadivich is accused of making off with 65 million U.S. in cryptocurrency by exploiting glitches on trading platforms.

You see all of the transactions. Kyle Armstrong is a former FBI agent who now works for TRM Labs. The company helps police investigate crypto cases, including Majedovich's. You know, the real sort of shocking thing about the case was the sophistication prior to the exploit. Medjanovic graduated high school in Hamilton, Ontario when he was just 14, and completed a master's in pure mathematics by 18. A few months later, he pulled off his first alleged hack and disappeared. In the last four years, the fifth estate found he's traveled all over the world, using fake names and a fake passport,

and that he revealed a darker site online, using racist and violent terms in his code. Majedovich has turned down rewards to give back the money he allegedly stole, posting he'd simply done what anyone else could do. Investigators aren't buying it and say he's facing at least a decade in prison. But first, they have to find him. As for Majedovich, he hadn't responded to any of our emails until a few weeks ago. I have only one defense to the allegations, he wrote. I'm a racist. Please include that. That's all. Thanks. Ioanna Rumayotis, CBC News, Toronto.

And the Fifth of States investigation, Canada's crypto fugitive air is tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC television and Jim or watch it anytime on YouTube. And before we leave you some breaking news, this is from the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Today, he says, they are producing more than 3 million pages, including 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images. All of this related to the late accused sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. More throughout the day on CBC. This is CBC News. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.