World Report - March 28: Saturday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: March 28, 2026

Yemen’s Houthi rebels officially enter the Middle East war — launching a missile strike against Israel and threatening vital global shipping lanes.Israel expands its air campaign in Iran — striking two nuclear sites and two major power plants in the third such attack in ten days.National NDP convention continues in Winnipeg today as party hopeful look to rebuild and find a new leader.Closing arguments wrap up in the harrowing murder trial of two Ontario women accused of killing a twelve-year-old Indigenous boy in their care.New regulations kick in today in Indonesia where children under 16 are being banned from accessing certain social media platforms.Canadian music legend Joni Mitchell returns to home soil for the first time in over a decade to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at tomorrow’s Junos.

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One month into a widening war in the Middle East, new combatants are entering the fight. The Houthis, the Iranian-linked group in Yemen, say they have fired a barrage of missiles at Israel. The CBC's Katie Simpson reports from Doha. Just hours after the leader of the Houthis warned, the Iran-linked group, is ready to enter the war, a new front opens.

Houthi leaders saying a barrage of missiles was fired at Israel, with the Israelis confirming at least one interception. The expansion of the conflict triggering fears, another vital Middle East shipping route could be in jeopardy, since the Houthis, who are based in Yemen, have in the past attacked ships in the Red Sea. It's a nightmare. It's already what we have a nightmare, and this will make it worse of a nightmare.

Faria Mussolimi, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, says the Houthis could essentially impose a blockade with one successful attack. It's bad enough for insurance companies, it's bad enough for oil companies, and it's bad enough for everyone. Today marks one month of war after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, and the regime responded by firing back at Israel and Gulf region countries. Another 12 U.S. soldiers have been injured after an Iranian missile attack on an American base in Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration says the war remains on track and ahead of schedule, with the U.S. Secretary of State saying

it should be over within weeks, not months. Israel, meanwhile, has significantly expanded its air campaign in Iran, targeting key infrastructure in a single wave of strikes. Juliet Chapman is more from London. An explosion in Tehran this morning, filmed by one of the city's residents. While the U.S. attacks military sites, Donald Trump has agreed not to target Iran's energy system for 10 days, but Israel has made no such promise. Iran notified the International Atomic Energy Agency

of strikes near a nuclear power plant, a heavy water plant and a uranium extraction facility. No damage was reported. The world's nuclear watchdog is urging maximum restraint. Iran says Israeli attacks undermine Trump's pledge and Iran will extract a heavy price. Tehran continues to hit back at Gulf countries hosting American troops. This morning, six people were injured in Abu Dhabi by falling debris from a missile interception. The radar system at Kuwait's main airport was severely damaged by a drone attack, and one person was injured at a port in Oman, with Iran saying it targeted a U.S. support vessel off the country's coast.

Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa is a former Qatari ambassador to the UN. After the end of the war, we are going to reassess everything. We are going to reassess our relationship. with Iran, we will reassess our security interests. After a month of fighting, the number of casualties continues to rise. A human rights group operating outside Iran says it has verified the deaths of more than 3,000 people in the country. Over 1,500 were civilians, 228 of them children. The group says the real number is likely to be even higher.

Julia Chapman, CBC News, London. country. Tomorrow, the federal new Democrats will name a new leader. This is considered a chance for the NDP to turn the party's dwindling popularity around, but energy policy continues to be a point of tension within the movement. The CBC's host of the House, Catherine Cullen, takes a closer look. I think there's an immense amount of political space for the NDP in this moment. Filmmaker Avi Lewis is widely thought to be the frontrunner in the NDP leadership race. Part of his pitch is no new pipeline approvals. The world is moving. moving away from fossil fuels because they're destabilizing geopolitics and our household economy?

Well, let's talk about what's destabilizing. Alberta NDP leader NAHED NNCHI takes a different view. And what is destabilizing is the fact that we are blessed with a natural resource and we don't have access to markets for it, markets that are hungry for that energy. Just as the federal NDP conference was getting underway, Nenshi released his new energy policy, calling for more pipelines. and increasing the capacity of the Trans Mountain expansion by another 300,000 barrels a day.

If Lewis's main competition wins, that policy could be a challenge for her too. Edmonton MP Heather McPherson has been less categorical about her views on pipelines. We need to move forward in a clean, decarbonized way, and we need to make sure those jobs stay with us and that people aren't losing their job. Nenshi isn't a member of the federal party

and hasn't endorsed any leadership hopeful. He even called the top candidates and asked them not to create problems for him in Alberta with their policies. Asked specifically if he believes Lewis is getting it wrong on energy. You know, he's welcome to come to Alberta and see the reality on the ground. But yeah, I do think that. Still, Nenshi says he hopes for a friendly relationship with whomever the new leader is. That person will be announced on Sunday. Catherine Cullen, CBC News.

Ottawa. And you can hear more on the NDP Convention on the House right after World Report. Two women are awaiting a verdict in a harrowing murder and abuse trial in Ontario, Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamper. They're accused of murdering a 12-year-old indigenous boy and torturing him and his younger brother. As Jennifer Yun reports, children's rights advocates say the case is a symptom of a youth protection system in crisis across Canada. A 12-year-old boy found unconscious, emaciated, in a puddle before dying in hospital. Brothers forced to sleep in a mesh tent, zip tied to their clothes.

These are the kind of details that have come out in the trial of Brandy CUNY and Becky Hambur. The couple is charged with abusing two indigenous brothers. They were in the process of adopting and murdering the older boy. They've pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their defense argued they loved the boys but didn't get the help they needed in raising them.

How do you let something get to that point? As Cooney and Hambur await their verdict, child advocacy, that the youth protection system failed. The brothers were wards of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa. And despite at least half a dozen reports about suspected abuse, the CAS never spoke to the kids alone, nor that they conduct an in-person surprise visit. Cheyenne Ratnam, who grew up in Ontario's child welfare system, says, this isn't the only time a child has died while being followed by the youth protection system. When will it be enough for a system to actually transform?

Ratnam would like to see a national registry tracking the number of children and youth who die while being followed by child welfare. That, she says, would be a start in understanding the problem. Jennifer Yun, CBC News, Toronto. Another country is joining the list of nations restricting social media for young people, Indonesia, now the first country in Southeast Asia, to implement such regulations. Freelance reporter Dave Grunibon has more from Jakarta.

Indonesia has about 70 million children under the age of 16. Like many countries, concerns have grown about the amount of time children spend on social media. Officials worry they could be contacted by predators or access pornography and cyberbullying. New regulations that begin today restrict access to platforms deemed high risk. This includes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Roblox. And Dina Duy has a nine-year-old son and she supports the move. I agree because when he plays Roblox and uses social media, he forgets about time, she says. Ten-year-old Andaru Brahma Satria says many of his friends play Roblox and love it.

He says they will likely feel sad and disappointed to lose their favorite games. I spoke with several parents today who told them. parents today who told me the children have not had trouble accessing any sites. The Indonesian government has been vague on the rollout saying it would be phased in. Social media platforms are now required to start deleting accounts of children younger than 16. But it is not clear how the requirements will be monitored or enforced. Dave Grunabam for CBC News, Jakarta, Indonesia. And finally.

A long-awaited homecoming is the talk of the Canadian music industry this morning. Iconic singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has arrived in Hamilton ahead of tomorrow's Juno Awards. It marks her first major public appearance on home soil in 13 years. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. The 82-year-old legend is in the city to a park in line. accept a lifetime achievement award. While she spent decades living in California, her roots in the Saskatchewan prairies

remain a defining part of her story, and, of course, frequent visits to the Sunshine Coast in BC. Organizers say her presence alone has turned the ceremony into an historic event for her fans. And that is the latest national and international news from World Report. I'm John Northcott. This is CBC News.

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