World Report - May 23: Friday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Judge rules NHL player Brett Howden's text message can’t be used as evidence at sex assault trial of ex-world junior players. North American markets slump after U.S. president Donald Trump threatens new tariffs against Apple and the European Union. Harvard University sues Trump administration for barring it from enrolling international students.Conservative Kathy Borrelli is holding onto the riding of Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore in electoral recount.Results of ballot recount in N.L. riding of Terra Nova-The Peninsulas expected today. 

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Find an agent today at Desjardins.com slash business coverage. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm John Northcott. The judge in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial has decided some text messages Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden sent to a teammate are not admissible as evidence. Howden was a member of the 2018 World Junior Hockey Team. He is not charged but is a crown witness in the sexual assault trial of five of his former teammates.

Karen Pauls has the latest. The Crown wanted to introduce the text as evidence and ask Brett Howden questions about them but now she won't be able to and legal experts say that will weaken her case against Dylan DuBey. In one of the texts, Howden wrote that he was happy he left the hotel room when he did because Duber or DuBey was smacking the girls behind so hard it looked like it hurt so bad. The defense argued those texts should not be entered as evidence because Howden says he can't remember writing them, can't now confirm the details are accurate and never expected them to be used as

evidence seven years later. Howden told court he believes he was being truthful in what he texted. The complainant has testified someone slapped her on the buttocks without her consent. Other players have also testified she was spanked and at least one identified DuBey. DuBey and the other players have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Karen Pauls, CBC News, London, Ontario. North American stock markets are slumping in reaction to Donald Trump's latest tariff threats, S&P, Nasdaq, Dow and TSE, all down in early trading. Posting on his social media, Trump says he'll impose a 25% tariff on iPhones unless Apple

makes them in the US. CBC Business reporter Scott Peterson is following the story. Scott, just what is Trump threatening? To summarize what he said on True Social, he wants all the iPhones, if they're sold in the US, to be built in the US. This is the worst possible case scenario as a CEO. You go to bed at night, you wake up in the morning, you find the US president has posted about your company.

Apple, for their part, have promised $500 billion in research and to create jobs and things, but their manufacturing is still in China. They're trying to transition to India, but they've been doing everything they could to avoid the pinpoint and the laser focus of Donald Trump, but they've been unsuccessful clearly in his post this morning. So now the question is, is this going to punish a very successful US company that's taking advantage of lower labor costs overseas, or is this potentially going to punish a very successful US company that's taking advantage of lower labor costs overseas? Or is this potentially going to hand over more business to a Chinese upstart that are

very eager to take Apple's product and Apple's market share? And so there's a lot of worry about this and there's a lot of surprise at this tweet overnight. And speaking of surprises, Scott, Trump is also targeting the European Union with 50% across-the-board tariffs. Why this? Why now? Once again, a question for everyone as far as why is the US president waking up so early and making these statements on true social?

It's not like the US and the EU have been in formal negotiations. There has been some overtures, some posturing, but nothing really formal. We know there's a framework with the UK, but this really, in a sense, is coming out of the blue. So is this a method by the US president to maybe jumpstart negotiations that haven't started as quickly as he'd like them to? But once again, what it does is it's just confusing the market and we're seeing a market reaction extremely negative to this uncertainty. And that's what the markets don't want to see. As far as any kind of trade negotiations or political negotiations, this element of uncertainty is unprecedented.

Scott Peterson joining us in studio. Thank you, Scott. Thanks, John. Harvard University is launching a lawsuit against the Trump administration this morning. It's calling the decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students unconstitutional. It says the ban will have a devastating effect for the school and also for more than 7,000 foreign students. The CBC's Richard Madden is in Washington.

Richard, why is Donald Trump doing this? Yeah, the White House says it's enforcing laws to root out anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism on campus and in society. So it's now blocked Harvard University's authorization to enroll international students. And this affects roughly 6,700 of them, or more than a quarter of Harvard's enrollment. And these students may now be forced

to either transfer to another university or lose their legal status in the US. This is also a huge financial hit to the university that relies on international tuitions. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says Harvard refused to turn over conduct records afforded students she requested last month. She's also accusing the university for failing to create a safe environment especially for its Jewish students and for stoking anti-American views on campus. Here she is on Fox News. Harvard has a history of allowing not just protests,

but violent protests, where students were assaulted, they were discriminated against, they were verbally abused, and they've even facilitated a training for a paramilitary group affiliated with the CCP. The CCP being China. Now, this is the latest escalation against Harvard by the administration. Last month, the White House cut $2 billion in research grants and is now threatening to eliminate its tax-free status.

Richard, critics argue that this is part of Trump's ongoing effort to reshape American cultural institutions. Tell us more about that. Yeah, the president has enacted massive changes to reshape government and is dramatically affecting education, institutions and landmarks. The White House is targeting all diversity, equity and inclusion policies at universities and Trump has also ordered the removal of any racial-centered ideology at the Smithsonian Museums. He's renaming landmarks from military bases to bodies of water like the Gulf of America. Trump's political base is cheering it on while his critics fear Trump has gone way too far.

Richard Madden in Washington. Thanks, Richard. Anytime. Canada Post still has not reached an agreement with Cup W, but its 55,000 workers who were poised to strike last night have not walked off the job. The CBC's Linda Ward joins us now in studio. Linda, what's the latest? Well John, Canada Post says the Canadian Union of Postal Workers requested to meet with the mediator

last night, but that meeting effectively went nowhere. Spokeswoman Lisa Liu says in a statement, the meeting lasted less than half an hour with Cup W raising only a small number of the many outstanding issues in an informal manner. It was unfortunately not enough to demonstrate meaningful progress. Now these talks were about the corporation's latest offer. We're talking 13.59% wage increases over four years, six personal days and better income replacement for those on short-term disability. The union says they are still going over that offer. Jan Simpson is the national president. She released a statement of her own saying that they offered a truce of two weeks to

continue negotiations without the threat of a strike or a lockout, but Canada Post refused. Part-time weekend work has proved to be one of the biggest sticking points in these negotiations, something that was recommended in a federally commissioned report last week to keep the corporation afloat. We've reached out to the union on when they may return to the table but haven't heard back yet. Linda, what does this mean for Canadians relying on the mail? Well, you'll still get it, but it may take a little bit longer. Mail carriers are being told, refuse any work that's more than eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. And after eight hours, they're being told go back to the depot, drop off the mail regardless of whether or not you've completed

your route. So in the meantime, postal operations will continue, although there may be some delays in getting your mail. For now, John, we've avoided the second major mail halt in a span of only six months. John Bellon Linda Ward, joining us in studio. Thanks, Linda. Linda Ward You're welcome. John Bellon

The results of a federal recount are in. The conservative Kathy Borelli is holding on to the riding of Windsor to come to Lakeshore in Ontario. Elections Canada says she beat the Liberal incumbent candidate by just four votes. This recount took three days to complete. Meanwhile, we're watching the riding of Terra Nova, the peninsula's in Newfoundland and Labrador. The results of its electoral recount are expected later today, and the candidates have been waiting to hear the final outcome for nearly two weeks. Heather Gillis explains why it has taken so long.

On election night, it was a nail-biter. With one poll of special ballots left to report, counting was paused late in the night. The next day the Liberal candidate Anthony Germain beat out conservative candidate Jonathan Rowe by just 12 votes. Its emergence so tight it triggered an automatic recount. It took election workers almost two full days to go through 41,000 ballots, leaving an unprecedented number of disputed ballots, 1,041 of them. A judge has been going through every single one of those disputed ballots since the middle of last week.

But this week, a pause. A water shut off in Marystown, where the recount is happening, and it forced public buildings to close. A spokesperson for the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court says once Judge Garrett Handrigan makes a decision, he'll notify Elections Canada, which will publish the results. If the Liberals hold on, they'll have 170 seats in the House of Commons. Too shy of a majority government. But if it flips blue, that will bump up the Conservatives to 144 seats. Heather Gillis, CBC News, St. John's.

And that is the latest national and international news from World Report. If you're enjoying the World Report podcast, and we hope you are, please follow us and tell a friend. It helps to spread the word. I'm John Northcott. This is CBC News.