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

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

<p>Canada's GDP grew by annualized rate of 2.2% in first quarter, beating expectations.</p><p><br></p><p>Saskatchewan is the latest province to declare a state of emergency -- justy one day after Manitoba - as wildfires force thousands of people out of their homes</p><p><br></p><p>The accused in Vancouver's fatal car ramming could learn if he's fit to stand trial.</p><p><br></p><p>A Russian national living in Toronto is accused of violating sanctions on Russia.</p>

The ocean is vast, beautiful, and lawless. I'm Ian Urbina back with an all new season of The Outlaw Ocean. The stories we bring you this season are literally life or death. We look into the shocking prevalence of forced labor, mine boggling overfishing, migrants hunted and captured. The Outlaw Ocean takes you where others won't. Available on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast.

This is World Report. Good morning, I'm John Northcott. We begin with the latest snapshot of Canada's economy. Gross domestic product figures for the first quarter of this year. Statistics Canada, the figures released this morning say the economy raced ahead outperforming expectations. The CBC's senior business correspondent, Peter Armstrong, has more. Consider this a sort of calm before the storm GDP report. The first quarter,

January, February and March of this year saw the very first earliest impacts of the trade war, but the real damage and the real uncertainty didn't really start to bite until April. So economists expected to see a bit of a surge in activity as exporters tried to get ahead of those tariffs and get products out the door before tariffs kicked in. And we saw that in spades. The economy expanded in March and SatCan says the preliminary figures show it expanded again in April. But the forecast for the rest of the spring and the rest of the summer show Canada is likely now to slip into a recession from here. The Bank of Canada meets next week to decide its path on interest rates and after this report markets assume about a 75% chance that the bank will leave those rates unchanged

at 2.75%. Peter Armstrong, CBC News, Toronto. From the east to the west, Canada is burning once again and thousands are forced out as wildfires threaten their communities. Two provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, declaring states of emergency. One of the hardest hit communities in the country is Flintlawn, Manitoba, where 5,000 people have already been evacuated. And this morning Flintlawn Mayor George Fontaine says the latest news is not promising.

The prognosis that we're hearing is that the winds are going to change and turn that fire back towards our community and it could be very catastrophic if that happens. Fires also forcing people out of their homes in Alberta, BC and Ontario. Manitoba so far the only province which has asked for emergency assistance from the federal government. Janice McGregor has more on that part of the story. Janice, what do we know about the federal response? John, so far Manitoba is the only jurisdiction that's requested federal help. Emergency Preparedness Minister Eleonora Oshchefsky approved that request early yesterday, specifically to assist with

the mandatory evacuations of two Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba where the wildfires are now alarmingly close. Pimichikamak Cree Nation and the Mathias-Kalom Cree Nation. The minister told reporters after question period yesterday that the Canadian Armed Forces has already mobilized. In fact, those Air Force planes were deployed and they're in the process of evacuating people from those communities at this time. As of eight o'clock last night, that deployment included four CC-130 Hercules aircraft in their first three flights. A total of 247 people were evacuated from Norway House

to Winnipeg. One was still flying into the night and they had plans for the others to resume flying at first light this morning. Now separately, a CC-138 twin-autor plane flew into the Mathias Cologne Cree Nation last night. However, it is unclear whether plans for evacuations from there were able to proceed. After the airport serving that community had to close, the community's chief told CBC News that thick smoke had pushed toward the airfield, making visibility for landing difficult. So although some 200 people had already got out, by other means, as of last night, about 2,000 remained in the community, which is about 700 kilometers northwest of Winnipeg. Neighbouring Saskatchewan has also declared a state of emergency.

Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on social media that he's spoken with Premier Scott Moe and federal assistance is ready to mobilize. The province has the federal government's full support. Janice McGregor in Ottawa. Thank you Janice. You're welcome. And over Manitoba's border in northwestern Ontario, more evacuations including a First Nation community in Deer Lake. Sarah Law has that story. The smoke is really bad. You

inhale it and it hurts your lungs really bad. David Mikus says Deer Lake's airport is surrounded by charcoal. Only propeller planes are allowed in and out of the First Nation, with the community's most vulnerable boarding the first planes out. We're kind of scared because the fire is on both sides of us and it's spreading fast and the wind's picking up too. Most of the region is under burn bans as dry conditions continue to fan the flames. Chris Marshand is a fire information officer with the province. He says the forecast doesn't look promising.

This area close to the Manitoba border has not seen more than 10 millimeters of rain in weeks. Deer Lake is the second first nation in the region to be evacuated. Members of Wapsamon Independent Nations have been staying in hotels from Winnipeg to Niagara Falls since mid-May. Two years ago, Micah says he was in a hotel in Cornwall for a month and a half due to wildfires. As he prepares for his flight to Toronto, he says he's worried about leaving his two huskies behind. Sarah Law, CBC News, Thunder Bay, Ontario. We could learn if the man charged with murder following the Vancouver Lapu Lapu Day tragedy is fit to stand trial today. Eleven people were killed in the car ramming at the end of April.

The suspect is charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder. Georgie Smythe has more. It's been a little over a month since 11 people were killed at a Vancouver Street Festival when they were run over by an SUV that crashed into a tightly packed crowd at a Lapu Lapu Day event. Dozens were injured and seven people remain in hospital. 30-year-old Kaiji Adam Low has been charged with eight counts of second degree murder. At his first appearance, five days after the incident, Low's lawyer asked the court for an assessment of his client to make sure he is fit to stand trial. Rebecca McConkie is a criminal lawyer and vice president

of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. She says the test has a low threshold by design and is about ensuring a fair trial. The focus is on the person's mental state and cognitive capacity now. It's not looking at what state they're in at the time of the alleged offense. It's whether or not they are able to essentially understand the process that's happening to them as they go through the judicial process now. The assessment is expected to be shared in court today.

It's important to remember that this analysis is totally different to a person being found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. If Lowe is found not fit to stand trial, it will not be the end of criminal proceedings but the beginning of another legal process. Georgie Smythe, CBC News, Vancouver. A Russian national living in Toronto is accused of illegally shipping restricted goods to Russia. RCMP say that he violated sanctions on that country.

As Lisa Sheng reports, it could be the first prosecution of its kind here. It's big news and it's a long time coming. Toronto international trade and investment lawyer John Boscario says the arrest of businessman Anton Trofimov is significant. Canada has been involved in one way or another in supplying components directly or indirectly for purposes of use in the battlefield in Ukraine. But those things take time to investigate. The RCMP arrested Trofimov earlier this month.

Court documents show he's charged with two counts of violating Canada's sanctions on Russia in place since 2014. That's for exporting, selling, supplying or shipping restricted goods and technology there to support its war effort. Technology used to make drones the Russian military uses in Ukraine. According to the online database Open Sanctions, Trofimov owns a company, Asia Pacific Links, based in Hong Kong. It reportedly has been the largest supplier of these components to Russian companies since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. We have believed for years that there is more of this happening than is known. Ihor Michael Chishin, executive director of the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress,

says his organization has been pushing for better enforcement of the rules for years. We hope that they've found more patterns and evidence along the way, that this will be the beginning of more prosecutions. Lisa Shing, CBC News, Toronto. And finally. A. Claire C. Small. A. Claire C. Small. E. C. L. A. I. R. C. I. S. S. E. M. E. N. T. Official. That is correct. Well, that is how you spell redemption at the 100th Scripps National Spelling Beat in the U.S. The winner, 13-year-old Faizan

Zaki. Now, he wins this year after finishing as a runner-up last year. Not only that, he was nearly eliminated a few rounds earlier when he misspelled another word. He stayed in the competition, though, when the two other remaining contestants also got words wrong. Zaki goes home with a $50,000 prize. How are you feeling right now? I don't even know. I don't know what to say. I'm just really happy. How hard is he working to clear things? And, de Clair says, well, the winning word, well, it's defined as clearing up something obscure.

We enjoy clearing things up as often as possible here on World Report. And for now, though, that's the latest national and international news from World Report. For news anytime, cbcnews.ca. I'm John Northcott. This is CBC News.