World Report - November 12: Wednesday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Democrats release emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein's crimes. CBC News has learned Prime Minister Mark Carney's second round of nation-building projects to include mines, LNG, and Iqaluit hydro. Canada imposes new sanctions targetting Russian cyber warfare, drone, and energy infrastructure. US Travel Association report says tourism industry lost close to 6 billion dollars in 2025, as Canadians cancelled trips to the US. Fighting breaks out at COP30 summit when Indigenous protesters storm conference center in Belém, Brazil. Canadians mobilize to send aid to the Philippines after Typhoon Fung-wong leaves a million people displaced. Canadian government to match individual Red Cross donations for Hurricane Melissa humanitarian relief in Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. 

Okay, listen, I love a TV show that discusses the big topics of our time, whether it's AI or political corruption, but the morning show may have taken that concept a little bit too far from plotlines about Russian oligarchs to AI betrayals. The show kind of now feels like more of a superhero spy thriller movie situation than a workplace drama. So this week, I'm going to talk to some of the smartest critics that I know about what the heck is going on. For this episode and more, you can find and follow commotion with me, Alameen Abdu Mahmoud, wherever you get your podcast. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. New emails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been released.

They suggest U.S. President Donald Trump spent time at his home and knew about, quote, the girls in Epstein's sex trafficking ring. The CBC's Willie Lowry joins me now from Washington. Willie, we know? So this is the story that won't go away for President Donald Trump, and it's just taken a pretty dramatic turn. House Democrats releasing emails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggesting that Trump spent hours at his house with a victim. Now, Trump has long denied any knowledge or involvement in Epstein's crimes. The former New York City financier

spent only a few months behind bars after he pleaded guilty in 2008 of one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. He was released in 2009 and then re-arrested in 2019, this time on federal sex trafficking charges. He died by suicide while in custody. In six years after his death, his name remains ever present in Washington as questions still swirl around his relationship to Trump. Will this have any effect on the U.S. President? It's hard to say the president's MAGA movement has long been fixated on the Epstein files and demanded answers. Many in the movement have called for all of the files to be released.

The Trump administration has so far only released them in batches, but not all of them. This latest development, though, is bound to stoke interest and controversy. Thank you, Willie. My pleasure. The CBC's Willie Lowry in Washington. Prime Minister Mark Carney unveils the second round of nation-building projects tomorrow. These are major investments. His government will prioritize to transform the Canadian economy.

CBC News has learned some advanced details about what is on this list. And Janice McGregor is here from our parliamentary bureau. Janice, what have we learned? Marcia, three of the projects that sources have confirmed to CBC Radio Canada prioritize critical minerals, including an expansion of the Nouveau, owned graphite mine that's north of Montreal, a site that was touted by natural resources minister Tim Hodgson as a supplier for the national stockpile of graphite that the Kearney government is buying up as part of the G7's new critical minerals production alliance.

Tomorrow, Hodgson is heading to northern Ontario. That's where the Crawford Nickel project north of Timmons has also made this shortlist. As well as the Sisson Mine, this is an open pit Tungsten Project, that's northwest of Fredericton, an Inuit clean energy developer, the Nunavut-Nukkak-Soutit Corporation is also heading for the fast track following a $6 million federal investment earlier this year to revive a proposal to build a hydroelectric plant, to replace the diesel-generated power that the city of Akalewit currently relies on. And the Prime Minister himself is heading to Prince Ruper to join proponents of the Silicum's liquefied natural gas facility. That's a project that would build a new natural gas pipeline leading to a marine terminal on Pierce Island off BC's northwest coast.

Janice, none of these projects are bitumen pipelines. How surprising is that? Well, remember, Daniel Smith did say she wanted the federal government to greenlight her province's proposal for a new bitchman pipeline in its next set of announcements. But listen to what the Prime Minister said about this during a noon hour event for a business crowd in Toronto last Friday. One of my questions was, is this pipeline going to come? So boring. It's not actually for a big part of the country. It is because it's, look, it's, don't worry, we're on it.

Okay, hands up. Who's working on the pipeline in this room? Okay? Don't worry. We're on the pipeline stuff. It's going to happen. The technical working group, Alberta assembled, isn't set to report back with the specifics of a proposal until next spring. The major projects office may want to see what that says first.

Thank you, Janice. You're welcome. The CBC's Janice McGregor in Ottawa. Canada is imposing new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. They target Russian energy revenues and financial backers. 13 individuals and 11 entities are being sanctioned. Some of them are involved in the development and deployment of Russia's drone program. Here is Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand.

Those who enable Russia's war will face consequences under Canadian law. For the first time, Canada also has sanctioned entities that supply Russia's cyber warfare infrastructure. The number of Canadians traveling to the U.S. has plummeted since February, as Sophia Harris tells us, a new report shows the United States is paying the price. I have no intention of going down there.

Snowbird, Rina Hans of Toronto, owns a condo in Florida. Even so, she's packing her bags instead for Costa Rica. Han started boycotting travel to the U.S. after President Donald Trump sparked a trade war and started referring to Canada as the 51st state. Yeah, why would I want to give money into a country whose president has stated that they want to annex my country and has put in massive trade barriers? Many Canadians feel the same way, driving a steep decline in the number of Canadian visitors to the U.S. ever since Trump took office in late January.

Now, a new U.S. Travel Association report has tallied the cost. It forecasts a more than 3% decline in international tourism spending for 2025, a close to $6 billion loss compared to the previous year. The main culprit says the association, fewer Canadian visitors. Canadians are in a very significant accord for the U.S. market. U.S. business management expert U.S. Haley warns the drop in tourism dollars could have a big impact on the U.S. economy. The tourism sector is labor intensive

and it's a big employer in many states and the decline threatens thousands of jobs. The U.S. Travel Association predicts a rebound in international tourism next year. But some travelers, like Snowbird Hans, say they won't be returning until Trump is out of office. Sophia Harris, CBC News, Toronto. Overnight in Brazil,

indigenous protesters forced their way into the COP 30 climate conference. They chanted and carried signs that said our land is not for sale. And then when security guards tried to push them back, fighting broke out. There was grabbing, shoving, and yelling. One security guard says

he was hit in the head with a stick. Another was seen being rushed out in a wheelchair. The protesters left shortly after the clash. A cop 30 spokesperson says authorities are investigating the incident. And The venue has been secured. A weakened tropical storm, Feng Wang, is still hitting Taiwan.

People are trying to clean up what they can. Roads are flooded and filled with mud. Heavy rains and high winds are still affecting other parts of the island. More than 8,000 people had to leave their communities. Feng Wang left a path of devastation. It was a super typhoon when it made landfall in the Philippines. More than a million people there. have been displaced.

And as Asmine Renea tells us, Canadians are quickly mobilizing to send help. It's a cake, it's got to be filled. It's delicious. At her Filipino cafe in Ottawa, Michelle Sartatakis serves up more than dessert. Tips and proceeds from her shop are going towards supporting those devastated

by Typhoon Feng Wong. Wanting to help them from here, it's so hard, right? And right now, they need water, they need food. Fung Wang is the biggest storm to hit the Philippines so far this year, sweeping away homes and knocking up power to entire provinces. Across Canada, home to nearly one million people of Filipino descent, many are mobilizing. The Filipino Catholic community is incredible.

Neil McCarthy, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto, says funds are pouring in and being sent to partners in the Philippines. They're on the ground. They can assess what's needed in the area. Feng Wong ripped through the country just days after Typhoon Kalmagi struck, dumping a month's worth of rain in a single day. We're very, very resilient. Back at her cafe, Michelle Sartatakis, who lived through a typhoon in the Philippines in 2012,

says her community's strength can help them get through these latest disasters. Yasmin Renea, CBC News, Vancouver. The federal government says it will match donations made to the Canadian Red Cross's Hurricane Melissa Appeal. It will apply to individual donations made between October 28th and November 24th. Ottawa will match up to a total of $1.5 million. Canada will also give an additional $2.5 million to support the humanitarian response in Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. That is the latest national and interesting. international news from World Report. News Anytime, CBCNews.CA.ca. I'm Marcia Young.