World Report - Saturdays's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: April 26, 2025

Deadly parasite threatens PEI's wild oyster fishing season.Canadian company goes to Germany to launch geothermal energy project.Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexually exploiting her as teenager, has died.

Scott Payne spent nearly two decades working undercover as a biker, a neo-Nazi, a drug dealer, and a killer. But his last big mission at the FBI was the wildest of all. I have never had to burn baubles. I have never had to burn an American flag. And I damn sure was never with a group of people that stole a goat, sacrificed it in a pagan ritual, and drank its blood. And I did all that in about three days with these guys. Listen to Agent Palehorse, the second season of White Hot Hate, available now. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report.

Good morning. I'm Angie Seth. Catholic faithful and world leaders bid farewell to Pope Francis, who's being remembered as the people's pope. The crowd filling St. Peter's Square numbers into the tens of thousands. Among them is CBC's Chris Brown with this report. Here in St. Peter's Square it's been a morning of excitement, grand spectacle, and sadness as the world said goodbye to Pope Francis. Immense crowds including school groups, Catholic nuns, church congregations, and tourists have all come to share in the experience of his funeral.

Sophia Swainson from Calgary arrived before dawn to get next to the procession route. Just, I think, a lot of sadness and grief. He was a very loved person, so I mean, it shows today. So I'm happy about that, though, how many people came out to see him. On a sunny day and in a colorful ceremony steeped in ancient traditions, a procession of Cardinals wearing red robes escorted the Pope's simple wooden coffin outside of the Basilica to an altar in the main steps of St. Peter's. 88 year old Argentinian born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis 12 years ago, died on Easter Monday of heart failure.

Speakers read scriptures and choirs sang hymns during the 90-minute service that was held in front of 150 world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Prince William. Francis was eulogized as a pope who wanted to be close to everyone, especially those in need. Breaking with tradition, he said he wanted to be buried not at St. Peter's, but at St. Mary Major Basilica, a smaller church six kilometers away. This coffin was sealed Friday night and a formal summary of his papacy was placed next to his body. It said, Francis left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, of a holy life, and of universal fatherhood. Chris Brown, CBC News at the Vatican. And as dozens of world leaders are attending the Pope's funeral, at least two are using the occasion to discuss other issues.

Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump met in Rome to talk about Russia's war on Ukraine. Zelensky's office says the meeting lasted 15 minutes. The two agreed to meet again today. It comes as the US president claims Moscow and Kiev are very close to a ceasefire deal. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow yesterday. Ukraine was not part of those negotiations. Well just two days to go before Canada votes in what many Canadians consider a most crucial election and after weeks of criss-crossing the country, party leaders are at it again, shaking hands and smiling on this final stretch.

Liberal leader Mark Carney is in southern Ontario today. Conservative leader Pierre Poliev begins the day in British Columbia and ends it in Northern Ontario. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh begins his day in Windsor, Ontario, ends it in BC and Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is at various events across Quebec polls. Suggest there could be a dramatic change in the way that province votes. Quena Oduro up reports. In Longueuil on Montreal's South Shore this week, several residents said cost of living was among their top election concerns.

Right now I'm a student so everything is really expensive. It's about the cost of life, that's all that matters. I just want to live, have a good life with my family. Blaque-Québécois supporter Robert Lausanne says his election issues have not changed. He says it's all about the economy and the place of Quebec and Canada. On her way to the shopping mall with her newborn, Evelyn Gauvin said support for families and the environment were her two most important issues.

She says party leaders have done a good job pitching their ideas in such a short period of time. I think they have covered a lot of subjects. Trump is still very into the debate and I think it's still going to be until the end of his mandate. Sebastien Dallaire with L'Ager Marketing says at the beginning of the campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump was a central piece of the puzzle. The economy dominated the leader's speeches and policy proposals, but he says it's a different

campaign now. Early in the campaign it was much more emotional. Typically the campaign starts more rational with number, with policies, becomes more emotional, and now it feels almost reversed. Canadians were both angry and fearful about what had happened with the United States. Deleuze says on election night he will be watching where the Bloc Quebecois end up at the end of the night.

It's expected to lose seats to both the Conservatives and the Liberals and wonders if the Liberals will really make big gains as expected. Kubino Duro, CBC News, Montreal. Quebec and Ontario are also the key regions, but don't count out the West, says David Coletto, a pollster and CEO of Abasca's Data. He told CBC's Catherine Cullen that he thinks BC is one of the most interesting stories in this election. You've got dynamics at play that we didn't expect to see where you've got liberals campaigning on Vancouver Island.

You've got the NDP trying to hold off and province where it has its most number of seats, where its leader is at risk of losing his seat. And Mr. Singh. If the Liberals don't win their majority in Quebec or enough in Quebec to lock in the majority then BC could be the place that that either happens or not. And for the NDP, party status. You can hear the full interview with pollster David Coletto on the house with Catherine Cullen this morning right after the 9 o'clock edition of World Report 930 in Newfoundland. Virginia Dufresne who accused Prince Andrew and late convicted

sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse has died at the age of 41. Dufresne alleged she was groomed by Epstein and sexually trafficked to the Duke of York when she was 17 years old. The Prince has always denied the allegations. CBC's Anna Cunningham reports from London. Virginia Dufres was one of the first and most vocal accusers to publicly call for criminal prosecutions against Jeffrey Epstein. In 2019, she spoke outside court in New York. I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didn't understand. And I've been fighting that very world to this day and I won't stop fighting.

I will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice. Today, her family say it is with utterly broken hearts that she has lost her life to suicide. She died at her farm in rural Western Australia. Dufray alleged Epstein groomed and sexually abused her at multiple locations, including his private Caribbean island. She first met his associate, the former British socialite, now convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000 when she was working at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Dufray alleged Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to Prince Andrew when she was 17. In 2022, the Prince, who denies all allegations, reached an out-of-court settlement with her.

Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019 by suicide whilst awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year term for sex trafficking at a Florida prison. Jeffrey's family say the mother-of- three was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking, describing her as the light that lifted so many survivors. Anna Cunningham, CBC News, London. PEI's wild oyster industry is facing a lot of uncertainty. The fishing season is

just days away, but a parasite that infects the oysters is already having a deadly impact. She Hen De Chardin reports. The deck's been the heart of the spring fishery for ever and ever. Bob McCloud has been an oyster fisher for more than four decades, including here at Bideck Bay. Bideck was one of the first places on the island to test positive for MSX last summer. The parasite is harmless to humans, but deadly to oysters. Earlier this month, members of the Shellfish Association and provincial officials went out looking for oysters here at Badaq.

But most were dead. To send a crew out that many doors with that many people and come up with 30 oysters, that's just heartbreaking. The oyster industry is worth $24 million to PEI's economy, so buyers and processors are also worried. Bob Creed is with the PEI Seafood Processors Association. If there is large mortalities found in Bideck Bay when the season opens, if fishers are allowed to fish there, it will certainly

make it very challenging for processors, for buyers if you will, to purchase oysters from that area. There will be a risk associated with those oysters of course. The PEI government just announced $3 million to help the oyster industry, including helping fishers find new jobs. But Bob McCloud says it's not that easy. Some of us got 40 plus years invested in this. A lot of us haven't got a lot of education and to try to retrain us, a lot of us is not young. It's hard to do. Walk away. It's our life. The Wild Oyster Fishery opens May 1st.

Shia Deschardins, CBC News, the Deck Bay. And that's the latest national and international news from World Report. If you're enjoying the World Report podcast, please follow us and tell a friend. It helps spread the word. I'm Angie Seth. This is CBC News. ...