World Report - September 17: Wednesday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Bank of Canada lowers interest rate to 2.5 per cent in first cut since March.BC Premier David Eby in Ottawa to promote shovel-ready projects for Prime Minister Mark Carney's major projects office. US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania to be greeted by King Charles and Queen Camilla today in London for historic second state visit.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces his country will create an independent arms industry, amid growing sanction threats. Protesters block passenger train near Machu Picchu in Peru, stranding tourists. New report shows Climate-driven heat is leading to more days of dangerous temperatures.

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This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Marcia Young. The Bank of Canada is out with its latest interest rate decision. The central bank has lowered its key policy rate to 2.5%. That is down 25 basis points from the previous rate. It is the first time the bank has cut its rate since March. The CBC's senior business correspondent, Peter, Armstrong joins me now in studio.

And Peter, what can you tell us? It's interesting to hear from Bank Canada, Governor Tiff Macklin, this morning, and that he's striking a quite cautious tone. You know, there's a tacit recognition in the statement and now hearing from him that the economy is weakening, the jobs have been lost, GDP contracted in the second quarter, exports are down, confidence is low. But the question coming into this wasn't whether we get this quarter point cut that we saw.

That was basically baked in. The question was what the bank will do now. There are two more interest rate decisions this year. The question was, will the bank cut at one of those or both of those, neither? And as we look through previous decisions, you see a statement that came up quite regularly that if the economy continued to weaken, quote, there may be need for further reduction in the policy interest rate. That line is gone. The bank now says the trade war will add costs and add economic uncertainty.

But listen to how Bank Canada Governor Tiff Macklam frames all of this. At this rate decision, there was a clear consensus to lower the policy rate for the first time since March. We will continue to assess the impacts of tariffs and uncertainty on economic activity and inflation. We're paying close attention to a few things. How exports evolve, given the impact of U.S. tariffs and changing trade relationships. That certainly leaves the door open to more cautious statements, but a sense of where the data go from here and what the bank will do in response to that. He's trying to give himself as many options as he can.

All right. Thank you, Peter. You bet. That is our senior business correspondent, Peter Armstrong, live with me in studio. The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected to drop interest rates by 25 basis points today. But the key question is whether the central bank will keep on cutting. The U.S. economy is slowing and job growth has stalled. That would usually suggest further cuts to stimulate the economy, but inflation is stuck at about

3% due to the impact of tariffs, and future cuts would likely push inflation higher. British Columbia Premier David Eby will be promoting BC resource projects today in Ottawa. He is going to sit down with Prime Minister Mark Carney. As Katie DeRosa reports, Eby wants Ottawa to focus on shovel-ready projects instead of another oil pipeline. BC Premier David Eby heads to Ottawa with one key request. So we get our fair share. Eby will meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney one week after the PM announced that two of the five proposed nation building projects are in British Columbia. Phase two of LNG Canada in Kittamat and the expansion of a gold and copper mine in northwestern BC.

Eby will try and put other BC projects on Carney's radar, including an expansion at the port of Vancouver. If you want to build an economy that is less dependent on the United States, you have to look west. An oil pipeline from Alberta to BC's North Coast was not on the initial list of nation-building projects. Carney has not ruled it out, however. Eby says there are no proponents for an oil pipeline, and like the Trans Mountain Pipeline, would require tens of billions in taxpayer dollars. My message, the Prime Minister will be, whatever you've got to do with Alberta, I get it, but let's be honest with ourselves.

If you want projects that are at final investment decision, there's only one place to look, which is in British Columbia. University of British Columbia political scientist Stuart Press says, as the Prime Minister must stick handle the competing interests of BC and Alberta. Given the interest in a pipeline, there may yet be interesting seeing one of those put onto the next wave of projects to be fast-tracked. Carney is expected to release the next tranche of major projects later this fall. Katie DeRosa, CBC News, Victoria.

As threats of sanctions and calls for a ceasefire grow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will create an independent arms industry, one that can withstand international constraints. We want to produce first for ourselves on a much larger scale and with unimaginable innovation. Netanyahu made that announcement late yesterday, just hours after a UN commission concluded Israel committed genocide in Gaza. And Israel's military announced it is pushing deeper into Gaza City. For more, let's go to the CBC's Sasha Petrasek. And Sasha, what is the latest that we know about the situation in Gaza City?

The ground offensive by the Israeli military is continuing. From what we've heard, they aren't in the center, but they're getting very close. There are a lot of people who are trying to get out of Gaza City, though. They have pretty much jammed the main coastal highway, the only way to get to the south that was opened by the Israeli military until this morning, when they opened up a second temporary route, just for a couple of days for people to get south from Gaza City into areas that Israel is trying to convince them to go. They say that these areas are safe. They say that there will be food and water. But a lot of

people are very, very skeptical because these areas have been hit by airstrikes before. And really, there isn't a lot of food and water anywhere in the strip. What more reaction has there been to the finding of genocide from the UN Commission of Inquiry? Well, that It was briefly a headline here, but as soon as it was dismissed by the Israeli government, by the foreign ministry, as fake and fraudulent, it pretty much dropped off. People have heard this before, including from former prime ministers of Israel, and it is seen as Hamas propaganda. I did speak to one person who is a family member of hostages in Gaza.

She also lost her father on October 7th. is what Karmid Paltri Katsir had to say. There is a difference between Hamas and civilians. And unfortunately, I think this war must come to an end. So the Gazan people will be released from Hamas as well. There's no indication that this report is going to change how Israel is acting, even though there has also been international pressure, including from Canada, which has called the situation in Gaza City horrific.

and has urged Israel to abide by international law. Without actually mentioning the genocide accusation, it has said that all of this has to come to an end. Thank you, Sasha. My pleasure. The CBC, Sasha Petrusik, reporting from Jerusalem. The hospital treating Brazil's former president says Jair Bolsonaro has shown improvement since he was admitted yesterday,

but it's still not clear if he'll have to remain in hospital. Bolsonaro was experiencing vomiting, dizziness, and a drop in blood pressure. He has had recurring intestinal issues since he was stabbed while campaigning in 2018. This past week, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison after a Supreme Court panel found him guilty of plotting a coup. Climate-driven heat is leading to more days of dangerous temperatures. That's the finding in a new report out this morning from a climate. science nonprofit. It shows more people around the world have experienced risky temperatures this summer, including here in Canada. Science reporter Anand Ram has more.

For more than a few days in Toronto this summer, umbrellas weren't being used for rain. From shopping bags to their own hands, people hid from the sun and the oppressive heat. It definitely feels like it's been getting hotter, so I guess it's a little bit worrisome in general. Now, a new analysis is quantifying just how much potentially dangerous heat the world went through. In the last three months, nearly a billion people went through 30 or more risky heat days. Christina Dahl is vice president of science at the U.S. nonprofit Climate Central. We defined risky heat as hotter than 90% of the temperatures you typically experience. And that's to a company. We actually adapt to some extent to the environment we live in. In other words, how people handle the heat in St. John's isn't the

same in Sao Paulo. The report found Canadians went through 39 risky heat days on average, but you can blame climate change for adding two weeks to that total. Hossein Banakdari is with the University of Ottawa. Climate change is reshaping the odds of daily weather in Canada, and people feel it most directly through extreme heat. But beyond climate change, loading the dice for hotter summer days, he says the heat also feeds into a loop of adding more carbon to the atmosphere. waves means drought condition. Drought condition lead us to the wildfire. Wildlife oil oil fire sea water production increased significantly, you know, the climate change.

Meaning this past summer's heat could be felt next year too. On the ROM, CBC News, Toronto. That is the latest national and international news from World Report News anytime. CBCNews.ca. And if you like the World Report podcast, please follow us and tell a friend. It helps spread the word. I'm Marcia Young.