Your World Tonight - A death in Georgia shuts down rollercoasters in the U.S. and Canada

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

Experts say rollercoasters are extremely safe, despite the fatal incident at a Six Flags park in Georgia.Also: The Vatican reveals Pope Leo has lung cancer, after he has surgery to remove a growth.And: A 30-year-old cold case murder trial in P.E.I. has fallen apart. The crown says Charlottetown police lost key evidence.Plus: Advance polls are open for Alberta's referendum on whether to vote on sovereignty for the province, the man convicted of killing rapper Tupac Shakur is sentenced, and a new way of seeing your favourite musician — via hologram.

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing. Donate at lovescarbro.cairro.com.

This is a CBC podcast. The amusement industry is built on fun, and you can't have fun if you have real fear about your safety. Bill, not as a roller coaster, but a hypercoaster, and meant for the bravest of the brave. That's how Six Flags describes the Goliath at its theme park in Georgia. But that thrill ride has turned deadly,

prompting the company to hit the brakes on some of its rides, including several here in Canada. This is your world tonight. I'm Salima Shivjee, also on the program. I want to make sure my votes in and recognised and counted, and people should get out and vote for what they want and what they believe. Ten questions, including one on separation. Advance voting for the Alberta referendum starts today.

While the results are non-binding, these are no small stakes. The ballot has stirred up deep tensions over the province's identity and its place in Canada. It's supposed to be harmless fun, all of the adrenaline, but no actual danger. But the death of a man on a roller coaster in Atlanta, Georgia, has shaken that sense of security. While investigators search for the cause, similar rides, including here in Canada, are temporarily closed. Sarah Levitt has more. There was people yelling and clearly distressed.

Connor Thompson was on the ground under the Goliath ride at a six flags near Atlanta when chaos broke loose. There was someone who was yelling. Call 911. Someone fell out. I looked over and the seat, it looked to me like the restraint was unlatched. It happened Monday afternoon on the main attraction of the park, a ride that features drops of 50 meters and speeds up to 113 kilometers per hour. Witnesses describe the man now identified as 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Karim somehow being ejected from his seat, tumbling onto other passengers.

Yeah, I saw him come up, I saw him land back in the car. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. Nick Bendell Hall saw it happen from the ground. There's an odd heaviness when you experience something like this. Eben Kareem was killed while several others were injured. A news helicopter captured video of people being evacuated off the ride using steep stairs. It's unclear how the incident occurred. Now both the Cobb County Police Department and the state agency that oversees amusement parks are investigating.

They're going to be looking at video footage, photographs, witness statements, Was there a mechanical failure? Was the patron doing something that needed to be observed and or potentially stopped to really get to the bottom of why this might have happened? Brian Avery is a roller coaster safety expert. He says despite this death, the amusement park industry is very safe. Statistically speaking, the odds of you ever being involved in an incident involving a roller coaster or any amusement ride for that matter are very low. Nine roller coasters have been temporarily closed. They include two at Canada's one.

underland near Toronto and one in Montreal. Eight of those were made by the same company as the Goliath, the other by a now-closed company. A Canada's Wonderland spokesperson says the decision was made out of an abundance of caution. The amusement industry is built on fun, and you can't have fun if you have real fear about your safety. Robert Niles is the editor of Theme Parkinsider.com. I think a lot of transparency in this investigation is going to be very important to the industry.

We need to know what happened and why it happened and what the industry is going to do to make sure it never happens again. A spokesperson from Six Flags says the company is cooperating with authorities and is providing support to staff and guests who were affected. Sarah Levitts, CBC News, Montreal. The Vatican says Pope Leo has lung cancer. Well-wishers gathered at the hospital to pray for the Pope during surgery earlier today. Surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung. Tests confirm the diagnosis of cancer which doctors suspected before the operation. The concern started when a checkup revealed a growth on Leo's lung.

Doctors say the operation was successful, and the Vatican says any other treatment will be determined after further tests. There is shock and disbelief on Prince Edward Island. A murder trial for a more than 30-year-old cold case fell apart this week. As Nicola MacLeod reports, lawyers for the Crown say the loss of key evidence means there is no reasonable prospect of conviction. Let's get a job. We can go to work, but this in the past. Todd Joseph Irving walked out of the Charlottetown courthouse, a free man today. He's been out on bail for a few months after spending nearly two and a half years in jail,

charged with first-degree murder in a cold case that goes back to 1988. It was set to go to a jury trial next month. but on Tuesday, the charges were withdrawn. The Crown says it's because the Charlottetown police lost key evidence, and there's no longer a chance of conviction. The Crown attorney handling the case, Christopher White calls it disappointing. This was a matter of tremendous personal and public significance, and I think that everyone involved viewed that it was important

that it be adjudicated in a public venue, so for that not to be able to take place, it's just it's really disappointing and I can only imagine what it would be like from Mr. Carr's family. Carr was murdered in his Charlottetown home 38 years ago. Police believe he was strangled with a towel. They recovered in 1988. He was also stabbed with a knife found at the crime scene. But both of those have gone missing along with other substantial pieces of evidence. That came out at a hearing a few months ago. It's the first time the Crown heard about it too. But the Charlottetown police say the force has known these pieces were missing since at least 2007.

Acting Chief Darren McDougal says it's difficult to see the case fall apart like this. We focused on what we could do, knowing what challenges we were faced with. The charges were laid after police say they used genetic genealogy to link Irving to one of the sets of DNA found at the crime scene. And with the charges dropped, the acting chief and detective says he knows there will be. shock and frustration, but the handling of evidence was different in 1988. And the public should not be concerned about other cases currently with the Charlottetown police, but it's too late for Byron Carr's family. His brother John says the news of Irving's arrest brought relief amongst his living siblings. And while some of that feeling remains, the story feels incomplete.

There's no justice when someone is killed. Nothing he could be sentenced to whatever bring Byron back or, you know, give us any more satisfaction. We're not out to get anyone for it. But he's the one that's got to live with himself. The Crown says they won't reopen the case against Irving, and he's free to go. Nicola McLeod. CBC News, Charlottetown. A key figure who admitted to his role in a gold heist at Toronto's Pearson Airport says he was kidnapped and had all the money stolen from him.

Arsulon Chowdry says he went to pocket. after the 2023 heist. He claims he had melted some of the gold and sold it for several hundred thousand dollars. He says he was forced by the kidnappers to give it up. Chowdhury is testifying at the trial of Parmpal Sidhu. Sidu is a former Air Canada employee who is accused of providing fraudulent shipping documents that allowed an accomplice to take more than 22 million in gold. In testimony today, Chowdhury said he had planned the theft himself and didn't know Sidu well. Outside court, Situ's lawyer, Shail Wagman, told reporters he is feeling confident. I haven't heard anything bad against Mr. Brompel. You're going to put up a defense? I don't think we need to. Chowdhury is already serving four years in prison for the theft. Coming right up, it's time for Albertans to weigh in.

Advance voting is underway for the long-awaited referendum with potentially far-reaching consequences. And a chronic illness that's complicated to diagnose, and even more complicated to treat. A growing number of endometriosis patients are looking outside Canada for answers. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Jeff Lagerquist in Toronto, where a concert at Scotia Bank Arena

is breathing new life into a beloved Punjabi musician. The Dead Rapper was digitally resurrected with a hologram. The technology is giving fans a new way to enjoy the work of deceased artists. I think bringing back the dead makes a lot of sense. We're raising a new generation. people who live digitally. I'll have that story later on your world tonight. Advance polls are officially open for Alberta's referendum. The issue of whether to stay in the country

or hold another vote to leave is just one of many questions voters are weighing in on. And as she and Jay J'Jaldin reports, that scope of the vote comes with its own challenges. The line was almost instant at a polling station in Edmonton. A little frustrated that we have to have this in the first place, but I'm definitely glad that now the time is here and I can do my bit and have my say. In Fort McMurray, the stream of people steady. I want to make sure my votes in and recognized and counted, and people should get out and vote to what they want and what they believe.

Alberts waiting to cast their ballots on the first day of advance voting. Five questions are tied to immigration, four tied to the Constitution, and the last deciding whether they want to stay in Canada or look at another referendum on separation. We've seen an excellent turnout already with a special ballot. So we're looking forward to seeing people coming out to vote. There are more than 300 advanced polling stations across the province, according to Mayah Hanrahan, a spokesperson with Elections Alberta.

Come referendum day, there will be many more. Yeah, look, it is really difficult to predict, of course, what the turnout will be. The need for election workers unprecedented. So much, Elections Alberta launched a new program, asking organizations to work the referendum and have their salaries donated back to their group. I thought it was a great idea. Eleven members at the Vermilion Senior Citizen Center around two hours east of Edmonton are taking part.

One of those is Gloria DeYoung. And I immediately got excited about it because I thought, oh, this would be a great fundraiser for us. Elections Alberta says its goal is to hire 60,000 election officers. It has 46,000 so far. And with every vote being counted by hand... The counting may take a little longer than they had hoped it would take if in fact that's where the shortage of workers ends up being.

And Alberta's former chief electoral officer, Lauren Gibson, is anticipating other challenges too. It's a much more complicated process when you're involving 10 ballots, 10 ballot boxes. I would expect that it's going to take a fair amount of time to actually go through the voting process. But so far, voters like Kyle Stratichick say it went smoothly. It was actually pretty quick. Like, I was surprised. Others, like Janine Meir, say it's been a long time coming.

I can't even believe we're here, but we are, and so let's do it. And I'm anxious to see the results as well. It'll be interesting to see the results. Advance voting is underway until Saturday. The main vote will take place Monday. She and Desjardin, CBC News, Calgary. As we just heard, the separation question is only one of ten that are on the ballot. Others ask voters about Alberta's relations with Ottawa and possible amendments to the Constitution.

But half of the questions involve immigrants and their access to public services. As Lindsay Duncombe explains, the vote could determine whether the province continues to be seen as welcoming to newcomers. Short-sighted federal policies have caused unsustainable population growth. That's an ad from the government of Alberta posted ahead of the referendum. Five of the ten questions address who gets to move to the province and who should pay for it, as well as proof of citizenship when voting. The October 19th referendum is our chance to make immigration levels more sustainable. The idea that immigrants are making life tougher for Albertans is a big change for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

In January 2024, she said this to podcaster Sean Newman. Let's have an aggressive target to double our population. She faced tremendous pushback from the base of her party when she started talking about that because there is an anti-immigrant sentiment in there. Dwayne Brad is a professor at Mount Royal University. He says Smith changed her tune because of political pressure. She does not listen or follow public opinion. She follows public opinion within the United Conservative Party.

There are other factors, too. Inflation soared. Oil prices faltered. Housing prices skyrocketed just as Alberta's population grew fast. Statistics Canada says the province's population increased by 600,000 people between 2021 and 2026. two-thirds coming from other countries. Facing a multi-billion dollar deficit, Smith put a price tag on immigration.

Estimating providing services to temporary residents cost the province a billion dollars a year, although some question the math. The focus on immigration has some new arrivals worried, says Mary Vic Prospero. She is a social worker at Calgary Center for Newcomers. So we heard like, are we still going to get access to education for our children? are we still going to get access for health care?

What's going to be for us? Are we going to be deported, thrown out of Alberta? You know, these are valid concerns and issues. Well, because it has to be dealt with. Voters like Randy Klishinsky say something needs to change. I'm not racist whatsoever, but we have a large province, and immigrants are coming into Alberta, taking jobs, taking money, taking food off the table for fed.

families that probably really need jobs. That's my opinion. Polls show the question about potential separation is unlikely to pass. It's less clear how Albertans will answer questions about immigration and how the government will use those answers to shape policy. Lindsay Duncombe, CBC News, Calgary. Yet another region of the country is moving to permanent daylight time. Ontario says parts of the province's northwest region won't change their clocks on November 1st. About 70 communities west of Thunder Bay are already on Manitoba's time zone, and that's where they will now stay.

That province previously announced it would be sticking with daylight time permanently. It's a condition as painful as it is frustrating. Endometriosis is a disorder that afflicts as many as 2 million Canadian women, but many find the Canadian health care system is poorly equipped to deal with the disease and are now looking for solutions elsewhere. The CBC's Jorge Barrera has the story of a Canadian woman who traveled to Mexico for treatment. I'll put passports in mind. You're not going to need this on the plane.

Yes, I am. Noel Menue and her husband, Stewart, prepare their bags for a trip to Tijuana, Mexico. It's not for vacation, but for surgery. To remove internal tissue caused by endometriosis, a life-altering disorder that affects one in 10 women. So right now I'm working half days. And when I come home, like, I'm just, I'm exhausted, so fatigue, I can't even, like, think I'm in so much pain. It's been a year's long painful road for 37-year-old menu, who says delays in the treatment of the disorder by Alberta's health care system aggravated her situation.

After a misdiagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome and two surgeries, including for a hysterectomy, the debilitating pain, and the endometriosis persisted. We're done. We can't deal with this here in Canada. After some online research, many found a specialized treatment center called EndoGlobal in Tijuana. She and her husband pulled from their savings and went into debt to seek treatment there. But basically it's tissue of the most inner part of the uterus growing where it should. Dr. Jorge Zavala co-founded Endo Global after noticing there was a large need that wasn't being met by health care systems in countries like the U.S. and Canada. Canada, I think that the system is a very good system, but as I told you, the lack of knowledge everywhere in doctors is huge.

Dr. Nicholas Layland is president of the obstetricians and gynecologists of Canada. This is, to some extent, it's discrimination against women. Layland says there is no easy way to improve care for women suffering from endometriosis. We don't have enough specially trained gregers. gynecologists to be able to deal with the complex surgical issues and also have the back up of psychologists and physiotherapists, so a multidisciplinary approach. Right now I can only do one of the balls. It's the day after her surgery and Mennu is blowing air through a little contraption with three

little balls. She says the procedure removed a mass caused by endometriosis that threatened to block her bowels and sent her into septic shock. I was just so grateful that they were able to find everything. And I'm on the other side of it now. She says the surgery has given her another chance at a life free of daily crushing pain. Jorge Barrera, CBC News, Tijuana. Crossover, Vancouver, I'm looking.

And then we'll be coming down the over top of Quebec. Canada's latest astronaut admiring his home country from afar, very far. Josh Kutrick spoke to Canadian journalists here on Earth today about the beauty of space. Earlier this month, Kutrik began a six-month stay on the International Space Station, and it is his first trip to space. He spoke about seeing the northern lights from orbit. And it's really neat for me because from northern Alberta, I've seen the northern lights a lot. I mean, we used to see them all the time growing up.

But to see them from the other side is so much more spectacular. it's mind-blowing. During his stay on the space station, the astronaut will take part in seven experiments from Canadian research teams. All of them deal with effects of living in a microgravity environment. The U.S. ambassador to Greece has resigned at the request of the White House. President Donald Trump said he didn't like what he was reading about allegations against Kimberly Guilfoyle. Reports have suggested she accepted improper gifts and tried to sell her influence in the administration. Gilfoyle was engaged to Trump's son Donald Jr. for years before becoming ambassador. She has denied the allegations and says she will fight to restore her reputation.

The man convicted in the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. Former gang leader Dwayne Davis said little in a Las Vegas courtroom before the decision was delivered. But the court heard emotional impact statements from Shakur's siblings. Griffin Yeager has some of what they said. It was hard sitting, listening over and over and over again. Describe how they hunted Tupac and Marl Shakur. Three decades after rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas,

his family is still living with the loss. At the sentencing in front of the man convicted of his murder, his sister, Setsua and his brother Maurice addressed the court. My younger cousins was in that car possession that night. None of these men in my family were the same again for a long time crippled my entire family emotionally and mentally. Dwayne Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. The former gang leader was convicted of first-degree murder in August. He's the only person ever to be charged in connection with Shakur's killing.

I ain't got no friends. The rapper was a woman. only 25 when he was shot in a car on the Las Vegas strip in 1996. He died six days later. Prosecutors argued Davis orchestrated the killing but didn't pull the trigger himself. The key evidence, his own words. In interviews and a memoir published in 2019, Davis described being in a car and handing a gun to someone in the back seat where the shots were fired. He said it was retaliation after a fight between Shakur and Davis's nephew earlier that night. The defense attempted to challenge this, framing him as a liar who wanted to make money.

When given the chance to speak, he was brief. I'm good. I'm going to appeal to this case, but sure. This sentence brings a close to a case that stayed unresolved for decades. Finally, the Shakur family has some closure in criminal justice. For former federal prosecutor Nima Ramani, the decision came as no surprise. History will remember Davis as one of the world's dumbest criminals.

He not only killed a rap and a cultural icon, but bragged about it for decades. Shakur is one of hip-hop's most influential artists, but for the family, he was much more. His sister today calling him not only a provider and a protector, but a born icon. Griffin Yeager, CBC News, Toronto. Tupac may have been dead for decades, but he was famously brought back to the stage 14 years ago as a hologram. Now, more advanced holographic technology is changing the live concert landscape, allowing fans to see performances previously thought impossible. Jeff Lagerquist has that story.

That's Sedu Musawala performing last Friday at Toronto's Scotia Bank Arena, or rather a holographic representation of him. The real Punjabi rap star, who had deep roots in Brampton, Ontario, was killed in 2022. According to Ticketmaster, the best seats in the house sold for nearly $2,000 each. It's the same story for the tour's next stop in Vancouver. Harry Singh traveled from California to Toronto for the show, paying $270 for his ticket. Waiting outside the show, he was optimistic. They're saying it's going to look like it's completely real, but we'll find out.

Tech expert Karmie Levy believes the excitement started over 14 years ago with another famous dead rapper. I don't think I'm the only one who watched that video of Tupac Shakur at Coachella, what, in 2012. It almost felt like lightning had struck the entertainment and tech industries at the same time. Levy says the quality has improved a lot since then. David Newsbaum says his company, ProtoHologram, is even taking the celebrity recreation experience off the stage. I think bringing back the dead makes a lot of sense. We're working with Jack and Sharon Osborne right now to bring back Ozzy, who passed us just about a year ago. But he's going to come back as an agentic AI avatar.

But if you're Chinese and you ask that question in Chinese, he's going to answer you in Chinese. Music journalist and historian Alan Cross predicts more digital first performances are on the way. In the next five years, we're going to see a mass extinction event with all these rock and roll heroes and music heroes that we've known our entire lives. They're going to die. It's just because they're in their 80s and it's just a matter of time. And secondly, we're raising a new generation of people who live digitally. However, Cross admits hologram performances may be a tough sell. We're in the midst of trying to find that out with AI music. There is no humanity. There is no authenticity.

there. The question is, are people going to listen to AI music? And so far the answer is resounding no. For those attending Musa Wallace concert in Toronto, they're just happy for the opportunity to see him again. Jeff Lagerquist's CBC News, Toronto. And finally, I like playing flute and nature and going to the flow. It's a really good to feel it. It's light, easy to carry. And in the case of June, Takahashi very well-traveled. The flute of the BC resident has traveled with him to Cuba, Morocco, and remote rivers in Yukon. But on one of those trips up north, back in 2021, Takahashi's canoe flipped. He scrambled to escape the frigid and fast-moving water,

leaving his traveling flute to be swept away seemingly forever. It's maybe to go to the already bearing sea, or like Alaskan bear wearing my down jacket, or like playing my flute, or something like. I mean, stranger things have happened. Five years later, white horse resident Colin Abbott was tracking a moose near Kathleen River when he stumbled upon something else entirely. I was walking through these openings following moose tracks and then looked over and saw just a patch of blue. I was like, oh, that's strange.

There's no trails over here. So I went over and I was like, whoa, it's a pinnue barrel. In the barrel, some clothes, some gear, and the flute. still safely in its case. Abbott posted about it on social media and the news made its way downriver to Takahashi, who recognized it immediately. I have a good memory, so really,

I'm happy to receive this message. Thank you, colleague, really. Yeah, I'm happy to get it back to you. The flute has now been handed to a friend of Takahashi's in Yukon, who will bring it with him to BC, kickstarting a journey to finally go home and be reunited with its owner on Salt Spring Island. Thanks for being with us.

has been Your Will tonight for Tuesday, October 13th. I'm Salima Shivji. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.