Your World Tonight - British Columbia fires, Berlin Pride attack, Fantasia Film Festival celebrates 30 years, and more

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

More than 140 wildfires are burning across British Columbia. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, and thousands more on on alert to leave at a moment's notice. Dozens of structures have gone up in flames. You'll hear about the ongoing efforts to protect properties and lives.Also: German police have shot and killed the suspect in a deadly van attack on a Berlin Pride event Saturday night. Police say 21 year old Abdul Ballout is linked to Islamist extremism. Officers believe he targeted Pride celebrations, killing one person and injuring 29 others.And: You know all about TIFF and Cannes, but there's another film festival happening that's attracting tens of thousands of people from all over the world to Montreal. The Fantasia International Film Festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Audiences come to Fantasia to watch horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and cult films. You'll hear what makes it so different from the typical film fest.Plus: European wildfires, Soccer becomes Canada's second most-watched sport, and more.

Looking for a different kind of summer experience? Uncover history. Discover Canadian connections. The Toronto Holocaust Museum is a space for everyone. Use code summer 26 to get 30% off your visit. Admission is free for those under 25. Learn more and book at Toronto Holocaustmuseum.org. This is a CBC podcast.

Within our stops to get what I could get out. I lost my home for 35 years. Communities in British Columbia face evacuations and expanding alerts as large wildfires burn out of control. More help is on the way from outside the province and the country. This is your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Skandaris. You'll also hear about the firefighters in France and Spain trying to beat back the flames there before another heat wave potentially makes the situation worse, as other parts of Europe face their own fire risk. Also on the podcast,

tons of blue lights, helicopters all over the city. You don't know where to go. You don't know if you're safe. After an attack on a pride celebration in Berlin, German police shoot and kill the suspect and reveal what they believe was behind it. More than 140 wildfires are burning across British Columbia. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes

and thousands more are on alert to leave. at a moment's notice. Dozens of structures have gone up in flames. Mira Baines has more on the ongoing efforts to protect properties and lives. Devastating images of Clinton, BC, captured on video as a person drives through the village. Nothing left of my auto record, my junk carrying of my home. The community is under evacuation order. President Steve Larrabee escaped the fire.

That fire came over all the ridges, and I saw it. It was just like a hurricane. It came down the ridge. And it was going right into town. And it wiped out all the houses to the south of me. Some homes and businesses burned to the ground, leaving charred foundations. He says his tow truck business and two family homes are gone. And he has no insurance due to rising premiums.

He questions whether more could have been done. The hydro got turned off. So our sprinklers weren't working. We had no way to look after our properties. There was no water suspicion, guys. There was nobody there to help us. Two aggressive out-of-control wildfires, the Pear Lake and 59 Creek fires, have merged to form the Big Bear Complex near Highway 97.

Hundreds of people have been forced to leave their homes. An evacuation center has been set up in Kamloops, about an hour and a half away. There are 60 wildfires burning out of control in BC. BC Wildlife Service spokesperson Jean Strong. Several of those are from lightning that moved through the southern parts of the province yesterday, bringing new starts to those regions. Strong says more ground and aerial crews are coming in from outside the province

to help fight the fires. There'll be 25 personnel from the Yukon and 66 from Alberta. In addition, after the long weekend, we're looking forward to welcoming over 100 personnel from Mexico on August 3rd. She says conditions have been challenging and in southern BC, a few days of hot, dry weather and strong winds are expected.

In West Colonna, crews gained enough ground so that an evacuation alert affecting more than 500 properties was lifted. For people living there, it's a reminder of how fast a wildfire can threaten their community. Renee Streloff works at Lacassee Market and Kitchen. All of a sudden there was like a big flash. It was a massive lightning strike. You could actually hear the boom. It was almost within five minutes.

You could see the smoke billowing over the mountain. And you could smell it almost like you were sitting beside a campfire. There are other concerns too. Wildfires are affecting roads across the province with sections of two highways closed. Air quality warnings are in place for much of the province. Mirabines, CBC News, Vancouver. Firefighters in France and Spain are in a race against time. Wildfires are spreading swiftly in the two countries engulfing fields, forests, and homes. And with another heat wave in the forecast for Western Europe, conditions are expected to get. get worse over the coming days. Alexander Silberman reports. In southwestern France, crews struggle to hold back fast-moving flames, spreading closer to the city of Bordeaux.

Police going door-to-door in the middle of the night, telling residents to leave immediately, with a staggering 220,000 people already out of their homes. Yesterday, there was a lot of, sadness, says volunteer Laurence Clane, who was helping people at an evacuation center. 86-year-old evacuee

Jean-Claude Lyon arrived at 3 in the morning. I found an extraordinary sense of solidarity that I hadn't expected in great kindness, he says. Firefighters in France and Spain are racing to tackle new fires,

even as others are contained. In France's Gironde region, the few locals that remain are fighting to protect their homes. It makes you want to cry, says 20-year-old Luanne Pascas, who is dumping buckets of water on hot spots. It's horrible because we no longer recognize our land at all, she says. The wildfires have left behind a trail of destruction, reducing buildings to charred piles of rubble, surrounded by scorched blackened earth. At least 240 homes have been destroyed. In Spain, authorities say two people have died

from the wildfires near Valencia. In the Madrid region, about 90,000 people have been evacuated or ordered to shelter in place. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, is calling for a national plan to tackle climate change. The scale of the fires, the way they behave, these extreme weather conditions

all confirm what science has been telling us for a very long time, he says. The Spanish capital is blanketed by dense smoke with thick black ash coating rooftops. Very irritating on the throat. Canadian tourist Letitia Lucas says she thought she was leaving poor air quality behind in Ontario when heading on vacation.

So it's unfortunate to just, and sad just to see how our world is changing. We want to come and explore it and then we keep seeing how global warming is harming, mother nature. A new heat wave is forecast for large parts of the continent this week, with temperatures expected to soar to 40 degrees or higher, putting new pressure on the fight to contain the fires. Alexander Silverman, CBC News, Montreal.

Beyond France and Spain, repeated heat waves and a lack of rainfall have created tender dry conditions across much of Europe. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, the extreme fire danger stretches from the Iberian Peninsula to the Western Balkans, as well as pockets across the British Isles and northern Finland. German police have shot and killed the suspect in a deadly van attack on a Berlin Pride event Saturday night. Police say 21-year-old Abdul Balut is linked to Islamist extremism. Officers believe he targeted pride celebrations. killing one person and injuring 29 others. Philip Lee Schanach has more.

Eyewitnesses say they were confused when heavily armed police converged on a garden in Spandau, a borough in western Berlin. Florian Nath of Berlin Police says once cornered, the suspect rushed towards officers with a bladed weapon. They opened fire. The victim suffered such a severe injury that he could not be resuscitated by emergency doctors,

but died on the spot, he said. Police were searching for 21-year-old Abdul Balut, who is suspected of ramming people with a van at the city's Tiergarten Park during Berlin's Pride Parade. It's alleged he stabbed several people before fleeing the scene. Daniel Tonalova says he was at a concert at the Brandenburg Gate when organizers abruptly told everyone to leave. As soon as they went on stage and said that, I immediately knew something really bad happened.

Police say a woman was killed and 29 others injured in the attack. German authorities say Balut, who was of Lebanese background and was born in Germany, had links to Islamist groups. On Sunday, members of Berlin's LGBT community held a moment of silence for the victims. Berlin's pride celebrations are among the largest in Europe. Organizer Kaibullah says several related events have been canceled, and he says anti-LGB sentiment has been on the rise. The last two years, a strong growth of anti-gay attitudes.

We have this right-wing party in the parliament. And he says with up to 1 million people attending Berlin's Pride celebration each year, security is a challenge. We are all doing our best to create safer spaces, but there is no 100% safe space possible. Hans Jokhov Schindler is an expert on security. He says, with four ramming attacks in as many years,

barricades were used at the event and likely prevented the attacker from entering the main festival. A group of people either coming or going in the park next to the event were attacked. Rafael Besong is with the German Institute for International Security Affairs. He says steps must be taken

to suppress extremist views. But there is much, much bigger need to integrate Germany and maintain unity as a political, multicultural and diverse society and look forward. German Chancellor Friedrich Mers urged the nation to remain united, saying these acts have only one purpose to divide our society. Holti-Shannock, CBC News, Toronto.

Still ahead, you know all about TIF and Cannes. Well, there's another film festival that's attracting tens of thousands of people from all over the world to Montreal. They come to watch horror, sci-fi, fantasy and cult films. You'll hear what makes it so different from the typical film fest coming up on your world tonight. Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced three more by-elections to be held later this summer. They'll be in the ridings of beaches, East York in Toronto, Shakutumila Fjord in Quebec, and North Vancouver Capilano in BC. The Liberals currently hold a majority in the House of Commons with 172 seats.

The party needs to win only one of those ridings to maintain it. The by-elections are scheduled for August 31st. In less than a month, Canada could be hit with a new wave of punishing U.S. tariffs. Ottawa is now weighing its next move as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens a 50% levy on a range of goods, including some that had previously been exempt. Julia Wong looks at what's driving the threat and the options on the table. Even the mention of Washington, these. days is enough to ral up Canadians. The booze, in response to Dominic LeBlanc, the minister

responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, telling a crowd in New Brunswick about an upcoming trip to the U.S. capital. The unfettered response comes almost a week after the U.S. threatened Canada with a 50% tariff on a variety of products, including those that were previously exempt from tariffs under Kuzma, U.S. President Donald Trump. Canada has been very, very tough on us over the years. The U.S. administration says the terrorists are because of Canadian restrictions on dairy, alcohol, and vehicles. Clearly, the tensions have raised significantly, and Canadians feel this very intensely. Georgetown University international trade law expert, Greg Schaefer, wasn't surprised.

This is being used as part of the U.S.MCA negotiations that the United States wants to be able to set tariff. levels against Canada without any risk of Canada retaliating. But he says there's another reason. It's a signal to the rest of the world that if it retaliates against the United States, when the United States unilaterally raises tariffs on its products, then it potentially will face even higher tariffs. If enacted, the 50% tariff would be enforced using Section 338, a section of the Tariff Act of 1930, never used before. Georgetown University law professor Kathleen Cawson says it was only a matter of time. And so if he wants to act quickly, if he wants to make threats, use it as leverage, then Section 338 is good for him in that regard. Past terrorists have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, and current ones are facing legal challenges.

But Clawson says the Trump administration is committed. Challenges may come and go to this particular action, but I think there will be more on the table, regardless again of what happens. For conservatives, that isn't good enough. Shadow Minister for Canada-U-S. Relations, Shuvalloy Majumdar, is calling on Carney to table a plan on how his government will get tariffs removed. Schaefer, the international trade law expert, says Canada has a few options going forward. He says it could accept unilateral tariffs. It could try to find allies to legally challenge them, or it could play hardball.

It could reenact its statutes, which had already had agreed, to not eliminating the digital service tax. This directly hits U.S. companies, but that would be a much more confrontational type reaction. The new terrorists are set to take effect August 19th. Julia Wong, CBC News, Washington. Earlier this month, Alberta announced its plan for a new pipeline through southern British Columbia.

The proposed route would mostly mirror the existing Trans Mountain Corridor until it reaches Hope, B.C., where it would do, diverged towards a new marine terminal. But as Georgie Smyth explains, what's thought to be an easier path won't be straightforward. At Roberts Bank in Delta, BC, birds and insects creep through the mud and long grasses.

Offshore cranes and trucks shift cargo through Canada's largest and growing container terminal. This estuary is the preferred marine terminal of Alberta's proposed heavy crude oil pipeline, the end point of, of what they're calling the southern route. The best route, said Prime Minister Mark Carney. One that goes through one that already exists

out through the Trans Mountain Corridor. But there's a major section of the proposed route that doesn't already exist, a deviation from Hope BC to Roberts Bank, a wildlife area and major port facility right on the US-Canada border, home to BC's largest ferry terminal and that container terminal, which is now also on transit.

track to be listed on the major project office list. CBC News asked Vancouver Fraser Port Authority President Peter Zotter if there could be enough space for both. The RBT2 project is much further along. There's lots of discussion to be undertaken with respect to the energy project that you're referring to. Ongoing industrialization of this bank has been controversial. Alberta's application acknowledges the region will have strong concerns about oil and marine spills, tanker traffic and the cumulative effects of more development.

If the project is listed under the Building Canada Act, federal approvals are automatically granted. But there would still be a review of these impacts and a list of conditions if the pipeline is approved. Shahin Dashgard from Simon Fraser University studies this area's famously weak, loose and water-saturated sediments. He says much of this valley's subsurface is very prone to falling apart in. an earthquake. You shake that and you get liquefaction and you can see the water comes to the surface. It means where Alberta wants to build pipe through the Fraser Valley could be at very high risk of significant damage during an earthquake. Dashgard says this can be mitigated through engineering but it will make the project more complex and expensive. Underpinning all of this

are the rights and titles of several First Nations like Tuoson. Its chief Laura Cassidy says nothing will happen here without their consultation and consent. To say we are concerned about what happens here is an understatement. So what's next? Consultation with communities along the pipeline route to Roberts Bank. Fast track or not, that will take time. Alberta's southern pipeline plan may be more palatable than the northern route, but it's far from a sure thing. Georgie Smyth is CBC News, Delta BC.

Tarrantial rain is pummeling parts of southern China and Hong Kong as typhoon Knoll makes landfall, prompting officials to issue the highest alert level for flash floods. At least 715,000 people in the region have been forced to evacuate. The storm has also disrupted local train service and grounded hundreds of flights at Hong Kong's airport. Forecasters say the rain and strong winds will last for at least the next two days as the storm moves inland. Donations of food, clothing, and essential supplies have been pouring in for wildfire evacuees in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Fires have displaced more than 2,800 people from their homes in the provinces northwest. Most of the affected communities are First Nations. But a recent powwow

enabled people to find community and connection in hard times. Sarah Law was there and brings us this report. I'm dancing as hard as I can for them. That's my spirit out, so praying for the creator to help them out as much as they can. Xander Lapensi is a grass dancer from Pucketawagan First Nation in northern Manitoba. He moved to northwestern Ontario four years ago. The region has been afflicted by severe smoke and wildfires this summer. Le Pency says he's channeling positive energy into his dancing to help those affected.

These powwows have changed my life in that. The way you could just feel the power in the songs you listen to. Delico Anishinawbek Family Care's eighth annual powwow drew hundreds of people, including Lepensi, to Fort William First Nation last Thursday. The community neighbor's Thunder Bay, where dozens of wildfire evacuees from northern communities are staying in hotels. Delico offered a free shuttle service between their accommodations and the powwow grounds. And we're really happy to be able to do that for them.

Angell Wabagwan is Deliko's cultural services manager. She's also a member of Nemeguza Sagigan First Nation, which was completely destroyed by a wildfire earlier this month. Her aunt is the community's chief. You know, it's a really tough time for all of us. Wabaguan says she's been spending as much time as possible with friends and family from her community. She says she hopes the powwow offered them a moment of reprieve as they cope with the uncertainty of what's happening back home. We wanted to make sure that the evacuees had a funny vent to come attend, look forward to. As wildfire seasons have worsened in recent years,

community evacuations have become the norm for many of the region's First Nations. Germain Beaver is a chicken dancer from Nebonomic First Nation. The 19-year-old says northern communities are resilient and know how to pull together. When hardships like that come in our communities, a lot of the times people tend to come together. And when you're together as one, it's a lot more powerful than just being all over. As more than 160 wildfires burn across Ontario, Waboguan reminds those affected that they're not alone. Emotional support and crisis intervention is available through the Hope for Wellness Helpline. Sarah Law, CBC News, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The FIFA World Cup may have created a generation of soccer fans in Canada. Last Sunday's final between Spain and Argentina attracted a record TV audience, and the success of Canada's men's team gave millions of people a reason to watch, talk about, and connect with the sport. Karen Pauls tells us about a new survey that suggests soccer is becoming Canada's sport of the future. future. Big goals, propelling Canada's national men's team further into the World Cup than ever before. Who are Canada? Say who are Canada? Canadians were all in, and new numbers show it. These Winnipeg soccer players still buzzing about it. There's definitely something that Canada should be proud of. I think the future's big. I think this soccer can really be the main sport.

Soccer is already the most played sport in Canada. Now, according to a new survey, taken in the final days of the World Cup, soccer is our second favorite sport to watch, behind hockey, but ahead of baseball, basketball, and football. It's number one for Canadians aged 18 to 29 and those not born in Canada. There's an event going on, especially one where a team does better than maybe people expect and creates this kind of buzz and unity. You're going to have a positive reaction to it. David Coletto is CEO of Abacus Data. I think it reflects how much Canada is actually changing itself, that our population is becoming more diverse.

Second and third generations of previous immigrants are passing down their interest to their kids. We built something. Nobody saw coming. Paulo Senra of Canada's soccer is delighted. It was a chance for us to say that Canadians have room in their heart for more than one sport. This is our sport now. This is our game now, too. But there have been big moments for other Canadians.

sports teams. After the Blue Jays World Series playoff run last year, baseball Canada says registrations for youth programs soared this spring. Canada, the NBA title is yours. After the Raptors' NBA championship in 2019, youth enrollment in basketball increased 35%. But says sports journalist and author Orrin Weissfeld, it may take another generation to get there. Simply because that next moment of you know, winning on the world stage, gathering the whole country, we might be still a few years, few decades from that. The Women's World Cup is next summer.

Canada's women won Olympic gold in 2020. Now there's hope both national teams will compete at the 2028 Olympics, carrying that momentum forward. Karen Paul's CBC News, Winnipeg. The year is 1996. The city, Montreal. lovers of Hong Kong action movies decide to organize a film festival. Three decades later, it attracts tens of thousands of fans of horror,

sci-fi and cult movies from around the world. Sharon Yonin-Reynolds now on how the Fantasia International Film Festival has become North America's preeminent anti-Hollywood festival. The lights dim, the audience fall silent, and the big screen comes alive. Tens of thousands of people flocked to Montreal for the Fantasia International Film Festival every year, one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in North America. They include Sedbate, who traveled all the way from the Philippines. I'm on a year for like four days, so I'm trying to kick everything I can.

I love the atmosphere, it's just everything. And the cinema experience, every single cinema I've been here. It's like, it's an energetic crowd. It started out. as an Asian film festival 30 years ago, which is where the name Fantasia originates. Today, the festival screens horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and cult films from around the world.

Beautiful. Sweet. This year's headliners include Nicholas Wending Refins, Her Private Hell, starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, The Village of Eight Gravestones, a film by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Shimuzu, known for The Grudge, also screens.

The festival's deputy director, Tanya Morissette, says this year features the festival's biggest lineup yet. We always try and have some of the titles that everyone is looking forward to see, but also I think the discoveries that you can make at Fantasia of indie filmmakers that are starting out and these like hidden gems kind of. It's what cements the festival's importance to independent Canadian filmmakers, like transgender filmmaker Louise Ward from Vancouver. Her film, Castration Movie Chapter 3, screened at the festival. And so you can put in all of this much more like diverse, unique, interesting sort of stories from voices you don't always see reflected in the greater industry. She says while those perspectives might not get center stage at festivals like TIF or Cann, at Fantasia, they get to shine.

And you get a full audience coming out to something that, you know, they might not go see at a traditional film festival. It's on the evening slot and everyone's going to show up knowing that they're here for a horror movie. And then they get to see something that's told from me. a different perspective than they might be used to in this genre space. The festival runs until August 2nd. Sharon Yonan-Reynolds, CBC News, Montreal. It started with a mysterious noise in a 91-year-old Winnipeg home. Thomas Remple Ong and his wife traced it to their tall brick chimney.

My wife and I've had that lightbulb moment of, we should probably call someone about this. Their call eventually landed with Mackenzie Glover, coordinator of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative, which helps monitor a threatened bird species called the chimney swift. But before Glover could confirm this special bird sighting, she needed to stake out the joint. I picked a spot, sat in my car and sat there and watched the chimney for an hour, and I could see about five circling around and they were chittering,

and they'd come and go, and then about 40 minutes into my watch, I saw one dive right in, very confident entry. This was exciting. Chimney Swifts have declined 88% since 1970. They used to make sticky twig nests in trees, but logging and land clearing made that hard. The birds started to move into chimneys, but those eventually fell out of fashion. As Glover told CBC Manitoba, there's a good reason to boost their numbers. They can eat up to a thousand mosquitoes a day.

So they're pretty nice to have around. Works for Thomas Rampalong. You're telling me a fireplace that I don't use can be home to a threatened species that naturally eats mosquitoes every day. This is Winnipeg. Sign me up. Yes. I guess that's my way of trying to be a good neighbor. He's also given them a new name.

The Swifties. Perfect for a songbird with some new fans. This has been your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Scandaris. Thank you for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.com.