Your World Tonight - Cholesterol in kids, Bill Clinton’s Epstein deposition, moon mission facelift, and more

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Canadian doctors are making a new push to catch high cholesterol sooner. They say plaque buildup in the arteries can start as early as childhood due to a genetic condition. They say screening should start as early as 2 years old.Also: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton faces lawmakers over his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, saying he ‘saw nothing,’ adding if he knew about Epstein’s crimes he would have ‘turned him in myself.’ The 79-year old also criticized the committee for calling his wife in to testify. During her six hours of grilling Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the actions of the lawmakers ‘political theatre’, insisting she had “no idea,’ about Epstein’s criminal activities.And: Space Jam. Facing a string of technical setbacks, NASA announces an abrupt shift to its Artemis lunar program, revamping its goal to land a human on the moon for the first time in more than half a century.Plus: Flareup of fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Carney in India, the danger of ‘spit hoods’, and more.

For years, I've sounded like a broken record. I do not want kids. I do not ever want to have kids. I don't want to have a kid. Don't want to have a kid. Don't want to have a kid. I'm in my 40s now. The door is almost closed. And suddenly, I'm not so sure. The story has always been no. I'm just wondering to what degree it's just a story.

From CBC's personally, this is Creation Myth. Available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. There's no symptom externally. They had a healthy, active lifestyle, just normal kids. If you didn't do the test, you never would have known. High cholesterol is not common in toddlers and young children. But a genetic condition can put some kids at risk.

Now, Canadian doctors are calling for universal screening, starting early, before it's too late. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Martina Fitzgerald. It's Friday, February 27th, coming up to 6 p.m. also on the podcast. There are a lot of photos. There are a lot of email correspondent.

Jeffrey Epstein was in the White House 17 times. While Bill Clinton was president, we know that Bill Clinton flew on Jeffrey Epstein's plane at least 27 times. It is rare for a former U.S. president to testify before Congress, but the Jeffrey Epstein scandal keeps moving into uncharted territory.

Bill Clinton, answering questions about his ties to the billionaire sex offender, a moment Democrats are hoping adds pressure to their push to question the sitting president. They are among the top causes of death in Canada, conditions that don't usually appear until later in life. Now, the Canadian Pediatric Society is flipping the script on how to cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

As Lauren Pelley reports, it's calling for universal screening for high cholesterol in children. There's lots of heart attacks, lots of artery issues, and quite a few people died fairly young as a result of it. High cholesterol runs in Mike Heathcote's family. The Edmonton father of two says a genetic condition passed on to both his kids. There's no symptom externally. They had a healthy, active lifestyle, just normal kids. If you didn't do the test, you never would have known.

That test was simple blood work to screen for high cholesterol. It gave Heathcote a chance to get his children on statin medication early to protect them from heart disease later in life. His daughter, Haley, is 15 now and started medication five years ago. Hopefully when I'm 40-50, I won't be at the same stage as someone who might have not caught it. Researchers say one in 300 Canadians has familial hyper-collesterolemia, or ph-H, a genetic condition that causes lifelong elevations in blood cholesterol, starting in childhood. The vast majority of those people don't know they have it.

If we don't treat it, the risk for early heart attacks and strokes is dramatically increased in these individuals. Dr. Michael Corey is a pediatric cardiologist in Edmonton. He's one of the researchers behind a new paper from the Canadian Pediatric Society. It calls for all Canadian children to be screened for high cholesterol between the ages of 2 and 10 years old. It is easy to diagnose and easy to treat and we just simply are missing it. Treatment ranges from diet and lifestyle changes to lifelong medication. Ontario family physician Dr. Ali Kahn Abdullah welcomed the idea of catching more cases before it's too late.

Sometimes, if we're very successful, we can actually reverse diseases before they become actual problems that we have to medicate people for. In the U.S., pediatricians already recommend all children have cholesterol tests between ages 9 and 11, or even as early as 2 years old,

if they have risk factors like a known family history of FH. But Abdullah warns it could be challenging to get more Canadian children to have their blood drawn, especially in a health care system that's already under strain. That's going to be very hard to do. They're not readily available in clinics out in the community. Children don't like getting their blood taken. Back in the Heathcote home, 11-year-old Ryan says it's worth it. It's like no downside the test. There's literally no reason not to take the test. And one good reason to have it done, staying healthy for years to come. Lauren Pelley, CBC News, Toronto.

Another day, another Clinton in the hot seat. The day after here, Hillary answered questions. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton appeared before the House Oversight Committee to talk about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As Paul Hunter reports, Clinton says he knew nothing about Epstein's sex trafficking and has nothing to hide. Cirens blaring, it was the ex-presidential motorcade carrying former President Bill Clinton to the hearing room in Chappaqua, New York. Clinton himself, soon to underline, he wanted to make his views on Jeffrey Epstein clear. equally anxious to hear them, James Comer, the Republican leading the investigation into the U.S. government's handling of the Epstein case. There are a lot of photos that have been released by the

Department of Justice as well as the Epstein estate. There are a lot of email correspondence that included President Clinton. Among the millions of government files on the late billionaire sex trafficker Epstein emails and photos of Clinton with Epstein. Indeed, the two were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s. At least two photos show Clinton alongside unidentified women, one in a hot tub. Other records show Clinton flew on Epstein's private jet multiple times. Those are questions that we're going to ask. But there's never been any evidence of any wrongdoing by Clinton,

and Clinton has long insisted their relationship ended long before Epstein was first criminally charged. In his opening statement, published as the closed hearing began, Clinton wrote, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing, no matter how many photos you show me, adding, I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong. The former president also defended his wife and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who took hours of questions yesterday. I have to get personal, he wrote. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein.

Nothing. Including her in this hearing was simply not right. For Democrats at the hearing, one big takeaway is the simple fact, Bill Clinton testified, setting precedent, they say, for former and current presidents to be called upon. Democrat Robert Garcia, again demanding testimony from Donald Trump, whose name is mentioned in the Epstein files nearly 40,000 times. This is not a hoax. He has not been exonerated, and we have serious questions for President Trump. As with Clinton, there's been no evidence of any wrongdoing by Trump, who was asked

about Clinton's testimony outside the White House. to me a lot more than that. I like him. I don't like seeing him because. All that said, Clinton made one more point in that opening statement. No person is above the law, he wrote, even presidents, especially presidents. Paul Hunter's CBC News, Washington. Coming up, just weeks after Mark Carney traveled to China, Beijing lowers tariffs on some key exports.

But it's not everything the Prime Minister and Canadian farmers were asking for. It comes as Carney lands in India, looking to further diversify Canadian trade. Later, we'll have this story. I can tell you, launching every three plus years is not the right approach. NASA's boss isn't happy with the pace of the Artemis Moon Mission Program announcing sweeping changes to how it'll work, yet still hopes to put humans back on the moon in a few years. It's kind of how it worked in the 1960s.

I'm Anandram in Toronto, coming up on your world tonight, the changes to the future of the moon missions and the status of the one waiting to launch with a Canadian on board. China has suspended some tariffs on Canadian agricultural imports, including a 100% tariff on canola meal. And while that's good news for prairie farms and also Atlantic fisheries, as Helena Mahalik reports, people are still hoping for more on a wider range of exports.

It's positive to see that there is trade optimism for the crop, We're about to put in the ground in the next 60 days. Saskatchewan pulse farmer Devin Walker welcomes news of China's tariff reductions. He says it's about time. I feel like we've kind of bared the brunt of this trade war that's happened in North America and across the Pacific. So we're tired and we would like some upswing in our markets. That's for sure. China announced it is suspending 100% tariffs on Canadian canola meal and pea imports.

and halting its 25% duties on Atlantic lobster and crab, starting from March 1st through the end of 2026. The outcome aligns with Ottawa's expectations. Ottawa expected Beijing to lower canola seed tariffs to rate of 15%, down from the current 84%. In investigation into Canadian canola by the Chinese Commerce Ministry is wrapping up on March 9th. Sylvain Chalbois, a professor of agri-food analytics at Delhousie University,

says Canada is still waiting to see if that will bring further announcements to other canola tariffs. And of course there are no, there's no movement around canola oil, but canola oil doesn't represent a big chunk of the canola business with China, canola meal, canola seed, those are really important portions. And obviously with the thawing relationship that we have, with China now, it is going to help our agriculture out west. The Friday announcement comes after Prime Minister Mark Carney struck an initial deal with China in January on a trade mission to Beijing. Chris Davison, the CEO of the Canadian Canola Council,

says he's happily surprised by that outcome. Look, it's one thing to negotiate an agreement in principle. It's another thing to implement it. So we're encouraged by this next step. Manitoba Premier Wab Canoe also celebrated the news today. says there's more tariffs that continue affecting the prairies that need to be lifted. This is what the industry is wanted for, a number of months now. So we're seeing good news on canola, but we still need to see a bit more work on the pork side. Beijing could still announce further tariff lifts by the March 1st deadline. Halina Mahalik, CBC News, Saskatoon. The reduction of those Chinese tariffs may be a source of optimism for the prime minister.

China made the move after Mark Carney visited last month. And it just so happens, he's now on another trade mission. A Canadian delegation has arrived in India hoping to drum up more business with a major market. But as J.P. Tasker reports, the Prime Minister is also navigating concerns about foreign interference and national security. Canada can certainly compete in any market around the world. Whether... Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in India for a trip that's all business when his meetings start. And Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is along for the ride, as the two push to quickly diversify trade ties. If we just look back the last number of years, Canada and India have not been at that table

having those discussions, and I would say from a trade perspective that we've fallen behind. But Moe says that's changing with Carney. Early indications are this visit could produce a major bilateral breakthrough after years of frosty relations over foreign interference. Canadians have a responsibility to provide and displace some of the dirtier forms of Mo is hoping for a uranium deal, a commitment from India to buy huge quantities for nuclear energy. But there's an even bigger deal in the works. Maybe they can give a bit of a push towards the free trade agreement.

Senator Peter Beam is a former top diplomat. He says officials have been negotiating behind the scenes on an agreement that could slash sky-high Indian tariffs on Canadian goods, opening up access to the world's fourth largest economy. Given what's happened geopolitically across the globe, we want to diversify our supply base also. India's High Commissioner Dinesh Pat Nayek says what was once a diplomatic crisis with Canada is effectively over, and a trade deal could be in hand within the next year. Energy, there is appetite to which even Canada cannot fulfill. And we're willing to buy whatever Canada is offering on crude, on LPG, on LNG.

With few natural resources of its own, India wants it all to, fuel the country's insatiable energy demands. So these are things that's going to all come together. So energy can redefine our relationship completely. Up till now, what we have been doing is just a drop in the bucket. This is a major shift in Canadian foreign policy. For years, India was regarded as something of a pariah state in Ottawa. After former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged

Indian agents were involved in the murder of a Canadian sick, Carney's repositioning is raising questions at home, namely from those who allege they've been targeted by India. Moninder Singh, a six separatist leader from BC, was recently warned by police. His life is in danger. Transnational repression coming from the Indian government side is now extending to people's families,

which is extremely unfortunate in the wake of this trip that the prime minister is making. While security is still a concern, government officials say Canada can't walk away from India, a huge market with some 1.4 billion people, a middle power that suddenly more than, attractive as the Trump trade war carries on. J.P. Tasker, CBC News, Mumbai. The escalating conflict between Afghanistan and its nuclear-armed neighbor is boiling over. After a simmering dispute erupted in a series of attacks and airstrikes,

Pakistan's defense minister says war is underway. Breyer Stewart reports. Explosions echo through the mountainous terrain that forms part of the sprawling border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The checkpoint at the Pakistani town of Torham has been closed because of the escalating conflict. Shah Suhud lives in the area and says overnight residents had to seek shelter, including in the local hospital. As clashes erupted along the border, Pakistan's military launched strikes on nearly two dozen sites overnight, including in the capital Kabul and Kandahar province. The military said it targeted Taliban sites. All these targets were very carefully selected based on intelligence.

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chowdh is a spokesperson for Pakistan's military. Great care was exercised so that there is no civilian collector damage. But Afghanistan's Taliban-run government disputes that saying civilians were among the casualties. In Kabul, residents cleaned up broken glass after windows shattered. from the force of the strike. Many people were injured by broken glass, said Haji Delaaga. It was a very terrifying incident. The latest violence is part of what experts see

as an escalating conflict waged between two former allies. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants and fueling domestic terrorism in Pakistan by supporting the Taliban group there. Afghanistan denies that. In a statement posted to social media, Pakistan's Minister of Defense, Hawaja Mohammed Asif, said that the country's patience had run out, and now it's in an open war with Afghanistan's Taliban. The trouble is you have this escalatory ladder that each one is climbing,

and the fear really is that we might be blindly fumbling our way into an open war. Ibrahim Bahas is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group's Asia program. He's in Kabul and told CBC News, that he woke up early Friday morning to the sound of explosions. Afghanistan has seen decades of conflict. And the last few years, albeit, despite the Taliban's stricter and even draconian rules, Afghans have enjoyed a level of peace that they have not seen in their lifetimes. He says now people are anxious fearing that the precarious peace could be completely shattered if the violence continues.

Breyer Stewart, CBC News, London. Political pressure is mounting on Open AI over safety protocols and the role the tech company may have played in the Tumblr Ridge mass shooting. Open AI's CEO will meet with federal officials next week. They want more clarity about how the Tumblr Ridge shooter used AI and why police were not informed. Olivia Stefanovic reports. The fact that something could have been done if only the rich bastards in the AI industry

had reported what they knew makes it a little bit harder. Strong words from British Columbia MP and Green Party leader Elizabeth May. After learning OpenAI would have reported the Tumblr Ridge mass shooter to police if the company's new safety policies were in place when employees detected troubling posts, including scenarios of gun violence. We have to go way beyond wagging a finger at them. We have to regulate them. Open AI made the revelation, along with the fact that it discovered a second chat GPT account from the shooter after the first account was banned,

following meetings this week with officials from the federal and BC governments. I want to recognize that OpenAI did come forward. They did bring the information forward to police. They didn't try to cover it up after the fact. But this was a colossal, horrific mistake. BC Premier David E.B. didn't participate in the province's initial meeting with OpenAI. Instead, he's planning to sit down with the company's CEO, Sam Altman.

And I will be looking for his support for a national standard across Canada, a national threshold where all AI companies must report and clear consequences for if they fail to report incidents where people are planning violence. Altman and Federal Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon will meet next week. Solomon released a statement Friday, saying he's seeking further clarity from OpenAI, on how human review is conducted and whether Canadian context and best practices are appropriately involved in those decisions.

You can't have every possible suspicion passed on to law enforcement. Emily Laidlaw is a Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity at the University of Calgary. She says federal legislation for AI chatbots is necessary, but must balance security and personal privacy. It's about making sure that users are the same. this space have some protection to explore themselves and explore these ideas that they're having in a private sphere without the sense that their use of it is just under a constant state of surveillance. The federal government has yet to introduce AI legislation, but Solomon says he will consult his cabinet colleagues on options. Olivia Estefanovich, CBC News, Ottawa.

A CBC investigation is uncovering new details about a potentially risky, restructing. training device. Spit hoods are put on detainees to protect first responders and corrections officers. The hoods have been linked to deaths and some countries are scaling back their use. But not Canada. Bridget Noelle has that story. Serafina Denny had never heard of a spit hood until her brother died after wearing one. I never even know that they use things like that. In 2022, 21-year-old Nickas Dandre Spring died after an altercation with guards at a Montreal prison. Reports reveal he was pepper-sprayed and forced into a spit mask, a mesh and fabric hood intended to prevent spitting.

Hooded and handcuffed, he was then pushed into a shower where it's believed he stopped breathing. Spring is one of 17 deaths involving spit hoods identified by the fifth estate. In nearly all instances, the spit hood seems to have been misused. It's a mesh on top and it has a rubber band at the bottom that will go around the neck. Retired Montreal police officer Michael Aruda is an authority on the use of spit masks. Somebody is in a crisis. Somebody is bleeding. Somebody is pepper sprayed. The mask should never, never be used. He says this device needs to be tightly regulated. There must be a protocol put into place before and after the use.

of the mask. Yet our investigation found protocols, when they exist, are not always followed, and some first responders never receive specialized training. The most popular spit hood in Canada is called the Transport Hood. It was invented by an American carpet installer who got the idea while watching cop shows. Our investigation revealed it's never been certified by Canadian regulators. Experts tell us there exists little reliable data on the safety of these devices. is not a lot of clinical evidence that looks into the safety of spit masks.

Emergency physician Matthew Thomas in San Diego says the few existing studies failed to take into account the chaos of real-life scenarios during which these hoods are used. We couldn't find any clinical studies about the use of spit hoods on children, but we discovered they're allowed on minors across Canada. We shouldn't use it on children. There is a traumatizing part to it. Around the world, several jurisdictions have started to restrict or ban spit hoods. but in Canada, many institutions continue to rely on them. A guard involved in Nica's Dondry Springs' death has now been accused of manslaughter.

His trial and coroner's inquest are still pending, but the family hopes this will force authorities to re-examine their use of spit hoods. Brigitte Noel, CBC News, Montreal. Just days after NASA delayed takeoff for the Artemis II rocket, the one set to take Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hanson around the moon, NASA now says it is changing. the program by adding another mission before the big lunar landing. On Enron reports. I can tell you, launching every three plus years is not the right approach. NASA administrator

Jared Isaacman calling out the pace of the Artemis Moon Mission program. Those cheers for Artemis 1 were back in 2022. It was originally a three mission project building up to a lunar landing in 28. Now, Isaacman wants to add another mission before that landing. So the current rocket, Artemis 2, will still aim to go around the moon with a crew, but the next one, Artemis 3, supposed to land humans there, won't leave Earth's orbit. Instead of going directly to a lunar landing, we will endeavor to rendezvous in low Earth orbit with one or both of our lunar landers. Most of us thought that the current plan between Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 was incredibly ambitious. Gordon Asinski is a professor at Western University.

He welcomes this shift, this practice step, to really stick the moon landing. Of any part of a space mission, the landing is actually the most dangerous. I think it's a really safe and a really good bit is to try that rendezvous in low Earth orbit, close to Earth, where we can troubleshoot that. NASA still aims to land on the moon in 2028, but, But with Artemis 4, and if the numbers sound confusing, consider the lunar heyday Isaacman invoked today. It's kind of how it worked in the 1960s. Apollo 9, you are going all the way. Everything looks good. Roger.

Apollo 9 was that same kind of low-Earth orbit test. A crucial one, just months before Apollo 11 made history in the summer of 69. Different times, geopolitically too, the space race then between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Now it's China, this month test launching its heavy rocket that it hopes will send a crew to the moon and its competition that NASA has acknowledged. Josh Dinner has helped track the Artemis saga for space.com. They have definitely ramped up the progress with their crude lunar program. They're putting all these systems to the test and they're not as far along as Artemis is in a lot of respect, but they've come a lot further in a lot shorter amount of time. Meanwhile, Artemis II

was rolled back for repairs after discovering a helium leak during a dress rehearsal. That mission to orbit the moon, which would take Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen farther than any human has gone in space, hopes to make its revised launch window in April. Honodram, CBC News, Toronto. And finally tonight, after more than two weeks of cheering for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics, it was over just like that. If you're struggling with Olympic withdrawal, you're in luck. Another crew of this country's best is getting ready for more.

And we now know who will lead Team Canada into the Paralympic Games. What a tremendous honor. I think for both of us and for all athletes, for that matter, like we're so proud to be Canadian and can't wait to represent Canada at the Paralympic Games. That is Tyler McGregor from Forest, Ontario. He's captain of the Canadian men's parahockey team and a three-time world champion. The Milano Cortina Games will be McGregor's fourth Paralympics. He's been named the flag bearer at the opening ceremony,

along with Paranordic skier. Natalie Wilkie. I was so excited. I almost leaked out of my chair and did a little happy dance. So that was kind of unexpected. I wasn't even thinking about the role of Flagger heading into the games, but it's obviously being kind of like a dream of mine. It's going to be really fun.

Wilkie is from Salmon Arm, British Columbia. At 25, she's already at. decorated Paralympian with seven medals, three of them gold. Wonki and McGregor will lead a team of 50 Canadians competing in Paranordic and Alpine skiing, hockey, snowboarding, and wheelchair curling. The opening ceremony is a week from today on March 6th. Competition runs through March 15th. Thanks for being with us.

This has been your world tonight for Friday, February 27th. I'm Martina Fitzgerald. Have a good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to C.E. ABC.ca.ca slash podcasts.