Your World Tonight - Escalating airstrikes in the Middle East, Flooding in Hawaii, Telecom complaints, and more

Episode Date: March 21, 2026

Israel's Defence Minister says Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran will be stepped up, significantly in the coming days - just a day after President Donald Trump mused about "winding down" the war. Meanwile, at least one managed to break through Israel's air defences, hitting a building near the country's main nuclear facility. Israel is promising to retaliate, while issuing new warnings about Iran's long-range capabilities. Also: In Hawaii, the island of Oahu has been experiencing catastrophic flooding caused by a "Kona low" - a seasonal sub-tropical cyclone. The flooding has caused officials to issue an evacuation order for thousands of people in the North Shore. It's the worst flooding Hawaii's most populous island has seen in twenty years. And: Complaints about Canada's big telecoms reached an all-time high last year. According to a recent watchdog report, More than 23-thousand Canadians lodged complaints, with billing problems topping the list. The CBC's Marketplace went inside the system, hearing from whistleblowers on the pressure they face inside call centres.Plus: France's local elections, Hong Kong rethinking the use of bamboo scaffolding, Melting of the world's oldest and largest iceberg, and more.

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This is a CBC podcast. Israel's defense minister says Israeli and U.S. air strikes on Iran will be stepped up significantly in the coming days. A day after Donald Trump mused about winding down the war. This is your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Skandaris. Also on the podcast, the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is hitting south and Southeast Asia especially hard. countries like India, Pakistan and Thailand grappling with fuel shortages and sky-high prices. Plus...

It was like seeing land just cliffs and cliffs of ice as far as the eye could see mist rolling off it, waves crashing up against it. But soon those cliffs of ice will be no bigger than an ice cube as the world's oldest and largest iceberg reaches its demise. Sirens in Tel Aviv as Israel's Iron Dome intercepts Iranian missiles. At least one managed to break through Israel's air defenses hitting a building in southern Israel near the country's main nuclear facility.

Israel is promising to retaliate while issuing new warnings about Iran's long-range capabilities. Katie Simpson is in Doha for us tonight. So Katie, can you bring us up to speed on what's happening on the ground? Iran is reporting there's been an attack at one of its nuclear development sites, the Natanz facility. The UN's atomic energy watchdog has been informed, and a preliminary investigation has found there are no radioactive leaks. The site is significant, as it's one of three locations bombed by the Americans last summer, part of President Donald Trump's campaign to try to prevent Iran from ever developing a nuclear weapon. At the time, he said their program was obliterated, a controversial statement then and now,

given the president's shifting justification for the war, which includes eliminating Iran's nuclear nuclear. capabilities. Hours after that attack, the regime then took aim at an Israeli city that is home to a nuclear facility as well. Several people are hurt after an Iranian missile struck a residential neighborhood in the southern Israeli city of Dimona. Video of the strike shows the missile visible in the night sky before hurtling toward the ground with an explosion on impact, evading Israel's sophisticated air defense system. Three full weeks into this war and U.S. Central Command says it is struck 8,000, thousand targets in Iran, degrading the regime's ability to carry out some of its strikes. Still, Iran is firing at Israel and across the Gulf region, with new interceptions reported

in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. We keep hearing from Donald Trump and the White House that this war may not last much longer, but it's hard to tell if that's actually the case. We keep seeing signs that appear to contradict it like Iran saying it's willing to use long-range missiles. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, there are new significant questions about Iran's military capabilities. After Israel says the regime fired a long-range missile toward a shared U.K.-U.S. military base nearly 4,000 kilometers away. The base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean was the target.

And while it was not a successful attack, it suggests that Iranian missiles may be able to travel much further than analysts had originally believed. Israeli defense forces say it demonstrates Iran poses a threat. just the immediate region. As to what comes next in this conflict, there are mixed messages from the U.S. and Israel. Israel's defense minister says the intensity of the joint strikes by both countries will be stepped up this coming week. There are also reports the U.S. is sending 2,500 additional troops to the Middle East,

along with three more warships. At the same time, President Trump says he's considering winding down military operations. Katie, thanks so much. Thanks. Katie Simpson in Doha. The war in Iran is disrupting daily life across South and Southeast Asia. The region has growing energy needs and remains heavily dependent on supply routes. Our South Asia correspondent Silima Shivji reports.

A gas depot worker loads orange cylinders into a flatbed truck in Mumbai preparing for delivery. They're in high demand, each full of liquefied petroleum gas, which is in short supply across India, with the war blocking tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The gas is crucial for cooking in more than 300 million Indian homes. It's now being distributed very carefully. Every customer needs to show a personalized code at the depot to get their share. All to protect what little LPG is left in India's reserves, says run their Jaiswal, spokesperson for the country's External Affairs Ministry.

Supply of LPG is a matter of concern. Therefore, we are prioritizing domestic consumers. consumers first, their needs will be taken care of. For Chirag Chowhan, who manages a South Indian restaurant in Mumbai, the past three weeks have been a constant scramble to land more cylinders. Most of his kitchen has switched to electric stoves. They come for the doses. A lot of guests have been asking us, like, you know, how many more days?

But Chowhan can't serve his star dish, dose us, because that requires gas. Every day is a new challenge, and we're trying to manage and do the best we can. So it's a national crisis. where the whole industry, everyone is facing the similar challenges. A crisis all across Asia. In India, supply at the pumps is not yet affected, but elsewhere, gasoline stocks are dwindly, with every country in the continent highly dependent on oil from the Middle East.

In Sri Lanka, there are long lines outside petrol stations as the country rations its gas and people are left wondering why. Others started this war, but we're the one suffering, says this Tuck-Duc. driver. The country with an already frail economy has moved to a four-day work week, as has neighboring Pakistan. In Bangladesh, the energy crisis forced universities to close two weeks ago, disrupting student Redwan Hassan Rifat's life. Our classes have been campers, so we have to go home. Further east in Thailand, the government is begging workers to wear short sleeves and asking offices to turn down air conditioners in a bid to save power. And hundreds of fishing boats have been forced to dock

with oil running out. I've been doing this for 50 years. I've never seen this before, says boat owner Kwanchaipatisena. We can't work if the war continues, he says. With no clear idea how long each country's oil and gas reserves will last. Salima Shivji, CBC News, Mumbai. Former FBI director and U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has died at the age of 81. Mueller led the FBI between 2001, just days before the September 11th attacks and 2013.

Mueller also led the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. His report found substantial contacts between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, but did not allege a criminal conspiracy. President Trump quickly reacted to Mueller's death on social media, writing, quote, Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people. Still ahead for centuries, buildings in Hong Kong have been constructed with the help of bamboo scaffolding. The practice has been slowly falling out of favor, and after a deadly fire last fall, the material is now under scrutiny. But some locals say bamboo scaffolding is part of Hong Kong's heritage and should be maintained. The story is coming up on your world tonight.

In Hawaii, officials have ordered thousands of people on the island of Oahu to evacuate. The communities are downstream from a dam that's at risk from high water levels after heavy rains. A winter subtropical cyclone called a Kona Lowe brought the rain and flooding. It's the worst the island has seen in 20 years. Philip Lyshenok reports. We didn't have no warning. Mahe Alani Pinaa and her daughter had little notice. They were airlifted from.

their home in Waipayu on Oahu's North Shore and taken to a shelter in a local high school. But they had to leave everything behind, including the family dogs. It was a scary situation for us. Pretty much lost. It's everything. Yeah. It's our house. That's our home up there.

My dad's a flat. Your dog's a trap? Yes. Our animals. He's still up there as well. After two torrential back-to-back storms, parts of the state had more than a meter of rain in a five-day period. U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist John Bravinder says a flood watch covers all of the main Hawaiian islands until 6 p.m. Sunday. That caused so much flooding with the

ground as saturated as it is. All the rain that fell, ran, you know, went directly to runoff. It's raised the water level in the 120-year-old Wahewa Dam dangerously close to breaching the top. Located north of Hawaii's capital, Honolulu, thousands of people. people live downstream. When the water level in the reservoir reached 85 feet or 26 meters, an evacuation order was automatically triggered. Governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, says more than 5,000 people have been ordered to leave immediately. At 90 feet, which we have not seen anything like that, we would worry that the water would go over the top of the dam and cause damage and, you know, God forbid, cause a catastrophic failure. Green says overnight the water level stabilized

and began to improve. The Dole Food Company built the dam to protect its agricultural operations from flooding and still owns it. Dole representative, Tricia Kei Halani Watson, says the reservoir levels are trending downward. There is still large volumes of water entering into the spillway,

so you can certainly see the effects of that downstream, but for now we're definitely headed in the right direction. Honolulu recorded the most amount of rain in 75 years. City Mayor Rick Blangiarty says roads and other infrastructure will have to be repaired. We're already dealing with over a billion dollars worth of damage. You know, it's tough enough. We need everybody to stay safe. There have been no reports of fatalities so far.

State officials say Hawaii's National Guard has been activated to help and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered aid. Philip Lyshanock, CBC News, Toronto. Those same tropical systems affecting Hawaii also brought heavy rain to British Columbia last week. Meteorologists call the weather system a pineapple express, a type of atmospheric river. It's now mostly over, but there's still risk of flooding and mudslides in parts of the province with an evacuation alert in the Fraser Valley along the Chilliwack River. Complaints about Canada's big telecoms reached an all-time high last year.

According to a recent watchdog report, more than 23,000 Canadians lodged complaints with billing problems topping the list. The CBC's marketplace went inside the system, hearing from whistleblowers on the pressure they face inside call centers. Asha Tomlinson reports. There was no less than, you know, 10 hours of phone time with back and forth with different people. We've received many complaints like this. Canadians telling us customer service at Rogers, Bell, and Alice is dismal and they're tired of spending hours on the phone trying to resolve their issues. In fact, last year, there was a record 23,000 complaints to the telecom watchdog. Insiders we spoke with are not surprised.

Like they are walking down on everything. This tellus employee revealed that every credit and refund she gives now is closely monitored. And she feels pressured to upsell. We've altered her voice because she fears speaking out will cost her job. of a certain level have to be a great plan manager. I have very newly. I cannot think of an issue that unifies people more than this. Amos Tanuma has spent years running call centers.

He says bad customer service is often by design. Every single part of it is designed to do one thing, not to resolve your issue, but to save money and preserve revenue for companies. But Bell says any assertion its operations are designed to avoid resolving issues, is simply not true. The company, along with TELUS and Rogers, say they're investing in customer service and trying to do better. These are problems that Spain is cracking down on. They recently passed a law forcing large companies to answer calls within three minutes max. Major issues, they have just 15 days to fix them. This would be a revolution in that you know,

it's a small thing, but will change the everyday life of millions of consumers. The CRTC says it's keeping a close eye on Spain to see if it's a revolution. It's a small eye on Spain to see if it could shape policy here in Canada. Asha Tomlinson, CBC News, Toronto. France is going to the polls Sunday in the second round of local elections. Voters will elect mayors and city council members in cities and towns across the country. The results could show which way the political winds are blowing ahead of next year's presidential election. Freelance reporter Kyle Brown has more. In the unremitting rain,

merchants hawk their wares at the outdoor market in the former mining town, Enna Beaumont. The square is all but empty when the far-right mayor, Steve Bruyrois, shows up with his team. Rashid sets out his cleaning products and drains the rain from the roof of his tent. Brewera is no better or worse

than the other politicians, he says. At the other end of the square, Joe, a farmer, is a big fan of the mayor. Beninameau was bankrupt, he says. Breois is always out meeting people, and he's put the town back on track. This northern town of 26,000 has become a bastion of the Anti-immigration Party,

the National Rally. Its longtime leader, Marine Le Pen, points to that as proof that the party can govern the country. But Wari Ben-Hajah, the leader of the local left-wing party France unbowed, says all the money spent on flowers at the town hall, his smoke and mirrors.

The streets are bad, in bad condition. The local pool and daycare have been privatized, and says Ben Hajja, prices are too high, especially in school cafeterias. Because you got 30% of the children who come to school and didn't eat and they are hungry. The former mining town has seen better days. Political analyst Jean-Ive Camus

is with the Jean-Gerreuse Foundation, a left-leaning think tank. say 90% of the population dependent on the mining in steel industry. All of a sudden, at the end of the 70s, beginning of the 80s, everything closed down. The dismal status quo, however, has done little to dent the mayor's popularity. He was re-elected in the first round last Sunday with more than three quarters of the vote. So I would say that's the vote of despair. of people who fear abandoned by mainstream political parties.

Widespread frustration has fueled the national rally's popularity across the country. But the party remains beset by scandal due in part to the online activities of its candidates. French media have unearthed evidence of candidates dressed in Nazi paraphernalia and using explicitly racist language. Elsewhere, dozens of towns seem set to elect far-right mayors this weekend. They'll be part of an invaluable network in next year's presidential election campaign, say Jean-Ive Camus. They show that the national rally does not rely only on the top leadership,

that there are people on the local level who have the confidence of their voters. The party's strongholds, however, remain limited to mostly small towns. Analysts like Camus say the path to the presidential palace must also pass through major cities. a massive task for which the party is already mobilizing. Kyle Brown for CBC News, Paris. One of Africa's most famous forests is Uganda's windy, impenetrable national park. It's known for being a home to mountain gorillas. But a recent census has confirmed the park is also home to hundreds of chimpanzees,

an endangered species. As freelance reporter Isabel Nakiria tells us, experts say that means the park needs more. protection. Wendy's thick canopy is better known for gorillas, but scientists now say chimpanzees are also thriving here. A first ever formal census in this forest confirms 426 chimpanzees are living inside the park. The Uganda Wildlife Authority worked with the Jane Goodall Institute using nest counts, sleeping platforms built high in the trees to estimate numbers without disturbing the animals. James Monsengozy, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Authority, says the findings provide something long-needed, reliable data.

These findings open opportunities for carefully considered conservation initiatives, including strengthening habitat protection, addressing emerging threats, and exploring diversified conservation financing approaches. Researchers also mapped where the chimpanzees are concentrated. information that will guide how the park is managed. James Biamukama of the Jain Goudal Institute says the timing is critical as forests outside protected areas continue to shrink. Today we realize high rates of deforestation in high-burdivist areas like Bindi, being replaced by monocultures of trees and crops, which are now on a large scale. So we are on a declining trend of greenhop.

We therefore want to inspire and motivate Ugandanans and other people around the world. Officials say the census strengthens long-term planning and ensures chimpanzees are included alongside gorillas in future conservation strategies. Tourism Minister Martin Mogara Mohinduka says decisions should be guided by science. The confirmation of a substantial, widely distributed chimpanzee population in this park is significant. It strengthens our understanding. of Bwenda as a critical habitat for great helps and reinforces the need to manage the park using sound scientific data. Bwendi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to more than half of the world's remaining mountain gorillas.

Now chimpanzees are firmly part of that story too. Isabel Nakeria for CBC News, Kampala. Public hearings are underway in Hong Kong into a fire that consumed an apartment complex last November, killing 168 people. The residential complex was undergoing renovations at the time and covered in bamboo scaffolding, protective netting, and foam boards. Hong Kong is one of the only places in the world

where bamboo scaffolding is still widely used. As freelance reporter Laura Westbrook tells us the fallout from the fire is causing some people to rethink this ancient tradition. My name is Daisy. I'm 32 years old. Daisy Peck is one of just a handful of female scaffolding workers in Hong Kong. It's very cool to work in this industry, PAC says. It took her four years to get a licence and she studied under different bamboo masters. Pack is passionate about working with a material that has been used in Hong Kong for more than a century,

and helped shape the city's skyline. Bamboo lattices are a common sight covering buildings in the city. Across the border in mainland China, metal scaffolding is used. The biggest advantage of bamboo is that it's really cheap, she says. It's also lighter than metal and easier to cut to different lengths. But the material came under scrutiny last November following Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades. When flames engulfed an apartment complex that was undergoing renovation work, bamboo scaffolding and safety netting covered the outside of the buildings.

More than 160 people died and dozens of others were injured. The government has pointed to flammable styrofoam, which had been used to seal windows and substandard netting wrapped around the scaffolding as contributing to the fire's rapid spread. An investigation into the cause of the blaze is still. ongoing. Since that fire, the government removed protected netting from hundreds of buildings and has since introduced a new system requiring fire-resistance certificates for scaffolding nets. Last March, a directive was issued ordering half of all new public building projects to use metal scaffolding. It cited safety reasons related to worker accidents.

President of the Hong Kong Construction Association, Simon Liu, says bamboo scaffolding won't disappear completely. The government will still allow some case to use bamboo scaffolding. If we can demonstrate that metal scaffolding is not that practically to adopt. For example, if we have concerns to the quality of concrete for existing buildings or in a very narrow street. Here's Professor Robert Crawford from the University of Melbourne. And then obviously from a fire perspective, I mean steel is going to be better than bamboo in that context. But I think a lot of it's about avoiding, you know,

or minimising the chance of fire in the first place. But Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Kent Harries, says there has been a community and industry built around bamboo. As it tails out, that knowledge base will disappear, and bamboo scaffolding will ultimately disappear, because you just can't maintain the skill set needed. I have a double lies bamboo and metal. Daisy Peck had the foresight to be licensed in both materials,

but her passion lies in bamboo. PAC says she will keep working with a material that is close to her heart as long as she can. Laura Westbrook for CBC News, Hong Kong. An iceberg that was once the world's oldest and biggest will soon disappear. When it broke away from Antarctica 40 years ago, A23A, as it's known, spanned nearly 4,000 square kilometres. That's about twice the size of Rhode Island. Nick Logan now on what scientists can learn from the... this melting marvel.

The A23A iceberg is floating further north into a stretch of the South Atlantic, where Antarctic icebergs meet their fate. It's breaking up chunk by chunk, a fraction of what it once was, less than 150 square kilometers, but still a spectacular sight. It was like seeing land just cliffs and cliffs

of ice as far as the eye could see, mist rolling off it, waves crashing up against it, and just this aura around it. Garant Tarling is a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey who studied A23A on an expedition around this time last year. We weren't searching for this iceberg, but because it was there, and we knew it was such a massive thing. He had to go there. A23A formed in 1986, but scientists have been watching it form since the mid-1950s.

The area that would become A-23A was a part of what's called the filth nerve ice shelf. Ted Scambos is a polar scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He says A23A sat still for decades wedged against the bottom of the Weddle Sea near Antarctica, before breaking free in 2020 and beginning the journey toward its final destination. South Georgia Island is in the middle of the South Atlantic, and icebergs come there. Basically, they start to fall apart almost immediately. It was A23A that caught the world's attention earlier this year, when satellite images showed the brilliant blue lakes of water forming on its surface.

Tarling says the billions of tons of water and iceberg like this unleashes as it breaks down can also have a vibrant effect on the marine environment. If you can imagine they're going through oceans that are quite often starved, all of these micronutrients like iron and manganese, things that plants need to grow that are quite in short supply in the southern ocean. So when an iceberg goes through an area, it almost leaves a trail of greenness behind it. A23A is also helping scientists learn about the effects of climate change on Antarctica's glaciers and ice shelves. This iceberg calved in a completely natural and expected process,

not because of the rising sea and air temperatures that are today having a detrimental effect on the continent. Still, when those ice shelves drift away from Antarctica, they get into warmer temperatures, which might be what Antarctica will be like in many places in the future. Karen Alley is a glaciologist at the University of Manitoba. And so it's sort of a laboratory for us to see how melting impacts big pieces of ice shelves. When an iceberg like A23A breaks off, Tarling says it's quite dramatic. All those cracks joining up to get the one carving event happening. That's quite a moment to see.

Its demise, not so much. Just like an ice cube in your genitonic, you know, it'll just disappear and you won't even notice it. And as soon as a few weeks from now, it'll be bottoms up for A23A. Nick Logan, CBC News, Vancouver. To the sound of this song, plus tens of thousands of screaming fans, BTS made its triumphant return. It's been exactly three years and nine months

since the K-pop supergroup announced it was going on hiatus, so all seven members could fulfill South Korea's mandatory military service. They're all done now and ready to reclaim their pop royalty. status. To kick off the comeback, an hour-long free concert in Seoul in a historic square closed off for the event. The BTS army of fans did not hold back. 22,000 lining up early for free seats. Authorities estimating tens of thousands more watching on giant screens, waving purple and red lightsticks, and their smartphones, of course, and a live Netflix special airing at the time.

The military time just passed by, and we're trying to find out what makes us BTS. Swim, swim, waterfall in all of your skin. Swim, swim. I could spend a life to watch a year. The band's label says its fifth album, Arirang, sold four million copies in its first day. Its title references a 600-year-old Korean folk song, though Leet Sing. Swim is all in English, which might make it slightly easier for global BTS fans to sing along when the band comes to them. Their world tour makes one Canadian stop, Toronto, this August.

Here's more of Swim on your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Skanderas. Good night.