Your World Tonight - Fires and heat, Trump takes over DC police, shipwreck cleanup, and more

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

New Brunswick is looking for — and getting — some help to battle multiple wildfires. Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Maine are sending a total of 30 firefighters. Newfoundland and Labrador is also struggling with several out of control fires. High wind and high heat aren’t helping.That heat is the story across the country — with higher than normal temperatures, and drought-like conditions. We have more on how people are coping.And: The U.S. President is deploying hundreds of National Guard troops in the nation's capital — to crack down on crime. But the stats show crime in Washington D.C. is at a 30-year low.Also: It ran aground off the coast of Newfoundland six months ago and now the race is on to clean up the MSC Baltic III before hurricane season causes more damage — and possibly an environmental disaster.Plus: How Canadians watch UFC could soon change, EU reacts to planned meeting between Trump and Putin, and more.

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Certain conditions apply. This is a CBC podcast. Very sad situation. Fire everywhere. Like wind tornadoes. It would just look like World War II. I've never seen fire so bad and ravaging. A wildfire crisis deepens in Atlantic Canada.

In Newfoundland and New Brunswick, new fires, threatening communities, and straining communities, and straining resources, as officials push ahead with harsh new rules and penalties, struggling to contain the flames and the human activity sparking them. It's quite impressive when you look at seven provinces. There are millions of Canadians who are just belaboring under this excessive heat. It's not just the fire zones feeling the burn.

Large parts of the country are dealing with hot, dry weather and warnings as a summer heat wave rolls on. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Monday, August 11th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the program. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people. We're not going to take it. Capital interest.

U.S. President Donald Trump is putting Washington, D.C. police under federal control. The coasts of Atlantic Canada are often cool and rainy, but this summer the weather has been relentlessly hot, and the region is becoming the focal point of Canada's wildfire fight. Across the country, more than 7 million hectares of forest have burned. Today alone, more than 700 fires are active. On the east coast, flames are getting dangerously close to communities, prompting more military support and more people to leave their homes. Holmes. Nicholas Sagan reports.

Outside an elementary school turned Red Cross evacuation center on Newfoundland's Bay DeVird Peninsula, performers try to distract those forced from their homes. Samantha Fahey brought her kids here, needing hot meals, hoping for a break from reality, not knowing if they have a home to go back to. We had people telling us that our homes were still in Stan in Western Bay, my grandmothers and my mothers, and then we had messages saying, your house is gone. Fahey and her children have been living in an RV since Saturday, when a fast-moving wildfire prompted an evacuation order on the Badaverd Peninsula

around 100 kilometers from St. John's, leaving Fahey and thousands of others just minutes to grab what they could. In that amount of time, I mean, what do you get together? What do you bring? So we got our kids in the car, my two animals, and I ran back to the house. and I grabbed the kids' memory totes, and we just left with what we had on. That wildfire called the Kingston fire is the largest in the province, reaching more than 5,000 hectares or 50 square kilometers,

prompting a local state of emergency. But four other fires burn out of control. Mother Nature continues not to cooperate with us, and crews again are up against the same hot temperatures and high winds throughout the day that they've faced over the weekend. A new one starting this afternoon just outside St. John's. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan says the Paddy's Pond Fire is growing quickly, nearing a populated area, and could cause power outages in St. John's and surrounding areas.

Hogan says homes and cabins have burned down elsewhere in the province, though it's not yet clear how many. People have lived there their whole lives. Their communities are going to be changed, no doubt about it. Burn bans remain in place across the Atlantic provinces, with fines, ranging up to $150,000 and jail time in Newfoundland. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, even a walk in the woods could get you fined. Three fires rage out of control in New Brunswick, encroaching on Mirmishie, Bathurst, and Moncton. Premier Susan Holt stressing the danger of hot, dry weather, and overburdened resources.

We need to keep our roads and our emergency areas as clear as possible so that the people responding to fight these fires can do their job. jobs. So please, if you don't need to be out, don't be out. With no rain in the forecast, the punishing heat will continue this week, as many prepare to leave their homes at a moment's notice. Nicholas Sagan, CBC News, Halifax. You don't need to be close to the wildfire flames to feel the heat. Canadians across the country are dealing with extremely hot and dry weather, including in places that should be much cooler. As Jamie Strasson tells us,

experts say the weather trend is just a warm-up for what could be coming in the future. You can't complain in this weather. Yeah, I love summer. All along Toronto's boardwalk, many are embracing one of the hottest days of the summer. Business as usual are slower pace.

Got to go with the flow. Too hot, can't move too fast. A heat wave all across the country with soaring temperatures that have prompted a slew of heat warnings in Toronto and across much of southwestern Ontario, temperatures are hovering around 35 degrees, add in the humidity and it feels more like the low 40s.

Chad, enjoy the summer, yeah. We get so few days of warmth, right? Some people actually have to work in this heat and share their experiences on how they stay cool with CBC's Ontario call-in show from welders laboring on sweltering rooftops. We also take cold rags and wrap them around the back for a net, and that seems to, if nothing else makes you feel cooler. To this agricultural worker who always has two rags in her cooler. At lunch or at break, I use that cold wet rig and put it on like my back or my neck to cool

off a bit while the other rig is still cooling off. Whether at the beach or at work, if you are in the heat, Glenn Kenney, an environmental physiologist at the University of Ottawa, says drinking water is key. Sweating is a major avenue for heat dissipation when we're exposed to heat. and that sweat must evaporate to cool the body, but you're also losing body water. And that creates a strain on the kidneys. That creates a strain as well on the heart,

because the heart has to work that much harder. There is little respite across the country from these furnace-like temperatures, with heat warnings covering much of Quebec and BC. At noon, I couldn't believe it. The warmest temperatures in Canada were places like Inganish Beach, Nova Scotia and the Miramishi, New Brunswick.

These places are surrounded by water. They shouldn't be the hot spot in Canada. Environment Canada's Dave Phillips says it's rare to see heat like this so widespread. It's quite impressive when you look at seven provinces. There are millions of Canadians who are just belaboring under this excessive heat. Philip says this is what the Canadian summers of the future will look like. This is like the dress rehearsal, a dry run of what we're going to see that will be normal in 2050. We're exclaiming about it now because it is so unusual.

usual. By the end of the week, temperatures in many parts of the country are expected to dip into the high 20s, cooler, but not much relief. Jamie Strashon, CBC News, Toronto. Coming right up, it's a crime capital, according to Donald Trump, as locals push back on the U.S. President's temporary takeover of Washington, D.C. police. And as a key summit approaches, the guest list for this week's Russia-U.S. U.S. meeting still does not include Ukraine. In a dramatic move, the U.S. President Donald Trump says he's deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to the streets of Washington and pushing the city's police force under control of the federal government.

It's a crackdown, Trump says, on violent crime in D.C., but statistics and local officials paint a much different picture. Ashley Burke reports. If our capital's dirty, our whole country is dirty. A disgusting crime-infested wasteland. That's Donald Trump's portrayal of the U.S. Capitol. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it happen anymore.

We're not going to take it. The U.S. president at a White House press conference flanked by his top security, officials. Trump holding up graphs to make his case that Washington is far more dangerous than places like Baghdad and to make sure journalists in the room got it. And you people are victims of it too. You know, you're reporters. You don't want to get mugged and raped and shot and killed. Trump then declared a public safety emergency and called in hundreds of National Guard troops. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week. They will be strong. they will be tough. But the official numbers contrast Trump's description. Washington has crime.

Some parts of D.C. have historically had some of the highest crime rates in the U.S. There have been 1,600 violent incidents so far this year. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. reported incidents last year hit a 30-year low. Despite that, Trump gave the National Guard control over local police, Washington's mayor, Muriel Bowser. And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented. I can't say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we're totally surprised. Trump's battling for control in D.C. Washington has a special rule that allows it to function as a state. Republicans don't like how it's run, like U.S. attorney for D.C., Janine Piro. We need to go after the D.C. Council and their absurd laws. We need to get rid of this concept of, you know,

No cash bail. Free D.C. At a protest outside the White House, D.C. residents are pushing back. It's just so crazy that the people around him aren't seeing that, like, dude, you can't do this. This is not about crime. This is about control.

Justin de Benedictus Kessner, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard, says for Trump, this is really all just about showing the power of his executive branch. He says Trump's announcement is a dangerous move. It's one of the first steps we see towards autocracy in other countries around the world, mobilizing the military to try to control the civilian population. Trump says Washington is a model and is threatening to send the National Guard to other places like New York and Chicago.

Ashley Burke, CBC News, Washington. Trump also weighed in on a highly anticipated summit later this week with Russia's president. The two will meet in Alaska to try to find a way to end Vladimir Putin's war in U.S. Ukraine. Missing from that meeting? Ukraine's leader. And as Margaret Evans explains, his absence has Europe on edge. The path to a ceasefire, let alone a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, appears as murky as ever, despite the hype around the pending U.S.-Russia summit later this week, especially to those still being forced to flee their homes as Russian troops push their slow but deadly advance in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

Here, lives are being packed up in Dobrypilia, as fighting grows closer. Workers with a charity loading people, luggage, and family pets into a van that will take them to safety. You get used to the explosions, but it's still scary, says Vera. Now, even more, because you think tomorrow it could happen to you, in your own home. Analyst say Russian attacks against Ukraine have more than doubled since U.S. President Donald Trump took office last January. On Monday, Trump was boasting about his influence with the Russian president. Vladimir Putin expected to meet Trump in Alaska on Friday. I think if it weren't for me, he would not be even talking to anybody else right now.

Not invited to the summit on Ukraine, the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelensky or any other European leader. Critics say the summit in and of itself rewards Putin the clear aggressor in the conflict. So he will be using it for propaganda goals and for trying to bring Trump on his side. And I see danger in that. Ukrainian MP, Alexander Merechko, says Putin has no interest in ending the war. He is not going to agree to a ceasefire which would allow us to survive. as a nation. He can agree only to such kind of ceasefire, which will create conditions for him

to destroy us only later. I call it sort of delayed death for Ukraine. Trump says he'll talk about potential land swaps with Putin, heightening Western fears that Trump could offer concessions to Russia to Ukraine's detriment. Canada and the UK have released a joint statement, saying they back Trump's peace efforts, but that any peace agreement must be built with Ukraine and not imposed upon it. European Union leaders are scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. Earlier, Poland's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, said

Ukrainian sovereignty is also about European security, adding that he awaits the summit with both fear and hope. An echo of what so many Ukrainians must them sort. selves be feeling. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London. Canada's government is condemning an attack on journalists in Gaza. Six were killed last night in a targeted Israeli airstrike. In a statement, Global Affairs Canada called it unacceptable. The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists called it a war crime.

Sasha Petrissik has more reaction and Israel's explanation. Vowing to avenge his death. A death, a crowd, carries the body of Anas al-Sharif through the bombed-out streets of Gaza, a 28-year-old Al-Jazeera correspondent targeted by an Israeli airstrike. Like many Palestinian reporters, Hassan Salmi is shaken. Last night, Israeli harmy killed our colleagues here behind me. He stands in front of a shredded tent, littered with bits of TV equipment. And we know that this is a threatening message for the other.

journalists to stop covering here. Al-Sharif and four colleagues from Al-Jazeera were killed when a missile struck their work tent near the Al-Sheifa Hospital in central Gaza. The Israeli military had accused him of being a Hamas operative months ago and boasted of their strike online shortly after it hit. The IDF posted three Hamas spreadsheets translated and reformatted, which they said proved he was a fighter. Not a reporter. This is a government that is lying and lying and lying.

Salah Negem rejects the accusation. He's the director of Al Jazeera English. They have been working for two years under very difficult circumstances, risking their lives in order for one thing to happen is to bring the truth about what's happening in Gaza to the outside world. And our correspondents died doing this. Reporting on the hugely destructive war, has been a challenge for 22 months. Israel has refused to allow international journalists in,

including CBC News, leaving local Palestinian reporters and camera people to cover the war from Gaza for many media organizations. The killings were condemned by the head of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, says his spokesman, Stefan Dujadik. The Secretary General calls for an independent and impartial investigation into these latest killings. journalists and media workers must be respected. Indeed, more journalists have been killed in this conflict than in any other in decades, says the committee to protect journalists. Some 200 or more in just two years in Gaza, compared to fewer than 300 in 10 years of fighting in Ukraine.

Jonathan Dagger is with reporters without borders. He says Israel must be held to account. As long as journalists can be killed with zero consequences, then there is no reason for their killers to stop. In fact, there is nothing but advantages for them to continue doing that. In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians also demanded accountability in protest tonight, saying Israel can't be allowed to eliminate the last remaining witnesses who can tell outsiders about the war in Gaza.

Sasha Petrosik, CBC News, Toronto. is joining the growing list of nations planning to recognize a Palestinian state. Anthony Albanese is the Prime Minister. A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza. Albanese says he told Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu the war with Hamas must end with a political solution, not a military one. Albanese plans to make the recognition at the UN General Assembly in September.

Canada, Britain, and France made similar declarations last month. Netanyahu has called the shifts in position a reward for Hamas. This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. The scene outside Toronto's Pearson Airport as flight attendants with Air Canada

prepared to pick it over a contract dispute with the company. Similar demonstrations were held at three other airports. They lasted an hour and flights were not affected. Negotiations have been going on since the beginning of the year. They ramped up last week after, attendance voted in favor of a strike. A walkout could start this weekend. Sticking points include wages and unpaid work. In the competitive business of live sports, it's another knockout for the streaming industry. Paramount has struck a deal with UFC that will see

its streaming service, Paramount Plus, get the exclusive rights to UFC fights in the United States. Anise Hadari has more on what the change means for the popular sport, and and how people access live events. At a mixed martial arts gym in Toronto, Maricio Amado teaches the type of moves you'd probably see in a UFC match. He's a big fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Martial arts is the sport. My UFC helps us a lot for everybody more interested in the sport.

Unfortunately for Amato and for other Canadian UFC fans, nothing is changing in this country, but if you are in the United States, Starting in 2026, pay-per-view for UFC fights is going away. Movie Studio Paramount is spending the equivalent of more than $10.5 billion Canadian to put UFC on its streaming service. Every single event will be free of charge if you're a Paramount Plus subscriber, with select events being simulcast on CBS.

Brandon Katz is with media research firm Greenlight Analytics. He's in Stanford, Connecticut, He says, Paramount is spending big bucks, in part, to chase down a younger audience. And it will mean no more $80 one-off payments to watch the big fight. That doesn't mean there's no catch. So they are doing away with the pay-per-view model entirely. So while, yes, you'll still have probably a higher monthly subscription fee, and Paramount Plus subscribers should probably expect a price hike in the coming six months or so

preceding the UFC's arrival. Oh my God. But this deal does not apply to. Canadians. Rogers Sportsnet, along with cable and satellite pay-per-view providers, show UFC in this country. And Roger says nothing is changing here. So this is really about like the rights are available in the U.S. now. John Bofone is a vice president at Sir Cana Research near New York City. He watches the media and entertainment industry and he says Paramount nabbed UFC in the U.S. because, well, that's where it was available. But watch for changes to come eventually to Canada and

elsewhere. And if that happens, it could be a knockout punch for pay-per-view. It's been dying for a while now. And this is just another one of those big transitions that we're seeing here. You want to watch the UFC event. You're not paying $7,99 per event come January of next year, right? Not yet for Canadians, but as for when, it's unclear. UFC turned down a CBC news request for an interview. So for now, fans are still paying per view. And he's Saddari, CBC News, Calgary. When a cargo ship ran aground off Newfoundland during a February snowstorm,

everyone was thankful the crew was rescued safely. But six months later, the shipwreck is still there. And now it's posing a different kind of threat and the clock is ticking to prevent it. Peter Cowan explains. We were preparing for the worst. Jeff Childs was one of the first people to arrive in Cedar Cove, just as the winds and waves pushed the MSC balls.

Baltic 3 up against the rocks. The 200-meter container ship was powerless, up against a strong winter storm. The 20 crew members were saved by a search-and-rescue helicopter, and it quickly went from a rescue into a cleanup. But that sight in pretty quick that day, about the amount of oil. We were only a month and a half from going fishing, and this is our lobster ground right here. On board the ship, 1,600 tons of oil sitting right in prime fishing grounds.

Jennifer Brake is chief of the Halipu First Nations, whose members fish these waters and no one wants to see a spill. It'd be devastating. Yeah, it would absolutely be devastating. All across Newfoundland, we have people that have counted on our waters to feed us and sustain us,

and we don't want that to change. Welcome to the Incident Command Post here for the MSC Baltic. Making sure a spill doesn't happen is Bruce English's job. For more than 30 years, he's worked with the Coast Guard, responding to environmental emergencies. He's taking us out on the water to see the work underway to clean up the ship.

If that oil leaks out, cleaning it up from the sharp rocks and steep cliffs would be a major challenge. Make no mistake about it, if it's on this type of shoreline, it will be extremely difficult to do, especially through winter months. And you can't just pump out the oil. It's heavy oil, thick, like tar. It's thick enough salvage crews can walk on it. So to pump it out, they need to heat it up with steam for seven days. Then it's pumped onto tanks on deck before a barge takes it away.

of oil have been showing up on the beach as small black balls of tar. We want to understand the chemistry of these tar balls. Mark Dalton is overseeing the cleanup on the beach with environment and climate change Canada. Every day, crews walk the shoreline looking for more pollution. Well, they can have an environmental impact on the birds, certainly fish, you know, insects that birds or fish might eat, all the way up the food chain. Crews are finally making progress. Most of the oil is now pumped off.

The rush is on to get it all off before hurricane season. hurricane season or another winter storm. Every day that is here, there is still concerns, and until it's fully removed, will remain concerned. It'll be next year before crews tried to remove the ship itself. They hope to refloat it, but if they can't, they'll have to cut it up and remove it in pieces. Peter Cowan, CBC News, near Lark Harbor, Newfoundland. Finally, tonight, we end by saying, happy birthday, or in this case, happy hatchday to one of

this country's oldest reptiles. Happy last day to you. Celebrations at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History for Gus the Tortoise. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but the party was on the weekend. Gus turns 103 this year, still going strong and healthy on a diet of bananas, broccoli, and dandelions. He also gets his exercise going for walks outside the museum when the weather's nice. Gus is believed to be the oldest gopher tortoise in the world, a constant for more than a century in a world of change.

Here's what it sounded like on CBC News when a young Gus celebrated the big day back in 1980. Gus's formal name is Gopher Gus the lettuce king. As for Gopher Gus's age, it's presumed to be 58, but the only sure way to tell is to count the rings on his shelf. To do that, you'd have to use acid because a shell is getting a trifle worn. Using acid could kill Gus. Then the event would be awake and not a birthday party.

We like Gus, we always did and always will. Is this the best birthday party you've ever been to? No. As for that age-old question, how does a tortoise blow out his birthday candles? The answer is simple, with a little help from his friends. Okay, guys, one, two, three, wolf! Happy birthday to you!

That was CBC Halifax reporter Stan Johnson, reporting on Gus's birthday in 1980. 45 years later, Gus turns 103 this week. Here's too many more. Thank you for joining us on your world tonight for Monday, August 11th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.