Your World Tonight - Iran picks new Supreme Leader, Half a million people displaced in Lebanon, B.C. moves to permanent daylight time, and more

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

Iran's assembly of experts has chosen a new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba Khamenei was elected to replace his father -- the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in airstrikes last Saturday. Meanwhile, thick, black smoke continues to blanket the sky over Tehran after the U.S. and Israel targeted multiple Iranian oil depotsAlso: Renewed fighting between Israel and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah has led to a significt humanitarian crisis. Lebanon says more than half-a-million people are displaced and nearly 400 people are dead in the escalating conflict.And: It's that time of year again. In much of the country, Canadians lost one hour of sleep overnight. But British Columbians have sprung forward for the last time. The province is now on year-round daylight saving time. But sleep scientists say permanent standard time would have been the better option. Plus: PM Carney announces three byelections, Americans looking to get Canadian citizenship, The Canadian short animated film looking to win an Oscar, and more

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This is a CBC podcast. Iran has a new supreme leader, the son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Haminii, will take the job. But both the United States and Israel are saying he could face the same fate as his late father. This is your world tonight. I'm Nisha Patel. Also on the podcast, Lebanon says more than half a million people are displaced and nearly 400 people are dead in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. And in a world of AI, this is a completely handcrafted film. A group of Canadian animators have their sights set on winning a coveted gold statue. You'll hear about the Canadian short that's up for an award at next week's Oscars.

Iran's Assembly of Experts has chosen a new supreme leader. Mushtaba Hamenei was elected to replace his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Hamenei, who was killed in an airstrike last week. Mushhtaba Hamini is now Iran's third supreme leader. That role makes him Iran's head of state and the commander-in-chief of Iran's military. The 56-year-old has never held any government office, nor has he ever given any public interviews or speeches, and he assumes the role with a target on his back. Meanwhile, thick black smoke continues to blanket the sky over Tehran after the U.S. and Israel targeted multiple Iranian oil depots.

Our senior international correspondent Margaret Evans brings us today's news from Airbeal Iraq. Residents of Tehran awoke this morning to black clouds spreading across the skyline like spilled ink, seeming to saturate the city as it came down in the rain. The aftermath of U.S. Israeli strikes on oil depots in and around the Iranian capital overnight. Fires popping off on nearby streets. Iran has accused its foes of deliberately spreading toxic gas. Israel calls the depot's legitimate military targets, and like Washington, is pledging to escalate its attacks.

In Israel, an Iranian missile managed to elude the country's sophisticated defenses and land in the center of the country injuring three people, police suggesting it held a cluster bomb to spread maximum. damage. All this on day nine of a war that has so far killed more than 1,300 Iranian civilians, according to Tehran, President Massoud Pesachkian visiting a hospital and denouncing Iran's enemies as bullies. It's not possible, he said, that our heroic nation will retreat easily in the face of threats that they make. And in an apparent expression of that defiance, Iran has named Mostaba Hamenei to replace his father Ayatollah Ali Hamenei as Iran's next supreme leader.

That's according to Iranian state media, and despite America and Israeli threats that whoever is chosen as the next supreme leader will face the same fate as the previous one. Opponents of the regime inside Iran say the Islamic Republic is on its last legs. At least they hope. hope so. Some say the U.S.-Israeli attacks are extracting a sad but necessary price, voices that are difficult to reach. We don't want our country to be attacked and destroyed, says this man, in touch with CBC News, and whose identity we are protecting for his safety. On the other hand, we don't want the Islamic Republic to stay in power. All this destruction is reversible, he says, But what this regime might do if it stays in power, that is irreversible. Whether it will manage to do so, of course, is a question no one yet has the answer to.

Margaret Evans, CBC News, in Erbil, northern Iraq. This situation in Lebanon is escalating rapidly. Renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy group, has resulted in the deaths of 400 people this week, and the violence has displaced hundreds of thousands. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed solidarity with his Lebanese counterpart today, saying Lebanon was unwillingly dragged into the latest mid-east conflict. Susan Ormiston is in Beirut for us tonight.

Susan, you arrived in Beirut just hours ago. What are you seeing there? Yeah, well, the airport is open in spite of the Israeli airstrikes in a neighborhood very close to the airport. And the city is not closed down from what we were able to see. The night street food stalls were open, people were milling about. But the center court is very crowded because there are hundreds of thousands of people who have evacuated the suburbs in southern Lebanon and they have nowhere to go in the capital. So some are sleeping on the street.

The schools here are still closed and the security situation is rapidly changing. You know, it's been less than a week since Hezbollah and Israel renewed active attacks and just threw this whole country into the war. Earlier Sunday, Israel's military struck a hotel in central Beirut, killing at least four people. What is the IDF saying about that attack? Yeah, that was an airstrike that hit the Ramada Hotel. That's about a minute's drive from where we are staying in central Beirut.

And it targeted a corner suite, killing at least four men, according to the IDF, who say these men were members of Iran's Quds force, of the Revolutionary Guards, and they were here in Lebanon as commanders to advance attacks against Israel. The IDF talked about this in a news conference this afternoon in Israel and said this attack is a message to all Revolutionary Guards operatives. There's no immunity, said the spokesperson, not in Lebanon, not in Iran, nor anywhere else. And this attack rattled people because it's the first time in the heart of Beirut since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran and Lebanon got more involved with this.

It is not an area associated with the Hezbollah stronghold, and it raises fears that more airstrikes could come anywhere in central Beirut as Israel continues to ferret out Hezbollah operatives. This renewed fighting between Hezbollah and Israel is creating a massive humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. What's the latest on that? It's certainly growing day by day. According to the Lebanese health minister today, the number of debt has reached nearly 400 in a week, including more than 80 kids. Now, they don't make a distinction

between civilians and militants killed. Israel has warned swathes of southern Lebanon to evacuate, so there are now nearly half a million people out of their homes. And many streaming north, as I said, to the capital, only about 100,000 of those are in shelters. So you can see this humanitarian crisis developing day by day. Those are startling numbers. Susan Ormiston and Beirut. Thank you.

You're welcome. In Washington, questions continue to swirl about what exactly the U.S. wants to achieve in Iran and how far and how long it's willing to go. All this says Americans are starting to feel pressure at the pumps as gas prices surge. Katie Nicholson has that part of the story. Death and destruction from the sky all day long. As the U.S. Department of War pumped out yet another video insisting on its dominance over Iran.

Look, you never know exactly the time frame of this, but in the worst case, this is a week's, this is not a month's thing. President Donald Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, found himself trying to tamp down fears around skyrocketing gas prices. the conflict chokes the 20% of the world's oil supply that normally travels through the Strait of Hormuz. We are nowhere near normal traffic right now. And, you know, and that'll take some time.

But again, worst case, that's a few weeks. That's not months. U.S. President Donald Trump kept a low profile Sunday but told ABC News the spike in gas prices is a glitch. He also said he hadn't ruled out sending in special forces to seize Iran's enriched uranium. On Air Force One on Saturday, he was asked again about whether he would send ground troops into the country. Could there be possible for very good reason? It would have to be very good reason.

And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they would be able to fight at the ground level. Trump also denied reports by multiple news outlets that it was a U.S. strike that destroyed a girls' school in Iran on the first day of the war, killing by some estimates, more than 165 people, most of them, children. We think it was done by Iran. They're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran. I think it is likely the United States.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy sees that strike as a troubling indicator. The fact that this was one of our first targeting decisions, that this mistake was made on the first day of war, I think speaks to the incompetence of our leadership of the Department of Defense. On Sunday, the death toll of American service members crept up. As the U.S. military announced a seventh soldier had died after being injured last week during an Iranian attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. While in Oslo, a forensics team steps through broken glass outside the U.S. embassy

after an explosion caused minor damage overnight. The State Department has been warning American. around the world to be extra cautious since the conflict began as it struggles to get its citizens out of the Middle East and to safety. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. Still ahead, British Columbia is ditching the annual clock change for good, moving to permanent daylight time year-round. But while experts are all for the move,

they're concerned about the time zone that was chosen. That's coming up on your world tonight. In Beijing today, China's foreign minister slammed the U.S. Israel war with Iran, but stopped short of singling out the United States for initiating it. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil and has longstanding political and economic links with the country. And so far, China has done little to overtly offer assistance to Iran. That may be because U.S. President Donald Trump is set to visit Beijing soon. And as Chris Brown tells us, China's government wants to keep its options with Trump open.

With China's supply of oil and its immense economy jeopardized by a war initiated by the United States and Israel, it has a lot riding on the attacks on Iran ending soon. This is a war that should never have happened and that benefits no party, said Wang Yi, China's foreign minister, as he opened a giant news conference in Beijing, attended by CBC News. Unlike Donald Trump's impromptu freewheeling media gatherings, questions that this one had to be submitted weeks ago. Wang's answers tried to position China as a source of stability.

Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. There can be no returning to the law of the jungle, he said, in an apparent warning against any potential plans to topple Iran's regime or to encourage uprisings that could leave the country in chaos. But notably, even though Iran is a strategic partner for China that appears to be getting badly beaten, Wang did not directly name either the United States nor its president as being at fault for starting the war.

I think China came out quite strongly, rhetorically. They haven't come out in terms of any practical assistance. Perhaps that's because Trump is planning to visit Beijing in just under three weeks. And the Chinese economically have a lot riding on his trip, says Jia Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore. This effort to maybe criticize but not really do anything, this effort also to couch some of that criticism in terms of some countries,

as opposed to the United States. Instead, Wong saved his toughest comments for Taiwan, saying reunifying the democratically governed territory is at the core of all of China's core interests. China has stepped up military drills off the island in a sign of intimidation, although some military observers note they've suddenly pulled back lately, again possibly to try to improve the political climate heading into Trump's visit. China's foreign minister suggested 2026 will be a landmark year in high-level exchanges could be advantageous, which may be why so far China has largely been on the sidelines in the Middle East

War. Chris Brown, CBC News, Beijing. Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced three federal by-elections next month in Quebec and Ontario, and there's a lot on the line. If the liberals win all three seats, it would shift the balance of power and give them a slim majority government. David Thurton is in Ottawa with more. The bloc-Kéqueque off to the races. Hours after a by-election call, the candidate Natalie St. Clair de Gagne is revving up the crowd as she opens a campaign office in the Montreal riding of Tirbon.

It's a rematch between her and the liberal who held the seat for about nine months, Tatiana August. Neither the bloc or the liberals are taking this riding for granted. Both their leaders are spending lots of time here. Prime Minister Mark Carney getting a bite at a local restaurant recently. The Liberals are hungry for victory here. Last spring they won it by one vote. In February it slipped from their hands. The Supreme Court annulling the slender result

after it was discovered that a mail-in ballot for the bloc Quebecois never got counted. It had the wrong return address on it, Along with Terrebon, two other races were also launched in Toronto. It's clear to both of us that this by-election is a critical opportunity to send a signal. In a social media video, Daniel Martin, the liberal candidate for University Rosdale, stands with the liberal candidate for Scarborough Southwest, Dolly Begham, who jumps ship, leaving the Ontario NDP, joining the federal liberals. We're going to win this.

Both ridings, once held by former Liberal cabinet ministers, are safe seats. According to Eric Grenier, a polling analyst and publisher of the writ.ca. So Tejaban is really the one that will be the most hotly contested, and if the liberals win that one, then it would secure their majority government. The county government was elected with a narrow minority. Three conservatives crossing the floor have put the liberals within striking distance of a majority. winning back that Quebec seat could seal it, Grenier says. But we have seen that the polls in Quebec have been pretty good for the Liberals.

They haven't been as good for the Block Quebecoa. So it does suggest that the Liberals might be able to win this riding. Something else is in their favor. The Liberal National Convention is in Montreal the weekend before the by-election, giving the party momentum just before the decisive vote. David Thurton, CBC News, Ottawa. The need for Russian oil has put UK. Ukraine in a standoff with its neighbors, Hungary and Slovakia depend on Russian crude.

But the pipeline runs through Ukraine and Kiev says it was damaged in a Russian attack. Julia Chapman has more from London. Ukraine's energy facilities come under frequent attack, but it's damaged to Russian infrastructure at the heart of a growing dispute. Drusba is one of the world's longest pipelines carrying oil to Moscow's customers in Europe. When Russia invaded Ukraine, most European countries shifted away from Russian oil. The two exceptions are Slovakia and Hungary. They receive crude through the Drujba pipeline after it transits through Ukraine. But in January, Ukraine said a Russian drone damaged it.

Slovakia and Hungary are questioning that account and demanding an inspection. Gregor Roche is from the Chatham House think tank. It's not just oil prices that are at risk. It's also the refinery throughput in a way, not just output, but throughput, employment and export revenues. Slovakia and Hungary pay around $2.5 billion a year for their Russian oil. Determined to see it restored, they're ramping up the war of words. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fizzo describes President Volodymyr Zelensky as hostile and says Ukraine is harming his country's interests.

He's announced that Slovakia will stop providing emergency electricity to Ukraine. The war-torn country sometimes imports from its neighbor when Russian strikes leave Ukraine short. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Ukraine is deliberately delaying repairs to Drushba for political reasons. To pile on the pressure, he's blocked a $145 billion European Union loan to Ukraine. He's also holding up the latest sanctions package on Russia, and he's accused Ukraine of planning acts of sabotage against Hungarian energy. Ukraine has targeted Russian energy infrastructure, including a pumping station that serves the droujoba.

Zelensky says the pipeline could be ready in six weeks, but he's admitted he's reluctant to repair it, saying it will put people at risk. In a sarcastic answer to a journalist this week, Zelensky said, Russians are killing us, and we're supposed to give poor little Orbán oil because he won't win elections without it. Orban faces re-election in April and he's behind in the polls. Price rises from an oil crunch could hurt his chances even more and the war in Iran is already pushing them up. Here's Gregor Roche from Chatham House again.

He's certainly positioning Ukraine as a kind of political foil and for obvious electoral purposes. There may soon be another reason. in forcing Hungary and Slovakia to diversify. Brussels is expected to discuss proposals for a full ban on Russian oil imports this spring. And the Drujba pipeline could one day be out of action for good. Julia Chapman, CBC News, London. There are millions of potential Canadians living in the United States. Thanks to a recently enacted law,

anyone who can prove Canadian descent, no matter how many generations back, is eligible to become a citizen. And as Alexander Silberman tells us, archivists in this country say they're seeing a surge in demand for records from Americans. I know, and he's born in Notre Dame de Hamill. Ryan and Mary Hamill are sitting at their kitchen table, sifting through birth records, debt certificates,

and grainy photographs that tell the story of their heritage. Growing up in a small Massachusetts town, the American couple always knew of their French-Canadian roots. pie was a staple, a Slippie suit. Ryan's great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Quebec in the early 1900s. Mary's great-great-grandfather

came in the late 1800s. More than a century later, the Hamils, already living and working in Montreal, are now set to become Canadian themselves, taking advantage of a new law. We're getting the lay of the land and visiting more places. I can look in the maps and say, oh, this is where Nana was born,

or this is where Papa's family was from. Bill C3, nicknamed the Lost Canadians Act, opens the door for people with Canadian ancestors to apply for citizenship. The interest has just soared over the past year. Cassandra Fultz is an immigration consultant based in Toronto. She expects applications from the United States to continue to take off. As a growing number of Americans seek a second passport due to the political climate. Great-grandmother, great-grandfather, great-great-great-great-grandfather.

It does not matter. There's no limit on how many generations you can go back as long as you can prove it. The new legislation is creating overwhelming demand at the National Archives in Montreal. Archivist Sarah Hannaheim is carefully examining a birth registry, using white gloves to turn through pages more than a century old. So it's a small parish Anglican. In January alone, Quebec archivists received more than a thousand requests to authenticate birth records, up from just 32, in the same month last year. About 10 million Americans could be eligible to become Canadian with the right documents. The majority are descendants of economic migrants to New England from Quebec in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

David Vermet is a Franco-American historian. They're very excited to have this sense that there's an official recognition that they still belong to something. In Montreal, the Hamels are finalizing their citizenship applications, driven north by the political climate in the U.S. I already feel Canadian in at least my heart. Finding a new home and sense of belonging through ancestors, generations apart. Alexander Silberman, CBC News, Montreal. It's that time of year again in much of the country. Canadians lost one hour of sleep overnight,

but British Columbians have sprung forward for the last time. The province is now on year-round daylight saving time. But as Tara Carmen reports, sleep scientists say permanent standard time would have been the better option. Children arrive at school in suburban Vancouver, groups of them dodging between the cars waiting to pull into the school parking lot. They're doing this in the daylight now, and always have.

But come December, even the first. spell will be in the dark. That's because this weekend BC transitions to permanent daylight time. The change means the sun won't come up until after 9 a.m. in cities like Vancouver and Victoria in parts of December. You are cutting out lights in the morning. That worries sleep researchers like Simon Fraser University's Miriam Judah. She says exposure to morning light is important for setting our circadian rhythms, our body's sleep-wake cycle. When we don't get morning light exposure, what that means is that we are more night outs. Second, it means that we will be more fatigued during the day, and we will be more alert at night.

Judah estimates British Columbians can expect to lose half an hour of sleep each night as a result of the change. She and other scientists say the better option for overall health would have been to switch to permanent standard time, which keeps light in the earlier part of the day. Jamie Zitzer is the co-director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Studies at Stanford University. His research was cited by the BC government when the change was announced. It's, I think, scientifically not a good idea. And in terms of health, I don't think it's a good idea to do that kind of switch. While his team and others have found the spring clock change is associated with higher rates of car accidents and heart attacks,

he did not find permanent daylight time was the best option. We did this modeling study and we looked at this and we basically found that being in permanent standard time from a circadian perspective is going to be healthier, especially when it comes to strokes and obesity. The BC government cited 93% support for the change in a 2019 survey. But that survey only gave British Columbians two options, continue changing the clocks or move to permanent daylight time. So, yeah, that's not really a valid choice. The government said the change will mean later sunsets in the winter,

giving British Columbians more time for leisure activities in the evening. And that because no other provinces or states bordering BC were considering a move to standard time, they didn't consider it a viable option. Tara Carmen, CBC News, Vancouver. In Montreal, in the early 20th century, a poor boy falls in love with a girl whose tears turn into pearls, forcing him to choose between love and greed. That is the story of The Girl Who Cried Pearls.

The Canadian Stop Motion animated fable is up for an Oscar next Sunday. Joe Pavia has more. Of all the treasures in this entire room, can you guess which is most precious? A scene from the Oscar-nominated stop-motion animated short, The Girl Who Cried Pearls. Filmmakers Chris Levis and Machek Sharbovsky wanted to create a new favorite that tells the story of a poor boy who falls in love with a girl whose tears turn into pearls. Let's say in a world of AI, this is a completely handcrafted film. Chris Lavis says the film uses handmade puppets to tell their story.

Every piece of dust was put there with a purpose. And every paint ship was created by hand. Every second of movement was made by... ourselves and the animators one frame at a time. Both Levis and Cherbowski wanted stage and screen actor Column Fior to be part of the project. Should I stop? No, no. What happened next?

Fior, who is based in Stratford, Ontario, plays all four of the male roles in the film, including an old man, a pawnbroker, a jeweler, and the young boy. It's not all that hard. You're looking at, you know, you're watching the movie, and you're thinking, I'm innocent. It's pitched slightly higher. It's more available, vulnerable, innocent. And then for many of the others, I just let my natural decrepitude shine through.

Fior says he watched a copy of the film to get the sense of the character's movements, which he acted out in the recording studio. What we're really trying to convey here is a living, breathing creature, who happens to be a stop-motion animated puppet. Fior met with the creators at Fred Smith's studio in Kitchener, Ontario, where owner Fred Smith saw Fior's actions in person.

Home really has a handle and reading between the lines on these scripts and knows exactly what these are all about and a little help in direction from the directors. The directors are often, you know, first take. I'll look behind them and their jaws are on the floor. A matching pair. Hmm. Very, very rare. This is the second Oscar nomination, Montreal-based animators Levis and Sherbowski have received. Their first was for the 2007 National Film Board animated short, Madame Tudely-Pootley. Joe Pavia, CBC News, Kitchener. And on the second day of the Milano Cortina Paralympics, 25-year-old Natalie Wilkie from Salmon Arm, BC won Canada's first gold medal of the Games.

Presenting Canada. Wilkie topped the podium in the women's standing biathlon, completing her course in a time of 33 minutes, 1.8 seconds, with no shooting penalties. This was the fourth Paralympic gold medal of her career, and she says an especially sweet way to mark International Women's Day. It definitely makes me really proud to be a strong woman in a field of strong woman. Her cheeks sparkling with golden glitter, Wilkie had this message for young girls who watched her. triumphantly cross that finish line. Stick with it, do your best, and you know, it's all about the fun, as much as it is about

the competitiveness. You can do whatever you dream. This has been your world tonight for Sunday, March 8th. I'm Nisha Patel. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.