Your World Tonight - Israel strikes Gaza, Trump and Putin talk, Arctic security, and more

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Israel says air strikes in Gaza are going to continue. It’s accusing Hamas of refusing to return hostages, and impeding ceasefire negotiations. Hamas says Israel is changing the terms of the original ceasefire agreement signed two months ago. Israel now says those negotiations will only take place “under fire”. More than 400 people were killed in the strikes early Tuesday.Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will set up an early-warning radar system in the Arctic. It will start scanning the skies by 2029. Carney went to Iqaluit to make the announcement. He also pledged more money for housing and help for the region to become less dependent on coal.Russia’s president has agreed to pause attacks… but only those aimed at energy infrastructure in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin spoke for more than two hours with U.S. President Donald Trump. The two came away from the conversation suggesting a ceasefire was possible… sometime in the future. The pause on targeting infrastructure is temporary – expected to last just 30 days.They’re home! After nine months in space, astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have splashed down back on Earth. They left for an eight-day visit, but wound up spending nine months on the International Space Station, studying the effects of long-term space stays on the human body.Plus: Can Canada get out of the deal to buy F35s? And is the country ready for another pandemic? And more…

Hey, it's me, Michael Buble. You hear that? That's the sound of the Junos, the biggest party in Canadian music. I'll be their hosting. Sum 41 will be rocking out on stage for the last time, plus a whole lineup of amazing performances. And guess what?

You're all invited. All bring the tux, you bring the snacks. Let's make it a night to remember. Don't miss the Junos, live from Vancouver, March 30th at 8 Eastern on CBC and CBC Jam. This is a CBC podcast. There's no hope. There's no hope for our kids for our families last night.

There is no hope for our kids, for our families. Last night we woke up suddenly on heavy and intense airstrikes. Deep inside we are not okay. Hope leaves Gaza as Israeli bombs return and a fragile ceasefire shatters. With hostages still being held by Hamas, weeks of relative calm and optimism replaced with fear in a region facing another cycle of violence and the potential return of all-out war. Welcome to Your World Tonight. It is Tuesday, March 18th, just before 6pm Eastern.

I'm Susan Bonner, also on the podcast. It is obvious that Russians are still trying to seize momentum. They're still trying to grab as much as possible before the full-fledged negotiation. As one ceasefire stumbles, another takes some first small steps. After a phone call with the White House, Vladimir Putin agrees to scale back on some strikes if Ukraine does the same. It would be a first in the conflict and progress on a peace plan, but not the full pause Ukraine was pushing for, and Donald Trump promised.

The bombardment started in the middle of the night, as most people in Gaza slept. A sudden barrage of Israeli airstrikes that killed more than 400 people and wounded many more, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The attacks are unraveling, a delicate two-month ceasefire, and with hostages still in captivity, Israel's prime minister is promising more to come. The CBC's Margaret Evans reports. More to endure, then, for Gaza's brutalized civilians in the lingering hope that a ceasefire would

hold snatched away in the night along with the lives of innocents. By sunrise, Ahmed Shaban was cradling his dead nephew in his arms, the baby killed in Israel's renewed strikes nephew in his arms. The baby killed in Israel's renewed strikes along with his parents. Why did you kill him, Mr. Netanyahu? The baby's grandfather, Moussein Shaban, asks. If it was one of their children, there would be an international outcry.

Standing over piles of bodies wrapped in white sheets, Musab Quraika holds up a list he made of his relatives killed overnight, 26 so far. Without any warning, he says, suddenly while they were sleeping. Israel says it is attacking Hamas fighters, political leaders and infrastructure, blaming the militant group for refusing Israeli demands for changes to the original ceasefire terms signed in January. The mass accuses Israel of changing the goalposts. Israel says the rules of the game have changed and with Washington's support. Tonight, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked his American friends and

gave a warning to Hamas. From this point on, he said, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing force. Negotiations will only take place under force, and this is just the beginning. Netanyahu's critics accuse him of wanting to prolong the war in a bid to stay in power. Today we are going to be in the streets. Noam Tibon is a former Israeli major general, one of the organizers of a major protest against the Netanyahu government in Tel Aviv tonight, drawing tens of thousands. I think that most Israelis, just like myself,

the same question mark, whether it is pure military action or military because of political issues. supporters and family members of some of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza held protests of their own earlier in the day Demanding a return to the ceasefire and planned releases Ainiv Zangauker is one of the protest leaders

Don't let the prime minister and the members of his government sacrifice the lives of my son Matan and all the other living hostages just to remain in power," she says. In Gaza, Palestinians already pushed more than once from one end of the long narrow strip to the other in search of safety are on the move again. The Israeli military issuing evacuation orders in the North and the South. Hospitals already on their knees are struggling to cope with a new wave of casualties. Israel began blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza again two weeks ago. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London. It was a two-hour phone call that couldn't end a three-year-old war. But a conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin

is leading to some progress for Ukraine, with Russia agreeing to stop strikes on certain critical infrastructure. Briar Stewart has more. Sirens sounded across Ukraine as drones targeted several regions including the capital. The attack came just a few hours after Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin. The US president said on his social media platform, True Social, that it was a very good conversation and it was productive, even though Putin didn't agree to the month-long truce the US was pushing for.

The Sahelts were very close. Alexander Krayev is with the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council. He spoke to CBC News after the air attacks in his neighborhood in Kiev stopped for the time being. It is obvious that Russians are still trying to seize momentum. They're still trying to grab as much as possible before the full-fledged negotiation. Putin wouldn't say yes to a full ceasefire, but did agree to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days. The White House says negotiations will begin right away on a maritime ceasefire

designed to stop attacks on the Black Sea. During the call, Russia's president pushed for a condition he has raised before. Under a ceasefire deal, Putin wants military aid to Ukraine stopped, along with the sharing of intelligence. He also wants the country banned from mobilizing soldiers, something Ukraine's president says is a deliberate attempt to weaken his country. Vladimir Zelensky says while he supports a stop to attacks on energy infrastructure, he doesn't want talks about Ukraine to happen without Kiev. Ahead of the call, Trump said he would be speaking to Putin about the division of land in Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russia.

It lies about 60 kilometers southwest of the city of Zaporizhzhia where residents like Yulia Litvin have lived through attacks. We want to believe that there will be no more hits on critical infrastructure, that we will leave peacefully and calmly, she said, because we're tired of it all. But in Russia, where the call was billed as a pivotal moment between two world leaders, political observers were pleased with the outcome. In my opinion, was great success. Alexander Dugin is a Russian ultra-nationalist

and a philosopher who wrote a book called The Trump Revolution. He says the fact that Russia and the U.S. are talking is already a victory. That is already the end of blockade of Russia. We start to transmit our message to the United States. After the call, the Kremlin said both countries agreed to develop their relations. And to apparently help with that Putin said that Russia and the US should stage a hockey game an idea which the Kremlin said

Trump supported. Briar Stewart, CBC News, London. Coming up on the podcast new details about how the US may calculate and impose the next scheduled round of tariffs. Prime Minister Carney takes his sovereignty message to Canada's north and a looming fight over fighter jets. We cannot and should not look first to others to defend our nation. The Prime Minister in Iqaluit this afternoon announcing Canada will be beefing up its security infrastructure in the Arctic. Mark Carney's visit to the North was short in duration but long on symbolism at a time when Canadian sovereignty is under threat.

The CBC's Catherine Cullen has been following Carney's travels. Catherine, tell us more about Carney's Arctic announcement and its significance. Well, Susan, at a time of heightened tensions with the United States, moving forward on defending the Arctic could help relations, though first and foremost it will help protect Canada from threats such as hypersonic missiles that could come from adversaries such as Russia, China or elsewhere. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced more than $6 billion for an over-the-horizon radar system developed in partnership with Australia. The system would see pillars built in southwestern Ontario, near Peterborough and Canadian Forces Base Borden that could be scanning Nunavut airspace

by 2029. This is part of a bigger envelope of $40 billion already committed to modernizing NORAD. In that same vein of better protecting the Arctic, an additional $420 million will go towards a bigger military presence, adding three new year-round operations in the North. Again, this is money that's being newly allocated to this use, but it's part of an existing envelope, so it doesn't require parliament to sign off. Finally, there's a quarter of a billion dollars to advance reconciliation in the north going to a variety of projects like upgrading power plants, building a hydroelectric plant that would help get communities off highly polluting diesel, and building and repairing homes badly needed in much of the north. Okay, given the

moment that we're in a trade war with the U.S. and an election looming in days, what about the politics of all this? Well, even under President Biden, Susan, there was a lot of pressure from the United States for Canada to up its game on North American defense through NORAD. And Canadian officials say on a military level, they expect Americans to be happy with this announcement. They know the technology, the Americans do, and we are told this is the most sophisticated, it will be ready, the fastest. The complexity here, of course, comes from President Donald Trump. He's difficult to predict. And there are sore points when it comes to the Arctic too. Even before Donald Trump,

there's legal disagreement with the United States over the status of the Northwest Passage. The U.S. has said this is international waters. Canada does not agree. The Prime Minister was asked about that today. The Northwest Passage is Canadian sovereign. These are Canadian sovereign waters. These are internal waters to Canada. Canada, and we first and foremost need to take steps to assert that sovereignty in several ways.

Worth noting too, Susan, that Carney signaled there is more to come from him on defense spending. Not clear whether that will be as prime minister or something we might hear on the election campaign trail, but we know this question of sovereignty is going to be a big issue hanging over a future election campaign. It was certainly a big issue on the Prime Minister's trip to the United Kingdom as well as France. It is very much a big issue in the North where we should point out Mark Carney was born. Susan?

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you. Catherine Cullen, the host of CBC Radio's The House in Iqaluit. There's already one big budget defence item the Carney government is looking at, Canada's purchase of next generation fighter jets. The F-35s have been a long and complicated political saga. Now a new twist as the recent US-Canada trade war has the government questioning paying billions of dollars to an American contractor.

Murray Brewster on the potential consequences if Canada backs out of the deal. The F-35 has long been a political football in Canada and it seems destined to be one again. The defence minister raised the issue with me. The issue, says Prime Minister Mark Carney, is whether the F-35 is the right warplane for Canada. The fact is that under the contract, as you may know, after a certain number of purchases, then we have options on subsequent aircraft. Canada has already paid for its first tranche of 16 F-35s to be delivered in the next few

years. It planned to buy 88 in total from defense contractor Lockheed Martin for 19 billion dollars. But that could change, Defence Minister Bill Blair. The Prime Minister has asked me to go and examine those things and have discussions with other sources, particularly where there may be opportunities to assemble those fighter jets in Canada to properly support them and maintain them in Canada. That is a very obvious reference to the company that placed second in Canada's fighter jet competition.

Saab, the Swedish defense giant with its Gripen E fighter jet which it offered to assemble in Canada. Reducing the number of F-35s bought from the U.S. as much as it may feel good politically and play well with an angry public, would not be easy. This is the wrong weapon system to reconsider. Retired General Tom Lawson is the country's former top military commander and a former consultant for Lockheed Martin. He says operating two types of fighters is something the military doesn't want to do.

It's costly, two training regimes, two supply chains and separate hangars. Lawson also warns any further delays risk wearing out the current CF-18s. There's a very real scenario where everything gets delayed to the point where there are no fighters flying in Canada for a period of time. And that would be a further blow to Canada's struggling air force. New documents obtained by CBC News show only 40% of RCAF aircraft are serviceable and ready to fly and fight. We don't have war stocks to sustain a fight. Critics have suggested the F-35 should be dropped because it's vulnerable to U.S. interference. Former test pilot, retired Lieutenant Colonel Billy Flynn says the same could be said

for all U.S. military software and weapons supply chains. There is nothing unique about the vulnerability of the F-35. Reducing Canada's F-35 purchase could also affect aerospace firms in this country. To date, $3.5 billion of Canadian parts have gone into the program, contracts that could be vulnerable depending on the direction the political wind is blowing. Marie Brewster, CBC News, Ottawa. Now to the threats Canada is facing from the South. April 2nd is the day the United States has set to impose another round of tariffs.

So far Donald Trump's trade war has been unpredictable. But new information from the White House is giving us a somewhat clearer picture of what to expect next month. Katie Simpson reports from Washington. And we are going to make the country more affordable for working Americans. The U.S. trade secretary is offering new insight into the Trump administration's tariff plan. During an interview airing on Fox News, Scott Bessant offered a roadmap of what to expect starting next month. What's going to happen on April 2nd, each country will receive a number that we believe it represents their tariffs.

So for some countries it could be quite low, for some countries it could be quite high. A senior Canadian government source says it is believed the number will be the new tariff rate. Besant said it will be determined on how fair the Trump administration views the trading relationship and take into consideration tariffs imposed on US goods and other trade related barriers. He says it will be the starting point for a negotiation. If you will stop this we will not put up the tariff wall. If you do, then we will put up the tariff wall to protect our economy, protect our workers, and protect our industry. This appears to be at odds with some of what the president has said before. Just yesterday, Donald Trump seemed to warn that tariffs would be imposed on April 2nd. April 2nd is liberationation Day for our country

because we're going to finally be taking in money. In a statement to CBC News, the White House cautioned that details have not yet been finalized, saying the reciprocal tariff plan has yet to be unveiled by President Trump, but adding that all members of his team are aligned on this policy. Besant also suggested there will be opportunities for countries to escape tariffs. I'm optimistic that April 2nd, some of the tariffs may not have to go on because a deal

is pre-negotiated or that once countries receive their reciprocal tariff number, that right after that, they will come to us and want to negotiate it down. It has been an erratic start to the Trump presidency when it comes to trade policy. Blanket 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico were threatened, delayed, imposed, and then paused with some exceptions. Followed by 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. Trump has made it no secret he does not view the Canada-U.S. trading relationship as fair. Canada is absolutely one of the worst. He's complained about protections for Canadian dairy, made false accusations about Canadian banking rules, exaggerated and complained about the trade deficit. The list goes on and on.

While the White House did not provide any detail about a number or tariff rate for Canada, it is a frequent target of Trump's anger. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. New Brunswick's projected deficit for the coming fiscal year has ballooned to nearly $600 million. Finance Minister René Legacé says $50 million contingency fund has been set aside to deal with U.S US tariff threats. About 90% of the province's exports go to the United States. Despite those challenges, Lagasse says the government will keep its promise to fix

health care and education. This is the Liberal government's first budget since winning the election in October. Canadian health officials are warning about a possible surge of avian influenza. While the threat to humans is still low, millions of birds across the country have either been infected or culled because of the virus. And experts say those numbers could grow because of the upcoming spring migration. Jennifer Yoon explains. Shut that down as rapidly as possible. At the BC Centre for Disease Control, epidemiology lead Dr. Danuta Skowronski is following bird flu very closely.

Quite frankly, a single case of avian influenza is very concerning because we do not want that virus to adapt to humans. H5N1 is just one mutation away from being more transmissible between humans, suggests a study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. And the virus is getting a lot of opportunities to change in the United States. Ian Brown is a leading bird flu expert at the UK-based Purbright Institute. There is a substantial amount of disease threat and change going on in the US itself right now with lots of cases in dairy cattle, domestic birds, and of course, not an insignificant number of spillover infections into humans. The US Department of Agriculture says 166 million birds have been affected since 2022. Workers milking cows in the US have also gotten sick, as have a variety of other mammals like

seals, cats and dogs. Over the past few months, there have also been two severe human cases in North America. A senior in Louisiana who died, and a BC teen who spent two months in hospital. We don't really know what's coming to us. Manon Rasico is a veterinary epidemiologist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. She says as migratory birds start heading north towards Canada, where over 14 million birds have been infected or culled, our country could feel a greater impact soon. Will the birds still be infected?

Will they be shitting the virus in the environment in Canada? It's coming at a volatile time for American scientists. The US is pulling out of the World Health Organization and there have been communication blackouts at the Centers for Disease Control. The administration fired several bird flu response employees during its purge of the federal workforce. They're now scrambling to hire them back. Canadian health authorities say despite the chaos, Americans have been picking up our

calls about human cases of bird flu. It's personal relationships. BC Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry says that's in part thanks to hard-built connections. But Canada needs to be ready to tackle the virus on its own. We need to be able to step up and make sure we know what's going on in our provinces and territories and across this country as well. The risk level is low for the general population so far, doctors say, but Canada is still increasing biosecurity in farms, sharing genomic sequencing with researchers worldwide, developing wastewater

tests and building a store of H5N1 vaccines. Jennifer Yoon, CBC News, Toronto. 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. And splashdown, Crew 9, back on Earth. Two astronauts have made their long-awaited splashdown off the coast of Florida after what was supposed to be an eight-day mission turned into more than nine months in space.

Christine Birak now on what the astronauts learned from their extended stay. Final handshakes and hugs between the department crew 9 and crew 9. In what seemed like a never-ending mission, NASA astronauts Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore finally returning to Earth, originally blasting off aboard Boeing Starliner spacecraft in June, but technical issues and malfunctions meant leaving the two retired US military captains on the International Space Station. But 59-year-old Williams and 62-year-old Wilmore kept busy studying the impacts of space travel on the body

and testing new technologies for even longer space travel, including to Mars that could take 21 months round trip. We've learned an awful lot, and it's probably not an exaggeration to say that every organ system in the body is affected by the space environment. Dr. Robert Thirsk has spent more days in space than any other Canadian astronaut and he felt it. In space aging speeds up as much as 20 years for our arteries. Without gravity pushing down bones and muscles waste away our vision, digestion, immune system and sense of balance are thrown off and exposure to radiation increases the risk

of cancer. Thirsk says Williams and Wilmore will now be tested to see the impacts of the last nine months and what it could mean for trips to Mars. The concern that I have is when we venture on to Mars in the future. And that mission will be much more difficult on the body because of its length and also because of its remoteness from Earth as well. So it's really kind of using this as a step-by-step process to eventually be ready to go to Mars. Dr. Farhan Asrar is a family doctor researching space medicine. Life on the space station has led to many advances, even smaller ultrasound machines.

But he says it would take about 20 minutes just to send a message from Mars one way. Asrar says if an astronaut had a heart attack, they would either need a doctor on board or a way to deliver health care remotely. So it's really looking at how can we make our health system and delivery more autonomous, involving incorporating whether AI, machine learning, and really trying to see that we're adequately ready for those processes. He adds if space agencies can learn lessons from Butch and Sunny on how to deliver health care, even in deep space, it could translate into better health care

for people living in remote communities right here on Earth. Christine Birak, CBC News, Toronto. Mirroor askosha Canadian soprano and composer Barbara Hanigan is among the recipients of this year's Polar Music Prize. The 53-year-old is being recognized as one of the world's foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music. Hanigan was born in Nova Scotia and studied music at the University of Toronto. Her boundary-pushing performances have won her other awards, including a Grammy in 2018. She's also a member of the Order of Canada. Speaking with CBC Radio in 2019, Hannigan says her love of music began as a small child. And my mom used to sing with me and my twin and my sister who was just 14 months older

than us. She would play the piano version of Handel's Water Music and I remember hearing those dum dum dum dum dum dum dum bum bum bum. So my memories are very, very far, far back. The prestigious Polar Music Prize is based in Sweden and was founded by ABBA manager Stig Andersson. Previous winners include Paul McCartney, Yo-Yo Ma and Ravi Shankar. And this year's other recipients are the British rock legends Queen and the American jazz musician Herbie Hancock. Barbara Hannigan is just the second Canadian to win the Polar Prize

following Joni Mitchell in 1996. Thank you for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Tuesday, March 18th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.