Your World Tonight - Russia hits Kyiv with massive attack, Pacific Coast Highway reopens, Student housing crisis, and more

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

Ukrainians are evaluating the damage after a massive Russian drone and missile attack. The large scale strikes come as the two sides continue a massive prisoner swap. Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 307 of their service personnel on Saturday.Also: California's Pacific Coast Highway has re-opened five months after a wildfire destroyed homes and businesses along the coast. Locals who feel cut off from the rest of the state say they're relieved.And: University students in Ottawa are struggling to find affordable housing. They say they are paying more and getting less. Some are taking their case to local leaders.Plus: From the NHL to the Memorial cup, several professional hockey leagues have high stakes games this weekend, what effect the warming climate will have on sea levels, Wildfires in Manitoba are threatening endangered caribou, and more.

So, how did the Liberals manage to win government while the Conservatives also boosted their voter support with voters almost evenly split between the two? And what will this mean for hopes of some cooperation on Parliament Hill this spring? I'm Catherine Cullen and every Saturday on The House, we cut through the noise to make politics make sense. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts as we explore these questions and answer yours. This is a CBC podcast.

Hello, I'm Stephanie Scanderis and this is your World Tonight. I want to say I don't think that anyone in Kiev had any sleep this night. The explosions were everywhere. Ukraine assesses the damage after a massive Russian drone and missile attack. The strike comes as the two sides continue a large-scale prisoner swap. Also on the podcast? The morale in Malibu right now is high and everyone's excited. California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway reopens five months after a wildfire incinerated homes and businesses. Meanwhile, Manitoba's wildfires threaten endangered

caribou. Plus the PWHL, the NHL, the CHL and the IIHF. It's a buffet for hockey lovers this weekend, you'll get caught up on all the action. Russia and Ukraine are trading drone attacks. Ukrainian officials say more than 10 Russian drones were flying over Kyiv, while Russia's defense ministry says it has intercepted around 100 Ukrainian drones. It's just one day after Russia launched a massive attack on Kiev. And all this as the two countries are in the midst of a rare moment of cooperation, exchanging hundreds of prisoners, Philipply Shennok reports. Russia launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles during a widespread attack on Ukraine. Dozens of people were injured in the capital Kiev in one of the biggest aerial assaults since the war began.

This man cleans up broken glass outside his apartment building. Our enemy is particularly vicious and immoral, he says. No one is safe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says national defence forces were able to shoot down six of the 14 ballistic missiles and hundreds of drones. And he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging the war. This requires a reaction, a tough reaction from the United States of America, a reaction from Europe, a reaction from everyone in the world who wants the war to end, he says. The airstrikes came as

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners, as agreed to in talks between the two sides in Turkey. It's an extensive and an intensive attack and it I think serves to reinforce the reality that Russia is very far from wanting serious negotiations a serious ceasefire. Jack Cunningham is head of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto. This prisoner exchange welcome as it may be still leaves the two sides very far from a ceasefire. For the second day, Russian and Ukrainian forces released hundreds of prisoners of war and civilians. The two sides agreed to swap a total of 1,000 prisoners each. Another exchange is expected on Sunday. Petro Yatsenko of Ukraine's coordinating headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war

says medical teams will assess their physical and mental health. Our released former prisoners of war have not sufficient food, they have no medical care in Russian captivity and of course they experience in everyday tortures. The prisoner exchange was expected to be the first stage of a process towards securing a ceasefire. Russia said the next step would be exchanging conditions for both sides to agree to ending hostilities followed by face-to-face talks. But Ukraine has called the offer a stalling tactic and has demanded an unconditional ceasefire before negotiations begin. Philip LeChanoff, CBC News, Toronto.

negotiations begin. Philip LeChanoc, CBC News, Toronto. Russia's defence ministry says its air defences intercepted 95 Ukrainian drones and Moscow's mayor wrote on the messaging app Telegram that six drones were destroyed heading towards that city. An Ontario man has been convicted in the 2023 murder of a provincial police officer. Sergeant Eric Mueller went to Alain Belfoy's home to check on him. But Belfoy shot him and two other officers, claiming self-defense. Criminal defense lawyer Nick Cake commented on that argument. Certainly there was no air of reality to that defense when you look at the facts, when you watch those body cameras,

when you know that there was 14 seconds between the time that the police entered the house and the first shots came out. It's clear that the jury believed what the Crown was selling and that this was an ambush. Belfoy was found guilty of attempted murder of the two other officers. He has 30 days to decide whether he'll appeal. Still ahead, students in Ottawa say they're draining their bank accounts all for the privilege of living in moldy, rat-infested apartments. And they're taking their complaints all the way to City Hall. That story is coming up on Your World Tonight.

April 2025 was the second hottest April on record after only April 2024. And according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, the Earth is on track to once again surpass the warming targets set by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. Johanna Wagstaff now on what the oceans looked like the last time the earth was this hot and what that could reveal about our coastal future. Scientists just reran the numbers drawing on ancient coral, sediment, fossil shorelines, and found that the last time Earth was this warm, about 125,000 years ago, sea levels were 4 to 10 meters higher. That means even if we cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the oceans aren't done rising.

That's because ice takes time to melt, but once it starts, it's hard to stop. Greenland and Antarctica ice don't collapse overnight, but once they go, they don't quit. It's like tipping a jug of water. You can't freeze it mid-pour. Even conservative projections show a one meter sea level rise in 75 years, but it keeps going from there.

Right now, about 230 million people live on land less than one meter above sea level. Almost one billion people within 10 meters. That's one in eight people on planet Earth. No, your entire city is not going underwater tomorrow, but this is coming and we've got time to get ready. Which means now is exactly when we start planning. How we build our cities, how we adapt our coastlines, zoning laws, flood maps, seawalls, wetlands. This isn't abstract, it's about staying ahead of the water. Johanna Wagstaff, CBC News, Vancouver. After Route 66, California's Pacific Coast Highway might just be the most famous thoroughfare in the U.S. But road trippers were blocked from driving on a long stretch of that highway after wildfires shut it down for nearly five months. The closure cut off whole communities and businesses.

Steve Futterman went to Malibu to find out how they feel now that the PCH is reopening. It's very, very awesome to be opening and to be able to go to Santa Monica, be able to go to Malibu. The Pacific Coast Highway has finally reopened. This is what it was like on the night of January 7th. I describe the scene as the raging fire jumped the highway. This is the beach side of Pacific Coast Highway and everything here seems to be just a total

loss. Now, two lanes in each direction are open for traffic, with a reduced speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour. There is still a long way to go to try to get back to what things were like before the fire, but this is at least a start. For those impacted by the closure, the reopening is already making a difference. We've lost our house and had to move. With the highway reopened,

Ron Goldschmidt, originally from Toronto, was able to get to a restaurant today a lot faster. The closure has been very difficult because we have three kids in three different schools and it took forever to get them to school, about a 90 minute commute. Businesses have faced enormous economic challenges with a huge reduction in customers. Christopher Tompkins owns the Broad Street Oyster Company. You know myself as well as other local business owners, we were impacted between 60 and 80 percent.

Luckily, we were on the lower side of that, but it's been a brutal start to 2025. Did some businesses just not make it? Well, I don't want to name them, but if you look around this plaza as well as the neighboring plaza, the Malibu Country Mart, you can see multiple retail shops that have closed up.

Today, it was like the old days as people lined up for lunch. And at a nearby shoe and purse repair store, they were seeing some longtime customers for the first time in months. I mean, you know, even this morning, you know, people are driving by and just, you know, saying like, wow, it's easier to get here now instead of having to circle all the way around, you know know different freeways. Officials are warning drivers there are limitations and there could be delays. Lauren Wunder is with the California transportation agency Caltrans. Caltrans reminds motorists that repairs will continue even after the two lanes in both directions are open to the public. Being

able to drive is one thing rebuilding homes is something quite different. In many cases it will take years and some people who once lived here may never return. Steve Futterman for CBC News, Malibu, California. A fire that has ravaged an area twice the size of Winnipeg may have also destroyed an important habitat. Experts fear a herd of endangered caribou may never be able to recover from the loss. Ian Frays has the details. Woodland caribou have found their home in the dense, mature forests of southeastern Manitoba. But a fierce wildfire is putting their habitat at risk.

It doesn't bode well for the health of the population long term. Ecologist Daniel Dupont has studied this caribou herd for years. He says the 100,000 hectare fire at Nopemane Provincial Park comes at a terrible time, calving season. The area that the fire passed through, it passed through that core area where this particular caribou herd uses to calve. That will leave any surviving caribou scrambling to find an established forest. The Nobueming area is the habitat to between 40 to 60 caribou. They need a mature forest, unlike some other wildlife local to Manitoba. We see deer in cities, we see deer in fields,

whereas caribou are very sensitive to any type of disturbance, whether natural or human disturbance. Dupont says that a climbing population may be pushed to the boreal forests farther north. Those southern populations have gradually been lost over the years. A conservationist is worried the caribou might abandon these burned lands for good. We're really really concerned that this southern caribou range that we've been talking about protecting for more than 25 years may well be gone now. Eric Rader is with the Wilderness Committee. He says Manitoba's government has to put money into habitat protections. There are as many as 3,000

woodland caribou in the province and they're considered an endangered species threatened by wildfires, climate change and human development. We've been talking about how to care for caribou for a long long time. The province says it hasn't received reports of any caribou deaths yet, but the government is promising to review how it manages the species after this wildfire is under control. to your world tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you 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. An estimated one in three Hong Kongers are expected to be over 65 years old by the 2040s.

As many approach retirement age, they're looking to spend their later years in mainland China. There are government incentives for them to do so. But as freelance reporter Laura Westbrook tells us, many are finding a shortage of retirement housing. I have three kids, three daughter-in-laws, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchildren. Despite a large family, 80-year-old Esther Lee decided to move across the border to a retirement home in the Chinese city of Zhaoxing, some 190 kilometers from Hong Kong last year. She made up her mind after she fell in her kitchen. She wanted the 24-hour care it provided. Employing a foreign domestic worker is

normalized in Hong Kong. Lee said her helper of 22 years now works for her sister-in-law so she was living alone. After she decided to move, her children were reluctant but eventually agreed. If I love them, I don't want to give them burden. The push for elderly to retire across the border is nothing new, with the home Lee lives in having opened in 1998. Since that time, the travel time with high-speed rail is down to half, about two hours, and it's not an arduous journey.

Helping Hand is a charity dedicated to caring for the elderly in Hong Kong. Chief Executive Sandy McAllister says inquiries at its retirement home across the border have increased by 45% over the last few years as Hong Kong becomes more integrated with mainland China. Hong Kong also has long waiting lists for spaces at subsidised senior homes. We're building a new home which has 200 plus beds. When you've got 16,000 waiting lists, you know that these are only small bites. Social worker Zilaishan says most people want to stay in Hong Kong after they retire, so addressing manpower shortages and increasing the supply of care homes is essential. The employed working elderly is increased in the past

10 years. It's doubled. I think it's because many elderly, they getting young, their health is better and they want to work and also the inflation is high so they need to work. By 2046, one in three people will be over the age of 65 here. The government wants to develop a so-called silver economy. Economist Gary Ng says Hong Kong is lagging behind in developing services for this growing group. I wouldn't be surprised that eventually if we start to see more pressure on the government fiscal expenditure side that it's possible to see a further delay in retirement age as in happening in many other countries as well. At a busy community care centre, volunteers Lumei Fung and Limei Ooi have been friends

for 10 years. They were both born in mainland China. Lumei is a sprightly smiling 71-year-old. She wants to stay in Hong Kong with her husband, a retired night shift security guard, despite their children living across the border. Aren't friends great? Asking me to go somewhere else is like asking me to wait for my death. Isn't that right? Hong Kong is my home. Experts say a more comprehensive approach is needed to address the needs of this rapidly growing demographic.

Laura Westbrook for CBC News, Hong Kong. Here in Canada, it's becoming increasingly difficult for young people to find an affordable place to live. We've all heard about the housing crisis, but post-secondary students everywhere say they are paying more and getting less. A recent survey in Prince Edward Island, for example, found 80% of students struggle to find an apartment in their price range, while one in five students say they've considered dropping out because of it. Noah Manholland is with UPEI's Student Union. Obviously, international students are the most disadvantaged because oftentimes they will

return to their country of origin and the summer and then they need to find new housing all across the board but really it affects everybody. Graduate students, undergraduate students, students with families, it's just a big problem all around. Students at the University of Ottawa are also warning of a student housing crisis and they're taking their case to local leaders. Emma Weller reports. We'll invite the students up to make the presentation. Welcome. Four students took the stage Wednesday at Ottawa City Hall to explain their housing reality. Thank you chair.

Appreciate you all having us here today. Alex Stratas is with the University of Ottawa Students Union. She says the student experience isn't what it used to be. So she and others started collecting data. They surveyed over 600 students about the struggles they face with renting. Then they came up with a report and presented it to Ottawa's Planning and Housing Committee. It describes how hard it is to find housing, their conditions, and the cost of renting. Some of the most shocking things were students living in one unit, seven to eight of them, in one, like half a unit, not even a full apartment.

Many they surveyed say they live with mold, pests like rats and cockroaches, and no air conditioning. Students like James Adair face rents of near $1,000 a month, and he says that doesn't even guarantee a safe place to live. I've had issues with mold, I've had issues with landlords not doing repairs, and I think that's a pretty common experience for a lot of students. And there's also just a constant underlying anxiety of like, am I going to be able to make rent next month? Adair says he pushed for this report.

He's entering his fifth year at U of O and says he's moved almost every year. We saw a lot of that, of students being willing to accept really poor quality conditions because there's really nowhere else to go. The students made several recommendations to the committee. They'd like colleges and universities working with all levels of government to create a housing plan. We'd also like to see incentives to actually build non-profit student housing around campuses. Ottawa Councillor Jeff Leeper, who chairs the committee, says he asked the students to come present, and he's glad they did.

It's important to make sure that students know that City Hall is a forum in which they can express their concerns. I truly believe that if we were to build the kind of city that students are asking us to build, it would be a better city. It's refreshing to see that they're really engaged and really want to help us they just didn't know how they didn't hear our voice. Leper says some of the students recommendations could be feasible for Ottawa City Council to pursue. In a statement to Radio Canada the City of Ottawa says increasing the supply of affordable housing is something it's

actively exploring. Emma Weller, CBC News, Ottawa. From hundreds of thousands of dollars in gift cards to a wastewater treatment plant with a budget ballooning into the billions, BC taxpayers are finding themselves on the hook for unexpected municipal expenses. There are calls for the BC government to put more oversight in place, but as Mira Baines reports, provincial politicians have been reluctant to wade into the issue. Taxpayers are sick and tired of being ripped off by big spending local governments. The mystery of what happened to $300,000 worth of gift cards meant to be used for employee

appreciation and retirements is deepening at City Hall in Richmond amid a police investigation. Taxpayers need to know that their dollars are being used responsibly, that they aren't going towards keg gift cards that go missing in the night like has happened in Richmond. B.C. Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Carson Binda, has launched a petition asking the provincial government to reinstate a municipal auditor general and so have a group of four city councillors from across Metro Vancouver. They also want more oversight. We've got to look at these unethical practices.

Former police chief Cash Heade, who is also BC Solicitor General, is now a Richmond City councillor and is determined to find out. This is the taxpayers money and they expect us to safeguard their money that they're paying and they pay a considerable amount of taxes go up yearly. The petitions highlight that about five years ago the Municipal Auditor General's office was shuttered by the province. There are other growing problems too. New Westminster City Councillor Daniel Fontaine sits on the Metro Vancouver Board along with other municipal leaders. He points out, regional mega projects

should also be under the microscope by an oversight body. You hear about perhaps not the right experts at the table to oversee things like the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plan. You read about concerns around other mega projects that are coming forward like the Iona Wastewater Treatment which we know is now pegged at $10 billion in climbing. The price tag for the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant was $700 million

but has quadrupled to $3.8 billion. On Friday, the Board of Metro Vancouver, which is tasked with major decisions affecting the region agreed to streamline and implement recommendations made by an independent review board. Minister of Municipal Affairs Ravi Kalan has rejected the need for a municipal auditor general. In both these situations the system is what caught this issue and brought it to light. That's not good enough for Heed who says the gift card discrepancies were actually uncovered by a media outlet. He says people have a right to be angry. Mira Bains, CBC News, Vancouver.

This is your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. You can hear your world tonight wherever you are. Just subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app or stream us live on the CBC News app. Just tap on the local icon. Summer, it's just around the corner and as the weather gets warmer competition on the ice is also heating up. It just might be the busiest hockey weekend of the year with several high stakes tournaments underway. Freelance reporter Ed Kleiman is here to break it all down for us.

Ed, let's start with the PWHL. Now the Ottawa Charge are playing game three against the Minnesota Frost tonight in St. Paul. What are the stakes in this game? This is a pivotal game three in this series between, as you said, the Minnesota Frost. They won the title last year, so they're looking to go back to back. And the Ottawa Charge, well, they want bragging rights over Toronto, over Montreal, over Vancouver as the first Canadian champions of the PWHL.

Unlike the NHL, which has a best of seven series, the PWHL is best of five. So the winner of this game three will have a chance on Monday in game four to clinch the titles. If they split, they would go back to Ottawa for a winner take all deciding game five on Wednesday, which I think would be quite the scene in Ottawa. Ah, well, tell me about that scene because I understand you were in the stands for game two in Ottawa. So based on what you've seen, what do you expect from the hometown crowd? Oh, it's a lot of fun there. They love their team there. And it felt like everybody was wearing

a red jersey, the colour of the Ottawa Ottawa charge and they all had a white towel their other colors and it gets really really loud in there so when you're a visiting team it's a pretty intimidating atmosphere but I think it's a probably one of the most exciting environments I think you can have for a hockey game for sure. Okay let's move on to the men and Canada's last hope for any Stanley Cup glory, the Edmonton Oilers. They've tied up their series against the Dallas Stars last night. What are your takeaways from that game?

I think there's a lot of good things to take away from that game for the Edmonton Oilers. And I think right now, I think expectations are really starting to build around this team. And in game one against the Dallas Stars, they were up 3-1 after two periods. They had a dreadful third period, lost 6-3, and the question was, how are they going to come out in game two? Well, we know they came out really strong. And in particular, goaltender Stuart Skinner, who had shut out Vegas the last two games, but suffered through that terrible third period against Dallas in game one, he was perfect. 25 shots, 25 saves. So if he keeps playing really well and we get Leon Dreisaitl and Connor McDavid

playing like the superstars they are, and they certainly have been, and the rest of the supporting pass playing really well, I think Dallas has more than their hands full with Edmonton. And I'll say one other thing, over on the other side in the East, where we have Florida playing Carolina, well, Florida's looking awfully good, the

defending champions, and wouldn't it be something if we got a rematch? Oh, yes. First time since 2008, 2009, when way back when Pittsburgh and Detroit played, well, if we got Edmonton and Florida again, and if this crazy 32-year drought for a Canadian franchise could end with Edmonton getting revenge over Florida after last year's dramatic seven game series. That would be something pretty special. Okay, lots to watch there, but Edward, not even done yet.

There is so much hockey to get through. So here's a twofer. We have the Memorial Cup underway here in Canada, and then the IIHF World Championship coming to a close in Europe. So can you catch us up on those tournaments? World Championships, that's where all the NHL teams that don't make the playoffs, they went out early, they send all their best players.

And Canada sent a spectacular team. They were expected to at least challenge for a gold medal. And what happened? They lost in the quarterfinals to lowly Denmark on Thursday. So Canada is out. What happened to Denmark? They lost 7-0 today to Switzerland. So Switzerland will be in the gold medal game looking for their first title ever. And they'll be facing Team USA. Believe it or not, the Americans have not won

a world championship since 1933. And you mentioned the Memorial Cup. This is a great tournament every year. The championship of Canadian junior hockey. It's in Ramoski, Quebec this year. So there'll be preliminary round games going all through for the next week. The champion will be crowned next weekend.

Okay, thanks so much, Ed. Thanks, Stephanie. That's freelance reporter Ed Kleiman in Toronto. A dissident Iranian director has claimed one of cinema's top prizes. For the Golden Palm, a simple accident by Jafar Panahi. That's French actor Juliette Binoche announcing Jafar Panahi as the winner of The Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival, for his latest movie, It Was Just an Accident. Over his long career, Panahi has been imprisoned multiple times, and government censorship has often forced him to work in secret.

It Was Just an Accident is partly inspired by his experiences in jail. If you were hoping to catch The Piano Man in concert, you'll be disappointed by this news. Billy Joel has had to cancel a slew of shows in the US, UK, and Toronto through to next July because of a brain disorder. It's called normal pressure hydrocephalus, and it's an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain.

Sometimes it's caused by a knock to the head or an infection or tumor, but some people just develop it. It causes issues with thinking, bladder control, and walking, and can make people take shorter, shuffling steps. Because those symptoms can be dementia-like, the Alzheimer's Association says it's often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. On social media, Billy Joel, who is 76,

says his condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, that he's undergoing specific physical therapy, and that doctors have told him to stop performing while he recovers. Tickets will be refunded and Joel says he looks forward to the day when he can once again take to the stage. Until then we'll leave you with a little more classic Billy Joel. This is Scenes from an Italian Restaurant on Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. Thank you for listening. red perhaps a bottle of rose instead

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