0:00

Hi, I'm Asha Tomlinson. And I'm David

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Common. Hi, I'm Asha Tomlinson. And I'm

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David Common. And we're hosts

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of CBC Marketplace. We're award-winning

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investigative journalists that want to

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help you avoid clever scams,

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unsafe products and sketchy services.

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Our TV show has been Canada's

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top investigative consumer watchdog for more

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than 50 years, but

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this is our first podcast.

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CBC Marketplace Podcast is available now

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on the CBC Listen app or wherever

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you get your podcasts. This

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is a CBC Podcast. This

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is World Report. Good

0:41

morning, I'm John Northcott. Our top story again today,

0:44

the evolving wildfire situation in the country.

0:46

We begin in northeast British Columbia, where

0:48

thousands have been forced from their homes.

0:51

Two out-of-control wildfires are burning near

0:54

Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson

0:56

First Nation. The North Rockies Regional

0:58

Municipality says evacuation assistance will end

1:01

later today because their emergency operations

1:03

centre is being relocated south as

1:05

the flames approach. If

1:07

that brand met evacuees stuck sleeping

1:09

in their cars, worried about

1:11

their homes. Terry Catillo says

1:14

he and his wife drove six hours

1:16

in bumper-to-bumper traffic, trying to find

1:18

a place to wait out the flames. But in

1:20

Fort St. John, the evacuation centre filled up, so

1:22

they slept in their truck packed high with belongings.

1:25

And what are you going to do? You

1:27

know, there's worse people off than us. You know, there's

1:30

a lady in a wheelchair here. I don't know where

1:32

she slept last night, but that's

1:34

horrible. He's one of thousands of people forced

1:36

to flee because the Parker Lake wildfire is burning

1:39

too close to homes. The

1:41

fire sparked Friday and people watched flames fanned

1:43

by the wind and fed by drought grow

1:45

into a 17 square kilometre

1:47

inferno by Saturday morning. Kyra Crowin fled with

1:49

an infant and a toddler. I was taking

1:51

a nap with the kids when the fire

1:53

started. So I woke up

1:55

at four in a panic having to pack.

1:59

We didn't make it out. Until seven or eight,

2:01

the line up was horrendous. Yeah. Yeah,

2:04

no, it was a very long drive here. I

2:06

think it was like five and a half

2:08

hours. It was headlights in front behind you

2:10

and taillights in front of you for miles.

2:12

The nerve-wracking journey for her family isn't over.

2:15

Space has run out in Fort St. John.

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Anyone who can is urged to move

2:19

on, another 440 kilometres if they can

2:21

to the Prince George Reception Centre, until

2:23

there's word about the fire and the

2:25

fate of Fort Nelson homes. CVET

2:28

brand CBC News, Fort St. John.

2:30

In northeast Alberta, some residents around

2:32

Fort McMurray are under evacuation alert.

2:34

A wildfire is burning about 16

2:37

kilometres southwest of the city. The residents

2:39

nearby are being told to be ready

2:41

to evacuate on short notice. Across

2:44

the province, another out of control fire

2:46

burns near Grand Prairie. The smoke has

2:48

brought down air quality in the region.

2:50

It's expected to be listed as very

2:52

high risk again today. We're

2:55

also awaiting an update on the

2:57

wildfire situation in Manitoba. An evacuation

2:59

order was issued yesterday for some

3:01

homes and cottages near Flynn Flawn.

3:03

The province called for help from

3:05

Saskatchewan and Ontario. Meanwhile, telecom services

3:08

damaged by wildfires are slowly being

3:10

restored in parts of the north.

3:13

Northwest Health says that it fixed

3:15

a fibre line in northeast BC

3:18

and internet and cell phone services are

3:20

coming back in northern BC and Yukon.

3:22

But service still down in other parts

3:24

of the north. All this, it's still

3:27

just the start of wildfire season. Kate

3:29

Kyle has more. This

3:31

is all I got. I don't have

3:33

cash. I wasn't prepared. Shereen Hill panicked

3:35

when she couldn't use her cell phone

3:37

or debit card in Whitehorse. Yeah, just

3:39

worried about if there was an emergency.

3:42

Wildfires in northern British Columbia

3:44

and the Northwest Territories knocked

3:47

out telecommunication services in Fort

3:49

Nelson, BC, Yukon and parts

3:51

of the Northwest Territories including

3:53

the Beaufort Delta. Long

3:55

distance calling in Nunavut is also

3:58

down. Telecom provider Northford.

4:00

Northwest Health says the wildfires scorched

4:02

two fiber optic roots, destroying

4:05

redundancy. Definitely unprecedented. Tammy

4:07

April is Northwest Health's

4:09

vice president of customer

4:11

relations. To have fires

4:14

happen just exactly where they

4:16

did, I don't think we've

4:18

seen something like that happen before. In

4:21

Whitehorse, some cash machines were working

4:23

Saturday, but not all. Officials set

4:25

up ambulances around the city for

4:27

people who couldn't call for help.

4:30

Sean Smith is the chief of

4:32

the Kwanlandun First Nation in Whitehorse.

4:34

He says the telecommunications outage shows

4:36

how vulnerable infrastructure is in the

4:39

north. How we can build up those systems to

4:41

be more redundant, as in

4:43

we have more access to

4:46

ways of communicating within our world.

4:48

Our whole life is dependent

4:50

on communications and technology now.

4:53

Northwest Health technicians have repaired the

4:55

burnt fiber line north of Fort Nelson,

4:57

B.C. But in the

4:59

Northwest Territories, wildfires have prevented them

5:01

from getting to the damaged sites.

5:04

Kate Kyle, CBC News,

5:06

Yellowknife. And remember, if

5:08

you're in the affected areas and

5:10

are low on power or data

5:13

on your device, you can visit

5:15

cbc.ca/light, L-I-T-E. That's

5:17

our text-only website that loads quicker and

5:20

uses less of your data. Donald

5:26

Trump's hush money trial could hear more

5:28

explosive testimony this week. Last

5:32

week, Stormy Daniels, the woman with whom

5:34

Trump allegedly had an affair, was on

5:36

the stand. This week, Michael Cohen is

5:38

expected to testify. He is the lawyer

5:40

who stick-handled the alleged cover-up of the

5:42

affair. Cohen once said he would take

5:44

a bullet for his former boss. Steve

5:46

Futterman reports their relationship has

5:49

changed. He was once a

5:51

Donald Trump defender. He's a good man.

5:53

He's a man who cares deeply about

5:55

this country. But that was then. Since

5:58

then, Michael Cohen has had a 100-year-old. 180-degree

6:00

turnabout. He is a

6:02

racist. He is a con

6:04

man. And Trump's opinion about Cohen has

6:06

also changed. At one time, he was

6:08

an admirer. Michael Cohen is a very

6:11

talented lawyer. He's a good lawyer at

6:13

my firm. Not anymore. Michael, Cohen is

6:15

a convicted liar. Cohen is set to

6:17

become the final key prosecution witness in

6:19

Trump's hush money trial. Cohen

6:21

was a key player in getting money

6:23

to Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016

6:25

election. There

6:27

was even a recorded phone call between Cohen

6:30

and Trump. When it comes time for the

6:32

financing, it should be... lost.

6:36

And so again. No, no, no, no, no.

6:39

The prosecution needs to establish how Daniels was

6:41

paid $130,000, along with the motive. John

6:46

Sale was a former U.S. attorney

6:48

in New York. I think, unfortunately,

6:50

for Donald Trump, Michael Cohen has

6:52

the receipts, their smoking gun receipts.

6:55

On cross-examination, Trump's defense attorneys are

6:57

expected to go after Cohen's credibility,

6:59

focusing on his 2018 guilty

7:02

plea to election violations, perjury

7:04

and tax evasion. Cohen spent

7:07

a bit more than a year in prison. Steve

7:10

Futterman for CBC News, Los

7:12

Angeles. On this Mother's

7:14

Day, China is urging companies to offer

7:16

women flexible jobs in an effort to

7:18

boost its national birth rate. Beijing hopes

7:20

it will make it easier for mothers

7:22

to balance childcare and work. This comes

7:24

as China's population fell for a second

7:26

consecutive year in 2023, with

7:29

numbers of births hitting a record low.

7:31

Journalist Laura Westbrook has more from Hong

7:34

Kong. The new roles are

7:36

being called mama posts, jobs with

7:38

flexible working hours targeted at mothers

7:41

who want to re-enter the workforce.

7:43

But according to reports, these roles

7:45

mostly involve short or temporary contracts.

7:48

Still, 36-year-old mother of two, Yi

7:50

Min, says she is hopeful. I

7:52

felt like, wow, there

7:56

are still people who care about our group.

7:58

But as more women go to university... and

8:00

achieve professional success. Some

8:03

are choosing to stay single and

8:05

pushing us, having kids. Rose Lu

8:07

Chu, an associate professor of communications

8:09

at Hong Kong Baptist University,

8:11

many view these policies as

8:13

approach to conform to traditional

8:15

expectations, which conflict with their

8:17

personal and professional aspirations. Many

8:19

experts and women say to

8:22

encourage more women to have

8:24

children, it is crucial for

8:26

men to take on equal

8:28

child care and household responsibilities.

8:30

Laura Westbrook for CBC News,

8:32

Hong Kong. Finally,

8:34

the mayor of a southern Italian island

8:37

overrun by feral goats thought he'd found

8:39

the perfect plans to deal with them.

8:41

He adopted and adopted a goat program,

8:43

but it turned out to be a

8:45

bad idea. Megan Williams explains. Call

8:50

it Operation No Goat Left

8:52

Behind. The brainchild

8:54

of Mayor Ricardo Gullo of

8:57

the tiny Sicilian island of

8:59

Alikudi, human population 100, goats?

9:01

Six times that. The

9:08

livestock gone feral are everywhere

9:10

here. This long-time resident

9:12

told Italian media, destroying gardens,

9:15

stone fences, cactus plants, roaming

9:17

the streets. The caprind takeover

9:20

began in the early 2000s.

9:28

Herders from nearby islands, whose economies

9:30

had shifted to tourism, brought their

9:32

goats by boat to Alikudi and

9:35

dumped them there. Last month Mayor

9:37

Gullo launched the Adopt a Goat Appeal,

9:44

hoping Sicilian farmers might welcome them

9:46

into their herds. Instead,

9:48

almost 2,000 offers

9:50

to take them have poured in, some

9:53

from as far away as the US

9:55

and Nigeria, others from people hoping to

9:57

take them as pets. say

10:00

ain't gonna happen. Next

10:03

week a team of wildlife experts will

10:05

figure out how to capture the goats

10:07

then test them for disease before deciding

10:10

which herders to give them to. Megan

10:12

Williams, CBC News, Rome.

10:20

And that is the latest national, international

10:22

and agricultural news from

10:24

World Report. I'm John

10:26

Northcott. This is CBC News. For

10:33

more CBC podcasts go

10:36

to cbc.ca/ podcasts