The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/05/20 at 13:00 EDT

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/05/20 at 13:00 EDT

What is attention capitalism doing to our minds? What is all this tariff chaos doing to our money? How can we get better at growing older? We look at these kinds of big questions here on The Current, our award-winning podcast that brings you stories and conversations to expand your worldview. My name is Matt Galloway and like you, I'm trying to wrap my head around what's going on right now. We look for solutions to wicked problems. We listen to each other and we try to find delight in the everyday. You can find The Current wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube.

From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Stephanie Scanderis. The UK is suspending free trade talks with Israel over the war in Gaza. The move comes a day after Canada, the UK and France released a statement condemning Israel's military offensive. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls their response a huge prize for Hamas. Chris Reyes reports.

There are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them. That dire warning from UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. Israel has allowed limited aid trucks to cross into Gaza in the last two days following weeks of a blockade that has pushed the territory to the brink of famine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined other leaders including Canada condemning Israel's recent bombardment of Gaza. Where the level of suffering, innocent children being bombed again, is utterly intolerable. Medics in Gaza say more than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the past eight days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says international pressure will not divert Israel from its objectives.

He called on Hamas to release hostages and lay down arms to end the war. Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. Quebec is asking Ottawa to deploy Canadian Rangers to Paverne-Touc. The northern village of 2100 people has been struggling with a severe water shortage. A pipe connecting the pump station to the treatment plant froze in March. Over the weekend, the village council declared a state of emergency after a fire destroyed a house in the community. Quebec's Minister of Public Security, François Bonnardel, says the rangers would help with water distribution and logistics. Canada's inflation rate dipped to 1.7 percent in April from 2.3 in March. Citicist Canada says the falling price of gasoline is the biggest factor in the slowdown,

mainly due to the removal of the consumer carbon tax. But the price of food continued to rise faster than general inflation. Allie Chiesin has the details. Inflation may be cooling, but people are still paying more for certain groceries. You may have noticed in your morning cup, since coffee and tea prices rose 13.4 percent, and in your fridge or freezer, as beef prices are up 16.2 percent. A weaker Canadian dollar in April, you know, could have been part of that. Nathan Jansen is the chief economist at RBC. You also did have some carrots and vegetables on fresh fruits and vegetables from the United States. According to the latest numbers from StatsCan, grocery prices in April rose nearly 4% year over year

compared to 3.2% in March. We've seen three straight months of price increases outpacing where overall inflation is. Typically that means that you know lower-income households are getting impacted relatively more by inflation than say higher-income households. Janssen says however the upward trend can be a sign of strong consumer demand which is the sign of an economy that's holding up better than expected. Ali Chiasan, CBC News, Toronto. Canada's largest private sector union wants the federal government to penalize Canadian companies who outsource production. Unifor says Ottawa could use the existing Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act, or

FEMA. The act was passed in 1984 to prevent U.S. anti-Cuba laws from affecting Canadian corporations, but has rarely been used since then. The union says the act could help prevent further job losses from U.S. tariffs. It says FEMA could make it a federal offence for companies to move production out of Canada. Diplomats are calling it a victory for worldwide medical cooperation. The draft resolution is therefore approved.

Members of the World Health Organization voted overwhelmingly in favor of a global treaty on improving pandemic preparedness. The agreement encourages countries to share critical research, medicine and vaccines, and it ensures poorer nations have access to all those products. The United States isn't involved in today's agreement. It withdrew from the WHO shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time as president. And that is your World This Hour.

For CBC News, I'm Stephanie Scanderis.