← Your World Tonight
Your World Tonight
Canadian grief from Iran’s crackdown, snowstorm paralyzes central Canada, housing sales tepid in 2025, and more
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<p>A griefstricken Montreal man tells CBC News his family was killed in Iran during the recent uprising. Iranians have endured weeks of government crackdowns and violence. The tragic news comes as Ottawa confirms the first known Canadian death in Iran, at the hands of the Iranian regime.</p><p><br></p><p>Also: A ferocious winter storm pummels Ontario and Quebec, shutting schools, snarling traffic and travel across two provinces, and causing dozens of crashes on major roads and highways.</p><p><br></p><p>And: What to expect for 2026 in Canada’s housing market, after tariffs triggered widespread anxiety among both homeowners and buyers, sending the sector to a limp to the finish line for 2025.</p><p><br></p><p>Plus: Trump offered Nobel peace prize medal, threats to Minneapolis, Carney’s MOUs with China, Ukraine’s energy nightmare, and more.</p>
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If you're listening to this, I already know you have great taste in podcasts, but maybe if you're like me, you still wonder if you're missing out on the best stuff. That's where the Sounds Good newsletter can help you out. Every other Thursday, the audio files at CBC Podcast highlight one must hear show and lots of other new and noteworthy titles. They do conversation starters, they do hidden gems, and they also tell you about the stuff they love that they didn't make. Go to CBC CA Sounds good to subscribe. This is a CBC podcast. They opened the door of the mosque and open fire live ammunition Very important for us to make sure that the story, the crime that happened is not buried. For Canadians with family in Iran, the only thing worse than the anxiety of watching the violence unfold from afar is the shock of learning loved ones are dead. One family story with thousands more desperately looking for answers. Welcome to youo World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Thursday, January 15, just before 6pm Eastern. Also on the podcast. I'm just speechless from hearing about this, but I really hope that the president does not do that. In Minneapolis, a heated confrontation approaches a new boiling point as protesters clash with immigrants. Immigration agents and state officials urge the White House to back off. The president threatens to invoke a law rarely used in the US And Venezuela's opposition leader says she offered Donald Trump her Nobel Peace medal. Plus, Ontario and Quebec, hit with a winter storm with more snow to come. Global Affairs Canada says a Canadian citizen has been killed by Iranian authorities. There are no more details on the death. Amid weeks of protest and a violent government crackdown, getting information out of the country is difficult. There's a communications blackout, but some updates are coming through. And for one Canadian man, what he learned was devastating. Jamie Strashen has more. I know there could be some repercussions for this Montreal man. The tragic story of how his cousin and her husband were shot and killed by Iranian authorities is still shrouded by many unknowns, but he says he's compelled to share it. The reason I do this because it's very important for us to make sure that the story, the crime that happened is not buried. It's sorry we're calling him Aziz, not his real name, to protect his identity and his remaining family still in Iran. He says it all started with a social media post shared by his older sister who lives in Germany. She sent me the post about the murder of my cousin and her husband during the demonstrations. Aziz says it contained a picture of his cousin and her Husband, a nurse and a teacher. And details of what happened during demonstrations in Bushehr, a port city in the western part of Iran. CBC has verified that protests took place in Bushehr on the day the two were killed. Reports in Iranian diaspora media also match his account. The husband of my cousin were among the first people that was shot. My cousin, she noticed that her husband was shot, so she tried to approach his body and she's shot, too. Human rights groups say more than 2,000 Iranians have been killed during widespread demonstrations that have roiled Iran. Family members who live in Bushehr were able to confirm details of the killings in a call to Aziz's older sister in Germany, but he wanted to know more. I have no means of communication. I can't call. I tried everything I could to try landline, cell phones, Internet. For Aziz and others with loved ones in Iran, the most difficult part has been not knowing. With the exception of outgoing calls in recent days, a massive Internet blackout has made communication nearly impossible. At this point, there's not too many avenues for sort of a clarification and relief that some people are waiting for. Unfortunately, tragically, the Council on Foreign Relations Ray Takei calls the scale of this blackout unprecedented. You want to keep the society atomized, disconnected from each other, and disconnected in this case from the diaspora abroad. For Aziz and other Canadian families, the scope of violence in their home country is hard to comprehend. In this case, Aziz says, almost surreal. It's a full scale tragedy for us. I mean, we're still in a, in a, in a, in a phase of denial. I'm still thinking that this, this not really happened. Excuse me. In the wake of his cousin and her husband's killing, two young children have been left behind. And many questions about what happened and why and what's next for Iran. Jamie Strashen, CBC News, Toronto. Donald Trump has a new threat for protesters in Minnesota. He is prepared to invoke the Insurrection act, which would allow the US President to deploy the military on US Soil. This follows another intense night of clashes with federal immigration officers sparked by another shooting. Katie Simpson reports. Police in riot gear 4 formed a line in front of the immigration detention center. In Minneapolis. Protesters opposed to the aggressive immigration crackdown gathering again today. Some shouting and waving flags. Tensions erupting into confrontations. At times. The unrest now met by a new threat from President Donald Trump, who wrote on social media he would invoke the Insurrection act if ICE agents are unable to do their jobs. The Insurrection act is a tool at the president's disposal. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt did not say if the president had made up his mind, the Insurrection act would allow Trump to send in the military, which would be a significant escalation. It's a move that could be necessary, says Levitt, as she accused some lawmakers of endangering ICE agents by not supporting their work. It's because these Democrats are deranged in their hatred for President Trump, and they are holding their state and local law enforcement hostage as a result. The Insurrection act has been used before. Abraham Lincoln invoked it during the US Civil War, and it was used by three presidents, including John F. Kennedy, at various moments during the civil rights movement. Latricia Vitaw, a member of the Minneapolis Council, says this is not what her city needs. I'm just speechless from hearing about this, but I really hope that the president does not do that. Protest exploded Wednesday night after another shooting by an ICE agent just one week after the killing of Renee Good. The Department of Homeland Security says a Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg after he and several others allegedly attacked an ICE agent with a shovel and a broomstick. I would say that our agent is beat up, he's bruised, he's injured. The head of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, aggressively defending the tactics of ice, including agents who stop individuals and ask for their citizenship papers. Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that we have used for years. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who has demanded ICE agents leave his state, is urging residents to record and document the actions of authorities for possible future prosecutions. Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans. Walz accused Trump of wanting more violence, pleading for peaceful protests as there are no signs the unrest will ease anytime soon. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Venezuela's opposition leader was in Washington today, meeting with US President Donald Trump. Maria Corina Machado told reporters it went well, saying she even offered Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal. As Washington weighs Venezuela's political future and Machado's role in it, Paul Hunter has the story. Ms. Machado, how did your meeting go with the president on Capitol Hill? To the woman who many think should be Venezuela's president, Maria Corinna Machado, the question how did things go in her meeting with Donald Trump? Keep moving, please. Thank you. Machado did not answer as cameras were hustled out. With Machado set to then sit down privately with Democrat and Republican lawmakers. Her earlier meeting with Trump also behind closed doors. Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October and is hugely popular in her home country put her aspirations for Venezuelans this way after winning the Nobel. I am very hopeful Venezuela will be free and we will turn a country into a beacon of hope and opportunity, of democracy. But now that the US has arrested Nicolas Maduro, who most in the world had deemed the illegitimate president of Venezuela, Machado is in a complicated position with the U.S. her party won the most votes in the last election. But after Maduro was grabbed, Trump effectively anointed Maduro second in command, Delsey Rodriguez as the interim president, snubbing Machado a packed room today. Thank you all for coming. At the White House, press Secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters Trump is committed to fresh Venezuelan elections, as she put it one day, adding Trump's earlier assessment that Machado lacks the respect of the Venezuelan people still stands. I think the president's assessment was based on realities on the ground. It was a realistic assessment based on what the president was reading and hearing from his advisors and national security team. And at this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed. All of this on a day. The US has seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela, the sixth such tanker targeted by the US Lately, as the US Continues its push to control Venezuelan oil. Back on Capitol Hill, her meeting's all done. A mob scene as Machado made her way to her vehicle on the suggestion she'd present her peace prize to Donald Trump, as she'd said she might. The question did you offer to President Trump your Nobel Peace Prize? I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize and the recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom. Trump himself has made no comment on whether that changes anything. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. Coming right up, an update on the prime minister's trip to China. If you're waiting for a breakthrough on canola or EVs, so is Mark Carney and people across Ontario digging out after a winter storm that caught forecasters by surprise. Later, we'll have this story. It's a tale of many cities. New Brunswick's been hot. Nova Scotia, pei, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. It's places where they're still relatively affordable in smaller housing markets. Sales and prices are rising in big, expensive ones. There's a clear slowdown now. A lot of sellers are thinking if I wait six months, I might get less money than if I sell today. And that is a very big shift in sentiment. I'm Nisha Patel in Toronto. What might help home buyers in 2026 and what might keep them on the sidelines? That's coming up on YOUR WORLD tonight. Mark Carney has signed a series of economic deals with the Chinese government, agreeing to cooperate more on energy, tourism, even pet food. But after the first full day of the Prime Minister's high stakes trip to China, the most pressing issues still have not been addressed. Tom Perry is traveling with the PM and has this report from the Chinese capital. Inside Beijing's cavernous Great hall of the People, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang stand side by side as a military band plays. Chinese military personnel in dress uniform stand at attention in crisp, tight lines as Beijing welcomes the Prime Minister and his delegation as honored guests. Carney pledging what he calls a new partnership. It's a partnership with new folk focus and greater depth and a sense of purpose. And I look forward to realizing its promise and building on it in the years to come. The language from China's side just as positive. Beijing calling this moment a turning point in Canada China relations. His Excellency, Premier Li Qiang, Hon. Prime Minister Carney, distinguished guests. The signing ceremony now begins. The day culminating in a ceremony in which Canadian ministers and their Chinese counterparts sign a series of agreements on energy, tourism and other issues. A signal, the two sides say, of a new spirit of cooperation. What I would like Canadians to know is today was a very important day. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson heralding this day as a success. What we heard loud and clear is China is looking for reliable trading partners, trading partners that don't use energy for coercion. Hodgson didn't say which countries might be using energy to coerce their trading partners, though Industry Minister Melanie Jolie offered some clues. We've seen since the beginning of the year. There's lots of disruptions around the world. Maybe Venezuela, maybe Iran, maybe. Obviously a lot of unpredictability south of our border, but we've said it many times and we continue to say it. There are a lot of things that we cannot control, but there are lots of things we can control. Jolie says Canada and China are both seeking stability. But for all the talk of this new chapter in Canada China relations, serious issues remain. China continues to tariff Canadian canola, pork and seafood. Canada still imposes a steep levy on Chinese electric vehicles. All of that as Carney prepares to meet Friday with China's President Xi Jinping. Tom Perry, CBC News, Beijing. Canada is investigating Elon Musk's X and its AI chatbot. Grok, the privacy commissioner says the probe will look into reports the platform is being flooded with sexualized deep fakes. The images target mostly women and children. X says it is addressing some of the concerns the issue has generated worldwide backlash, including bans on the platform in at least two countries. The Alberta government is ordering a judge led inquiry into the death of a man waiting for care. Prashant Srikumar died while waiting at Edmonton's Grey Nuns Community Hospital last month. His family said the 44 year old had been there for hours with chest pains. Matt Jones, the minister in charge of hospital, says he still has concerns after an internal review into the case. While system level improvements are underway, a detailed, independent and public review of how the specific case was managed also needs to be undertaken. We owe that to his family and to all Albertans, jones acknowledged. Hospitals are under extreme pressure, including the emergency departments, and the province needs to build more capacity. Heavy snow, strong winds and bitter cold it all added up to a disruptive winter mess across the busiest travel corridor in the country, from southwestern Ontario through Toronto all the way to Ottawa and Quebec. And as Philip Lee Shanock reports, the storm is prompting questions about Environment Canada's new color coded alert system. Lexi Tate waits for a bus in East End Toronto that during a snowstorm like this may or may not arrive. It means I'm late for work a lot of times when it snows sadly because there's a very large hill that it gets stuck on just down the road. A group of Good Samaritans try to free a car from a snow bank. Unsuccessfully. Up to 40cm of snow fell in some parts of southern Ontario, causing school cancellations from London through the Greater Toronto area to Ottawa. It's windy, it's cold and blustery. Visibility is reduced. You can't see the highway lane markings. Sergeant Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police says if it can be avoided, people should stay off the roads. We've got a dozen or more crashes happening every moment into ditches, into walls, into other vehicles. The snowstorm's track has roughly followed Highway 401, the busiest highway in the country, northeast through the province. The OPP says a serious crash involving 20 vehicles, including a coach, bus and a milk tanker, happened near Mallorytown, east of Kingston. Air travelers didn't have it much easier with Toronto's Pearson International Airport reporting hundreds of cancellations and delays. Spokesperson Sean Davidson says that allowed snow clearing operations to try and catch up. Make sure that we can slow down the rate of arrivals and departures to make sure that they can meet the the capacity that we're able to handle here safely at Toronto, Pearson Davidson says operations in Ottawa and Montreal have also had to deal with snow delays and cancellations. Environment Canada initially issued a yellow alert for this storm. We've increased the warning to an orange color, which is the first time I've seen that this year. It's a very impactful kind of storm. David Phillips of Environment Canada says the agency's new warning system indicates risk level similar to what's used in Europe. Phillips says just like that system, the color codes are subjective and not based on data like accumulation and temperature. It doesn't say so much about the amount of snow, but it's really just the what effect it's going to have on people, places and things. And it's just a widespread major there's health issues with regards to this and it could go on for a couple of days. But the delay in raising the level of this storm has prompted calls for the agency to reconsider the criteria for what rates, what warning. Philip Lishanok, CBC News, Toronto. In the dead of winter, Ukraine has declared an energy emergency. Ongoing Russian airstrikes have destroyed key parts of the country's power grid, leaving thousands of families in the dark and cold. As Bryer Stewart reports, emergency repair crews are trying to fix the damage quickly before more attacks. Water pours off of a roof onto an icy sidewalk in Kyiv. The apartment complex has been without power for six days. When crews tried to restart the heat Thursday morning, a pipe burst. Inside, water is dripping into Dina Michalenko's apartment. She collects it in pots and then heats it up on her gas stove. We put it in our room and this is how we heat it up, she told a freelance crew working here for CBC News. Every winter since Russia launched its full scale invasion nearly four years ago, Ukraine's energy grid has come under attack. But this year, residents and experts say the situation is much worse, in part because the recent attacks came in the middle of a cold snap. The knights are getting down to minus 17, minus 15, said Mikolenko. An attack on Kyiv last Friday left 6,000 buildings without heat after Russia struck substations in and around the capital and hit three natural gas and coal burning power plants. The city's mayor says crews have been working 24 7, but a few hundred buildings are still without heat. Ukraine's president has declared a national energy emergency. It's the most complicated situation for the wartime kind of extremely deep crisis. Oleksandr Harchenko is the director of the Energy Industry Research Center, a consulting company based in Kyiv. He says over the past six days, crews have been working to repair infrastructure and reroute and reorganize the energy grid. I really believe that this, let's say, creative engineering. When people reconfigurate heating districts from technical perspective, it really looks like a miracle. But he says much depends on when Russia will launch another attack, as strikes routinely target infrastructure that's under repair. In the city where there are blackouts now for most of the day, 1200 heating centers have been set up in one. Residents sit bundled up side by side as they sit charging their phones. It's the most difficult winter, said Alexandra Duda. Even if there weren't as many strikes, it would still be very hard mentally. He wishes the city had been able to do more to protect its energy grid, but Duda insists the strikes won't break Ukraine. If he needs to, the 72 year old says he'll start chopping firewood. Briar Stewart, CBC News, London this is yous World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and never miss one of our episodes episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts, just find the follow button and lock us in. Economic uncertainty was a recurring theme for Canadians in 2025, and it meant many people looking to buy or sell a home found themselves in a holding pattern. 2026 could be better, but it depends on where you live, business reporter Nisha Patel explains. We're expecting a 5.1% increase in sales in 2026, so not a huge increase. Canadian home sales are forecast to pick up this year. Sean Cathcart, chief economist at the Canadian Real Estate association, says with interest rates holding steady for now, some buyers may finally jump into the market. Many of them have probably been waiting to get the absolute lowest rate possible before locking in. What you get depends on where you are. Over the past year, sales in smaller cities have boomed. Prices have climbed nearly 17% in Quebec City, 10% in Saint John's New Brunswick's been hot. Nova Scotia, PEI, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. It's places where they're still relatively affordable. But in the biggest cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where the average single family home costs more than $1 million, sales have been slow. You can have a lot of first time buyers come off the sidelines, but if all that's out there for them to buy is either too small or too expensive, you're going to have a problem. The ongoing U.S. trade war and a shaky labor market have also made Canadians extra cautious, says RBC assistant chief economist Robert Hogue. Our view remains that there's going to be a gradual recovery, but we're not talking double digit like pop in activity or anything like that. He says that's giving buyers in slower housing markets more power to negotiate. So time is on their side. They're waiting. They're taking their time and which make prices continue to fall as well. In Toronto, real estate broker John Pisalas isn't expecting much of a rebound in sales. 2025 had the lowest number of sales in 25 years. He says the condo market has been especially slow, with many sellers hoping to score the lofty prices of a few years ago. They're now being forced to adjust their expectations. Now a lot of sellers are thinking if I wait six months, I might get less money than if I sell today. And that is a very big shift in sentiment. And any economic surprise like new tariffs could stall the market further. And when people are worried, they're not rushing to make huge financial decisions. Some may wait until the busier spring housing market before taking the plunge. Nisha Patel, CBC News, Toronto. Finally tonight, it's a common problem. You're not feeling well and need to leave work a little early. But what happens when your workplace is orbiting high above the Earth? Separation confirmed. Dragon and station, this is Houston on a big loop. Dragon has exited the Keep out Sphere Endeavor crew. Enjoy the ride home. The SpaceX Dragon departing the International Space Station yesterday. Early this morning, the spacecraft successfully splashed down off the coast of California. Its crew of two American astronauts, one Japanese and one Russian, spent 167 days in space. They were supposed to be there longer. The mission was cut short because of a medical issue with one of the astronauts. NASA did not disclose which crew member needed medical attention or what was wrong. Jared Isaacman is a NASA administrator. All crew members are currently undergoing the routine post flash down medical evaluation. The crew member of concern is doing fine. The International Space Station is equipped with basic medical supplies and astronauts are trained to handle emergencies. But more complex health problems are another story. If possible, a doctor on Earth can talk the crew through treatment. And in the past crews have included physicians, but not this one. So the decision was made to bring them home. I think when we go through the debrief on this, we're going to learn a lot about the things we got really we got right and did it very well and make sure we apply that, you know, in other applications. Going forward, the lessons learned about handling medical issues in space will be important. As agencies plan longer missions to the moon or Mars, astronauts will be isolated further away and coming home quickly for a health problem won't be an option. Thank you for joining us on YOUR WORLD Tonight for Thursday January 15th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more cbc podcasts, go to cbc ca podcasts.