tonight the prime minister's National Security adviser faces questions about Chinese meddling in Canadian democracy are you saying that it was not in the public interest that is not even close to what I'm telling this committee the growing calls for a public inquiry into allegations Beijing interfered in recent elections a growing tragedy in Greece the search for survivors and accountability after a fiery train crash it is nothing short of a complete and utter disgrace plus a star-studded celebration for a Canadian music icon Ms Mitchell how does tonight feel for you tonight it's exciting it really is this is the national with Chief correspondent Adrian Arsenault pressure is building for the federal government to call a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canadian elections for days now leaks and media reports have been raising questions about Chinese influence in the last 2019 and 2021 Federal votes so in a search for answers several people were grilled by MPS today including the prime minister's National Security advisor about who was told when about potential interference by Foreign actors and what's being done about it Ashley Burke starts us off tonight and takes us through what the testimony revealed Joni Thomas normally advises the Prime Minister on matters of National Security behind closed doors but now she's facing questions in public about foreign meddling in Canadian elections the greatest foreign interference threat to Canada comes from the People's Republic of China MPS demanded to know why the government hasn't done more to stop it what this scandal is about is what the Prime Minister knows about this interference when he first learned about it and what he did about it or failed to do about it there have been serious intelligence leaks and explosive reports about attempts by Beijing to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections we're not prepared to validate uh any of the reporting that's been in the media or the alleged leaks the unlawful sharing of information and the inappropriate sharing of information I believe jeopardizes our national security the Global Mail reported that secret seizes intelligence reports showed Beijing encouraged sympathetic donors in Canada to give money to favorite candidates then help them recoup their money the allegations um are criminal in nature if there are violations that took place to the Canada elections act these are are serious serious allegations officials today revealed the RCMP isn't investigating that or any other allegations of interference tied to the last election nation and have concluded that they will not pursue a criminal the costs continue to grow for a public inquiry we can't simply bury it behind closed doors and have it in secret while Canadians are left in the dark potentially with another election interfered in before the results of the commission come up but the Prime Minister still won't commit we have been taking this issue extraordinarily seriously so Ashley why is the government so reluctant to hold the public inquiry well Jody Thomas explained to the committee that any public inquiry would be severely limited because Witnesses wouldn't be able to discuss matters of National Security in public and other experts say that it could send a message to Canadians that this is so serious they can't trust their electoral system and undermining confidence is one of China's goals and so there is another update on this story involving I gather an Old Donation made to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation yeah Adrian this is a charity set up to honor the prime minister's father and the charity says that it recently learned through the media that a two hundred thousand dollar donation it received in 2016 may be connected to the Chinese government so it says it's returning that money the prime minister's office has said that Justin Trudeau wasn't involved at the charity at the time but the man who was running it was Morris Rosenberg at that time and he oversaw the report that was released yesterday that looked at possible Chinese interference in federal elections interesting Ashley Burke thank you the list of tick-tock bands in Canada just keeps on growing with a slew of provinces joining in Saskatchewan Pei Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador all announced the social media app is being barred from government mobile devices that follows moves by other provinces and the federal government earlier this week the broad concern is over how much data Tick Tock collects from users and whether the Chinese government could access it and China is dismissing comments by the director of the FBI who for the first time acknowledged the bureau's theory about how the pandemic began Chris Reyes explains that the covid-19 pandemic may have originated from a lab leak in China isn't a new Theory but the FBI director adding his weight behind it in a Fox news interview is the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident his comments come after a new report from the U.S energy Department that reached the same conclusion though with low confidence the circumstantial case for a lab origin has only grown and I think not just the FBI but really the world is coming around to what some of us have believed for many years now a biting reaction from China's foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao ning says the U.S intelligence Community has no credibility because of what she calls a record of Fraud and deception and urges the U.S to stop politicizing the issue of traceability from the White House not everyone in the intelligence Community or across the government necessarily has come to a consensus view here on how it started the Public Health Community expressing concerns the back and forth on the virus's origin theories whether lab leak or animal to human transmission takes away from the real issue preventing the next pandemic the longer we go the more it's going to be very difficult to go back to the scene of the crime if you will and figure out and unravel what happened others say another real problem the search for truth is one-sided we don't have an answer now because China has prevented an investigation a point that's also contested one of the many after nearly three years without consensus or conclusive answers on how it all started Chris Reyes CBC News New York Saskatchewan and BC are the latest provinces to reach an agreement in principle on federal health care funding so let's look at the numbers the BC deal includes 3.3 billion dollars over the next 10 years and a one-time transfer of 273 million for Urgent needs in ERS and pediatric hospitals Saskatchewan will get 1.1 billion over the next decade and a one-time payment of 61 million dollars now nine provinces have reached bilateral agreements with the federal government one of the most Urgent health Care issues facing the provinces is a shortage of trained workers well tonight Manitoba says it's offering hundreds of positions to nurses from the Philippines our province is well positioned to provide internationally educated Health Care Providers a great place to call home Manitoba isn't the only Province to recruit in that country but where does that leave the Health Care system in the Philippines as Karen Paul shows us they're facing their own crutch sees the shortage of nurses in the Philippines up close sitting by her husband Rico's hospital bed there's no one to attend to the patients she says Health officials say 40 percent of all Filipino nurses have left the country or retired we'd like to stop the bleeding as soon as we can Maria Rosario vergera says the Philippines has a shortage of more than 350 000 nurses those recruiting our nurses should also give us some form of exchange so that there would be something for our country the head of the Philippine Nurses Association says he's especially worried about high-risk pregnancies in rural areas there's also strain on those nurses left behind caring for too many patients would be highest for an error for the patient a better life in Manitoba Manitoba's minister of Labor and immigration is trying to fill nearly 2 000 nursing vacancies we want to make sure this battle comes has a seamless transition so that they can be heavily employed right away and that'll benefit Marathon but there are growing concerns in less developed countries that wealthy Nations like Canada are exploiting those with fragile Health Care Systems it's a higher income richer countries who are going on this Global shopping trip they are taking from shells which are already very very bare and can at least afford to lose nurses from nurses in the Philippines are also torn between duty to their country and the much larger paychecks and opportunities abroads time sorry Amir pagadalan is emotional when he talks about being offered a job by the Manitoba delegation he says it's a gift from God it could be enough to support my family the Filipino government wants countries like Canada to do more like fund nurse training spots or provide scholarships for Filipino students or train more nurses here at home so they don't have to go elsewhere to poach them Karen Pauls CBC News Winnipeg there's lots of reaction tonight to BC's plan to offer free prescription birth control it would be the first province in Canada to do so and as Lindsey duncombe shows us this is an idea many hope will spread to the rest of the country at the University of British Columbia questions about new birth control funding generate genuine Joy we're watching we were like I wonder what our weather it was about the birth control I'm like oh my God yeah I think it's great I think it's really sending a great message and setting a good example for the rest of the provinces it just seems like an important step in being in control of our own bodies the BC government will spend 119 million dollars over three years to cover prescription contraception that's the pill iuds implants and the morning after pill coverage offered in just a handful of countries around the world this family physician was part of the campaign to convince politicians to pay up she says many of her patients don't get the contraception of their choice because of cost inflation and the rising cost of living affordability is an issue for everybody right now someone on the pill can expect to save 25 a month and the government is likely coming out ahead financially too saving tens of millions of dollars in costs associated with unintended pregnancy and abortion so there's a fiscal argument and a political one too all too often these fundamental rights are under attack but not here in BC The National Society of Obstetricians and gynecologists wants to see contraception funded across the country you can prevent unwanted pregnancies and and therefore the cost both physical and emotional not just even the health costs to abortion that's that's a great benefit there are similar campaigns to fund birth control in New Brunswick Nova Scotia Ontario and Manitoba here in British Columbia even the opposition isn't opposing the plan Lindsey duncombe CBC News Vancouver a 31 year old man in Toronto is facing nearly a hundred charges he is accused of sex crimes against children as young as Seven Police fear there may be more victims it's further alleged that the accused utilized several usernames and email addresses on various social media platforms and in some cases altered His Image to appear younger Daniel Langdon has previously been arrested for possessing and making child pornography police suspect his use of aliases may explain why he wasn't detected sooner the alleged offenses took place between April 2021 and February of 2023 Greece has now declared three days of mourning after that country's worst ever trained disaster more than 40 people are dead after a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train as Susan ormerson tells us along with anguish there is a growing sense of anger talking metal was a train car carrying many Young University students returning from a carnival a jackknife Carriage was the third car the first two obliterated after barreling head-on into a freight train dozens died dozens still missing a Greek tragedy not seen in a lifetime incredibly two trains were on the same track at the same time headed for each other the Collision sparked an inferno incinerating passengers trapped in the first two cars this man barely escaped as we were turning over we were being burned fired to the right and left these were the luckier ones traumatized but alive I remember feeling a very strong break and suddenly I saw Sparks and Flames we broke the windows with our backs it was chaos as the recovery continued an unsettling picture emerged warnings from the train driver's Union that switching had to be done manually no automated system and indicators and traffic lights were faulty the transport Minister clearly emotional promised to fix the problems but later quit admitting that Greece's Railway isn't fit for this Century in short massive underfunding only a year or two ago one third of the Personnel of Greek Railways was fired Janus gorfacas was Greece's Finance Minister still an MP privatizing the Greek Railway to an Italian company he says left a broken system the same government that engineered this tragedy is playing the blame game it is nothing short of a complete and utter disgrace the Greek Prime Minister on site later blamed human error a local station Master is charged with manslaughter but there's growing anger that this was an accident waiting to happen Susan ormiston CBC News London the president of Belarus is in Beijing for a state visit Alexander lukashenko has had a long tight relationship with China but he's also one of Russia's closest allies as Briar Stewart explains the trips being watched closely for hints of China's engagement in Russia's war with Ukraine China rolled out the Pomp and ceremony for a state visit from the Belarusian President Alexander lukashenka I'm happy to see my old friend Proclaim China's president Xi Jinping the visit comes as Belarus finds itself increasingly scorned and sanctioned by the West for allowing Russia to use its territory to Stage troops and mount attacks against Ukraine today's meeting is taking place at a very difficult time that requires new and conventional approaches said lukashenka China has called for an end to the fighting in Ukraine but isn't publicly pressuring Russia to withdraw still the U.S is concerned Beijing could send Russia weapons it can't be putting forward peace proposals on the one hand while actually feeding the Flames of the fire that Russia has started with the other hand the U.S Secretary of State repeated those warnings during his first visit to Central Asia he met with officials from former Soviet states with close ties to Russia and China I think that secretary blinken wants to convey the message to the five countries of Central Asia that Russia is not a reliable partner this analyst says all countries are seeking to shore up alliances yes well helping to open a new metro line Russia's president reminded the crowd Chinese leader has promised to pay Moscow a visit soon China may talk about its No Limits friendship with Russia but that's hard to maintain the longer the war goes on the harder it's going to get for China to straddle this balance and I think that we're already starting to see detentions the tensions are now becoming more prominent they're becoming more pronounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate discussion at the G20 which gets underway in India Thursday but the U.S Secretary of State says he has no plans to hold individual meetings with either China or Russia Briar Stewart CBC News London a Marketplace investigation is Raising concerns about how difficult it can be to spot a controversial ingredient in everyday products we're talking about palm oil that's an ingredient some choose to avoid because of its ties to deforestation climate change even human rights abuses Chelsea aggro looks at why it's still nearly impossible for consumers to spot these have no palm oil Sheila O'Reilly made up her mind a long time ago if there is palm oil I don't buy it while it is relatively easy for her to avoid in food it is tough to spot in virtually everything else she and Canadian consumers are buying could be in your floor cleaner 100 could be in your toothpaste that's right it is unlike food labeling laws do not require palm oil or ingredients made from palm oil to be listed on the label if you are coming to the store expecting to walk through here and just make informed choices by looking at the ingredients and staying away from Palm good luck an environmental author Adria vassel says there are plenty of reasons to watch to avoid Pawns increasing demand for the lucrative crop has led to the clear cutting of rainforests across Asia Africa and elsewhere as a result cost-effective Palm has found its way onto store shelves everywhere to find out if companies would tell us about using palm oil in their Products Marketplace contacted 10 personal care companies and inquired about one of their products that could contain an ingredient derived from palm oil only four companies confirmed that yes one or more of the ingredients in that product came from palm oil four said they used palm oil in some of their products but wouldn't say which ones the rest didn't respond to our questions at all the parent companies of the products we inquired about tell us they're committed to using sustainable sources of palm oil and some add they're following all labeling requirements I don't like that I don't feel right it should be labeled Health Canada says it has no plans to require companies to increase the transparency of labels when it comes to products containing palm oil I do think that we need the same kind of transparency in all consumer goods that we see in foods Charles siagara CBC News Toronto and you can watch Charles C's Marketplace investigation Friday that's at 8pm on CBC television 8 30 in Newfoundland you can also stream it on cbcg well the one and only Joni Mitchell is being celebrated in Washington tonight [Music] we're on the red carpet of the star-studded event honoring a Canadian great next migrants crossing the border in Quebec are being sent to cities in Ontario as our our cost mounds and the pressures on our systems Mount we can't continue this [Music] children were small they were building a snow fort and they weren't doing it right we're back in [Music] I'm Dan Byrd and the Nationals Vancouver Newsroom developing news in eastern BC tonight not far from the Alberta border once again there's been a deadly Avalanche the RCMP confirms at least one person has been killed after the Avalanche near invermir as well as injuries to several people emergency officials say four people were taken to hospital it happened around noon local time near Panorama Mountain Resort about 300 kilometers west of Calgary the resort says the Avalanche took place outside its boundaries but it closed some of its upper lifts to help rescue teams it's not clear at this point exactly how many people were caught in the slide or whether search and rescue operations are still underway this has been a deadly winter for avalanches in BC already before today nine people had been killed including a search and rescue volunteer two off-duty police officers and two brothers from Pennsylvania Avalanche Canada has compared this season's snowpack to conditions 20 years ago when 25 people were killed they continue to urge anyone heading into the back country to check the avalanche forecast and be extremely careful once again the rsmp confirms at least one person has died in an avalanche near the BC Alberta Border in a moment back to Adrian Arsenault with the rest of tonight's National there's nothing like your touch it's the way you lift me up well there's some bad news for Justin Bieber fans the Canadian singer has officially canceled the remaining dates of his Justice World Tour no official reason was given but last year Bieber postponed the tour after revealing he's suffering with the condition that caused partial paralysis to his face ticket holders will be refunded so this is a big night for another Canadian musician the legendary Joni Mitchell is being recognized in Washington with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award and as Katie Simpson shows us it's a historic night and what's already a storied career [Music] foreign Mitchell's song can make the hairs on your arm stand straight up even when she's not the one singing it he's a testament to her Brilliance it's Why Annie Lennox and so many of the world's most talented artists came to Washington DC for a red carpet Gala and concert to honor Joni Mitchell's career as the winner of this year's Library of Congress Gershwin prize for popular song Ms Mitchell how does tonight feel for you tonight that's exciting it really is she may be humble about her impact though she paved the way for see it differently now I'm a proud disciple of a really powerful woman that changed the world she changed the world for singer songwriters what is the impact of Joni Mitchell's musical career everything everything for me everything I wouldn't be standing here as a singer-songwriter if I hadn't heard Johnny's music and being aware of her great Artistry I mean she's exceptional clouds from up and down Mitchell was in her early 20s when she wrote some of her most popular music her perspective resonating with audiences in the late 60s and early 70s clouds clouds words that have only become more powerful with the passage of time now 79 years old Mitchell rarely makes public appearances I really don't know life at all last year's surprise performance at A Folk Festival in Rhode Island left her co-stars in tears and the crowd Blown Away and that is why this celebration in Washington is such a special event a chance for artists to try to return the favor [Music] and leave Joni Mitchell herself in awe of her own music Katie Simpson CBC News Washington ah beautiful some Ontario cities are seeing an influx of migrants who've been bussed in after crossing the border we're getting hit from all angle and all now we bring in thousands more people their struggle to help as more people arrive daily and foreign Russia has been targeting Ukraine's communication grid for months but Elon Musk has kept them connected for now after the war you're very welcome I advise you yes that sounds good well I look forward to visiting why that's now at risk and the Canadian company stepping up to help the national takes you deeper into the story shaping our world next [Music] [Music] well in the last year alone tens of thousands of Asylum Seekers have entered Quebec at an irregular border crossing now the pressure is on to move them along out of the province to other communities Joanna brilliotis takes a look at how those cities are handling a sudden influx of newcomers it doesn't stop even in the dead of night in a snowstorm [Music] ing up at roxham Road at least 100 every day but for most the road to Refuge doesn't end here anymore is an irregular border crossing between New York and Quebec and why they're here [Music] this family from Colombia tells us they're running from armed conflict back home gracias they're relieved to have made it [Music] but like thousands before them they will be moved along you just saw who got on that bus are being taken now to a processing center a few kilometers away from there they'll be taken to a local hotel they'll stay for a couple of days maybe but then they're going to be put on buses and they're going to be sent to other provinces because Quebec says it cannot handle any more people coming here seeking asylum [Music] in the last year roughly 39 000 people have crossed here into Quebec many are francophone and hope to stay but the latest arrivals don't have that option and don't choose where they go next the communities they're ending up in haven't had much choice either the federal government wants to transport people all over the country in Ontario the majority are being sent to Niagara Falls where we're heading now as a tourist Hot Spot the city has a ton of hotels and Ottawa has reserved nearly 2 000 rooms there the federal government is paying for rooms and meals on average Asylum Seekers spend 60 days in hotels while they wait for work permits and are entitled to medical and social assistance not far from one of them we meet Muhammad he's too afraid to disclose more of his identity because he says he fled central Africa fearful for his life is easy Muhammad was given an ID bracelet when he arrived at roxham Road a couple of weeks ago shortly after he was put on a bus to Niagara Falls he says he didn't have a choice doesn't speak English and has no idea how to start building a life here um as he Shivers in the only warm clothes he owns we give him mittens and a hat Muhammad is just one of the thousands here unsure of his road ahead in a place that is also reeling with a spiraling homelessness and opioid crisis Hi how are you mayor Jim dioni has been taken aback by the rate of new arrivals and the needs that come with them I went from 87 rooms to 300 rooms then it went to 687 rooms then it went to 1500 rooms then they said 1700 and 2000 is next so we said well where are we going with this I mean how how big is this going to get your daddy says the city has had to absorb 5 million dollars in costs to deliver Social Services to Asylum Seekers and once tourist season begins hotels will be in demand so will the money they generate and the question is where can Asylum Seekers go then where are they going to go after how are they going to be supported in this city do you have enough affordable housing do you have enough kind of resources to support them a lot of them are trying to plant roots in our community and we don't have the housing stock we have a shortage and and we actually as a matter of fact we just declared at the region of Niagara it's an emergency it's an opioid homeless affordability emergency in our community and we know we're not unique this is all over Canada and around the world it's like we're getting hit from all angle and now now we bring in thousands more people the lack of preparedness has left other communities pushing back to Quebec closed its doors 1400 Asylum Seekers have come through Cornwall alone 800 people are still here at this hotel and at another hotel on the other side of town the city says it gets little to no warning about when the next busload of Asylum Seekers will arrive and it says it's really struggling to support their needs I'm Joanna nice to meet you Justin towndale is the mayor of Cornwall he's exhausted after weeks of being constantly caught off guard we're not aware of when buses are arriving we're not sure what country these individuals are from what languages they speak how hard is it for you to manage the people who have arrived who's continue to arrive it's just it adds another layer of unpredictability because there's a lot of agencies that want to help but they don't know how to help yet when they're getting caught off guard by people showing up on their doors and they haven't planned for it like food banks especially they haven't allocated enough meals for that day or other Charities where they may have some clothing available winter clothing you know they have to plan for all this as hotels keep filling up the city and Community groups met with Federal immigration officials last weekend demanding better communication and support going forward Colonel wants to help we're a very generous Community we're caring community and we want to do what we can but we need the resources to do it it's the Asylum claimants that suffer at the end they're left in limbo with nowhere to go nothing to do and no way forward as our our costs mounts and the pressures on our systems Mount we can't continue this community groups are doing what they can to provide the basics and helping families enroll kids in schools open bank accounts and apply for work permits Sonja balil is with akfo a group that helps settle newcomers do you have any concerns about being able to help people who are coming in still definitely we're very close to our community so that's a reality we know that resources are limited is trying to find people jobs too and ended up hiring Esperance and her husband worked as an aid worker in Haiti before the violence drove her family out seeing firsthand the success s of the program and seeing people establishing themselves with their families and he makes that all that more special desaldoin was bust here after Crossing at roxham Road four months ago she had hoped to stay in Quebec but is grateful to now be working for the same group that helped her is that important to you to feel like you're working and being part of the community yes yes it is very important for me because I have to give back when I receive we we feel we have now a good life it's a good life that so many like her are hoping to find she and her family are settling into a new home filled with donations from the community all these Furnitures form aqua and also from my church for the first time in a long time she says the future feels safer too what does it do for you for your family to be here now and to have your own home ah yes for all the family you can see in my face my emotion or I feel to have a your town house so I feel very very good I feel it's peace though right it's peace I I feel peace in my heart I feel love I feel good what if everyone could have that outcome I'm curious watching that what is driving this bike it's part of a global migration crisis Adrian and it's worth noting that claims for Refugee status have spiked at official border crossings as well as pandemic border restrictions ease and when we talk about rockson Road another Factor could be the safe Third Country agreement between the U.S and Canada which states that Asylum Seekers should claim refuge in the first safe country they arrive in that rule doesn't apply to irregular border crossings like rockson Road that's a loophole the federal government wants to renegotiate with the U.S the conservative party says we should just shut it outright so that may be contributing to people rushing over while they still can but in the long term what's the plan a long-term plan is to move people across the country the latest we've heard is in the maritimes to ease the pressure and they do want to match newcomer skills to job shortages in Canada we don't know yet it's not clear yet rather how that's working out all right Joanna thank you thank you next the fight in Ukraine isn't just on the battlefield but on social media as well we hope that at least at 9 00 PM we will have a power now a Quebec company is helping to keep them connected after Elon Musk threatens to pull his support [Music] well there are reports tonight that Ukraine's military could soon pull back from the stronghold of buckmut the battle for the city has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance for months soldiers have held out against a Relentless Russian offensive but buckmut is now almost completely surrounded beyond the tanks and the artillery there is another crucial resource that could be essential to Ukraine's survival its connection to the internet tonight on assignment for the national Justin Ling looks at why it's so important to the war effort and how tenuous that connection has become [Music] Ukraine has become without a doubt the most streamed war of all time but the story you probably haven't seen is just how Ukraine has managed to stay online even amidst constant bombardment it's a pretty incredible story from Elon Musk to a small Montreal cyber security firm but as this war goes on there is a constant threat to Ukraine's ability to stay online millions of people have seen this Tick Tock of Olga and Mikel singing happy birthday to their young daughter on the ninth floor of their apartment building in nepro in this bright adorable yellow kitchen [Music] unfortunately last month that kitchen went viral again for much sadder reasons Russian airstrikes hit their neighborhood tearing this side off of their apartment building exposing that yellow kitchen to the elements journalists were on the scene very quickly and the images of that strike went viral all around the world Olga and the kids were luckily not home when the strike occurred but Mikhail was he was one of 46 people who died in the blast even amongst this war everyday ukrainians have been showing what life is like under Russian bombardment this wooden stove literally saved our life because we have seen videos of people streaming in the darkness in the Viv we hope that at least at 9 00 PM we will have a power there have been videos of people dancing in the Subways of Kiev even as air strikes rain down overhead Defense Forces have uploaded video of doctors performing surgery by just the light of cell phone cameras in harkiv since last February Russia has tried desperately to knock Ukraine offline particularly in the last few months airstrikes have targeted telecommunications Towers shelling has hit power plants and critical infrastructure Russian soldiers have tried to cut off Internet lines and cyber attacks have targeted the entire Ukrainian internet but at least thus far Russia has failed so you may be asking how is it that Ukraine has managed to stay online well that's where Elon Musk comes in ignition liftoff over the past number of years his company SpaceX has been firing satellites into low orbit hoping to create an internet service based from space they call it starlink the advantage of this service is that it doesn't need these big telecommunications Towers you can connect an entire village with just a small terminal and over the last several months I've been speaking to senior Ukrainian officials who have been telling me that starlink was a signal of life for Ukraine especially in the early days of this war after the war you're very welcome I look forward to to visiting but ever since he spent 44 billion dollars to buy Twitter there have been signs that the billionaires Goodwill may be running out initially he suggested that he was going to cut off Ukraine from starlink or at least start charging them facing a whole bunch of backlash he back down but over the past few months he's been parroting Russian talking points on Crimea and even proposing a peace plan that sounds awfully similar to the one put forward by Vladimir Putin there's been widespread anger inside Ukraine over the perception that Elon Musk is withdrawing his support in response to that backlash musk tweeted out that he's all for keeping Ukraine connected but that he's worried that this could enable an escalation that leads to World War III so now faced with the possibility that they could lose starlink Ukraine has had to go to a pretty eloquent and simple solution batteries cell phone infrastructure Works basically the same no matter where you are you have big cell phone towers like the one behind me hooked up to the electrical grid that energy promulgates that sell signal to the area around and lets anyone connect if the power happens to go out well there's a battery usually installed in that cell phone tower that gives it enough juice to keep it running for a couple hours if things go on a bit longer a crew can show up with a generator to keep things going for even longer than that the batteries that are hooked up to Ukraine's telecommunications systems are old and they are weak so there's been this real mad dash effort to get new Lithium-ion batteries plugged into that telecommunications grid if you've been in the market for an electric car recently you know there is a ton of demand for these high capacity batteries so the International Community has done their best to step in that's where companies like equality come in they're montreal-based cyber security firm who have been working with Ukraine in recent months to boost the country cyber defenses get real uncensored news to people throughout the country and to help connect people on the front lines including in russian-occupied territories I got on the phone with Vitaly morose he's equalities Outreach and support coordinator to talk about how they've worked with internet service providers or isps to keep the country connected even amidst a brutal War we had a feedback from was under heavy compartments so helping them with just five batteries which they received within the donations means that connectivity that people like tens thousands of residents of Trinity here remain connected as this war drags on Russia is going to keep mounting its efforts to knock Ukraine into the dark and disconnect them from the rest of the world these batteries could be a very effective way of keeping the whole country online so Justin I completely get the civilian applications but the soldiers in Ukraine told us over the last few weeks that they're furious with Elon musk's threats to pull away the use of starlink on the battlefield offensively it's been vital to them so how big is that risk I mean I think it's really significant we still don't know yet whether or not starlink will be totally revoked for the Ukrainian military but if it is it's a huge loss it's great these batteries are keeping civilians connected but the Ukrainian military has come to rely on starlink to run a lot of their drone operations if Elon Musk really does follow through if he really has been sort of captured by some of this Russian disinformation it's a huge win for Moscow and it's a huge loss for Ukraine all right Justin Ling thank you thanks next the story behind the snow King's winter festival they were building a snow fort and they weren't doing it right so I went out to show them how did he ever take a tour of his massive snow castle in our mom look at that this enormous snow castle with ramparts slides and a dance hall was built by a man who wants to be known as the snow King so he started this as a backyard project with his kids now it's grown into a mighty Winter Wonderland and so opening day at the snow King's Castle is Our Moment [Applause] it all started when my children were small in the yard and they were building a snow fort and they weren't doing it right so I went out to show them how well my my good women will probably be mad if I tell this story but uh after about the fifth year she said so you're just going to play outside in the snow again I said no no hon I'm making a festival so I made a festival I'm pretty cranky and no one will hire me anymore so I figured I better get a job that I could be the boss I have a wonderful crew they do most of the work this is the 28th castle that we've built and uh it's a pretty good one I think the children will be happy the mothers will be terrified because we're bringing back the mouse holes the ever popular Mouse holes that's where your child goes into a tiny little hole and you don't see the child for 15 minutes I already had one little girl this morning she said where's the Maze and I said oh we don't have an Amaze this year we have tunnels and it's kind of like amazing she goes well you should do a maze again next year I'll try to get that done for sure yes you should and I know he says he's cranky but I actually think you're having a fantastic time that is the national for March the 1st thank you for being with us and have a good night [Music]
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