CBC News: The National | CBC identifies Canadian NATO intern accused of spying

Breaking tonight, exclusive new information about the Canadian intern now accused of spying at NATO's military headquarters.A CBC News investigation reveals the identity of the woman now under arrest on espionage charges and what we've learned about her past.CBC News is also in France as wildfires burn and exhausted crews battle the flames.

The fire is stronger than us.

And one of the world's biggest bands says it's turning away from one of music's biggest prizes.

I think they didn't want to be pigeonholed into being an Asian act.

Why BTS won't be at the Grammys.

From CBC News, this is The National with Chris Reyes.

Thank you for joining us.Adrienne is away.We begin tonight with exclusive new information you'll only see here about a Canadian intern accused of spying at NATO's military headquarters.A CBC News investigation has uncovered the identity of the woman arrested in Belgium last week on charges of espionage and of being a member of a criminal organization.Jonathan Gatehouse is breaking the story for us tonight about her impressive resume that includes a series of high -profile jobs in Canada and abroad.

This is Biwei Zhang.She also goes by Claire and Katina.She's in her 30s and is fluent in English, French and Mandarin.And a CBC News investigation has determined that she's the Canadian intern accused of spying at NATO's military headquarters.She's built an impressive resume over the past decade working at high -profile spots like the World Trade Organization in Switzerland and the European Space Agency in Italy.She's also worked for the Canadian Space Agency.

Agency as a systems engineer in the Satellite Operations Department and before that as an economist with Stats Canada.But it's her most recent position at SHAPE, NATO's military headquarters near Mons, Belgium that led to her arrest last week on charges of espionage and belonging to a criminal organization.The Belgian federal prosecutor sent out a press release in three languages but has provided few details.Under Belgian law, suspects are not named until their charges go to trial.But CBC News was able to identify Zhang unearthing her CV, academic writings and various social media profiles.Including this post last summer where she was looking for a room to rent for her internship at Shape.

The charges have not yet been tested in court and Zhang remains in custody.CBC News attempted to reach her through her various social media accounts but has not yet received a response.

Shape at NATO is a coveted spot.

Dan Stanton is a former CSIS intelligence officer.He doesn't have any direct knowledge about this case but says the most important element in espionage is opportunity.

Most of the biggest secrets in espionage aren't as a result of stealing files or accessing databanks.It's conversations.It's hearing things.Who do you know?

Even an internship at NATO requires a comprehensive security clearance.A months -long background check that would have fallen to the RCMP and CSIS since Zhang is Canadian.But CBC News has uncovered something that may have been overlooked.A federal court of Canada ruling.Back in 2019, Zhang applied for a job with the CBSA.Submitting two forms under slightly different names.

Giving her two cracks at the application exam.The Public Service Commission determined that was fraud.A decision uphill.by a 2024 judicial review.

So Jonathan, what does Ottawa have to say about all of this?

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangiri addressed this case earlier this week before CBC News uncovered Zhang's identity.He declined to go into specifics, but he said the government is concerned about any potential security breach or flaw in its screening process, and that it's important to get to the bottom of what happened.Today, we reached out to Global Affairs Canada, which oversees that vetting process.They noted that such assessments are provided by CSIS, but that the final decision to grant, deny, or revoke a security clearance rests with the federal government.But they too declined to go into specifics about this case as it is the subject of an ongoing investigation.

All right, Jonathan, thanks for that.

Thank you.

A tragic end tonight to a weeks -long search for a missing boy in Calgary.Police say they've found what they believe to be the remains of the 11 -year -old.

Well, today is not the outcome anyone wanted.I hope Parker's family takes some comfort and knowing they were not alone.

Parker, who had autism and was nonverbal, vanished after walking away from his day home on July 16th.Investigators believe the boy entered a culvert and traveled through a network of unsafe pipes where he later died.His disappearance sparked a citywide search involving hundreds of officers and volunteers.Tens of thousands of WestJet passengers are still facing uncertainty tonight.The threat of a strike or lockout could cause chaos as soon as this long weekend.And as Anis Haidari tells us, the airline and the union representing flight attendants have agreed to a plan just in case there is a labor disruption.

WestJet is getting ready to wrap up some operations in case it can't reach a deal with flight attendants.A strike or lockout could ground flights over the busy long weekend.The airline and union have agreed on how to wind things down if that happens.In an internal note obtained by CBC News, a WestJet executive said this isn't a sign things have escalated at the negotiation table and that it's about getting flights and employees home if there's job action.In a statement, the company wrote this does not mean a travel disruption will occur.Industry experts say preparing for a possible work stoppage isn't a surprise.

They'll start doing things tomorrow, if not later on today.start you know either cancelling outbound flights from Calgary to Japan those will be cancelled and but that's normal in the event of a of a shutdown.

As of Wednesday evening flights haven't been cancelled.The union and the company are still at the bargaining table.

We don't want to have to cause disruption and so part of what a strike can look like obviously is winding down that operation to support our cabin crew members.We felt that this deal was something that ensured, like I said, a safe and orderly wind down in the event that a strike does have to take place.

Previous labour disputes at both Air Canada and WestJet have seen the federal government order everyone back to work.

If they expect that they're going to get federal intervention to order workers back to work then they have no incentive to reach an agreement at the bargaining table, and they can just drag their feet.And this is what we've seen.

But so far, the federal government won't say if it will block a strike.They are very, very well supported by the Federal Mediation Service, and we're hopeful that they reach a negotiated agreement.Both CUPE, the union, and WestJet say they are still bargaining.The earliest they can give notice of a strike is in the early hours of Thursday morning, but they don't have to do that.The earliest we'd see them off the job if there's no deal,is Sunday.

So, Anis, have passengers been offered any alternatives by WestJet?

Yeah, if they have a flight between the 30th and the 4th.Right now, WestJet is letting customers have what they call flexibility.They can rebook their flight or cancel it if they choose, but they'll only get a credit from WestJet in many cases.If you want cash money back, you have to wait for them to cancel.

All right, Anis, thank you.

You're welcome.

And to another looming deadline now.In just three weeks, the U .S.is threatening to impose new 50 % tariffs on Canada.As the Prime Minister weighs how to respond, he appears to be downplaying the idea of using Canadian energy as a bargaining chip.

One of the biggest commodities, arguably the best, is trust.People trust us.And so when you're a supplier of a key commodity, key service, you've got to think really hard about not supplying.

Without providing specifics, Carney said Canada has other options it can look to in trade talks.Canada -U .S.Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc is in Washington this week.He posted on social media saying he had a comprehensive meeting with U .S.

Trade Representative Jameson Greer and they agreed to remain in close contact and continue working together.Raging wildfires in southwestern France show no sign of slowing tonight.A fourth heat wave is creating the perfect tinder -dry conditions for fire fuel.In the Bordeaux region, two major fires have been burning for about a week now.Nala Ayed is in the fire zone tonight near La Temple, where the battle against the flames is grueling.

The order comes from the ground for reinforcements to come in from above.Moments later, they swoop in, one after the other.using water to try to herd the flames from the sky, while firefighters at ground level close in to try to finish the job.Even this one small battle inside France's unprecedented wildfires is a multi -front effort.It's why we have land resources and air resources, so that it doesn't spread further, says firefighter Didier Nicolo.France's fires have burned for days, claiming hundreds of kilometres of forest and leading to the displacement of more than 200 ,000 people.

There had been warnings that the fourth heat wave of the summer here could slow down the fight against fire, and, worse, even spark new ones.We had just arrived when the firefighters had discovered one of them, and moved in to nip it in the bud.And so, as they were working, their tactic was to try to work with the direction of the wind, which has actually picked up significantly this afternoon, to drive the fire away from drier areas and towards the road.With the help of the water bombers, in this one small spot, the flames eventually disappeared.But among residents here, many lives have been changed forever.

The most difficult for us is to observe that the fire forces have no control of the fire.The fire is stronger than us.

And with the punishing heat unrelenting, they must fight back one fire at a time.Nala Ayed, CBC News, near Le Temple, France.

Wildfires have now turned deadly in Greece.Three firefighters have died battling flames on the island of Crete.And in Spain, about 10 large wildfires continue to burn, triggering more evacuations.Police officers evacuate nursing home residents as smoke from a nearby fire looms above.Near Madrid, people are getting a first look at their burnt out homes.This man says he has nothing left and the disaster is impossible to bear.

Meanwhile, in southwestern Turkey, high winds are making containment extremely difficult.Parts of a hospital were evacuated and major highways shut down.The largest wildfire burning in BC continues to threaten the village of Clinton in the southern interior.Residents still don't know when they can return.

I wish I had better news to share at this stage, but I don't necessarily have a time frame that I can stick to for when we're going to be able to get back home.

A cluster of fires is surrounding the community.Work is underway to verify exactly which structures have been destroyed and notify the owners.Authorities stress that the process will take time as the village is still quite dangerous to enter.And now to a political spectacle south of the border involving one of the highest profile doctors in the US.Dr. Anthony Fauci was ordered to testify at a Senate committee investigating the origins of COVID -19.Katie Simpson now with why Fauci refused to answer questions.

Committee will now come to order.

A contentious hearing doubles as a mirror moment for America, a reflection of the partisan divide.Dr. Anthony Fauci, once the chief medical advisor to the president, cast doubt.a villain by Republicans for his leadership during the pandemic.

Who the f**k do you think you were for doing that?It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.You lied to hundreds of millions of people amid the worst public health crisis in a century.

While Democrats say Fauci is being smeared for political gain.

And it must be enormously frustrating to know that this hearing is designed to entrap you.

Fauci remained emotionless, repeating the same response to every single question.

On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

More than 100 times Fauci invoked the Fifth, refusing to answer as a way to protect against self -incrimination, to avoid perjuring himself.For years, at least one Republican has called for Fauci to be jailed over the decisions he made during the pandemic, even though there's no credible evidence of illegal activity.An effort led by Senator Rand Paul.

The COVID lockdown, however, could never have been inflicted without you aiding and abetting the crime.

Fauci cited Paul's desire to have him locked up as justification for refusing to answer.

Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.

It's not necessarily a surprising turn.Fauci is one of several figures granted a preemptive pardon by President Joe Biden amid fears the Trump administration would seek retribution against perceived political enemies.The pardon only applies to some past events not if Fauci were to perjure himself now.Senators will vote next week on whether he should be held in contempt.Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington.

There is mounting outrage tonight over FIFA's planto create a multi -billion dollar subsidiary offering investors a major stake in the World Cup.As Alexander Silberman tells us, there are fears private companies could influence the sport.

The world's most popular sport caught up in fresh controversy.It will transform football.FIFA's president facing fierce backlash for a plan to sell a stake in the World Cup.

Too little of football's growing commercial value reaches the parts of the game that need it most.

The organization proposing a 20 billion U .S.dollar private subsidiary to run events.Up to 21 percent would be sold to investors including a company founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son -in -law.

You're giving undue influence to people that are not going to necessarily be motivated by what's best for soccer but what's best for their bank accounts.

FIFA is promising it's more than 200 member associations an immediate $20 million U .S.payout and annual grants if they sign on.

It does come with political and other ramifications that could pose a challenge especially from those within the soccer fraternity like UEFA, the European governing body.

UEFA was quick to criticise the proposal.The sole and governance of football are not assets to trade, it said in a statement.None of us are the owners of football.Let me say this very clearly, football does not belong to investors.Experts say the plan is only the latest move to commercialise the sport, including the expansion of the number of teams in the World Cup and the new addition of hydration breaks to air commercials.It's going to take a considerable push and public pressure for this to not go through.

FIFA says members need to make a decision by September 19th.Canada Soccer says it is taking time to fully consider the proposal.Alexander Silverman, CBC News, Montreal.

HIV cases are climbing in Canada with new data showing an increase of more than 20 % in just two years.Tashana Reid hears from experts about why this is happening and what needs to change.

Protests against American cuts to HIV funding take center stage at the International AIDS Conference.Health experts warning the loss in funding could undo years of progress.

The ends is no longer limited by science.It's limited by inequality, by political choices.

At least 21 countries have reported a rise in cases.and Canada has two.New data shows there were more than 2 ,500 new HIV infections in 2024, a 23 percent increase compared to two years earlier.

What we're seeing is a resurgence of HIV both new infections and AIDS which was until two or three years ago persistently declining because the strategy was working.

Dr. Montaner was a lead architect behind the treatment as prevention strategy adopted by the UN to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030.It calls for 95 % of people with HIV to be diagnosed, to be on treatment and to have a suppressed viral load.

But Canada is not meeting There has been limited, if any, significant investment from the federal government.

Advocates say HIV is showing up in smaller communities without adequate health support services.

They almost certainly do not have an HIV organization supporting the work.And in fact, many don't even have a clinic or a hospital.care provider available to them.

In May, Manitoba declared HIV a public health emergency and Saskatchewan has seen a record number of cases.

We do see a lot of newer cases coming in.

Daryl Jordan lives with HIV and is a harm reduction worker.He says testing is key.

Once you're tested you can be treated and once you're treated you're going to live a normal life.

Health experts are also calling on the government to provide more frequent reporting of HIV cases and invest in community supports.Tashauna Reid, CBC News, Toronto.

The world's most popular K -pop group say they won't submit their music for the Grammys next year.

I'm actually very proud that they took a stance.

The controversy over the new awards category next.Plus, how AI chatbots are changing the way we search the web.

We exist in these bubbles of, like, people who reinforce our opinions, and AI summaries could make that dramatically worse.

How it could transform the Internet.And later, after a massive wave, a lifeguard springs into action.

I've never seen a rescue this intense.

His fearless, life -saving actions were back in tune.Irish musician and actor Glenn Hansard has died in a motorcycle crash.It happened near Dublin early Wednesday morning.Hansard was best known as the front man of The Frames, and for starring in the 2007 film Once, he shared an Oscar for the film's song, Falling Slowly.Hansard was 56.K -pop superstars BTS say they won't be submitting their music for the 2027 Grammy Awards.

The decision comes amid controversy over a new Asian pop category, with some critics saying it could sideline Asian artists.Magda Gabruselassie breaks down the backlash.

They're the K -pop band on a hot streak.After a nearly four -year hiatus, BTS topped the charts with its new album, Arirang, and sold out its world tour.And yet, at the height of this success, the bandmates have decided to opt out of the 2027 Grammys, announcing they're not submitting their music for consideration.You know what?Round of applause to the members.The co -founder of the BTS ARMY Toronto fan group, thinks the Grammys have long disrespected the boy band.

Over the years, BTS has earned five nominations, performed three times, and has never taken home a trophy.

They were kind of just being taken advantage of, I think.and not for their music, but just more for viewership.So I'm actually very proud that they took a stance.

The stance comes just a month after the Grammys announced five new categories, including Asian pop performance.

The reaction to the category was essentially like, well, you're doing this because you don't want to give BTS any of the bigger awards, which I think is constantly the feeling when they create these categories.

BTS said in a translated statement on Instagram, divided by region or language.

I think they didn't want to be pigeonholed into being an Asian act.I think they would end up in this category or felt pressure to choose between pop or Asian pop.

But the Grammy's CEO says entering the Asian pop category doesn't exclude artists from other awards.Adding it was created to celebrate the depth, diversity andand extraordinary growth of Asian pop.

I think to the Grammy's credit and the Recording Academy's credit, they really do make an effort to change.

But it doesn't go far enough, says this fan.

The world's changing, music is changing, so let's try to be a little more inclusive without Segregating.

BTS will make its only Canadian stop of the tour in Toronto next month.Maakta Gevara -Selassie, CBC News, Toronto.

More and more people are leaning on AI chatbots to do their web searches for them and that could have profound implications for how we access information.

You're creating a bit of a monoculture where there's just one voice and frankly it's the voice of a robot.

Nora Young on what it means for the future of the internet next.Plus looking for ways to protect whales off the coast of B .

C.Getting close to whales has been proven to be very detrimental to them and in our waters has become a big issue.

The work being done to save them.That's coming up.Artificial intelligence is changing the way we search the internet.Instead of scouring through websites, AI now just gives you the answer.But as Nora Young shows us, that convenience means websites are increasingly being designed not for human eyes, but for machines.

Use the web is changing from searching websites to AI now giving you an answer.

We see it as a channel that people can use to learn about the world.And that's what we're here for.

But if AI uses the web for you, that means a revolution in how we get information.

What's changed is who actually reads the website.

From what to buy, to what you learn, to what to trust.

You're creating a bit of a model where there's just one voice and frankly it's the voice of a robot.

You've probably noticed the humble Google search box has been reimagined for the first time in 25 years.You can chat with Google's AI or read an AI overview.And Claude, ChatGPT, Co -Pilot Grok can also answer your questions, recommend products or do more complex tasks like planning an itinerary for your vacation.All without you going to individual websites.Replacing traditional search.But all that convenience means the web is increasingly designed not just for you and me to read it but for machines to.

The biggest impact is are machines going to read your content?

In order to make the cotton show up in A .

I.'s answer...Even though you have decline in traffic, it doesn't actually result in less business.

That means your website doesn't just need SEO, search engine optimization, so you turn up high in search engine results for clicks.It needs GEO, generative engine optimization, tweaking the website so the content is more likely to be cited in AI summaries.And that's where someone like Hamza Khadim comes in.His company specializes in optimizing websites so they can be found and made machine -readable for AI.

So you might have this as a previous why -choose -us section and this would be a much more complete why -choose -us section.People aren't going to necessarily read all that, but AI definitely will.The previous take on this was small, digestible content bits meant purely for human consumption.Now our first reader is the AI crawler.

So sure, if you're providing a service or selling a product, you need to do what you can to make sure your customer is going to see what you have to offer when AI spits out an answer.But it's more than e -commerce.It's about all the news and reliable content we value on the web.And what happens to the information you turn to online when there are no longer enough humans reading it?

If you think about this, it's all just the arc of computing, right?

Mark Sermon is the president of Mozilla.You probably know them best as the people who make the Firefox browser.

One of the bargains of the web that I think has been so great is It lets us all be creators.It lets us consume what everybody is creating.And it kind of feels like it's free because advertising supports much of it.Once you roll that all inside of a chatbot, you lose the ability for us to kind of make that economic bargain.

In short, ads and subscriptions pay for people to produce online content.But why put an ad on a website if the visitors are machines, not people?Human traffic to websites is declining.One report found that clicks on retail, software, IT and finance websites declined by as much as 40 percent in less than one year.If humans don't see online ads or pay for subscriptions, revenue dries up and that eats away at content creators' ability to fund their work.

I've definitely searched for a smitten kitchen recipe for something and I get a summary or a chunk of my own recipe in the AI blurb that you have.It's honestly shocking to me that somebody can publish my work for me without my permission.

Deb Berlman is the New York -based food blogger behind Smitten Kitchen, a very popular online source for recipes.

The context of a recipe is really important and where it came from and what it means and what you can do within all those questions that people fill comment sections with, you're not going to get that from a blurb on top of a search result that has been extracted perhaps correctly, perhaps incorrectly from the actual recipe.

And it's that ability to get an editorial perspective, not just an AI summary, that speaks to the promise of the World Wide Web.

One of the great things about the web is that you just sort of see voices from everywhere.And social media actually contracted that in some ways where we exist in these bubbles of like people who reinforce our opinions.And AI summaries could make that dramatically worse.where you're just in this bubble of like one voice based on what my AI thinks.

Wikipedia runs off of two things basically, donors and editors.Both of those in the current model that we have require that people come to our site.

Next time you look at one of Google's AI summaries, notice how many of them cite Reddit, YouTube and Wikipedia.Human -created sources of information power AI results.

In many cases, if you're asking a question about facts about the world of an AI chatbot, those answers are still coming from us.

Lane Becker is president of Wikimedia Enterprise, part of the foundation responsible for Wikipedia.He sees AI's use of Wikipedia as a good thing from an information access point of view.But it ain't free.Every time you search Wikipedia, the demand on their servers costs them a little bit of money.With AI, those demands explode.

When robots come to the site, they'll click on 50 articles in under a second, right?And then it's 500 articles, 5 ,000 articles.500 ,000 articles, 5 million articles.Like, that's just one robot.

Wikipedia has agreements in place to help cover those costs.AI companies are paying for high volume access to their content.

The ones that we've announced publicly include Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta.

Wikipedia is a very big fish in the world of trusted online information.One AI company's need for reliable content.Some other big media players have licensing agreements for their content.But what happens to smaller players who are going it alone, relying on ad revenue?

Only in the last couple years with AI have I said, wow, I have a free and open website and my thank you is that it can be scraped by companies like Google.

One of the risks is that as everything comes in a summary from a search summary on Google or from ChatGPT, that the incentives to write the original content, that that incentive disappears.That, you know, my stuff's not going to be seen by a person, it's going to get summarized.

Does any of this mean humans will stop using the web altogether?Probably not.But it does mean keeping a healthy information ecosystem matters.Especially as we start to use AI to carry out more tasks online for us.

If things work out right, we have something that is as exciting as the web in terms of we have a tool that we can wield.for human expression in new ways.What we receive may be automated, but there's also ways to express ourselves in ways that AI helps, that let us like synthesize stuff ourselves and then write something faster or create something beautiful in new ways.

Internet security giant CloudFlarethat we finally hit the crossover point where AI used the web more than humans just last month.It says in June, bots generated nearly 58 % of all web page requests.Coming up, protecting whales from deadly collisions in one of North America's busiest shipping corridors.

There's just nothing in their evolutionary history that makes them even aware that there can be such a creature out there as a ship.

Trying to find a peaceful coexistence between man and mammal in the waters of BC.Next.It's still not clear what killed a great white shark that washed ashore in northern Nova Scotia.The body of the 580 kilogram shark was discovered Friday on a beach near Pictou, where researchers spent the weekend conducting a necropsy.No obvious cause of death was identified.They say further testing is necessary.

In B .C., urgent work is underway to protect marine life in a busy shipping corridor.The Salish Sea is a hazardous area for whales, including the endangered southern resident killer whale.Caroline Bargute shows us the community effort to protect them.

Lauren, there's killer whales surfacing at that second bear patch off of Point Robert.

Oh, I see them.Biologists Rachel Fairfield -Checko and Lauren Latournis are tracking whales in the Salish Sea.A body of water midway between Vancouver Island and BC mainland.

Those vessels there, those were close to the whales.

Latournis, a master's student at Simon Fraser University, is part of a project called HALO, the Humans and Algorithms Listening for Orcas project.

Positioning it at the waterline of this vessel here.

Using a piece of surveying equipment called a theon.She looks for whales from East Point on Saturn Island while also monitoring vessel traffic in the water.

We're trying to see how often they're here at the same time as these big vessels and so that we can then send in a report to the whale report alert system letting the ship captains know that there are whales in the area.

They are particularly interested in the southern resident killer whale, one of the most critically endangered marine mammals in Canada.There are 75 of them left in British Columbia waters.Their main food source is the declining Chinook salmon, which is primarily located in the Salish Sea, one of the busiest shipping corridors in North America.Ship noise disrupts the whales' ability to locate it, even when the fish is right under their nose.Fairfield Checo works with the WSANISH Marine Guardians an indigenous -led monitoring and conservation initiative in the Salish Sea.She interprets hydrophone recordings of underwater sounds and whale calls.

And then all of that information combined with traditional knowledge is then used to create what we call indigenous science that we then use to advocate to the federal government.

She says they advocated for a slowdown in the Tumbo Channel after proving to the government that the southern residents use that waterway.A voluntary slowdown zone is in place until November 30th, meaning vessels are encouraged to slow their speed to 10 knots or less.

It is just a voluntary measure, but we continue to advocate for increased protection.

There are already rules about how close you can get to marine mammals.Vessels, including whale -watching boats and recreational watercraft, have to be at least 100 metres from all of them so that both boats and whales can safely coexist in the same waters.More than 100 people living on the Southern Gulf Islands are also trying to help.They watch and listen for whales and report sightings.That information goes to commercial vessel operators to let them know to slow down or change course.

There were two groups of three orcas.

Maureen Welton is one of those citizen scientists as they're known.When a whale gets hit we all feel a little helpless and being able to collect the information that could inform those vessels is, it feels good.It's not just the southern residents at risk in the Salish Sea.There are hundreds of vessels sharing space with marine mammals.Marine biologist Andrew Trite says orcas, seals and sea lions have done a reasonable job coexisting with vessels, but humpback whales have not.Last year, three humpbacks were struck in a matter of weeks.

Only one survived.

And there's just nothing in their evolutionary history that makes them even aware that there can be such a creature out there as a ship that they need to be careful about.

Glenn Jones thinks he can help.

We're picking up the image of the whale body itself.

Years ago, his company developed technology for the Department of Defense to detect objects in the water to prevent damage to military ships.He's since discovered the technology also works for whales.

Getting close to whales has been proven to be very detrimental to them and in our waters that's become a big issue.The whales are coming back in ever larger and larger numbers and we get more and more ships and we have to be able to stay out of their way.

He says the technology can detect whales 700 to 1 ,000 meters away from a boat which is enough time to alert ship captains to slow down or alter course.He hopes to get his product on ferries and other vessels short term.Long term, he wants to understand where whales travel and identify those routes so maybe vessels can stay away.

There's two whale watchers, right?

Back on Saturna Island, the multi -year HALO project continues to monitor activity in the Salish Sea.Every time these biologistsspot a whale, they call it in.To let vessel operators know they should slow down, hoping their work will help the southern residents feed in peace and eventually lead to the survival of their species.

Scientists are also monitoring the movements of something much smaller.Monarch butterflies have returned to Canada for the summer, some of them equipped with tiny microchips.It's part of a project scientists hope will shed new light on their migration patterns.In March, Jorge Barrera visited a butterfly sanctuary in Mexico to learn more.

Dreamland on El Rosario Mountain in the Mexican state of Michoacan The vast majority of the monarch population east of the Rocky Mountains winters here.This butterfly, a protected species.

This forest is a forest of oyamel.All that you see here is oyamel, all these trees.

Adriana Avelina Ruiz Marquez works for the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.She says the monarchs seek the soft bristles of the oyamel tree for protection and they form large colonies on the branches.

The branch of this tree let them have protection, thermal protection for the snow, for the hail, for the rain.

Mystery still shrouds the monarch's epic migratory journey from Canada to Mexico and back.The second longest of any insect.Scientists believe monarchs have an inner compass that follows the sun and ultraviolet light to guide their way.But how they return again and again to this same spot?it's all just theory right now.

where to arrive here, where to arrive, and they arrive always in the same forest.

Now scientists have a new high -tech tool they hope will unlock the monarch's secrets.

This is the first time when we are going to see how the monarchs, some of them, move precisely during the spring migration.

Eduardo Rendón Salinas is with the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico.He and Ruiz Marquez show us how they tag monarchs with a new high -tech transmitter powered by a solar panel the size of a grain of rice.They attach it to the butterfly with fake eyelash glue.The team has already tagged 160 monarchs across six butterfly sanctuaries.These transmitters send a signal that can use any iPhone with Bluetooth turned on as a receiver to crowdsource the butterflies path so it can be tracked with an app.

Literally they're flying over roads and people are driving down the road and it's giving us a location.

David Lapuma is the vice president for New Jersey -based cellular tracking technologies which developed this device used continent -wide for the first time last fall.It will soon be able to provide a flood of key data.

I think we will have a transmitter that can go on a monarch that can carry a pressure sensor.Talk about altitude of flight.All sorts of really cool other data which will tell us more about the nuance of how these butterflies are behaving.

Carmen Gonzalez says the strength of the butterflies amazes her.A short walk can leave her tired, but these creatures fly here all the way from Canada.She is a member of the Erosario Ejido, which holds the land of the butterfly sanctuary and runs a popular tourism operation while the monarchs overwinter here.Thanks to this work, I can bring something to eat to my children, my family.The community also grows and plants oyamel trees to keep the forest healthy.But the monarchs are also facing a bigger threat, climate change.

Their numbers have declined in past years but appear to be rebounding slightly.

But I see more than the last year.I'm pretty sure that are more.I am optimistic of that.

She says they are still waiting for an official count.

When I arrive at my home, sometimes I close my eyes and I see the fly, the wings, and it's beautiful.

So the work continues to ensure this dream never ends.

Coming up, a young lifeguard battles massive waves to rescue a kid.

I've never seen a rescue this intense.It commanded the attention and respect of the entire beach.

The incredible rescue next in Our Moment.You're looking at just one of the many massive waves that hit Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California.The intense conditions led to a dangerous situation.A young kid got pulled in, but thankfully one of the lifeguards stepped in to bring the kid back to shore.So tonight, the heroic rescue makes Our Moment.

A sneaker wave sucked a young man out to the ocean.The lifeguard responded fearlessly, charged him to the water, and got him back on dry land again.The waves were normal cadence and then without warning, A huge wave, two, three times the intensity of what was just out there, came and crashed on the ocean.It all happened so quick.When we see that young lifeguard, he had this, like, gorilla grip on the young victim, wasn't going to let him get sucked out to the ocean.And then when the wave crashed, he leaned into it.

I've never seen a rescue this intense.It commanded the attention and respect of the entire beach.If that lifeguard wasn't there, that boy's life would have been lost.It was just degrees of separation between the happy outcome that we have and absolute tragedy.

I mean, just heart -stopping maturity well beyond his years.You might be wondering why we haven't heard directly from that teen hero.Very likely it's because there are strict guidelines around lifeguards talking to media.But an exception might happen soon as President Trump announced that he plans to invite that 16 -year -old rookie lifeguard and his family to the White House.From all of us at The National, thank you for being with us.I'm Chris Reyes.

Take care.