The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/13 at 09:00 EST

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/13 at 09:00 EST

Hi, everybody. I'm Jamie Poisson and I host Frontburner. How many podcasts have you heard where people are searching out facts on the fly? Or where they just talk in circles and two hours later, you're not really sure what you just learned? Well, Frontburner is not that. Five days a week, you get one story a day. It's deeply researched, about 20 minutes long, and hopefully we answer all the questions that you want asked. We do lots of Canadian news, but a wide range of topics too. Find and follow FromBurner wherever you get your podcasts.

From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Joe Cummings. We start in Los Angeles and the city's ongoing wildfire emergency. It's one of dozens of emergency crews attempting to bring three of the largest fires under control. But after a break over the weekend, the weather forecasts are calling for strong winds to pick up again straight into Wednesday. This says the number of fatalities has now reached 24, with more than 100,000 people forced from their homes.

We're focused on two things, containing the fires and saving lives and protecting property. As LA Fire Chief Christian Crowley, it's estimated more than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged to date, with the total area burned larger than the city of Paris. Meanwhile, Ottawa continues to coordinate with the provinces to deliver more emergency resources to Los Angeles. Emergency preparedness minister Harjeet Sajjan says 60 firefighters from Alberta and British Columbia could be deployed as early as today. And Sajjan says he's in regular contact with officials in California to identify the need

for further assistance, which already includes firefighting aircraft from B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met over the weekend in Mar-a-Lago, Florida with Donald Trump. The visit comes amid Trump's ongoing tariff threats and just a week from his return to the White House. Katie Simpson reports. Posing for a photo on the patio at Mar-a-Lago,

Donald Trump is giving a thumbs up. On one side of him is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. On the other, Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary. He says Smith spoke to Trump about the Canada-U.S. trading relationship comparing it to a marriage. People, you know, have issues in marriage but we're long-term married and we know we have to work this out.

Smith is the first Canadian Premier to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the President-elect and is in her circle. She described the conversation as friendly and constructive, highlighting the hundreds of thousands of American jobs that rely on Alberta energy exports. Officials in Ottawa are increasingly concerned that Trump will impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico his first day in office. Canada has presented a plan to improve border security as per Trump's demand, but his language around tariffs has not changed.

Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Iran is bolstering its fleet of military drones. That's an Iranian army commander announcing that the military has obtained 1,000 state-of-the-art drones. State media says they are high-stealth with a reported range of obtained 1,000 state-of-the-art drones. State media says they are high stealth with a reported range of over 2,000 kilometers. In recent days, Iran has been conducting military exercises near its nuclear sites. Foreign analysts are saying that Iran is preparing for heightened tensions with the United States once Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is calling on Russia and North Korea to consider a prisoner swap. The request comes after two North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia were recently captured by the Ukrainian military. Dominic Velaitis has more. The unverified video posted by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky shows the interrogation of the two North Korean soldiers. Speaking through an interpreter, one of the men says he didn't know he was fighting in Ukraine and had been told he was on a training exercise. Zelensky is now appealing directly to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, offering to swap

the two captured soldiers for Ukrainians held by Russia. Western analysts believe around 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to Russia's Korsk region to support Moscow's forces. Dominic Vlaitas for CBC News, Bristol, England.