The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/23 at 03:00 EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/23 at 03:00 EST

There is no shortage of scam artists and true crime. But I'm guessing you've never heard of one quite like Caitlin Braun. For over two years, Caitlin Braun conned more than 50 birth workers into thinking that she was pregnant. I'm Kathleen Goldtar, and this week on Crime Story, I sit down with Sarah Trelevin, the host of the con, Caitlin's baby. Find Crime Story wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Neil Herland.

Donald Trump is giving his first Oval Office interview since returning to the White House. He sat down with Sean Hannity from Fox News for a pre-recorded chat which aired last night. Katie Simpson reports. Nothing about tariffs for our Canadian audience. That's what everyone is watching for. But one of the headlines coming out of this has to do with what Donald Trump says about pardons and investigations. He was asked about former President Joe Biden's decision to grant preemptive pardons to members of his family, some lawmakers and public figures who Trump has attacked in the past.

This guy went around giving everybody pardons. And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn't give himself a pardon. So the conversation came back to pardons and again, whether Trump wants to see Biden and others investigated, either by Congress or the Attorney General, and he mused about revenge. I went through four years of hell.

I spent millions of dollars in legal fees and I won. The president also defended pardoning violent January 6th riders, saying they suffered enough in jail. and he again promised to release classified documents about the assassination of JFK. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Supporters of diversity, equity and inclusion are vowing to fight the Trump administration after the new U.S. president signed an executive order to scrap DEI programs in the US government. Americans are divided over the issue.

They are capitulating to this bigotry. They are capitulating to the pressure from a few. They're trying to score political points. Equity creates some sort of tyrannical approach to unleveling the playing field so that certain people have more advantage than others. The head of NATO is warning that Ukraine is struggling in the war with Russia. Mark Ruda spoke this morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. We really have to step up and not scale back the support for Ukraine.

We have to change the trajectory of the war which is ongoing and so far as we know the front line is moving in the wrong direction, it's going eastward." The NATO secretary general is calling on NATO countries to spend more on defense and provide more weapons to Ukraine. The Belgian prime minister says Russia could keep its war going for at least one more year. Fire crews in southern California are battling a new fast-moving wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles. The Hughes fire has forced 31,000 people out of their homes. Anthony Maroney is the LA County Fire Chief.

The National Weather Service has extended the red flag warning. Light to moderate Santa Ana winds will continue tonight and into Thursday. The situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain although we are getting the upper hand. Here at home, it's been more than six months since wildfires ravaged the town of Jasper. For residents who lost their homes, it's still a waiting game. As Julia Wong reports, they're still waiting for temporary housing.

This further state of Limbo is actually awful. Loni Kledell stands in an empty lot in the town of Jasper. After losing her home in the wildfire, she's been in a hotel for six months, and temporary housing, promised by the Alberta government, has not arrived yet. The Alberta government offered roughly 100 million dollars to build permanent single detached houses but there's only room for 60 of those units on the parcels of land set aside by Parks Canada. The town says it needs high density housing for more than 600 households. Alberta's community seniors

and social services minister Jason Nixon says the province isn't budging from its single-family home position. If we don't have a project that meets those requirements, then this money can't be spent. Parks Canada is working to get interim high-density housing. But without the province's contribution, there won't be enough for everyone who needs it. Director of Recovery for the municipality of Jasper, Michael Fark. Now that we understand that the province is not going to be bringing any interim housing, we need to find other solutions. Julia Wong, CBC News, Jasper, Alberta.

And that is your World This Hour.