The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/23 at 07:00 EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/23 at 07:00 EST

It's 2011 and the Arab Spring is raging. A lesbian activist in Syria starts a blog. She names it Gay Girl in Damascus. Am I crazy? Maybe. As her profile grows, so does the danger. The object of the email was, please read this while sitting down. It's like a genie came out of the bottle

and you can't put it back. Gay Girl Gone. Available now. From CBC News, it's the World is Hour. I'm Joe Cummings. We start with U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he is not ruling out some form of legal revenge against his predecessor. We start with US President Donald Trump, who says he is not ruling out some form of legal revenge against his predecessor.

The issue of pursuing Joe Biden through the justice system came up last night during an interview Trump gave to Sean Hannity at Fox News. Katie Simpson has more. Several times Trump was asked directly whether he'd like Biden or others to be investigated either by Congress or the Attorney General, to which he began musing about revenge. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees and I won. But I did it the hard way. It's really hard to say that they shouldn't have to go through it also.

It is very hard to say that. Trump also threatened to withhold federal assistance to California unless it changes its wildfire fighting tactics. He's standing by his decision to delay the TikTok ban, downplaying concerns about national security, saying the app made him more popular with younger voters. And he again promised to release classified documents about the assassination of JFK. Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington.

And he would be candidates looking to enter the liberal leadership race have until 5 p.m. Eastern today to formally submit their nomination package. The package must include 300 signatures of support and a $50,000 deposit. For those interested in voting for the next leader, they have until next Monday to officially register with the Liberal Party. The federal government is ordering significant cuts across the board to a national employment program for immigrants. Rafi Budjikanian explains.

It is doing nothing but just phasing us out. The BNB strategy says trying to stay in Canada is becoming harder all the time. Both Chatterjee and his wife are about to lose their work permits. They've set their sights on an immigration option called the Provincial Nominee Program. It allots a yearly number of skilled workers into all provinces and territories other than Quebec and Nunavut. But this year, Ottawa is reducing those spots by 50 percent. If we want to build houses and apartments, we will need people with trades. Jean-Claude Damour is New Brunswick's immigration minister.

He says the top three sectors in his province that rely on PNP spots are construction, education and health care. And if we don't have them, what will be the impact? Federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller's office says he's willing to show flexibility but points out the department has reduced levels across all categories as part of its plan to lower immigration for the next two years. Rafi Boudjikani on CBC News, Ottawa. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta is issuing

a plea for stepped-up support for the Ukrainian war effort. 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, is going eastward. Ruta is calling on all NATO countries to significantly increase their defense spending and deliver more weapons to Ukraine. Exhausted emergency crews in LA County now have two more wildfires to deal with. One started early yesterday north of Los Angeles.

The other broke out last night near the exclusive Bel Air neighborhood. Steve Futterman has the latest. Steve Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, Futterman, This fire broke out late last night in the Sepulveda Pass. Now that is near this very famous area of Bel Air, which includes hundreds of multimillion dollar homes. And early on, there was real fear that this fire could spread quickly. But this morning, fire crews have pretty much stopped it from spreading. Now, the first of the fires yesterday, the Hughes fire began in the morning north of LA

and that did spread quickly. Within a couple of hours, it had burned more than 20 square kilometers. Flames were rapidly moving towards residential areas. The big break came when help arrived in the form of water drops from helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. The fire is still burning,

but mostly in wilderness areas, and homes are no longer in imminent danger. Steve Futterman for CBC News, Los Angeles. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.