The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/01/31 at 00:00 EST

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/01/31 at 00:00 EST

Hi, I'm Jamie Puezo and every weekday I host a news podcast called Frontburner. We do one story a day and we try to give you a deep but not overwhelming amount of information and context. Lately, there has been a ton of political news to keep on top of. Canada is facing a pivotal election, there's a power struggle at the heart of the Liberal Party, and the uncertainty of Trump's second term looms over all of this. So if you want to keep up with what's happening, follow Fran Burner. From CBC News, the world this hour.

I'm Claude Fague. We're learning more about the victims on board the aircraft that collided in Washington Wednesday night. Investigators say all 67 people aboard a passenger jet and a military helicopter were killed. As Katie Simpson reports, the skating community is struggling with the loss of several of its top athletes. It could take days to recover the bodies

of the 60 passengers and four crew members on the commercial jet, as well as the three soldiers inside the helicopter. But slowly, details about the victims and the lives they lived are emerging. More than a dozen people on the plane were members of the competitive ice skating community. Young skaters, their parents and coaches returning to the East Coast after attending a training camp in Wichita, including several who trained at the Boston Skating Club, run by Doug Zegby.

Skating is a very close and tight-knit community. I think for all of us we have lost him. Douglas Lane lost his wife Christine and 16 year old Spencer who was a part of that skating club. He remembers his wife Christine as a community leader. She just was one of those people that could kind of plug in anywhere and just connect with people and build a real bond. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board will be spending time with the victims' families to offer private briefings in their moment of grief. Katie Simpson, CBC News at Reagan National Airport.

On the heels of the tragic midair collision in Washington, the Trump administration says it wants to change the way the Federal Aviation Administration operates. Late Thursday night, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that he will soon announce a plan to reform the FAA. Duffy says he's quote, in the process of developing an initial plan to fix the FAA and hopes to release the plan shortly. U.S. President Trump is vowing those crippling tariffs against Canada are coming and soon. In response, Canadian officials are trying to prove this country takes border threats seriously.

Part of that is two new Black Hawk helicopters that will patrol the Alberta and Quebec borders. Tom Perry has more. Black Hawk helicopters that will patrol the Alberta and Quebec borders. Tom Perry has more. A show of force for a very specific audience. The RCMP displaying one of its two newly leased Black Hawk helicopters. The federal government is hoping this beefed up air power gets noticed by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened tariffs against Canada over what he regards as its lax border control.

We heard their message about fentanyl and the border. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says Canada is more than happy to work with the U.S. on securing the border, but the fact remains, he says, Canada is the source of less than 1% of the fentanyl and migrants entering the US. Not that any of that seems to matter to Donald Trump. So we'll be announcing the tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Trump also repeated the latest variation of his threat that the tariffs will come in this Saturday, February 1st, leaving Canadian officials once again bracing for what comes

next and vowing to respond. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. Crowds in the occupied West Bank have welcomed the release of more than 100 Palestinians from Israeli prisons as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal. Mustafa Barghouti is the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative political party and says the truce has to be made permanent. A very important moment is what will happen in the upcoming negotiations,

because what we need is not just a ceasefire in Gaza, but also an end of the war. Palestinians have suffered a lot. We've been subjected to genocide. We've been subjected to terrible losses, more than 50,000 people killed, including 17,000 children. Enough is enough.

Two NASA astronauts stranded on the International Space Station have taken their first space walk together since their arrival eight months ago. Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the station last June for a visit that was planned the last eight days. The pair performed maintenance work, including removing a broken antenna. And that is Your World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Claude Fague.