The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/01 at 13:00 EST

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/01 at 13:00 EST

Hi there, Steve Patterson here, host of the debaters, the show where Canada's funniest comedians compete for your laughter. This week's episode is right on cue, is pool superior to darts? Two sharpshooting debaters are taking this one on, so listen wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, the world this hour, I'm Stephanie Skanderas. A fire at two Toronto high-rise buildings is still burning for the fifth day. It was discovered on Thursday and has since displaced hundreds of people in the city's third. Bourncliff Park neighborhood. Toronto Fire Service's chief Jim Jessup says the reason behind the continuous burn

is the material used within the walls. The very frustrating thing for our staff is it is not generating flames. Think of a cigar that is slowly burning. And so it is just creeping up and up and spreading. Our thermal imaging cameras are not even picking up heat signatures. But at this point, there is nothing to suggest there is any structural damage. The Canadian Red Cross is currently supporting 141 households displaced by the fire. Chief Jessub says the cause is still under investigation.

Polytechnique Morayal is expanding its scholarship program to honor the women killed in the 1989 massacre. One scholarship a year has been given out since the order of the White Rose was created a decade ago. This year the program is growing to help many more future engineers. Rowan Kennedy reports. 14 female engineering students took to the stage of Polytechnic, Montreal, a major expansion of the Order of the White Rose. It was an emotional ceremony accompanied by a quartet of I limbs. They'll each be given $50,000 to pursue masters or PhDs.

Two are from Quebec, eight are from Ontario, and four are from BC and Alberta. The number 14 is symbolic, one to honor each of the victims killed in the Polytechnic massacre. Polytechnic says this marks a new chapter for the program and for women in the engineering. One of the recipients, Angeline Lafleur, says there's still work to do to bridge gaps in opportunities for women in the field. She just graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical

Engineering at the University of Ottawa. She hopes to contribute to and work on advancements in quantum computing. Lafleur wasn't alive when the tragedy happened but says it's an honor to be able to be a part of the legacy. Rowan Kennedy, CBC News, on Shregal.

A search for the remains of a First Nation's woman begins today at Winnipeg Brady Road landfill. Ashley Shingoose was a victim of convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki. He is now serving four concurrent life sentences for killing four First Nations women in 2022. Two of them were found at a different landfill earlier this year. The Manitoba government says once this search is complete, it'll look for Tanya Nipanak, another First Nations woman who's been missing for more than 14 years. Police believe her body was put in a garbage bin and taken to the Brady Road landfill.

A growing number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. are warning the Defense Secretary may have committed a war crime. It follows allegations Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike on a suspected drugboat in the Caribbean after an initial attack failed to kill everyone on board. Around 80 people have been killed since the Trump administration began attacking boats it claimed. are trafficking drugs from Venezuela. Democratic Representative Adam Smith questions the legality of the entire operation. The lock of transparency from this Pentagon has been a major problem. I think it's one of the biggest things that's chafed at the Republicans.

So I think you're going to see a renewed push in light of this incident. You are not supposed to follow orders that are clearly illegal. And this Pentagon has put service members in an incredibly vulnerable position. Hegseth has condemned the report as fake news. The number of dead from the devastating floods across Southeast Asia has now topped 1,000. A third of the deaths are in Sri Lanka. An Air Force helicopter picks up women and children from a hospital cut off by floods. Severe downpours affected the whole country and especially the tea-growing central region.

The country's president calls the flooding the largest and largest. most challenging natural disaster in history. Hundreds of people are also dead in Indonesia and Thailand. Many more are still missing. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Stephanie Skendaris.