The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/19 at 17:00 EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/19 at 17:00 EST

Hey, I'm Gavin Crawford. Each week I quiz a panel of comedians. All About the News. This week, Steph Tolliv makes her debut. Her Netflix special is just named by The L.A. Times is one of the best comedy specials of the year. She's joined by Miguel Revis and Andrew Fung. The news is pelting us with coal, so we're looking for the candy canes. How are Canadians altering their holiday plans? Does the Prime Minister have a secret plan to turn us all British? And what AI slop do we have to look forward to from Person of the Year?

Follow us on Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts to find out. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Kate McGilfrey. Three Toronto men are facing nearly 80 charges, with police alleging they made two separate attempts to kidnap women, fueled by what's being called hate-motivated extremism. Police say the suspects were targeting members of the Jewish community. The RCMP's investigation also yielded more charges for one of the men,

who they say was giving money to ISIS. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Matt Peggs. These charges include terrorist finances, participation in the activities of a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity and conspiracy to commit murder. This case demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that those who threaten the safety of communities in Canada will be held accountable.

The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs says it's urging authorities to take decisive measures to prevent the spread of extremism. Negotiators are unseen as an armed standoff stretches into its sixth hour in Welland, Ontario. A by-law dispute over a fence escalated into a shootout with police. An officer was shot and sent to hospital, but her injuries are not life-threatening. Here's Constable Richard Hingley. In this case, it's a fencing issue around what appears to be an old church that may be converted into a residence.

Shortly after our officers arrived, they were met with gunfire from a mail inside that building. Police say the suspect has been contained inside the building, and they've ordered a lockdown of the surrounding area. Residents there are told to stay indoors and away from their windows. A new report says hundreds of allegations of misconduct by the Canada Border Services Agency were found to have merit. Most of them warranted reprimands, but four people were fired and another 14 voluntarily left their jobs. Catherine Tunney has the details. Interfiring in immigration processing, associating with a known drug trafficker, sexual harassment. Just some of the 259 founded cases of misconduct involving Canada Border Services Agency employees.

The new numbers were included in a first of. of its kind report published by the CBSA this week, covering the 24-25 fiscal year. Any incident is one too many. Christine DeRoshae is vice president of the CBSA's recourse standards and program integrity branch. She stressed the number of misbehaving border officers is a small percentage of its 17,000 member workforce. The fact that it's in such a low proportion of our population, I want Canadians to have confidence in the work we do. She was not able to give any more details about the specific cases, citing privacy reasons. The new numbers are from internal investigations.

The federal government's long-promise watchdog for public complaints about the CBSA is still not up and running. Catherine, Taney, CBC News, Ottawa. Like other parts of the country before it, Alberta is experiencing a spike in the number of flu cases. As Aaron Collins tells us, it's turning out to be a tougher than usual influenza season. My husband's had it pretty bad. He had the cough and the chills and all the things. Tis the season for influenza. That's my bus job.

Top of mind outside this Calgary school as the holiday break starts. Yeah, a couple weeks ago, he only had nine kids in his class that day because there are so many outsick. The flu is hitting hard this year driven by the H3N2 strain. 650 people are in hospital with the flu in Alberta, nearly double last week's total. Lewis Franciscetti is an ER doctor in Edmonton. There's no if, ends or butts about it. The flu is here with events. engines. We're in the exponential phase right now. This year's flu shot isn't a good match for the H3N2 strain.

Still, doctors are urging people to get vaccinated before gathering for the holidays because it reduces the risk of a severe infection and complications. Aaron Collins, CBC News, Calgary. The U.S. Justice Department has begun releasing documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The extensive files released include court records with redactions, photos, of Epstein's estate, police documents, and newspaper clippings. The files have been the subject of intense scrutiny due to Epstein's links to high-profile

individuals. Among them, President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, former Prince Andrew, and many others. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Kate McGilfrey.