The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 04:00 EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 04:00 EST

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Mike Miles. Canada's main point person in Washington will be heading back to Canada soon. After eight years at the embassy, Kirsten Hillman recently announced she would wrap up her work in the new year. In an in-depth interview with CBC radios of the House, Hillman reflected on the challenges of the Trump era and what the future might hold. Host Catherine Cullen has more. I think about Canada-U.S. relationship every day, all day. Kirsten Hillman says leaving will be hard.

Her eight years in Washington included the COVID pandemic, the first Trump administration, and negotiating the Kuzma Free Trade Deal. But this Trump administration has meant a host of new challenges for Canada. The beginning of last year was tough. It was around this time last year that Donald Trump threatened Canada with across-the-board tariffs. Hillman points out Canada got an exemption on free trade compliant goods. Kuzma has sheltered Canada from tariffs that have hit much of the rest of the world. I am not trying to diminish how hard it is for some,

but it is we have somehow been in a world of disruption, been held to a slightly lesser disruption. Hillman says she will leave Washington with mixed emotions. She's not sure exactly what's next, but she says she's happy to be coming back home. Catherine Cullen, CBC News, Ottawa. And you can hear more of that interview with Kirsten Hillman and author David From on The Lessons Canada Can Learn in the Trump era

all on this morning's edition of the House right after the 9 o'clock edition of World Report or wherever you get your podcasts. A standoff in Welland, Ontario is now up to 20 hours. It started early yesterday with a bylaw dispute about a fence blocking traffic sight lines. Shots were fired, some hitting a police officer. She's been treated and released from hospital.

A hospital and a school were put under lockdown. Nearby residents are being told to stay inside and away from their windows. A man charged in a 2023 Toronto shooting that saw a woman by a stander killed by a stray bullet has been convicted of second-degree murder. She died after a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers outside a supervised consumption site. The province since passed laws restricting where they can operate. Several consumption sites in Ontario have shut down. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on targets in Syria Friday.

We hit the ISIS thugs in Syria who were trying to regroup after their decimation by the Trump administration five years ago. We hit them on. Defense Secretary Pete Hakesheth is calling it a declaration of vengeance. Two members of the Iowa National Guard and an American translator were killed in an ISIS attack in Syria last weekend. Haxeth says the U.S. targeted ISIS fighters, infrastructure, and weapons. in response. As 2025 comes to an end, poverty continues to be one of India's most toughest, most deep-rooted challenges. The country was the world's fastest-growing major economy over the past year, but economists say the benefits of that growth are uneven, leaving

millions still struggling with inadequate housing and unstable incomes. Rebecca Bundan has more from Mumbai. This slum in the suburbs of India's financial capital is lined with cramped, rickety homes, draped in tarpaulin to protect residents from the elements. There are millions of people in Mumbai who live in these conditions, despite the fact that India is making inroads in its battle against poverty. World Bank data shows extreme poverty in India fell to about 5% in 2023, from more than 27% in 2012. The Indian government has launched a number of schemes to try to improve conditions,

including employment and food programmes. But R. Ramakuma, an economics professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says India must do more. It needs a rural employment guarantee program. It needs investment in education and health. Studies reveal a stark divide. The top 1% of Indian households control about 40% of the country's wealth. Rebecca Bunsen for CBC News, Mumbai. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Mike Miles. Thank you.