The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 06:00 EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 06:00 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. borough.ca. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Claude Fagg. This morning, there's lots of anger about the Epstein files. Despite a law demanding they be public by midnight last night, much remains withheld or redacted. And there's talk of lawsuits to force their release.

Steve Futterman is in Los Angeles and has more. Yesterday's release was far from complete. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blan, says the Trump Justice Department is complying with the law. President Trump has certainly said from the beginning that he expects all files that can be released to be released, and that's exactly what we're doing. Among the released files are numerous pictures showing Epstein and many recognizable personalities, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross.

But there is little explanation to put the pictures in context. And many pages are redacted, with huge sections black. out. The Justice Department says this is primarily to protect the victims. One of those victims, Annie Farmer, who says she was abused by Epstein when she was 16, says she expected more to be released. I don't feel tremendously confident. There's been a lot of effort and money and time put into redactions, not to protect victims, but to protect people in power. Steve Futterman, CBC News, Los Angeles. 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 Radio's 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. 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 outgoing ambassador to Washington, 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. A standoff in Welland, Ontario has reached 22 hours. It started yesterday morning with a bylaw dispute about a fence blocking traffic sight lines. Shots were fired, some hitting a police officer. She was 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.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on targets in Syria yesterday. 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 Hechtzeth 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. Hegset says the U.S. targeted ISIS fighters, infrastructure and weapon sites in response. A man charged in a 2023 Toronto show. shooting that saw a woman bystander 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 has since passed laws restricting where they can operate. Several consumption sites in Ontario have been shut down. And that is your world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Claude Fag. Thank you.