The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 14:00 EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 14:00 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 Gina Louise Phillips. We begin in Washington, where there's a lot of anger about the Department of Justice's failure to release all the Epstein files after the deadline of midnight last night, as well as frustration around the amount of documents and photographs that had redactions. And as Steve Futterman tells us, there's already talk of lawsuits. Yesterday's release was far from complete. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche 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

blocked 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. In Miami today, Trump administration envoys will meet with Russia negotiators to discuss the results of recent talks with Ukraine in Berlin. Part of ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated truce. Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed and another 27 wounded in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Odessa. And Ukraine says its drones hit a Russian

warship, an oil rig, and other facilities in the Black Sea. On Bondi Beach in Australia, the waves crashed as a thousand lifeguards stood in silent vigil this morning. Sunday marks one week since the shootings that killed at least 15 people at a seaside Hanukkah celebration. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is calling it the country's darkest week in recent history. The terrorist atrocity committed against innocent people, celebrating. Hanukkah last week of Bondi Beach targeting our cherished Jewish-Australian community has left our nation grieving and angry. The nation is carrying deep pain and sorrow. He called Australia's Jewish community completely unbreakable. In many parts of Atlantic Canada, workers are trying to

restore power after a fierce windstorm. In New Brunswick, more than 51,000 homes and businesses went down and another 1600 in Prince Edward Island. Further east in Newfoundland and Labrador, windy conditions should persist all day. Juliana Griu has more on the situation in Nova Scotia. Here in Halifax, I can still see the trees shaking in the wind. Gusts surpass the 100 kilometers per hour overnight. And between Friday night and Saturday morning, the highest recorded wind gusts in the region topped the 120 kilometers per hour in northeast Nova Scotia. The high winds have knocked down trees and branches into power lines or even broken poles, causing outages across the province.

Nova Scotia Power says they have more than 600 people in the field working to restore services. They also say they have hundreds more working behind the scenes to bring power back to customers. The utility also says it will be using a helicopter to patrol power lines in different parts of the province to search for damage. NSB says estimated restoration times will depend on weather conditions and safety for workers. Juliana Grillo, CBC News, Halifax. The standoff between police and a shooting suspect in Welland, Ontario is over. 59-year-old Daniel Tronko was arrested this morning after he barricaded himself inside a home for almost 24 hours.

He allegedly shot an officer with Niagara Regional Police who suffered minor injuries. He's facing attempted murder charges. charges. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Gina Louise Phillips.