The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 16:00 EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/20 at 16:00 EST

Listen, what I love about Sarah Marshall's work as a podcaster is she can sit you inside a story like no one can. She can get into the satanic panic and you feel like you understand it better. And she does that without sensationalizing it. My name is Alameen, Abdul Mahmood, and that is the kind of thoughtful cultural analysis that we do on our show, commotion. Every day I sit down with journalists or insiders or culture critics and they weigh in on the books and TV shows and movies and music that you keep hearing about. And we get into what pop culture right now tells us about ourselves. So if you love pop culture, find commotion wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Gina Louise Phillips.

U.S. officials say American forces have seized a second vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. This comes just days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuelan waters. The first tanker was seized on December 10th. China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude oil. The Trump administration carried out what the defense secretary called a declaration of vengeance in Syria last night. The U.S. military said it hit dozens of ISIS sites in retaliation for an attack last week that left three American citizens dead. Julia Chapman has more from London.

The U.S. aided by Jordan targeted ISIS sites across Syria with more than 100 munitions. Operation Hawkeye Strike involved fighter jets, helicopters and artillery to take out weapons storage and other infrastructure thought to be used by the group. Three U.S. citizens, two soldiers and an interpreter, were killed last weekend in Palmyra. No one has claimed responsibility, but intelligence suggests ISIS was behind the attack. President Donald Trump says the strike was ordered to prevent the jihadists from regrouping. We hit every side flawlessly and we are restoring peace. through strength. We're all over the world. More than a thousand U.S. troops remain in Syria, tasked with fighting ISIS.

Trump says the action was carried out with the full support of the Syrian government. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth says this is not the start of a new war, but he vowed to continue killing America's enemies. Julia Chapman, CBC News, London. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral of a popular youth leader in Daka, Bangladesh. Sharif Osman Hadi died in hospital this week of gunshot wounds sustained on December 12th. He was one of the leaders of a protest that saw former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasini pushed out of office. A Pakistani court has sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 17 years in prison

after finding them guilty of retaining and selling state gifts. Kahn has described all the charges as police. politically motivated. Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada must stop keeping all its eggs in the American basket. In a year-end interview, the Prime Minister signaled a major shift towards markets in Asia and Europe. But he admitted renewing ties with China comes with strict conditions. The question is how deep is the relationship and how clear are the guardrails around that relationship. And there are areas, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, defense.

We're clearly the security threats are such that we would not have a deep relationship with China in those areas. Carney identified India and the European Union as other key targets for expansion, as Canada aims to double its non-U.S. exports over the next decade. You can watch more of Carney's year-end interview tomorrow on Rosemary Barton Live at 11 a.m. Eastern. New Brunswick is broadening eligibility to long-term care and disability support programs by increasing the household income cutoff by 10%. The $10 million investment from the province is expected to give more people access to home care programs.

Tina Learmonth is the president of the New Brunswick Home Support Association. I do have experience speaking to multiple agencies across the province where seniors are interested in home care but had to make really tough choices, paying rent, buying groceries, and so their co-pay or their participation fee they maybe couldn't afford. She says the number of 75-year-olds in New Brunswick is expected to double in the next 10 years. A number of salad products have been recalled because of possible Listeria contamination. The recalled products are branded Inspired Go, and they include the Greek mezzay salad,

dill chickpea salad, and super solstice package salads, as well as the brand's bento noodle bowl and pickle platter snack pack. They were sold in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan in Manitoba. Thank you.