The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 11:00 EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 11:00 EST

You know that feeling when you reach the end of a really good true crime series? You want to know more, more about the people involved, where the case is now, and what it's like behind the scenes. I get that. I'm Kathleen Goldhar and on my podcast Crime Story, I speak with the leading storytellers of true crime to dig deeper into the cases we all just can't stop thinking about. Find crime story wherever you get your podcasts. from cbc news it's the world this hour i'm joe cummings another round of geoffrey ebstein documents has been released by the u.s justice department this is the eighth document dump since friday and it is by far the largest containing more than 11,000 files steve fuderman reports one particular email that's

getting lots of attention right now is an email in 2020 from a U.S. attorney in New York talking about Donald Trump on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane. And the email says that Trump is listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996. And on this passenger list, there are at least four times on the flight that he is on with Galeen Maxwell on one flight. He and Epstein are the only two passengers listed. And there's another flight where the three passengers listed are Epstein, Trump, and what's described as a then-20-year-old. So none of this is put it in context. It just means that perhaps Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein may have been a bit closer than he's wanted to talk about before. Does not suggest that Trump has done anything wrong,

but it does give us more of an idea of their relationship, at least in the early 1990s. Steve Futterman, CBC News, Los Angeles. Alberta is now a step closer to getting a referendum on separating from Canada. The Provincial Elections Agency has approved a citizen petition to gather the signatures needed to trigger a province-wide vote. Mitch Salvestor is with the Alberta Prosperity Project, which is organizing the petition. I think this is going to be the biggest political decision anybody in Canada will ever make in their lifetime. I believe every Albertan will be much better at the end of this referendum. vote if we vote to leave Canada. The Canada that I grew up with is no longer the Canada that I'm

living in. My fervent hope is to have that back. The organizers of the campaign now have four months to collect more than 170,000 signatures to formally trigger a separation vote. Another petition calling for Alberta to remain part of Canada has already been, has already collected enough signatures and has been formally certified. It is one of the biggest bombardments Ukraine has been hit with in months. And this morning, most of the country is still on high alert. Overnight, Russia targeted residential areas and power grids right across Ukraine, killing at least three people. Crystal Gamansing has the details. Ukrainians rescued from smoke-filled buildings in the Zaporizia region in the southeast of

the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posting on social media that Russia deployed more than 650 drones and over three dozen missiles. Logan is a Ukrainian soldier on the front lines around Kharkiv. For operational reasons, last names are not generally provided, and often soldiers use nicknames. Mostly this attack is focused on the cities which are all around Ukraine, not on front lines. Russian state media reports, quote, the defense ministry is having hit Ukrainian.

infrastructure, and military sites. Poland, a NATO member, scrambled aircraft to ensure its airspace was not violated. Crystal Gamanssing, CBC News, London. Ahead of the United Nations selecting its new Secretary General next year, Argentina has formally put forward a candidate. That is Rafael Grossi, currently the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In recent years, he's dealt with the inspection and verification of Iranian nuclear sites and the Russian occupation of Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant.

The UN has traditionally named its Secretary General through private consultation, but efforts are underway to make the process more transparent. There's also a call for a woman to be considered for the job. The current Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez finishes his nine-year term in December of next year. And that is the world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.