The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 18:00 EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 18:00 EST

All right, what are we talking about? A new year means a fresh start. Okay, make a list for the year and take charge of your life in 2026. Look, I'm not talking about your to-do list. I'm talking about your watch list. Cross off Family Feud Canada, St. Pierre, and this hour has 22 minutes. There's no excuses. Dream big people. Enjoy all your favorite shows on CBC TV or stream anytime on CBC Gem. Mike drop. From CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Martina Fitzgerald. The U.S. Justice Department has released its biggest batch yet of material relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files include some 30,000 documents and photographs, many of them heavily redacted. Karen Pauls has details.

One of the files released shows U.S. President Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 96. Speaking from Florida, where he's spending the holidays, Trump again downplayed his alleged connections with Epstein. Everybody was friendly with this guy, either friendly or not friendly, but he was around. He was all over Palm Beach and other places.

It is my hope that the Department of Justice is actually going to do their job and follow the evidence wherever it leads. Melba Pearson is an attorney specializing in civil rights and criminal law in Florida. If it leads to the doorstep of the president, so be it. This release is also getting attention in Britain, specifically an email from someone with the name The Invisible Man and capital A, someone widely believed to be the former Prince Andrew

Mountbatten Windsor. In it, he asks Epstein co-conspirator Galane Maxwell for some inappropriate friends. Karen Paul's, CBC News, Washington. The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on increasing tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. Since September, the U.S. has attacked vessels off the Venezuelan coast that it accuses of smuggling drugs. And earlier this month, the U.S. military seized two oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude. A growing number of American politicians accused President Trump of increasingly dictatorial behavior. Brad Schneider is the Democratic representative for Illinois. We've moved from attacking boats that were reportedly carrying drugs to now taking oil tankers. And at the end of the day, what you're seeing is it's about

enriching Trump and his friends. They've already talked to companies about taking the soil. Venezuela accuses Washington of committing acts of piracy. The Trump administration argues its actions are legal. Extreme cold is gripping much of Western Canada and into the north. It's putting intense pressure on Yukon's power grid. For instance, in central Yukon in the town of Farrow on Monday, the temperature dropped down to a record-breaking minus 52 Celsius. The territory's energy Mr. Ted Laking says the grid is operating at near capacity. He's urging residents to do their part. There's nothing right now in front of me indicating that we are going to be going into a scenario

of rolling blackouts, but it is important to know that we're close. The grid is close. It is strained. And conserving energy is a really good way that folks can help us. Environment Canada has issued cold weather alerts for southern Yukon, parts of the Northwest territories in British Columbia. northern prairies. It's warning of multiple days of extreme wind chills, ranging from minus 20 in BC to minus 55 in Yukon. An Ontario lawyer has been granted bail ahead of his extradition hearing. Deepak Parodkar is accused of playing a key role in an international drug smuggling network.

The FBI has identified him as an associate of the fugitive drug lord Ryan Wedding. Prodkar is accused of having advised wedding to murder a federal witness and also of drug trafficking and conspiracy to tamper with a witness. Pradkar is one of eight Canadians arrested last month as part of an FBI investigation into wedding. The federal government spent nearly $80 million removing people from Canada in 2024. The Canada Border Services Agency says it was the busiest year for deportations since 2012. That includes people whose asylum claims,

were rejected and those who failed to comply with conditions of their entry. The CBSA says last year it deported more than 18,000 people, and in the current fiscal year, is on track to remove more than 20,000. That is your world this hour. For news, anytime, just go to our website, cbcnews.ca. For CBC News, I'm Martino Fitzgerald. Thank you.