The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 21:00 EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/23 at 21:00 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 Neil Hurland. The U.S. Justice Department has released its biggest batch yet of material related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files include 30,000 documents and photos, many of them heavily redacted. Karen Paul's reports.

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. An Ontario lawyer has been granted bail ahead of his extradition hearing. Deepak Parakdar is accused of playing a key role in an international drug smuggling network. The FBI has identified him as an associate of the wanted fugitive Ryan Wedding. Parakdar is accused of having advised wedding to murder a federal witness and also of drug trafficking and conspiracy to tamper with a witness.

Paradkar is one of the eight Canadians arrested last month as part of an FBI investigation. The United Nations Security Council held an emergency. meeting today on the growing tension between the U.S. and Venezuela. Since September, the U.S. has attacked boats off the coast of Venezuela that it accuses of smuggling drugs. And earlier this month, the U.S. military sees two oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude. Mike Walsh is the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., he spoke to the Security Council. Let me begin by stating and reiterating the United States does not recognize Nicholas Maduro or his cronies as the legitimate government of Venezuela.

Nicholas Maduro is a fugitive from American justice. Venezuela accuses Washington of committing acts of piracy. 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 deportation since 2012. That includes people whose asylum claim were rejected and those who failed to comply with the 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.

Well, this is avalanche season, and experts are warning people headed to Alberta's backcountry to be prepared. The holidays are one of the busiest times for skiing and snowmobiling. She and Desjardin has more. There's deep enough snow to actually ski your snowboard. and there's enough snow with the avalanche. Jeremy McKenzie is a mountain rescue specialist with Alberta Parks in the area. It's not the worst conditions he's seen,

but the risk along the mountain range just outside Canmore is still considerable. That's actually where we see the most accidents over time, and that's because we start to see a tapering of the natural avalanche activity and less happening right in front of your eyes, but they're still very prime for human triggering. Wendy Lewis, with Avalanche Canada, says it's forecasting similar, conditions in parts of BC. So we want to make sure that, you know, when I'm going out to the back country with my friends

and touring partners, that they've got my back and I've got theirs. With the winter season just beginning, Alberta Park says the best practice for exploring the back country is proactively checking conditions and being prepared before you head out. She and Desjardine, CBC News, Canmore, Alberta. And that is your world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Neil Hurland. Thank you.