The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/24 at 11:00 EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/24 at 11:00 EST

There are two kinds of Canadians, those who feel something when they hear this music. And those who've been missing out so far. I'm Chris Howden. And I'm Neil Kuksal. We are the co-hosts of As It Happens. And every day we speak with people at the center of the day's most hard-hitting, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious news stories. Also, we have puns. Here Why As It Happens is one of Canada's longest running in most beloved shows.

You can find us wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, it's the world this hour. I'm Nudududdin Khorane. Today, Russia will respond to a new 20-point peace framework aimed at ending the nearly four-year conflict. The proposed plan was reached during talks in Florida between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators. It intertwined security guarantees with massive commercial interests.

But as John Northcott reports, there is still other important details that have not yet been agreed upon. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky telling journalists that there has been, quote, significant progress towards finalizing the documents. Those documents, a 20-point plan reworked from the earlier contentious 28-point plan. Unlike that previous plan, this latest was hammered out between Ukraine and U.S. delegations. It's aimed at a deal that would include Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and Europe. It proposes that Ukraine would keep its army at its current strength of 800,000, with the U.S. and European allies. allies providing security guarantees. Still outstanding, though, several significant issues,

the future of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Donbass, as well as control over the Zapparizia nuclear power plant. So far, no robust response from the Russian government other than from President Putin's spokesperson who noted that the key aspects of Russia's position are well-known to their U.S. colleagues. John Northcott's CBC News, London. The former European Commissioner is among five people now banned from entering the United States. Tiari Breton and others are accused of organizing efforts to censor American viewpoints on social media. While European Commissioner, Breton brought in the EU's Digital Services Act. The law is intended to combat hate speech and disinformation,

but the Trump administration says it stifles free speech and discriminates against U.S. tech companies. Australia's state of New South Wales has passed tougher. gun laws. They come 10 days after 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. The new laws ban firearms that allow multiple shots to be fired without reloading, as well as limit the number of individual gun licenses a person can own. Chris Menz is Premier of New South Wales. We know it's our responsibility to do everything we can to keep the people of New South Wales safe and that means further change in the new year. We've given a commitment to that. We're currently looking at other areas of the law that are urgently required to confront hate speech.

New laws allowing police to restrict protests for up to three months following a terror attack were also passed. Several groups say they will be filing a constitutional challenge to those laws. Global Affairs Canada says it strongly condemns Israel's decision to approve new settlements in the occupied West Bank. 19 settlements were announced yesterday, while overnight there was a another attack on a Palestinian home in the south of the territory. Police arrested five Israeli settlers. Officials say they smashed a door and a window, fired tear gas into the home and killed livestock.

Meanwhile, Christians in Gaza are preparing the territory's only Catholic church for Christmas celebrations. Festivities will be held for the first time since the ceasefire began in October. Sasha Petrissik reports. Latin hymns and prayers in Arabic fill the stone hall of the church, along with lights and a huge Christmas tree. But the roof is still scarred from an Israeli strike in July. Christians who numbered only 1,000 in Gaza when the war started, have paid a heavy price.

Fatten Salfitti lost her son and husband. There's no happiness here, she says through tears, no Christmas preparations, no nothing. The ceasefires brought some relief, but airstrikes have not stopped entirely. And living conditions are nothing short of catastrophic, says visiting Cardinal Pierre Battista Pizabala. Still, he sees a glimmer of hope. We saw that the resilience of these people is what at the end will prevail. Sasha Petrissik, CBC News, Toronto. And that is your world this hour.

For CBC News, I'm Nuridine Korane. Thank you.