The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/24 at 16:00 EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/24 at 16:00 EST

The Great Canadian Baking Show is back. Hello, beautiful bakers, and welcome to the tent. Ten contestants. On your marks. Get set, bake. All hoping for the sweet smell of success. I am at the stage of Penny. I just got to say a little prayer.

I mean heaven. Wow. I haven't even tasted it, and I'm happy. I forgot to put in the eggs. Damn. Is anyone else on control of he's shaking right now? It's a new season of the Great Canadian Baking Show. Watch free on CBC Gem.

From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Halley Cottenham. Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canadians will need to be prepared to make sacrifices before life becomes affordable again. Many are already struggling to pay for essentials such as groceries. As Michelle Allen reports, Carney says the government will have to balance cost-cutting with social supports. Pressure, food prices, pressure, just literally the cost of living. Prime Minister Mark Carney says, that pressures especially felt by low-income Canadians. He says there's no quick fix, but adds the government can cut costs without cutting programs benefiting those under the most pressure.

Carney says they plan to cut the federal public service by 10%. This will reduce government costs without impacting things like pharmacare and provincial transfer payments. Those tough decision, we're preserving all the transfers, we're cutting taxes, we're preserving the transfers to individuals, support for individuals, and transfers to the provinces, including the increases provinces and territories. Carney says it will take time for people to feel the impacts of these changes, but says they'll pay off. Michelle Allen, CBC News, Toronto. New numbers this week from Statistics Canada show that decline in cross-border trips by Canadians

continued in October. The number of Canadians who travel to the U.S. is down by more than a quarter compared to the same time last year. However, the number of Americans crossing rose for the first time in eight months, up 3%. Travel and trade tensions have been trending upwards since Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency. The U.S. Justice Department says it has discovered more than a million more documents that could be relevant to the case of Jeffrey Epstein. The DOJ insists its lawyers are working round the clock to make redactions required by law, but warns the release of the files could take a few more weeks. Evacuation orders are in place across southern California due to the

elevated risk of flash floods, thunderstorms and winds lashing the sea. state have washed out roads and cut power to many homes. Steve Fuderman reports from Los Angeles. It is just a mess here in Southern California right now. Heavy rain, strong winds, streets are flooded, trees have come down, many people who are without power. This man tried to drive through a flooded intersection. He didn't get through. You guys okay? You're all right? What happened, bro? We thought we were able to get through it. We did. Oh, man. You're just trying to get through? What happened to the car? I just shut off. And this is going to go on through Christmas Day. In some areas, forecasters say more than 450

millimeters of rain will come down. There is big concern in the areas that were hit by the Southern California wildfires last January. The mountains are bare. There's no vegetation to hold the water. There's concern about rock slides, mudslides, and debris flows. Steve Futterman, CBC News, Los Angeles. The Ukrainian president is asking for peace in his Christmas message. Vladimir Zelensky says the country is marking the holiday in difficult circumstances, with Russia launching massive attacks contrary to Christian values. Zelensky says the updated peace offer has now been presented to the Kremlin.

It was hammered out by Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators in Florida over the weekend. And for the first time, Zolensk, says it includes the potential withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the east of the country and the creation of a demilitarized zone. Canada and more than a dozen other nations are condemning the Israeli government's approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank. On Sunday, Israel's security government approved 19 new settlements. They are considered illegal under international law. Since 2022, the number of settlements approved in the West Bank has grown by nearly 50%. In a joint statement, Canada says,

These actions risk undermining a lasting peace in Gaza and harm prospects for long-term regional security. The nations are calling on Israel to reverts its decision. And that is the world this hour. For news any time, you can visit our website at cbcnews.ca. For CBC News, I'm Hallie Coddenham. Thank you.