The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/28 at 16:00 EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/28 at 16:00 EST

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the great Canadians. Oh, here you are. You're here and we're here. No matter what race you were, what color you were, what religion you were, what language you spoke, you watched Mr. Dressup. The tickle trunk was this magical like Pandora's Box. I'm talking about Captain Dressup. Mr. Dressup, the magic of make-believe. You made me what I am today.

You know that. Watch free on CBC Gem. From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Riley Leachuk. We begin in the U.S. where President Donald Trump is hosting Ukraine's president, Volonemir Zelensky, today. We have two willing parties. We have two willing countries. They want to see it at. Look, the people of Ukraine wanted to end, and the people of Russia wanted to end. And the two leaders wanted to end. Trump expressing optimism. As the two went into talks at Mar-a-Lago, the pair are trying to hammer out a peace deal to end. four years of war. Trump says he had a good conversation earlier today with Russian President

Vladimir Putin, but there are still questions about whether Putin will sign onto a deal. Christian Lubrik is a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. He says there are signs that the war is taking a huge toll on the Russian economy. So Putin has recruited this year 417,000 conscripts, so he can, and this is widely believed to be an accurate number, so in terms of conscripts, he can keep things going. But in terms of economy, the Russian economy, We're struggling. It's in recession. Interest rates are very high. We further, as a result of U.S. sanctions, reduce the amount of Russia can charge for its oil. So there's a bit of a who's going to blink first. Can Putin actually sustain economically the war for another 18 months?

Trump says he will call Putin again after the meeting. Polls have closed in the first phase of a three-phase election in Myanmar. But the election in the country, previously known as Burma, has been widely discredited. It was in 2021 that the army deposed an elected government led by noble laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party has not been allowed to run and she remains in prison. Her son Kim Aris lives in the UK and spoke to the BBC about the election. The democratically elected leadership has been all locked up, including my mother. And without there being allowed to participate in these elections, they are essentially meaningless. And the humanitarian situation in Burma is untenable now.

Aris says he has not been allowed to speak to his mother in more than two years. Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of children globally every year, but there's new hope thanks to a new vaccine. A recent study shows it is effective in preventing severe illness. But as Jennifer Unreports, there are some catches. A recent study followed 45,000 children younger than five in three African countries. It found those who received three doses of the vaccine, RTSS, were less likely to suffer from severe malaria or be hospitalized with the disease. It's great news in the fight against the disease estimated to kill a child every two minutes, says Dr. Scott Gordon, who leads the malaria vaccine program at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

This is further data that really verifies the effectiveness of the vaccine, the safety of the vaccine, as it's being implemented in real life settings. RTSS is one of two malaria vaccines that are being ruled out across Africa. But as promising as the vaccines are, it's not cheap and requires four doses. While the manufacturer and Gavi are bringing prices down, Gordon says, countries must continue funding the fight against malaria. Jennifer Yun, CBC News, Toronto. Atlantic Canada is bracing for freezing rain and blowing snow tomorrow. Environment Canada says a short period of intense weather is expected in much

of Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick. Freezing rain may fall on northern New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The weather agency has also issued several snowfall warnings for the southern parts of Yukon and Northern British Columbia. And finally. One of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century has died. Bridget Bardot's cinema career spanned some. 28 movies. She became an international celebrity as a sexualized teen bride in the 1956 film

and God created women. Bardo later became an animal rights activist. Bridget Bardo was 91 years old. And that is your world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Riley Lechuk. Thank you.