The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/29 at 14:00 EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/29 at 14:00 EST

When Christy Lee started her podcast, she wanted to avoid the spotlight. But that's kind of become impossible. Canadian True Crime has over 70 million downloads and is constantly at the top of the charts. This week on Crime Story, behind the scenes with Canadian True Crime and Christy Lee. Find Crime Story wherever you get your podcasts. From CBC News, The World This Hour, I'm Karen Hauerlock. U.S. President Donald Trump is holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Trump's Mar-Lago estate in Florida.

The meeting is expected to focus on the U.S. brokered ceasefire in Gaza. Just minutes ago, before the meeting, Trump praised Netanyahu. He's a wartime prime minister. He's done a phenomenal job. He's taken Israel through a very dangerous period of drama. Trump says he expects the second phase of the Gaza peace plan to take effect soon. It includes reconstruction of the war-torn territory. Trump also says he doesn't like the alleged strike on one of Russian president of Vladimir Putin's residences. The Kremlin blames Ukraine. Ukrainian president

Volodomor Zelenskyy calls it a lie. It comes a day after Trump and Zelensky met in Florida to discuss a revised peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine. war. The two leaders say they made progress, but Moscow now says it will be revising its negotiating position and will launch retaliatory strikes against Ukraine. China is conducting two days of military drills around the Taiwan Strait. The exercises include a simulated seizure and blockade of key areas, prompting Taiwan to put its military forces on high alert. John Northcott has more from London. This latest show of strength dubbed Justice Mission 2025 is significant

with destroyers, frigates, fighter aircraft, drones, and rockets. There were live fire exercises in the Straits of Taiwan, and tomorrow, senior Chinese military officials are promising even more, including what is described as a military blockade exercise of major Taiwanese ports. Taiwanese presidential spokesperson, Karen Quo, speaking in Taipei, said that Beijing's actions were a threat not only to Taiwan, but to the whole region. While Beijing does not strictly accuse any particular country of provoking this latest flurry of activity,

the U.S. recently agreed to sell $10 billion worth of arms to Taiwan. If approved by Congress, it would be the largest such sale ever. And Japan's new right-wing Prime Minister, Sinai Takahichi, has said in an unprecedented move that if there were to be an attack on Taiwan, her country could respond militarily. John Northcott, CBC News, London. A man being called a hero in Australia says he wasn't thinking about bravery only stopping the killing at this month's deadly attack at Bondi Beach. Ahmed El Ahmed is the Sydney shopkeeper who tackled and disarmed a gunman in the attack. In his first interview since the shooting, El Ahmed tells CBS News he saw the weapon and ran toward it even after being shot multiple times.

I know I save lots of people's life. I've seen kids and women and all this and men. I know I save lots, but I feel sorry still for the loss. The attack at a Hanukkah gathering killed at least 15 people. Police say Al-Amad's action likely saved lives. The airline industry is facing a shortage of new pilots with up to 60,000 job openings forecast across North America. training costs are expensive, especially because the flight time needed to get a pilot's license

is not covered under student support programs. Roy O'Brien is the head of the BCIT Aviation Training Program. There's a huge barrier for entry into the industry and barrier to the training where some people eventually have to stop their training, whether it's privately or through post-secondary, because they don't have the funds to support themselves. Some groups in BC are calling on the province to provide more support. for aspiring pilots. A settlement is being proposed in a class action lawsuit launched by angry soccer fans expecting Lionel Messi at a match last May between the Vancouver White Cps and the Inter-Miamy FC.

The proposal includes a $475,000 charitable donation and changes to the white caps ticketing policies. The suit alleges advertising suggested Messi and other Inter-Miamy stars would be at the match, but they were not. And that is your oldest hour. For CBC News, I'm Karen Howerluck.