The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2026/01/01 at 20:00 EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The World This Hour for 2026/01/01 at 20:00 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 is sour. I'm Wayne Tibur. Switzerland's president is calling it one of the worst tragedies in the country's history. Police confirm about 40 people were killed in a barfire in the Swiss Alps New Year's Eve. Another 115 were injured. Many severely.

John Northcott has details. Horrific stories of people trying to smash windows to escape from the basement club with a steep, narrow staircase that made escape difficult. But eyewitnesses suggest club staff carrying sparklers or flares may have ignited the club's ceiling, and then a catastrophic rapid spread of the fire trapped many, most of them, in their early 20s. Frantic parents arrived on the scene looking for their children

as victims were laid out in the street and over 100 emergency personnel scrambled to rescue and treat the injury. This man describes what he saw. We were able to help carrying, I don't want to say corpses. I think everyone who was out and kind of reactive survived, but carrying bodies out of the fire. Officials point out that the pain's taking process of not only identifying the dead,

but officially determining the cause is underway and are asking for the public's patience. John Northcott, CBC News, London. Fire has destroyed large parts of a historic church in Amsterdam. The blaze ripped through the population. 19th century House of Worship shortly after midnight local time, flame spread quickly, causing extensive damage. According to local media reports, there is suspicion the church was hit by fireworks, an official cause is still under investigation. So Ron Mundani is the new mayor of New York City.

He was officially sworn in just after midnight and ceremonially inaugurated by Senator Bernie Sanders later in the day. Willie Lowry has more on his promises and agenda. Zoran Mamdani doubled down on his campaign promises, telling New Yorkers in his inaugural address that he would aggressively pursue his democratic socialist agenda. I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist. Mamdani pledged to make public transit free for all New Yorkers

and the city more affordable. The 34-year-old is the first Muslim mayor in the city's history and the youngest to take the job in more than a century. promising to look out for all New Yorkers. If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor. Mamdani also promised to govern expansively and audaciously. Willie Lowry, CBC News, Washington. Officials in Calgary say they're making progress

to fix a catastrophic water main break yesterday. The second major rupture in two years. In the meantime, a boil water advisory remains into effect for parts of the city. emergency management chief Susan Henry has a plea for residents. Reducing water use right now is critical. Every leader saved helps stabilize the system and speeds up our recovery. City officials say so far it is not seeing any real reduction in usage. Typically, the city has about 600 million liters of water stored underground on a daily basis.

That dropped the 459 million liters after the break. And that's your roll this hour. For CBC News, I'm Wayne Tibado in Charlottetown. Thank you.