World Report - December 21: Sunday's top stories in 10 minutes

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Australia holds national day of reflection at Bondi Beach one week after mass shooting that left 15 people dead.Gunmen kill 9 people in South African tavern.Representatives from Cambodia and Thailand meet in Malaysia tomorrow to salvage a ceasefire and end a deadly surge in cross-border violence. Trump tariffs pushing up holiday costs by billions of dollars for US retailers and consumers.Prince Edward Island's Lennox Island First Nation is celebrating a major milestone in effort to keep language alive.Millions mark Yalda Night: Ancient celebration of year's longest night.

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Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is a CBC podcast. This is World Report. Good morning, I'm John Northcott. We begin in Australia where the nation holds a day of reflection for the victims of a beachside massacre. It's still really difficult to understand what's been happening. This cannot happen again.

Every day we hear of somebody else that's connected. It touches all. of us very, very deeply. The once bustling Bondi Beach fell silent today as people marked one week since the mass shooting that killed 15 people. The attack devastated a Hanukkah festival at the iconic landmark. As the country mourns, reporter Phil Mercer is there. Australia is sharing its grief to remember its worst mass shooting in three decades. A day of reflection comes at the end of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. It's a time traditionally associated with faith and resilience. Rabbis in Bondi are urging Australians to come

together. My name is Noach, Konsapolski, I'm a local figure over here in Sydney. There's tremendous grief, but there's tremendous love. Absolute love, unity, togetherness, defiance, resilience. It defies all odds. It doesn't make sense, but that's who we are as a nation. As Australia reflects on one of its darkest days. It's also recognising heroism. There were bystanders who rushed to help the victims, including Boris and Sophia German, who died after trying to disarm one of the attackers. They died heroes and heroes deserve to live and they're going to live through us now. We're going to be their heroes and live Jewish strong and proud. And they were Australian, they lived the Australian dream and they died defending

the Australian dream. In recent days, life at Australia's most famous beach has begun. beginning to return to what it was before the attack. But for others, life will never be the same. A national day of morning is planned for the new year. Phil Mercer for CBC News at Bondi Beach in Sydney. South African police are hunting a group of gunmen who stormed a tavern near Johannesburg late last night. The attackers killed at least nine people and wounded ten others

in what appears to be a random massacre. Local Deputy Police Commissioner Fred Kekkenna says the group drove up to the bar and opened fire without warning. Out of those two vehicles, plus minus 10, males alighted, nine of them with pistols, one of them with AK-47 rifle. They entered the tavern and randomly shot at the patrons, unprovoked. Kekena says as the gunmen fled the scene, they also killed bystanders on the street.

This is the second mass shooting at a South Carolina. African bar this month. Just weeks ago, gunmen shot and killed 11 people, including a child, at an unlicensed tavern near Pretoria. Representatives from Cambodia and Thailand will meet in Malaysia tomorrow to try to salvage a ceasefire and end a deadly surge in cross-border violence. Tensions over the century-old border dispute reignited this month after a U.S. broker deal collapsed. Adam Bemma has the latest. Residents along the border flee their homes after being o'clock. ordered to evacuate by the Cambodian military.

The violence continues, even as the foreign ministers from both sides prepare for renewed peace negotiations. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is hosting those talks in Malaysia tomorrow. On Saturday, Thai officials said they will not be pressured into an agreement with Cambodia. ASEAN hopes to get both countries to renew the ceasefire signed in October. That deal broke down earlier this month. Both the U.S. and China are urging the two countries to come. to terms. On Friday, Chinese special envoy,

Deng Xijun was in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, to meet with Prime Minister Hunanet. Fighting, for example, what Thailand and Cambodia did stop. And at a Friday news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for Cambodia and Thailand to respect the earlier ceasefire, brokered by President Donald Trump. We are working hard to push everybody back to compliance,

and we are cautiously optimistic that we can get there by Monday or Tuesday of next week. Tuesday of next week. We're hopeful. But there's more work to be done to that point. Since the December 7th breakdown of the ceasefire, fighting has forced more than half a million people from their homes on both sides of the border. Dozens of civilians and soldiers have reportedly been killed. Adam Bemma for CBC News in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As Ottawa and Alberta push forward on a new westward oil pipeline, Prime Minister Mark Carney is facing heat over his government's climate pivot. That's including

from his own former cabinet minister, Stephen Gilbeau. In a year-end interview with the CBC's Rosemary Barton, Carney was asked directly if he's abandoning his environmental goals. I'm not really sure what you're getting out of it. What the country, it's not about me, what the country is getting out of it, is action. The country is getting investment, investment in clean energy, investment in nuclear, investment in carbon capture.

Investment in carbon capture. Most people will hear that, and of course they think, well, what does that actually mean? It means the equivalent of taking 90% of the cars and trucks off the road in Alberta. And you can see that full year-end interview with the Prime Minister today on Rosemary Barton Live. The Yukon government wants to restart a popular energy program that allows residents to sell rooftop solar power back to the grid. The territory paused the initiative two years ago after its success threatened to overwhelm the electrical system. Rachel Sanders from CBC's What on Earth explains the hurdles facing the program's return.

Graham Key has been wanting to install solar panels on his roof for months now. The Whitehorse resident hopes to reduce emissions and save money. Now I'm retired and I'm going on a fixed income and everything is going up, insurance gas, groceries, groceries are outrageous. But right now, solar panels aren't an option. In 2023, the Yukon government paused a program that let people install rooftop solar. They can use the electricity they generate and sell some of it back to the Yukon's electrical grid. But for Yukon Energy, it was too popular.

The territory's publicly owned utility asked for a pause on new installations. It was concerned that rooftop solar was making the electrical grid unstable. According to Phil McKay with the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, the problem is emblematic of the hurdles some utilities are facing across the country. Some of the smaller utilities might get caught off guard because this happens so quickly to them. He says there are solutions. that help keep the grid stable as more renewables are added. And many jurisdictions are planning ahead, getting technical systems in place.

The Yukon's new territorial government says it's now looking to restart the program, but said any decision about when to add more solar will come after it's made sure the grid can handle it. Rachel Sanders, CBC News, Vancouver. And you can catch the full story on What on Earth today at 11 a.m. on CBC Radio 1 and CBC Listen. Indigenous communities across Canada are fighting to reclaim languages that residential schools and government policies once tried to erase. On Prince Edward Island, the Lennox Island First Nation is celebrating a major milestone in that effort.

It comes in the form of a bilingual school Christmas concert where the next generation is taking center stage. Delaney Kelly was there. Students loudly and proudly sing classic Christmas carols in Megmawaw. The community school. Christmas concert is almost entirely in their language and the theme of the concert was Winter Wonderland as a way to honor the land. Edwin Campbell is a grade 6 student and for him speaking migma is meaningful. So when I'm saying the words I think about the people that don't know it

and hoping to them that they will learn it. He says the community loves to hear them sing and he could feel the energy of the crowd. I feel like a rock star man I feel good. I feel good. I feel like. I feel amazing. Nancy Peters Doyle is the school's migma teacher. She says the performance is a way to make sure the language and culture lives on. Sometimes the lines can be difficult. The words can be hard to pronounce. They might sound a little different and the kids kind of have a moment trying to learn it but it's like you are so lucky that you get to stand here and sing this. Peter's Doyle says

students are not just singing for the people in the gym but their ancestors too. She says it's important for students to embody the culture so they can be strong migma people and pass on their culture and language to the next generation. Delaney Kelly, CBC News, Lennox Island. And finally. Winter officially arrived across Canada this morning, bringing with it the shortest day of the year. But tonight, millions of families are turning toward the light for Shaba Yelda. It's the ancient Persian night of opening, a celebration of poetry, pomegranates, and the sun's rebirth. Whether you're staying up late or just getting cozy, remember we start getting more daylight starting

tomorrow and for those celebrating Yelda Mubarak. Happy Yelda. And that is the latest national and international news from World Report. I'm John North But this is CBC News.