Front Burner

Earlier this month, the Ontario legislature banned the keffiyeh, a checkered black and white scarf long worn by Palestinians and often seen at pro-Palestinian protests.

The ban was brought in because of a longstanding policy against clothing items that make overt political statements. But that decision has ignited a massive debate.

So, is the keffiyeh a political statement? Is it traditional regalia? Is it both? 

Today, we unpack those questions with Vox correspondent Abdallah Fayyad.

He recently wrote a piece called "How the keffiyeh became a symbol of the Palestinian cause."

Donald Trump's first of four criminal trials is underway in New York, where he is accused of improperly disclosing money supposedly paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair. It's the first time a former U.S. president has been tried criminally.

Washington Post court reporter Shayna Jacobs has been covering the trial. She walks us through what the court has heard in the opening week, what to expect as the prosecution builds its case, and how the defense plans to counter it.

For some time now, there’s been a growing trend on TikTok and Instagram of young women sharing about their daily lives as “trad wives.” “Traditional wives” forego the workplace, extol the virtues of homemaking, and often talk about the ways they “submit” to their husbands.

So why do these women say they’ve chosen a life at home? How does their messaging cross into religion and politics? And is this “movement” a reaction to the burdens on modern women, or a threat to feminism’s progress?

Journalist Sophie Elmhirst recently published a piece in the New Yorker titled “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife.”

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today we are joined by Beirut-based journalist Kim Ghattas, author of the bestselling book Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. She is also a contributing editor at the Financial Times.

We’re speaking to Kim about the unprecedented, overt attacks exchanged this month between Israel and Iran — most recently an Israeli strike on Friday near the Iranian city of Isfahan. 

Where is this dangerous tit-for-tat headed next, and what’s at stake? What do Iran and Israel’s leaders actually want here? And what does it mean for the wider region?

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The single biggest election in the history of democracy is happening right now in India. Just shy of one billion people are eligible voters, but it's not just big from a numbers perspective. It's also being called one of the most pivotal elections in Indian history.

Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is projected to win. But Modi's commitment to Hindu nationalism has many questioning what a third term might mean for the future of India’s democracy, and the idea of a pluralistic Indian society.

Salimah Shivji is the CBC's South Asia correspondent. She’s also working on a new CBC podcast about Modi and the fundamental ways he’s changing his country. It’ll be part of our Understood feed, you can subscribe here. 

Salimah spoke to host Jayme Poisson about why the stakes of this election are so high.

What is the point of Hollywood? There are two obvious answers, right? To make good stuff that entertains people. And to make money for the big studios and the people who work for them.

Those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. But Daniel Bessner believes increasingly they have been.

Bessner spent a year working on a deep dive into how Hollywood has evolved for Harper's Magazine. Bessner is also a historian, writer, and host of the podcast "American Prestige".

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Lubna Al Rayyes, was in the third trimester of a high risk pregnancy when the war in Gaza started. She was frightened of what that meant for her and her baby. How do you plan for your delivery, when you’re living with airstrikes and having to uproot your life? 

That’s when she connected with reporter Gabrielle Berbey, who documented Lubna’s journey…from attempting to get medical care in a warzone, to trying to make her way to Canada, where she has family. Gabrielle’s reporting is featured in the most recent episode of the critically-acclaimed podcast Reveal, from the Centre of Investigative Reporting.

If you're pregnant but not sure who the father of your baby is, you might turn to a DNA testing company for a prenatal paternity test for some certainty — a company like Viaguard Accu-Metrics, based in the Toronto area. But for years, Viaguard was selling tests that sometimes identified the wrong fathers — and the company's owner knew.

CBC investigative reporter Jorge Barrera walks us through his team's investigation into the company, and some of the expectant parents whose lives were upended by incorrect paternity test results.

Today, the government unveiled their federal budget. And they are spending big on housing.

They pledged billions of dollars for low-cost loans to increase rental construction, 30-year mortgages for first-time home buyers, and programs to spur non-profit housing.

All in all, they’re promising to build 3.87 million homes by 2031.

But will it fix the affordability crisis? We ask Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser.

On Saturday night, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack into Israel, firing off some 300 drones and missiles. While Israel says it intercepted some 99 per cent of them, shrapnel from one drone hit a seven-year-old girl, who as of this writing is in critical condition. 

Iran’s attack follows a major escalation by Israel earlier this month, when a strike at Iran’s consulate in Syria killed 16 people, including a top commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Today, the Guardian’s Julian Borger joins us to explain how these latest events have ratcheted up a long-simmering shadow war between the two powers — and the risk that they could bring the region into a much broader, and even more dangerous, conflict.

Politicians, staffers and intelligence officials have been testifying in Ottawa over the last several weeks in a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021. While many details remain classified, it appears from the testimony that China, India and even Pakistan made attempts. But did those attempts have meaningful impacts?

CBC senior parliamentary reporter Janyce McGregor explains what the inquiry has shown about Canada's ability to recognize and repel foreign interference in its elections — and what that could mean for the next one.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Abortion is a topic that many analysts believe could present the biggest threat to Donald Trump’s political comeback. This week, he made two major statements that attempted to put distance between himself and the issue.

But what does it mean that Trump is now running away from a policy Republicans spent decades fighting for?

Today, CBC Washington correspondent Alexander Panetta joins us for a look at a problem Trump helped create, and what it could mean for the November presidential election.

Tesla is having its worst year since the pandemic. The company is selling fewer cars, and its stock is plummeting.

And it’s not just Tesla. We’re seeing a cool down in North America’s EV industry as a whole.

Why is this happening? And as Canada pours billions of dollars into the industry, will that bet pay off? Senior CBC business reporter Peter Armstrong explains.

After 20 years representing Timmons, Ontario, federal NDP MP Charlie Angus announced last week that he’s leaving politics. Angus has also spent much of his career fighting for indigenous rights, particularly for Indigenous children. He’s also served in the critic role for labour, agriculture and digital issues.

Today, Charlie Angus on his career and departure from politics, as well as the future of the NDP and the popularity of Pierre Poilievre.

The Israeli military has been using an artificial intelligence tool to identify human targets for bombing in Gaza, according to a new investigation by Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call. 

Intelligence sources cited in the report allege that the AI system, called Lavender, at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets — and that approximately 10 per cent of those targets were marked in error. The sources also allege that in the early weeks of the war, the army authorized an unprecedented level of “collateral damage” — that is, civilians killed — for each target marked by Lavender. 

The investigation was also shared with the Guardian newspaper, which published their own in-depth reporting. 

Israel disputes and denies several parts of the investigation.

Today, the investigation’s reporter, Yuval Abraham, joins us to explain his findings.

On Monday, an Israeli military airstrike hit an aid convoy from World Central Kitchen. The IDF killed 7 workers, including Canadian veteran Jacob Flickinger, and said it was a “mistake” and “misidentification.”

So why didn’t the extensive steps WCK says it took to coordinate its movements stop the IDF from firing on them? And what does this breakdown of the way aid is delivered during war mean for getting help to Gazans on the brink of famine?

David Miliband is the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian group partnering to deliver aid and medical help to Gazans. He says it’s time for a “paradigm shift” in how we think about aid during conflict.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the last year alone, the Canadian government has poured billions of dollars into the electric vehicle industry. Wrapped up in that is the production of aluminum, a lightweight and recyclable material that EV car manufacturers want.

In Quebec, aluminum is big business. Rio Tinto, one of the largest manufacturers of aluminum in the world, has several plants there. It often advertises the product as green.

But a new investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête calls that into question.

Investigative producer Gil Shochat is here to talk about how it’s brought to light the environmental cost of this industry in Quebec, and deep into the Amazon.

In a Canadian first, four Ontario school boards are taking the companies behind Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok to court, alleging the platforms are knowingly harming students and disrupting the ways schools operate. 

The claims haven’t been proven in court, and all three companies say they do their best to keep young people safe online.

Our guest today has been speaking for years about the kinds of issues raised in the Ontario school board lawsuits. In 2021, Frances Haugen quit Facebook, took tens of thousands of internal documents and leaked them. She later testified to the U.S. Congress, and alleged the company’s products were harming children.

Today, we’ve got Haugen on the podcast to discuss the Ontario school board lawsuits, the harms she believes these companies are causing to children, and what she thinks should be done about it.

A previous version of this episode included an anecdote about a boy who was bullied, and later took his own life after videos of his bullying were posted online. That anecdote has been removed. In fact, the boy was murdered by two other boys, in an attack that investigators say was planned on social media, and was triggered by an online conflict in a chat group. 

 At a time when major sports leagues are embracing online betting, the MLB’s biggest star and a player for the Toronto Raptors are now involved in gambling investigations.

So what do we know about Shohei Ohtani and Jontay Porter? How could gambling partnerships be impacting fans and athletes? And have these leagues opened a Pandora’s box of betting culture that could threaten the future of their sports? 

Declan Hill is an associate professor of investigations at the University of New Haven, an expert on match fixing and corruption, and the author of CrimeWaves on Substack.

Not only did Pornhub become a massive moneymaker, it also helped push porn into the spotlight by using data, clever PR, and the power of celebrity. How did Pornhub make itself a household name? 

This is episode 2 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.

More episodes are available here.

When Beyoncé took the stage at the 2016 Country Music Awards, alongside the Chicks, the racist backlash was immediate. 

Eight years later, she alluded to that experience when she announced her new album, Cowboy Carter. 

In recent years, we’ve seen some pushback against the genre’s whiteness. And with Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé is reminding us once again that at its roots, country music is Black. 

Today, music, pop culture, and politics writer Taylor Crumpton joins us to talk about how for decades, country music has been packaged for a white audience. And how that’s starting to change. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts 

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, for the first time since the start of the Gaza war, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. It passed after the U.S. abstained from voting, rather than using their veto power — as they did three times before. 

For many watching, it was a very big deal — and the strongest sign yet of a fracture in the long and special relationship the US has with Israel. But is it really?

Today the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, joins us to talk about that pivotal UN vote, and whether it’s just symbolic — or if it means something more.

Canada's inflation numbers have once again come in lower than expected, and are nearing where our central bank wants them. But to get here, the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates high to slow the economy.

So was it actually the Bank's rate hikes that brought inflation down? Is the sting of high rates worth the success so far? And how much further does inflation — and the economy — need to slow before the Bank drops rates? 

Armine Yalnizyan is an economist and the Atkinson Fellow On The Future Of Workers.

After a warm, dry winter, Albertans are preparing for what could be a devastatingly dry summer. Snowpack is low, reservoirs around the province are well below seasonal levels, and farmers are already anticipating a difficult growing season.

But this isn't a one-off. Experts say the multi-year drying trend is likely to continue, which will have major implications for water use in the province — the biggest of which is agriculture. Is the future of the province's biggest industry at risk? CBC Calgary's Joel Dryden explains what a deepening drought could mean for life in Alberta in the decades ahead.

On Friday night, gunmen stormed the packed Crocus City concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, where thousands had gathered for a rock concert. At least 133 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack in Russia for the last 20 years.

ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate, has claimed responsibility — although Russia is casting doubt on those claims.

Today, the CBC’s Briar Stewart takes us through what we know so far about the Crocus City Hall attack, and the many questions that remain.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How did a handful of competitive foosball players in Montreal create the world’s largest online porn site? And what do a picturesque Dutch cabin, thousands of pornographic VHS tapes, and the subprime mortgage crisis have to do with it?

This is episode 1 of The Pornhub Empire: Understood. Hosted by Samantha Cole.

More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/Dey46feN

This week, the NDP introduced a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood. The negotiations went into the night with last-minute amendments made. Why did it get so messy? What ramifications could we see come out of the passed motion?

Plus, a growing number of provincial leaders are pushing for the Liberal government to cut the carbon tax, or to pause the scheduled increase for it in April. What might happen next?

Senior writer Aaron Wherry joins us from the CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Vanessa had her entire life put online during the 2000s “mommy blogger” era. She’s in her 20s now. And as she tells influence culture journalist Fortesa Latifi, her life was anything but glamorous.

The TikTok generation of child influencers is a multi-billion dollar industry. And with that money, comes concerns of exploitation.

Fortesa Latifi recently published a three part series and mini-doc for Cosmopolitan called “The Sharenting Reckoning”. She joins us to talk about it.

Ahead of its event at a Thornhill, Ontario synagogue, the “great Israeli Real Estate Event” seemed to list settlements in the occupied West Bank on its website – settlements which the UN and Canada consider a violation of international law. 

On March 7th, Front Burner’s team made their way into the event and confirmed the marketing of West Bank real estate.

So how did some real estate enterprises discuss properties in the West Bank? How did protesters outside the synagogue react? And what can their face off outside a synagogue tell us about how the conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank are reverberating in Canada? 

Front Burner host Jayme Poisson explains. 

From emergency landings to mechanical failures, airplane manufacturer Boeing has been in the news a lot recently. Earlier this year, a panel flew off mid-air on a flight, and just this month, a former employee turned whistleblower died while a key legal proceeding was underway.

So what exactly is going on?

Today, Washington Post reporter Lori Aratani on how Boeing went from being the crown jewel of the American aviation industry to being mired in a seemingly endless series of problems with their planes.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Monday, Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced from Puerto Rico that he would be stepping down. He’s been unable to return to Haiti since January, because heavily armed gangs have shut down the airport and taken over much of the country.

Today, Haitian reporter and editor-in-chief of AyiboPost, Widlore Merancourt, explains what it’s like on the streets of Port-au-Prince, what the gangs want, and whether more foreign intervention is really the answer.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill that could lead to the forced sale or nationwide ban of TikTok in the U.S. To become law, the bill still needs to pass the U.S. Senate, and that’s not guaranteed.

All of this has massive implications for the social media platform’s 170 million users in the U.S, and millions more around the world, including here in Canada.

Today, NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn on the arguments for and against the bill, how realistic a forced sale or ban would be, and what all this might mean for TikTok’s users.

Kate Middleton is one of the most photographed people in the world. But for months she’s been out of the public eye, recovering from what Kensington Palace says was abdominal surgery.

However, many people are not buying that everything is fine with the Princess of Wales. Bizarre choices by the palace’s PR team have only fueled speculation — like releasing a photo of Kate that major new agencies refused to use because it appears to have been manipulated.

So what’s really going on?

Ellie Hall was the official royal correspondent for BuzzFeed News until it shut down, and she’s going to help us unravel the mystery.

March break, one of the busiest travel times of the year, just started in Ontario. 

It’ll kick off across much of the country in the next few weeks. Chances are, if you’re flying out, you’re probably worried about something going wrong. It seems like everyone has a horror story about delays and cancellations, extra fees or tiny seats.

Today on Front Burner, author and law professor Ganesh Sitaraman on how air travel became such a frustrating and unpleasant experience for so many, and whether there’s a solution in sight. Sitaraman is the author of Sitaraman is the author of Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It.

Orlan-10 drones are arguably one of Russia’s most important assets on the battlefield. Which is why the West has sanctions in place to keep the tech needed to build the drones out of Russian hands.

So why do hacked emails show that a Russian arms dealer was seeking out parts made by Canadian tech companies? And how are Western parts ending up on the frontlines of Russia’s war with Ukraine?

Today, Ben Makuch shares his CBC investigation.

Pierre Poilievre does not hide how he feels about Canadian mainstream media. His numerous, testy exchanges with reporters earn lots of online traction.

Is the relationship between Poilievre and the media different from politicians that came before him? When Poilievre takes on reporters, who is he talking to?

Today we explore those questions with journalist and author Paul Wells.

Since 2019, questions have swirled around why two scientists, originally from China, were marched out of a high-security infectious disease lab in Winnipeg. They were later stripped of their security clearances and fired, in a case that has raised suspicions about Chinese espionage, and prompted calls for the Liberal government to release more information.

Now, at least some questions have been answered. Last week the federal government released hundreds of documents, largely from Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, about the scientists’ dismissal. The documents contain revealing insights — but also leave many questions unanswered, putting further pressure on the government to allow a deeper investigation into this story.

Today CBC reporters Karen Pauls and Catharine Tunney join us to dive into the revelations in these documents, the political firestorm they’re causing, and what questions remain unanswered.

The legal proceedings between ex-spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard made nonstop headlines in 2022 — and online discourse at the time seemed to be overwhelmingly in favour of Depp. The tweets in particular caught the eye of investigative reporter and Tortoise Media editor Alexi Mostrous. They seemed to be part of a coordinated effort to smear Heard. And the closer he looked, the weirder it got.

What's the connection between that trial, Johnny Depp’s friendship with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and a legion of Twitter bots for hire? Mostrous, who hosts the new podcast Who Trolled Amber?, walks us through his investigation and what it says about whether you can ever really trust what you read online.

Gaza health authorities say 118 people were killed and 760 people were injured while trying to get food staples like flour from aid trucks on Thursday, after Israeli soldiers opened fire.

The Israeli military claims most people were killed in a stampede of people around the trucks, but accounts from witnesses and medical workers say most of the victims were shot.

So what precipitated this deadly search for aid? How close is Gaza to famine? And what would it take to get food to the people there who are starving?

Yarden Michaeli explains. He’s a reporter with Haaretz based in Tel Aviv. 

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister, has died at the age of 84.

He had an incredibly eventful nine-year tenure, from 1984 to 1993, at a time when the governments in the U.S. and the U.K. were shifting towards more deregulation and privatization.

He was a champion of free trade, his work on the Canada-U.S free trade agreement, and NAFTA later, had an indelible impact on Canada's economy, but was also met with a lot of criticism along the way.

Today, Peter Mansbridge, who covered much of Mulroney's time in office, is here to talk about his legacy. Mansbridge was the chief correspondent at CBC News for many years, and now hosts a podcast called The Bridge.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After two years of leading a country at war, Ukraine’s president remains popular. But as support for the fight wavers both inside and outside the country, Volodymyr Zelensky faces a new set of high-stakes challenges.

Does demoting a popular general signal a shift in military strategy? Will international allies deliver the support Zelensky says he needs? If not can he negotiate a popular end peace?

Today we’re joined by Tim Mak, founder of the Kyiv-based publication The Counteroffensive.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This week, the International Court of Justice wrapped up a set of historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

The proceedings were requested by the UN General Assembly back in 2022, and so the timing of them — almost five months into Israel’s bloody war with Hamas — is in essence coincidental. But many believe that finding a resolution to this question is fundamental to securing a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

While many are familiar with the term “occupation” in relation to this conflict, it’s another thing to understand the specific legal meaning of that term, or its practical implications. Or why Israel argues that this term doesn’t actually apply to them.

Today we’re going to explain all of that, and then look at how these questions played out at these recent hearings at the UN’s top court. 

We’re joined by Nahlah Ayed, host of the CBC Radio show Ideas. Among other things, Nahlah was previously a foreign correspondent based in the Middle East, and she has covered other cases at the Hague, most recently one relating to the conflict in Gaza.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Liberals originally promised a bill tackling online harms would come within 100 days of their re-election in 2021.

Instead, Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled their new act on Monday, which aims to create a new commission and regulate content from hate, to extremism, bullying and child abuse materials.

So did the Liberals learn lessons from a previous bill criticized for the risk of censorship? And will this current bill actually make the internet safer for children?

CBC senior reporter Raffy Boudjikanian explains.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent premiered last Thursday.

The series, adapted by CityTV, features cases that are 'ripped from headlines' from Canada's largest city, Toronto. It films in Toronto neighbourhoods and has a very Canadian cast and crew.

It is also part of a long-running network TV franchise that premiered back in 1990, and one that seems to have weathered the changes in TV as a medium, and changes in attitudes towards police and the justice system. 

Today, Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk on Law & Order's Toronto spinoff, and why the franchise still draws a big audience.

The debate over whether or not Joe Biden is too old to be president is getting heated.

He has struggled to collect his thoughts, mumbled incoherently at press conferences, referenced recent conversations with long-dead politicians, and recently, had to be reminded of Hamas' name.

It’s not a good look for any president. But it’s especially bad for the presumed Democratic nominee during an election year.

Today, CBC Washington senior correspondent Paul Hunter explains why an 81-year-old with memory lapses might be the only option the Democrats have.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre says his party supports a bill from an independent senator that would require websites to verify users' ages before allowing them to see sexually explicit content — similar to laws recently passed in the U.K., several E.U. countries and numerous American states. But critics say the law would be disastrous for privacy and civil liberties — and industry titan Pornhub says it might force them to block Canadians from the site altogether, as they've already done in some of those other jurisdictions.

Sam Cole — a journalist with 404 Media and the host of Front Burner's upcoming spinoff podcast, The Pornhub Empire: Understood — explains the controversy around a seemingly simple push to protect children online, and what it could mean for the future of the online porn industry.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On paper, the Liberals’ deal for the NDP’s support is supposed to prop up their minority government until next summer.

But in exchange, the Liberals agreed to a bill on pharmacare, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is threatening that the deal could be done if they miss an approaching March 1st deadline.

So could the coming weeks see the end of the deal? Would the Liberals really risk an election right now? And did the deal deliver wins for the NDP that voters will remember?

CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton returns to unpack it all.

 In 2013, Rana Plaza - an eight-storey garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing over 11-hundred people.

It's a tragedy that led to a lot of public anger towards the brands that made clothes there. Brands like Zara, Walmart, and Joe Fresh, owned by Loblaw. And at the time, Loblaw promised safe working conditions and fair wages.

But ten years later has it followed through on those promises? The Fifth Estate's Mark Kelley tells guest host Daemon Fairless about the investigation.

 OpenAI has just introduced a new tool, Sora, which turns text prompts into short, shockingly realistic videos. Sora hasn’t been released to the public yet, but it’s already sparking controversy about its potential implications for industries like animation and video games, as well as for deepfake videos — and for democracy as a whole.

Today, Gary Marcus — a cognitive scientist, AI researcher and entrepreneur, and author of the forthcoming book Taming Silicon Valley — talks to us about the promise and potential consequences of Sora and other generative AI video tools.

The Kremlin says Alexei Navalny died Friday in an Arctic prison. After surviving a poisoning and still making the decision to return to Russia, President Vladimir Putin's most significant opposition figure was serving 19 years on extremism charges.

What do we know about how Navalny died?

Amid accusations that he was murdered, what motivations would Navalny's enemies have for acting against him now? 

Not long after a number of Western commentators predicted Putin's demise over the Ukraine war, what does Navalny's death mean for Putin's tightening grip on Russia?

CBC's Briar Stewart explains.

When Jon Stewart stepped down as host of the Daily Show in 2015, it seemed pretty conclusive. For nearly 16 years, he guided the show through 9/11, the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis and more, becoming a voice of reason for many amid growing political divisions — but it was time to move on.

This week saw him back in the host's chair once again, where he'll now be every Monday. But things have changed a lot in the last nine years — especially politics. Does Stewart's brand of Bush-era both-sides-ism still work in 2024? Slate writer and senior editor Sam Adams unpacks the legacy of the Daily Show and whether the world still needs it.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, paramedics in Belleville, Ontario responded to 13 drug overdoses in a single hour. By the time the city declared a state of emergency two days later, the total had reached almost two dozen.

So how did these near-simultaneous overdoses unfold? What caused them? And how can we stop the spikes of drug poisonings that have been happening in cities across Ontario?

Dan Taekema is CBC’s reporter covering eastern Ontario communities from Belleville, to Kingston, and beyond.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Rafah, a tiny city at Gaza’s border with Egypt, is currently sheltering more than half of the territory’s population. Many, crammed together in tent cities, have already relocated multiple times, as Israel’s war with Hamas has pushed them further and further south.

Now, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledges to move ahead with a major assault on Rafah, the civilians sheltering in the city say there’s nowhere else to go.

Today our guest is Haaretz reporter Yarden Michaeli. He and his colleague Avi Scharf recently investigated the vast devastation that the Israel Defense Forces’ operations have left in Gaza. He talks to us about the path of destruction that kettled 1.4 million people into Rafah, and what it could mean if a full-scale invasion goes ahead.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.