As It Happens

Plus: How getting stuck in quicksand led to a rom-com worthy love story for a Michigan couple. 

Also: Canadian author Robin Stevenson’s book Pride Puppy is at the centre of a Supreme Court decision on 2SLGTBQ+ books in schools. She says she was shocked to hear a Justice repeat the false claim that her alphabet book -- about a puppy at a Pride parade -- included a mention of bondage.

Plus: Did the search for extraterrestrial life just take a huge leap? We reach Cambridge University’s Nikku Madhusudhan to explore the possibility. 

Also: As spring struggles to break through, we bring you the late, great Fireside Al Maitland’s reading of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. 

Plus: Game, Set and Match medieval style. We hear about Australian efforts to revive Real Tennis, a move to bring the sport back to it’s Henry VIII roots.

Also: A special edition of As It Happened, diving into the archives for some “new discoveries”.

Plus: At the San Diego zoo, elephants go viral when video captures their touching and fascinating reaction to an earthquake. 

Also: Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi on the death of her new documentary’s subject: 25 year old Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, reported killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Plus: A Michigan bookstore gets a lot of unexpected help moving its entire inventory. 

Also: Ahead of the inaugural game of the new Northern Super League, founder and soccer star Diana Matheson tells Nil it's been years in the making to get to the first professional women's soccer game ever played on Canadian soil. But now that we're here, she knows Canada is ready.

Plus: Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker investigates a shockingly violent woodpecker terrorizing Rockport, Mass.

Also: It was no surprise that Paige Beuckers was picked first overall at last night's WNBA draft -- least of all to Gary Knox, a dad who just happened to be at the right place at the right time and predict her stardom way back in 2013, when she was in the sixth grade.

Plus: CBC's Kate McKenna tells us about stumbling onto a story of campaign “dirty tricks” in an Ottawa bar.

Also: Speaking of watering holes, An Edinburgh man embarks on an ambitious project: creating miniature versions of some 300 pubs across the city. And he says attention to detail is the key to his success.

Plus: Canadian Will Nediger writes his name in the history books -- in pen -- by taking second-place at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Also: Nil talks to Paul Wells about what the veteran political journalist thinks of the campaign so far, and what he’s looking for in the weeks ahead.

Plus: A French presidential hopeful says migrants could be deported to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, islands off the coast of Newfoundland. 

Also: Alasdair Spark says he’s solved the mystery of that deeply creepy (and conspiracy theory-provoking) final scene in The Shining. 

Plus: We follow up with the starting pitcher for one of two absolutely terrible teams who both ended epic losing streaks this week.  

Also: The mother of an Indigenous woman killed by police in New Brunswick tells us about her efforts to effect change in policing -- and about how one police chief on the other side of the country has responded.

Plus: A conversation with Fred Armisen about the late, great Blondie Drummer Clem Burke. 

Also: The editor of a low German newspaper tells us about his visit to a measles-afflicted Mennonite community in Texas... and about his efforts to get through to its residents.

Plus: Baseball YouTuber Dan Sarmiento of Enjoy The Show breaks down an epic match up between two of the worst teams ever.   

Also: Drumheller, Alberta is home to the world's largest replica dinosaur. And its owners say they plan to take it down. But a local food truck owner is launching a rebellion, hoping to save Tyra.

On the other hand: It's boom time for the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats, thanks to a fad that’s taking the sport by storm. 

Also: With Jordan's Principle funding up in the air, the Council for Yukon First Nations is forced to halt crucial community services. And the executive director tells us it's heartbreaking for the people she serves.

Plus: We'll hear from a pair of nonagenarians who have been exchanging the same birthday card with one another twice a year for eight decades. 

Also: Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey takes us inside the Canadian decision making on a tariff response.

Plus: Hooters declares bankruptcy, prompting a writer to remember an awkward…but ultimately sweet…experience.

Also: The Norwegian Refugee Council's Secretary General Jan Egeland calls on the international community to end its "chronic neglect" of displaced people in eastern Congo.

Plus: Canadian-born author Jonathan Stanley on the overwhelming response to a stranger’s viral Tiktok of him alone at a table, trying to sell his book. 

Also: A Norwegian football club draws attention with it’s – apparently not April Fool’s related – stunt of offering its Man of the Match a whole bunch of eggs.

Plus: Yet another aging McDonald’s causes a stir…this time in Leeds. We meet the man obsessed with the imperfection of its sign. 

Also: A conversation with Turkey's Enes Hocaoğulları. The activist and organizer is one of the young people central to the anti-government uprising happening in the streets.

Plus: The Neal Brothers challenging journey to produce an all-Canadian corn chip. 

Also: A conversation with Democratic Congresswoman Julie Johnson. She's introducing legislation to condemn the use of an unsecured communications app by Trump administration officials - even if it's unlikely to have the votes to pass.

Plus: Mixed feelings in BC as the “McBarge”, a relic of Expo 86, begins sinking into the Fraser River.

Also: Just a few months after opening, the demand for a Halal Food Bank in London, Ontario is already outpacing expectations. The director of the food bank tells us he's playing catch up.

Plus: A historian investigates thousands of missing Scottish archival documents…and finds a suspect in Canada. 

Also: The first woman to be the curator of mycology at the New York State Museum says it's emotional to work on an exhibit about 19th century mycologist Mary Elizabeth Banning ... and give her some of the recognition she deserved when she was alive.

Plus: The founder and former captain of Afghanistan’s women's soccer team says it's past time FIFA let them back on the pitch. 

Also: One of the filmmakers of the Oscar winning documentary No Other Land is beaten and detained in the West Bank...and an activist there tells us about witnessing the moments before his arrest. 

Plus: A shark in New Zealand had an octopus on its head. That’s it. That’s the story.  

Also: We take a closer look at anti-government protests in Turkey, and Toronto food blogger Aashim Aggarwal is using the current tensions between the U.S. and Canada as a way to highlight examples of Canadian cuisine. He defends the donair and Hawaiian pizza.

Plus: As Heathrow Airport goes down, a British teacher scrambles to bring students home from Spain. 

Also: A journalist in Khartoum tells us what the army's retaking of the presidential palace could mean for the deadly civil war in Sudan that's approaching the two year mark. 

Plus: A conversation with the man who listed his Washington DC townhouse…with the help of a perfectly scaled LEGO recreation.  

Also: Kenneth Stern helped craft an internationally recognized definition of antisemitism. Now he’s concerned with how it’s being applied.

Plus: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are back on earth after nine months. A former astronaut takes us inside that kind of extended stay.

Also: Vermont Senator Peter Welch on how tariffs and uncertainty are hurting his state.

Plus: Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan joins Queen and Herbie Hancock at this year’s prestigious Polar Music Prize.

Also: As Mark Carney begins his time as Prime Minister - the Conservative shadow minister for ethics Michael Barrett says he's being anything but transparent about his financial holdings.

Plus: Satirical news site The Beaverton celebrates 15 years during a fertile and fraught time for news satire. 

Also: A US federal judge orders the Trump administration to halt deportations under the Alien Enemies Act -- including flights that had already left the country. But those planes did not turn back -- and Washington is unapologetic. Georgetown law professor David Super weighs in. 

Plus: An Indiana dad says he's grateful his daughter is alive after she spent nearly a week trapped and badly injured in her car. 

Also: A Saskatoon fire fighter fears burnout as he and his colleagues respond to 15 to 20 overdose calls a day; and animal lovers in Michigan try to solve the mystery of a snowy owl that’s inexplicably bright orange.

Plus: New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman on Donatella Versace’s remarkable tenure as chief creative officer at the iconic fashion house. 

Also: Canada’s labour minister Steven MacKinnon promises protections for workers; Yukoners mourn the loss of a beloved community hub to fire; and Christians and Muslims alike celebrate the conversion of a St. John’s church into a much-needed mosque.

Plus: A Columbia professor says the detention of student activist Mahmoud Khalil sets a terrifying precedent — and educators have a duty to speak out.

Also: A Ukrainian government advisor anxiously awaits Russia's response to a U.S. brokered ceasefire; a friend remembers South African anti-apartheid playwright Athol Fugard; and Saturn solidifies its status as the Moon King of our solar system.

Plus: The Canadian women’s rugby team makes the pitch for better funding — and says it could be a game changer when it comes to winning the world cup.

Also: A lawyer representing victims of the Philippines drug war reacts to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest; an ancient canoe unearthed in New Zealand could hold the answers Moriori people have been looking for; and the owner of an Alberta newspaper mourns its closure and celebrates more than a century in print.

“Closure”: After 80 years, an Ontario woman shares her relief after learning where her great uncle, who went missing in action during WW2, was buried.

Irish street busker, Tilly Cripwell, describes her fight to stop passersby from touching the breasts of a statue of Molly Malone; a Severance fan -- facing stage-4 cancer -- meets the show’s cast; and what recent fighting in Syria means for the country’s prospects for peace.

Hockey Night in Canada - in Inuktitut. Pujjuut Kusugak on making history this weekend when he’ll provide colour commentary in his mother tongue.

The head of the U.S. trade association for distilled spirits on Canadian provinces pulling American booze from their shelves; the Vegetable Orchestra sets a new record; a journalist in Lesotho on Donald Trump’s suggestion that no one’s ever heard of the African nation; and why there can only be one “Captain Clutch.”

Why grammar aficionado Ellen Jovin travelled to 50 U.S. states to explore the finer points of the English language -- one conversation at a time.

Canada pledges billions to boost Arctic defence; an American veteran describes being fired from his job by email; the mayor of Laval, Quebec reacts, after several mayors invited to the White House are disinvited; and how a Canadian teen ended up in a Polish prison, accused of being a Russian spy.

Plus: After a long reprieve, one B.C. town faces the prospect of a renewed peacock invasion. 

Also: A conversation with AI pioneer Richard Sutton, co-winner of this year's Turing Award.

A retired entomologist shows off his creative side, and the nether regions of his favourite beetle, in a new exhibit of glass sculptures.

An Israeli human rights organization takes the government to court over its aid blockade; a resident in Point Roberts, Washington, on its connection to Canada and his petition for a humanitarian exemption to tariffs; a fired US federal employee explains why she's attending President Trump’s congressional address tonight; and a childhood friend and former bandmate pays tribute to hip hop trailblazer Angie Stone.

Plus: A Stanford University scientist on new research into the slimiest parts of our brains that could unlock big developments in memory and aging. 

Also: On the eve of US tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods, the owner of a Toronto pizzeria tells us about his decision to banish US ingredients from his restaurant.

Plus: An immigration lawyer on the influx of calls from 2SLGBTQ+ Americans who want to move to Canada, because they don't feel safe in their country. 

Also: Greek protesters demand justice, two years after the country's worst rail disaster killed 57 people; and a sendoff for the town clerk of Heart's Content, Newfoundland and Labrador, who’s held the job for more than 50 years.

Revisit some of our past conversations with Academy Award winners, fans and even the owner of a Matthew McConaughey-inspired parrot.

Plus: A pair of newlyweds explain why they chose to forgo running water and electricity for six months to become caretakers of a remote Irish island.

Also: A tribute to Shawna Forester Smith, who advocated for better patient care from her bed in a Winnipeg chronic-care unit; the German Catholic Church condemns a carnival float in Cologne that draws attention to sexual abuse in the church; and how a man in England, got a pothole fixed -- by making it look like someone is stuck upside-down, inside it.

Plus: “We don’t have a political agenda. We’re trying to feed the country.” Farmers sue U.S. Agriculture Dept after it removes online climate data.

Also: “It was as if the sky just exploded.” We take a visit to Europe’s newest Dark Sky sanctuary, the Scottish Isle of Rum; A Saskatchewan social worker on the province’s plan to classify drug-related items as street weapons; Dallas Arcand wins his fourth hoop dancing world championship; and a trio of Canadian-first surgeries will see a Vancouver ophthalmologist put a tooth in his patients’ eyes, in the hope that it will restore their sight.

Plus: John McCann (aka The Philly Captain) explains the demise of the so-called “p00p game”. Don’t worry, it will all make sense. 

Also: The manager of a community-based theatre in the Jenin Refugee Camp tells us about the Israeli military's displacement of some 40,000 Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank -- and about why his family is staying put.

Plus: One man’s battle to have his right to own a raccoon as a pet enshrined in law. 

Also: People in Bowden, Alberta are in a 51st state of mind as a pro-merger billboard goes up, causing headaches for the town’s mayor.

Plus: Five hockey fans drive from Winnipeg to Boston for the 4 Nations Face-Off final, to cheer on Team Canada and their friend, player Seth Jarvis.

Also: The earliest known cookbook by a Black American woman gets a new edition; paleontologists discover the 30-million-year-old skull of "the king of the ancient Egyptian forest”; why one public health expert thinks changes to BC’s safer supply program could mean the its effective demise; and how snow in Montreal has kept one wheelchair user stuck at home.

Plus: An Italian tour guide shares his concerns as visitors get an up close, and potentially dangerous, look at an erupting Mount Etna.

Also: A hockey fan on the Canadian/US matchup at the 4 Nations final; Nova Scotia’s auditor general on new legislation that would let the Province fire her without cause; and a historic ocean liner that once regularly crossed the Atlantic, takes its final voyage.

Plus: Former Olympian Christina Lustenberger describes what it was like to reach the highest point of the Rocky Mountains, and then ski back down.

Also: What happens when a moose shows up at your door; a Ukrainian reflects on her country’s prospects for peace and its relationship with the US; and a reporter breaks down the charges against Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, and the allegations he took part in a coup and plot to kill his political rivals. 

Plus: Facundo Iglesia from the Buenos Aires Herald on a crypto scandal and Argentina’s leader. 

Also: We revisit the “Giga Pearl”. It holds the Guinness World Record as the largest authenticated natural pearl. The massive, iridescent gemstone has traveled from the Philippines to Mississauga, then to the U.S. for appraisal, and now it’s back in the Greater Toronto Area for an exclusive luxury art exhibit.

Plus: A surprising discovery about how shockingly vicious hummingbirds seem to be learning to get along. 

Also: We reach a woman in the hardest hit part of Eastern Kentucky who says despite her small business flooding, she's most worried for those who just recovered from the deadly 2022 floods.

Plus: We speak with a researcher who’s discovered that different groups of chimps use different gestures to request what she calls "sneaky copulation".

Also: As Donald Trump reshapes the Kennedy Center, Michael Kooman says a tour of his musical has been cancelled out of the blue. And he suspects the president's aversion to drag performance had something to do with it.

Nil Köksal in conversation with Shiori Ito, director, producer and subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary. 

Black Box Diaries begins with a trigger warning: "Close your eyes and take a deep breath if you need to," Ms. Ito tells viewers. "That has helped me many times." It goes on to detail her story of sexual assault and the pursuit of justice in Japan.

Plus: TikTok helps drain global Guinness supplies. We reach a St. John’s pub owner who’s got problems ahead of Saint Patrick’s Day.  

Also: This week, only six of the 46 people who attempted an especially treacherous Yukon Arctic Ultra race crossed the finish line. Our guest tells us how she managed to stick it out, and why she's already gearing up for her next trek.

Plus: A superfan makes a sprint through Manhattan to snag a coveted ticket to Paul McCartney’s ultra rare club show.   

Also: We reach Ahmad Muna, whose decades-old bookshop was raided by Israeli police in Jerusalem.

Plus: Christie’s goes all in on AI art. We reach a (human) artist who’s part of the first auction of its kind.    

Also: A town in northern England finds hundreds of Second World War bombs under a children's playground.

Plus: How one Canadian distillery is trying to create a liqueur similar to chartreuse because of a shortage of the green alcohol.

Also: After Sweden’s deadliest mass shooting last week, we speak to a family member of one of the survivors.

We speak to Liberal MP and leadership candidate Karina Gould and Goldy Hyder of the Business Council of Canada.

Also: A film history student tells us about the moment he discovered a silent film about Lincoln...believed to be lost to time...in the final hours of his internship with a historic film archive.

Nil Köksal speaks with Molly O’Brien, producer and director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, and with the film’s subject: her aunt Orin O’Brien.

Plus: Jeff Douglas on the meaning of “I Am Canadian” then…and now. 

Also: Scientist David Kring on what we can learn from massive canyons on the moon.

Plus: A cave explorer finds a fungus that turns spiders into zombies…so it can kill them. 

Also: An Ottawa furniture store owner on why sourcing Canadian products is easier said than done. 

Plus: New research on bonobos shows the unique human ability to guess what's going on in the minds of others isn't so unique.

Also: . A site on the North Saskatchewan River is revealed to be one of the oldest examples of Indigenous civilization in North America. A Métis archaeologist tells us he could feel that history the first time he saw it.

Plus: When a teenager fell into icy water, Indiana's David Fisher grabbed his double Dutch ropes and jumped into action. 

Also: After a Canadian father comes forward to say his child is purchasing illicit drugs on Snapchat, we'll hear from an American dad about his ongoing fight to hold the social platform accountable for the death of his son.

Plus: The story of a “Pistol Packin’ Mama” who spent decades wanted for murder, undetected in Taber, Alberta.  

Also: Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist.

She worked with Spencer Lane, a 16 year old victim of the DC plane crash. 

Also: How Newfoundland and Labrador’s snow crab fishery is preparing for the prospect of devastating US tariffs; and we reach former Bernie Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir, who’s running to lead the Democratic National Committee

Plus: The Danish scientists who thought they’d found some fossilized plants…which turned out to be something much more interesting: ancient vomit. 

Also: Casey Katims of the U.S. Climate Alliance on trying to forge a path ahead with states, after Trump pulls the U.S. out of a key international agreement. 

Plus: Receding alpine ice reveals a beautifully preserved forest of 6,000 year old trees, and its secrets are both thrilling and frightening. 

Also: We hear from Washington Post theatre critic Naveen Kumar who temporarily lost the ability to sit, and how standing changed his perspective on the medium he's spent so long covering.

Plus: Beth Shapiro of the bioscience firm Colossal on the ultimate de-extinction project…bringing the dodo back from the dead. 

Also: Months after far-right rioters burst through its doors, Liverpool's Spellow Library is open to the public once again.

Plus: Gwenyth Paltrow went skiing, they made a musical about it. Now it’s blowing up. 

Also: Donald Trump says fentanyl from Canada is a problem, we take a look at what’s real about that and what isn’t.

Plus: How Oscar-nominated costume designer Linda Muir created Nosferatu’s creepy and obsessively period-accurate outfits. 

Also: Today is the first day same-sex couples can legally get married in Thailand. We reach a transgender man on his wedding day, about what today means for his life, and his country.