As It Happens

A fellow scientist remembers his friend Nuno Loureiro -- the beloved MIT professor authorities believe was killed this week by the same man suspected of killing two students at Brown University. Air Canada reaches a settlement with passengers after a crash-landing in a Halifax snowstorm more than 10 years ago -- an event that left our guest with an understandably visceral fear of flying. As part of a ceasefire deal with Israel, the Lebanese army must disarm the militant group Hezbollah by the end of this year. A former MP in Lebanon weighs on whether that's possible -- and what it could mean if it isn't. The Canadian couple who were struggling to secure a travel visa for their adopted Ugandan daughter have finally made it home for the holidays. In tonight's holiday reading, a child's Christmas wish for new ice skates is badly misinterpreted -- to the extreme dismay of that child, and then his mother. This year's World Pie-Eating Championship has a sur-pies winner -- but the contest's pie master laments the much faster competitors of days gone pie. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that's off the tarts.

Months ago, the Democratic Party commissioned a report on what went wrong in the 2024 presidential election. Now, party leaders are saying they're actually not going to release the details. Our guest says that just makes him more anxious to see it. After 23 years in an Ontario prison a new legal victory means Tim Rees can finally consider his name cleared. He'll tell us how that feels. A young Indigenous resident of Northern Ontario tells us the Premier's announcement about "shovels in the ground" within the Ring of Fire sounds less like a promise, and more like a threat. To celebrate Hanukkah, we have our annual reading of Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Zlateh the Goat" -- so go get the kids. After the house featured in “Home Alone” suffered a shocking renovation, the property is now being returned to its original glory -- to the relief of fans, and its original owner. Female praying mantises sometimes eat males after mating -- but in one newly discovered species, the males don't just pray: they dance as if their lives depended on it. As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that's a hopeless ro-mantis.

The surviving accused gunman in the Bondi Beach attack is charged -- and an Australian investigative reporter reveals disturbing allegations about the father-and-son suspects. We'll talk to an artist who is painstakingly recreating one of the Bamiyan Buddha statues that was destroyed by the Taliban over two decades ago. After corruption allegations are levelled against the Quebec Liberal Party, their new leader Pablo Rodriguez says he's resigning. Our guest tells us the next leader needs to right the ship -- fast. Olympic skater Kaitlyn Weaver says that as a Canadian, and a queer woman, she's proud of Skate Canada's decision to no longer host major events in Alberta. A Kansas man rents out an entire store to display his late wife's sprawling collection of holiday figurines. He says sharing her passion for Christmas with others is the best gift he could hope for. Before “A Streetcar Named Desire” or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, Tennessee Williams was a student in Iowa trying his hand at a novel new format: the radio play. And now, nearly 90 years later, that gothic drama has been published. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that knows he was a great dramatist -- and this is a "Stella!" example.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan was supposed to be visiting both Israelis and Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank. But we'll reach her in Jordan -- after she and the rest of a Canadian delegation were blocked by Israel for what it describes as “security reasons”. Media mogul Jimmy Lai's daughter says she made the difficult decision to leave Hong Kong to advocate for her father's release -- and now that he's facing life in prison, she says that is more important than ever. Rob Reiner was a superstar director -- but to Kris Perry, he’s the man who fought alongside her to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage in California. The late Donna Summer lit the fuse of the mid-'70s disco explosion -- and now, she's been honoured for writing some of the most enduring dancefloor-fillers of all time. We'll bring you another classic from our catalogue of holiday readings -- "The Gift of the Magi", a story of a couple unlucky in gift-giving...but lucky in love. On what would have been Jane Austen's 250th birthday, New York Times writers and "Pride and Prejudice" enthusiasts try to answer once and for all: who is the definitive onscreen Mr. Darcy? As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that knows pride cometh before a ball.

A cousin of a rabbi killed in the Bondi beach attack says Eli Schlanger devoted himself to bringing joy and love to others -- and his family plans to continue that tradition. A Syrian father of two who risked his life to disarm one of the alleged shooters is being hailed as a hero; our guest sat with his family as they waited for news. Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai faces a possible life sentence for sedition and foreign collusion; a fellow activist is crushed -- but not surprised. A Scotland fan was excited to buy tickets to the FIFA World Cup -- before he learned prices were, in his words, "extortionate". Former "As It Happens" co-host Jeff Douglas takes us gliding down a quiet frozen river -- when we air his annual holiday his reading of the poem "The Skater." A group of linguists urge the Prime Minister to stop messing with Canadian identity by relying on British spellings that use an "s" -- not a zed -- in words like "analyze". As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that hits you like a ton of Brits.

Another Conservative crosses the floor to join the government -- and now the Liberals are one vote shy of a majority. A Conservative strategist discusses the winter of his party's discontent. It's been nine months since he was deported to a prison in El Salvador. Now, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is out of detention. But his lawyer says that, under the Trump administration, his client is not going to relax. Iranian security forces violently arrest Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi after releasing her a year ago; her brother tells us he's afraid of what might happen next. A U.S. medical student volunteers to get an ultrasound in front of her class -- and discovers she has a dangerously enormous kidney stone. A linguist in Wales tells us why he's putting together the world's first dictionary of ancient Celtic -- and shares a few of his favourite words. An Australian politician is out to dinner when he looks at his pet cam -- and sees his cow and horse are hoofing it around his living room. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that guesses they got tired of his stall tactics.

People in British Columbia's Fraser Valley could only watch as torrential rain triggered widespread flooding…again. A campground owner tells us parts of her property were swept away without warning. The United States jacks up tensions with Venezuela by seizing an oil tanker — a tactic our guest says is meant to catalyze regime change, an outcome he endorses. UNESCO formally recognizes the Haitian music and dance genre konpa, to the delight of Sony Laventure who teaches the art form. Paleontologists conclude that they've discovered a one-time "dinosaur freeway" in a Bolivian national park. And Raúl Esperante helped count its many thousands of footprints. Canada designates the extremist network 764 as a terrorist entity. The executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism tells us if that move will actually prevent the group from targeting kids online. For a long time, scientists believed dolphins and orcas were enemies when it came to preying on salmon. But new footage suggests they’re actually working together. The U.S. Secretary of State demands that American diplomats switch to Times New Roman, and abandon the Calibri font, but the man who designed that font insists it's the strong, silent typeface. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that wants you to know there's a new serif in town.

A Royal Canadian Navy sailor is rescued after going missing -- in the Pacific Ocean; we'll talk to a commander on a ship that got the mayday call. The Alberta government has used the notwithstanding clause yet again, this time to push through laws that will affect young transgender people. A trans advocate tells us it's too much -- and they've gone too far. A Liberal MP says he has concerns about an Alberta-built pipeline -- but Conservative attempts to get MPs like him to break from the federal government aren't going to fly. Australia enacts the world's first social media ban for children under the age of sixteen; one woman tells us that for her son, who has a disability, it's like losing a lifeline. We'll remember Sophie Kinsella, whose "Confessions of a Shopaholic" novels earned her legions of fans. Her editor tells us the author was as special as her books. After we heard about a rank ginkgo tree in a Nova Scotia historic garden, we heard from you about your own gingko struggles -- and how you odour-came them. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that turns over an "ew" leaf.

A Virginia farmer tells us what he thinks of Washington's 12 billion dollar aid package -- and whether it can actually help save farms collapsing under the weight of the U.S. President's tariffs. Maryland's top public defender tells us the heating at a youth jail in Baltimore has been broken for weeks in winter temperatures -- says the state should not be freezing those young people out. Dozens of students have been rescued after last month's mass kidnapping in Nigeria, but many are still being held captive -- and fears of a similar fate mean many more children across the country are being forced to abandon school altogether. An activist says a giant yellow cedar that was recently cut down in B.C. should have been protected under the law -- and its disappearance exposes gaps in the province's promise to safeguard its forests. For decades, a ginkgo tree on the grounds of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens has been feted, as in celebrated -- but this year it's being fetid as in: it reeks. A world record number of golden retrievers gather in a park in Argentina -- but they were so incredibly chill it seemed like barking was arf-limits. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that knows silence is goldens.

Last week, it seemed Netflix had made a deal to take over Warner Bros. -- but now, Paramount Skydance has swooped in with a surprise hostile takeover bid. New numbers show that already high rates of over-crowding in Ontario jails are getting worse. And our guest warns that promised bail and sentencing reforms will just exacerbate the problem. His app lets anonymous users report sightings of U.S. ICE agents; now, he's suing Trump officials, alleging the administration pressured Apple to bury it. A U.S. public health researcher believes cervical cancer can be eliminated in her lifetime -- and says an expansion of at-home HPV tests could help achieve that goal. A B.C. couple is working around the clock to reunite a lost house cat that disappeared six months ago with its worried owner, all the way in Oklahoma --before Christmas. An English landscape photographer went to the beach to capture images of some washed-up shipping containers -- and discovered the cargo was lots and lots of unripened bananas. As It Happens, the Monday edition. Radio that rolls with the bunches.

As It Happens host Nil Köksal speaks with Yoruba Richen about her new documentary about the life of Joan Little, an unlikely civil rights figure who became the first woman in U.S. history to be acquitted of murder on the basis that she was defending herself from sexual assault.

The Netflix-Warner Brothers merger is a multi-billion dollar blockbuster -- a business journalist tells us what the deal might mean for where -- and what kind of blockbusters -- you'll be watching from here on out. The chair of the expert panel advising the government on reaching net-zero goals says he had no choice but to resign -- because he doesn't feel like anyone in power was listening. A student editor was floored by the University of Alabama's decision to pulled the plug on publications focused on women and Black campus life, citing new federal limits on DEI initiatives. For the first time in generations, Siletz tribal members in Oregon got the opportunity to salvage a whale; our guest tells us about an emotional day on the beach. We remember Frank Gehry -- the Canadian-born architect whose daring and imaginative style re-defined what a building could be. After almost 15 years of planning, Detroit finally gets its two-and-a-half ton, 11-foot-tall sculpture of science fiction icon "Robocop". As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that follows a statue of no limitations.

Donald Trump says he could let the Canada-US-Mexico trade deal expire -- but our guest, the president of the Business Council of Canada, argues the agreement is crucial to American and Canadian prosperity. A new trove of thousands of photos shows the horrors of detention under the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. British Columbia makes a move to seize three properties from the group it says is using them for crime -- that group being the Hell's Angels. Even if you don't know his name, you know his songs -- a fellow Stax Records musician tells us about the legendary guitarist and songwriter Steve Cropper. An Arizona lineman confronts a bear that has climbed a power pole and cannot, or will not, get down -- and discovers the most effective way to convince it is by prodding it with a stick. If you've ever been told you sound like a "dying walrus" when you thought you were outdoing Celine, Sharon Marnell wants you in her musical group. It's called the Tuneless Choir. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that believes everyone deserves some tenor loving care.

A Somali-American says his community is living in fear, after a series of ugly comments by U.S. President Donald Trump -- language he says need to be called out as racism, pure and simple. The ICC's first chief prosecutor says American strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats are definitely illegal -- and possibly a war crime. One family's hopes of bringing their adopted daughter from Kenya to Canada to celebrate Christmas with her grandparents are fading -- after two failed attempts to secure a travel visa for her. Pioneering sociologist Kai Erikson spent his life studying and validating the effects of collective trauma -- work, his friend tells us, that drew on his own compassion. We'll talk to the winner of this year's un-prestigious Turnip Prize, which honours the worst and laziest artist in Britain -- if he can be bothered to pick up the phone. Police get multiple complaints about a Brantford, Ontario resident who put up signs denying the existence of Santa Claus during the town's Santa Claus parade -- proving you give some people a grinch, and they'll take a mile. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that guesses he's some kind of rebel without a Claus.

Before the Prime Minister even arrived at a Special Chiefs Meeting today, the Assembly of First Nations had already voted to oppose Ottawa's pipeline agreement with Alberta. After getting hundreds of thousands of signatures, Alberta's 'Forever Canada' petition will be submitted to the provincial legislature. The man who started it says he hopes it will put any question of separation to rest. The U.S. delegation presented Vladimir Putin with an amended peace plan today; a journalist tells us that a workable deal with Russia is still a long way off -- but we could be seeing the beginning of the end of the war. Christmas will be pretty bleak this year in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario -- where hundreds of steelworkers are facing unemployment, in large part because of Donald Trump's trade war. Biologists have come up with a new way to do health check-ups on North Atlantic right whales by collecting the spray from their blowholes. An outdoor rink in Italy is built around a bronze of Luciano Pavarotti, so he appears to be knee-deep in ice -- and that's getting a chilly reception from the legendary opera singer's widow. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that guesses someone's got cold feet.

The man accused of killing a member of the National Guard served in a CIA-backed paramilitary group in Afghanistan called the "Zero Units"; we'll find out what that is, and what those who served with him are saying about the attack. A Toronto man says he doesn't know if anything from his childhood home was saved from the catastrophic fire in Hong Kong -- but he's grateful to know for sure that his parents and his sister all survived. On World AIDS Day, a doctor tells us about new HIV-prevention guidelines -- and why he believes his fellow physicians need to stop being so judgmental about who gets the pre-exposure drug protocol, PrEP. An Alberta man recalls the day he can't forget 65 years ago -- when he was on a school bus that was hit by a train, killing 17 of his classmates. For the first time in club history, the Vancouver Whitecaps are headed to an MLS Cup final. Two fans tell us they're not afraid of Inter Miami -- or its star player, Lionel Messi. Time Magazine quotes a truly shocking statement from the US ambassador to Canada from a very reliable source -- by which I mean a reliably funny, entirely satirical Canadian website. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that suggests you to be careful what you swallow -- could be a joking hazard.

After Donald Trump's threats to annex Greenland, Denmark's Foreign Affairs Ministry establishes a new "night watch" of bureaucrats -- who keep an eye on the U.S. President after hours. A B.C. Indigenous leader says he's not interested in sitting down with a minister from Alberta's government -- because he is never going to support a bitumen pipeline. There are furious calls for accountability after a video the UN is calling an "apparent summary execution" by Israeli border police is broadcast. A human rights advocate tells us that accountability won't happen. After months of pressure, Nova Scotia releases a draft report from a special panel on environmental racism. Our guest tells us it's about time the province answers the call for a formal apology. Archeologists say they now have hard evidence that a ring of large pits discovered near Stonehenge were made by humans some 4,000 years ago -- but why is still a mystery. A South Korean man was charged with theft after taking about a dollar's worth of treats from the office refrigerator -- and after his employer takes him to court, he finds himself snack-dab in the middle of a major case. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that shares an embarrassment of fridges.

Alberta and Ottawa gleefully shake hands on an agreement that promises to fast-track a pipeline project. We'll ask Calgary's only Liberal MP if this newly chummy relationship between Mark Carney and Danielle Smith can last, and what dissent from other province, First Nations and now his own party says about the project’s future. The Quebec government expands its push for secularism -- and a Muslim student in Montreal tells us a new bill that would ban prayer rooms on campus would be devastating for her and her peers. The shooting of two National Guard Members shakes people across the U.S. – including resettled Afghans who fear the suspect’s background makes them a target for the Trump administration. Italy passes new legislation making femicide a criminal offense distinct from murder – but an advocate tells us it just distracts from efforts that would do far more to protect women. Thanks to the thrilling discovery of a single, ancient tooth, a researcher at McGill University is shedding new light on the habitat and lifestyle of the woolly mammoth. A Calgary artist tells us how he turned his fascination with armour into a decades-long career of making tiny suits of armour for mice. We'll also see if he can tell us why. As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that presents a Knight's Tail.

The White House went into lockdown this afternoon after two members of the National Guard were shot in Washington; we'll get the latest from the U.S. capital. A reporter in describes the catastrophic scene in Hong Kong, after a fire rips through high-rise apartment towers, killing at least 40s -- including a firefighter. A huge donation to a Toronto hospital will finance new research that could change the way we screen for cancer; we'll talk to a scientist who hopes that one day, doctors will be able to diagnose early-stage cancer with one simple blood test. The UK's fiscal watchdog accidentally scoops the government by releasing the budget an hour early -- causing chaos on trading floors and catcalls in parliament. A dispute over tennis courts in Palm Beach, Florida, morphed into a tale of hate mail, stolen DNA -- and now, 15 years later, a civil suit decision worth 50 million dollars US. A group of British students are asking for the public's help to find a lost toy bear after he took a tumble from a great height -- specifically, the stratosphere. Where they sent him on a balloon. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that figures sending stuffed toys to space has its plushes and minuses.

Anishnaabe columnist Niigaan Sinclair says the news that renowned author Thomas King is not Indigenous is a painful breach of a trust -- and demands that Canada ask itself some serious questions. After violating anti-doping rules, swimmer Penny Oleksiak -- Canada's most decorated female Olympian -- is banned from competition for two years. The fire that destroyed a historic Toronto church is being investigated as arson; the priest-in-charge tells us that news is yet another blow for her congregation. A new study reveals that the human brain goes through five distinct phases -- and the adolescence phase might be longer than you think. We'll say goodbye to a beloved Galapagos tortoise named "Gramma" -- and revisit our conversation about a tortoise named "Mommy" who became a mother for the first time at the approximate age of one hundred. The late, legendary toy inventor Burt Meyer made success look like child's play -- by creating such all-time diversions as "Lite Brite", "Mouse Trap", and the slugfest "Rock Em Sock Em Robots". As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that's glad he didn't pull any punchers.