As It Happens

Magnus Carlsen may be the world's greatest chess player -- but a game against 143,000 simultaneous opponents didn't offer him the easy win he may have expected.The leaders of France, Britain and Canada threaten action against Israel if it doesn't lift its restrictions on aid, and end its military offensive in Gaza. A former Canadian ambassador tells us what that might accomplish -- if anything. In response to a water crisis in a small village in Nunavik, the mayor declares a state of emergency. She tells us how thirsty residents are coping.Trump says Qatar's offer of a free, lavishly appointed jumbo jet is a nice gesture from an ally -- but new reporting suggests there's more to the story.The best things in life are three. An Ontario woman was shocked to find two female robins and a male co-parenting in a single nest on her front porch -- a family she has dubbed the Avian Sister Wives. And, a new study finds the puzzling, peculiar punctuation mark is getting less popular all the time -- to the point where it may have been sentenced to death.As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that watches the collapse of the dot-comma bubble.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone today at length, but one analyst says what he saw wasn't so much progress toward a ceasefire, but the U.S. President failing to stand up to Russia.Eighty years after his father's plane was shot down over Dorset, the son of a Canadian Flying Officer killed in the Second World War tells us how he pieced together the details of that day -- and how he's commemorating them now.A Vancouver art student tells us why she wanted to take portraits of others who, like her, spent time in foster care.An English historian explains how he liberated an original version of the Magna Carta from obscurity, after discovering it deep in the Harvard Law School archives -- because it was believed to be a copy.Fifty years after "Jaws" made the waters around Martha's Vineyard seem very scary, a long-distance swimmer is braving them, to show that sharks deserve our friendship, not fear.As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that just hopes things don't get too chum-my.(Plus: A bonus episode of "As It Happened: The Archive Edition" featuring stories about surprising and incredible journeys.)

I'll talk to the man who has served as the head carpenter for "Saturday Night Live" since the very first episode -- on the eve of his very last episode. The trial of five ex-world junior hockey players accused of sexual assault is thrown into disarray once again, as the judge discharges the jury for a second time.A doctor who ran for his life when wildfires hit Los Angeles this year tells us the aftermath hasn't been easy -- so he set up a clinic to help others and, in some ways, himself. He put on more than a happy face. A member of the original cast of the classic musical "Annie" remembers composer Charles Strouse -- for the joy and vulnerability he put into every song. Students at Vancouver Island University are hard at work baking up a single Nanaimo bar -- that's more than 21 meters long and weighs over 450 kilos. And, a couple in England promised to build a storage facility for horse semen, but just built a house instead. And now their lie is going to get that house knocked down.As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio thinks they should have just built up an equine cellar.

An aid worker says new air attacks and dwindling food supplies are making life even worse for Gazans, but she's still finding a way to put on a brave face for her two kids.As Manitoba struggles to deal with deadly wildfires, the reeve of one hard-hit area tells us it hasn't been easy, but a massive outpouring of support has given him hope.A British bank analyst is sentenced to 10 years in prison in Saudi Arabia, and his own lawyer tells us she hasn't been told exactly what her client has been accused of.We hear from a Labrador woman who ended up stuck on a remote highway in a snowstorm – in May – and decided her best bet was to just start walking. The service we knew as "HBO Max" and then came to know as "Max", now requires us to come to know it as "HBO Max" again.And, a British conservationist tells us about the plan to bring elk -- which we call moose -- back to the UK, after an absence that's lasted thousands of years.As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that tells Britain: don't just stand there -- make yourself mooseful.

A political commentator says he's shocked that Gregor Robertson has been appointed Canada’s federal minister of housing -- because he couldn't get the housing crisis under control when he was Vancouver's mayor.Canada's first-ever Indigenous Minister of Indigenous Services, Mandy Gull-Masty, tells us a cabinet post was never a job she imagined having -- but has big plans now that she’s in the role.After the Taliban bans chess, a player who fled Afghanistan for safety in Belgium says he won't let the game he loves die in his homeland.As fires burn through parts of Manitoba, one man describes his family's dramatic escape.Producers uncover the long lost pilot episode of Thomas the Tank Engine TV show and put it up online, for fans longing to see how the show got itself on track.And, new research reveals that flamingos aren't passive feeders, but "super feeding machines" -- that use their bills to create a vortex that sucks up their shrimpy prey.As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that moves in for the krill.

Longtime Liberal minister Steven Guilbeault talks to us about today's cabinet appointments, and what his present company means for Canada's future. British Columbia is making the case that American health care workers worried about Donald Trump should relocate to Canada. A nurse from Texas tells us things are unsettling, so she's considering resettling. Honda delays its multi-billion-dollar EV plant in Alliston, Ontario. The town's mayor tells that –- auto industry troubles aside – he believes the project just needs some time to recharge. New research into WIFW – which, of course, stands for "water-inducted finger wrinkling", reveals some analog truths about our digital appendages.A group of Finnish Eurovision fans are driving a sauna to Switzerland for this year's contest. One tells us getting people to grab a towel and join them is proving to be no sweat. And, one of the world's largest snails is filmed for the first time doing something with its neck that makes the hairs on ours stand on end – laying an egg. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that provides full-throated support.

There is celebration as the last living American hostage in Gaza -- 21-year-old Edan Alexander -- has been released by Hamas. A close friend of the family describes their elation. After the US and China agree to put tariffs on hold for 90 days, a supply chain expert tells us that's great -- but a suspension isn't the same as a solution.A sociology organization decides to move some sections of its upcoming conference north of the border -- because some Canadian members refuse to travel to the US. A Soviet-era spacecraft was meant to land on Venus spent more than 50 years trapped in Earth's obit -- until this weekend, when it finally came crashing down. Somewhere.The Professional Women's Hockey League breaks a record for the longest game, as Montreal and Ottawa battle their way into quadruple overtime. A fan who was there tells us how she survived the five-and-a-half hour match.And, it's the end of the end of the world as we know it. Scientists reveal that the universe will decay billions and billions of years earlier than they previously thought -- meaning the end of the world is merely billions and billions and billions of years away.As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that greets you with open armageddons.

Running for coverage. A Russian journalist flees house arrest and a possible prison sentence, and escapes to France. She tells us leaving her loved ones behind was the only way to break free.Dishonourable discharges. Rae Timberlake has served their country in the U.S. Navy for 17 years. But as the Trump administration begins its removal of a thousand trans troops, they don't feel like their country is serving them.Out of office replies. I'll talk to Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai about his surprise resignation announcement; he tells us that, when it comes to his children, it's time to make up for lost time.Disaster aria. A new opera sets a horrendous case of wrongful conviction to music. The composer behind "The Central Park Five" tells us its themes have a whole new resonance right now.  I get where they're coming from. No one knows what to call people from Chelsea, Quebec -- and the mayor tells us the city's 150th anniversary is the perfect time for residents to decide how to identify themselves.  And, indubitably, unreservedly sorry, not sorry. A UK researcher reveals that the more uncommon and sesquipedalian vocabulary you utilize in an apology, the more sincere it will seem.As It Happens, the Friday edition. Radio that never cuts a long sorry short.

Holy smoke. A Canadian Catholic tells us what it was like to stand with thousands in St Peter's Square when the white smoke billowed -- and waited to hear the first words of the first American Pope.Well, the first except for the pretend American Pope, chosen by university students in Chicago recently, in a re-creation of the Conclave of 1492. The history prof behind it explains the powerful lesson in that exercise. And: the Young Pope. We hear from a childhood friend of the boy known as Robert Prevost -- long before he became Pope Leo the Fourteenth. It's kind of a big deal. The UK becomes the first country to hammer out a new trade agreement with the White House. An expert in business diplomacy tells us it won't be so easy for Canada.  Getting his message across. The sister of a murder victim used artificial intelligence to generate a victim impact statement from her late brother. She tells us she believes he would have offered his killer the forgiveness she can't.  The bleat goes on. Sheep are still by far the dominant population in New Zealand -- but a new count reveals that humans are closing the gap. Slowly, and slightly. As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that puts people behind baa-ers.

Flight from fight response. After India attacks Pakistan and Pakistan authorizes "corresponding action", a journalist in Kashmir tells us the threat of escalation has people unsure what to do or where to go.Search me. American authorities in a Washington state border town inspect cars and question drivers heading toward Canada. A local lawyer says that might destroy whatever was left of the town's cross-border business. Spyware and tear. An Israeli cyber-intelligence firm is ordered to pay more than 2-hundred and 30 million Canadian in damages, for surveilling hundreds of WhatsApp users.Your chance to pontiff-icate. While the conclave is in session, Italians are guessing who the next Pope will be -- by playing a fantasy-league game called "Fantapapa". A true sensation about real sensations. A graduate student in Finland wins this year's "Dance Your PhD" contest with a powerful performance about the science behind sensations such as burning, cooling, and tingling.And...villain the blanks. A British woman is given tens of thousands in compensation, after her colleagues filled out a Star Wars-related personality test on her behalf -- and declared her a "Darth Vader".As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that survives a near-Darth experience.