Front Burner

It was already a story mired in controversy, but with the apparent suicide of accused sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, the scandal has only deepened. Today, on Front Burner, we turn to Marc Fisher, senior editor at The Washington Post, to unpack the conspiracy theories that have erupted around Epstein’s death and what the latest developments mean for his victims.

Today on Front Burner, we sit down with the CBC’s Peter Armstrong to talk about the escalating U.S.-China trade war, and how it could affect the global financial market.

He's called, "the smiling Stephen Harper," and he's known for his knack of bringing people together. But beyond his dimples, what do you really know about Andrew Scheer? Today, with the federal election fast approaching, we talk to Maclean's Ottawa bureau chief, John Geddes about the leader of the Conservative Party. We'll get insight into how he became such a unifier (hint: his favourite book is the self-help classic How to Win Friends and Influence People) and how that squares with his more divisive moments, such as his hardline stance on the United Nations migration pact. This is the first in a series of pre-election profiles we'll do about Canada's federal party leaders.

Toni Morrison's literary and academic career was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her writing explored, celebrated, questioned and critiqued the space of black lives in America, up until her death on Monday at the age of 88. Today on Front Burner, we speak with Halifax's former poet laureate El Jones and former poet laureate of Canada George Elliott Clarke about the importance of her work, both as a source of art, and form of activism.

This past weekend saw two back-to-back mass shootings in the United States: one in El Paso, Texas, and one in Dayton, Ohio. At least thirty-one people are dead. Dozens more injured. Today on Front Burner, we talk to writer Jennifer Mascia about gun violence and reform in America. She’s a reporter with The Trace, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to covering gun-related news.

In nine months, Front Burner has covered a lot of stories. But we haven’t had time to follow up on all of them. Today, we revisit a handful, including the mystery illness that befell Canadian diplomats in Cuba, the law in Quebec to outlaw religious garb for public servants, and the odyssey of a Syrian refugee who moved to Canada after living in an airport for months. Plus, how a country rap oddity became the biggest song of 2019.

Saudi Arabia's "Neom" is a planned futuristic city-state in the desert. The project is said to include flying cars, gene editing, an island of robot dinosaurs, an artificial moon — and the most comprehensive surveillance state on earth. The Wall Street Journal has viewed planning documents that provide unprecedented access into the Gulf nation's plan to turn a formerly barren strip of desert into the most lucrative plot of land on earth. Today we'll talk to the Wall Street Journal's Justin Scheck, who broke the story about the Saudi Crown Prince's vision for the future, and what it tells us about the kingdom's place on the world stage.

A massive data breach at Capital One has led to the arrest of a Seattle-based woman who allegedly stole the private information of more than 100 million people, including 6 million Canadians. Today on Front Burner, Greg Otto, Editor-in-Chief of CyberScoop, brings us the story of accused hacker Paige Thompson and explains how the crime was done and why experts say a trail of clues was left for the FBI.

There are, at most, only 76 southern resident killer whales left in the world. Right now, there’s growing concern about the fate of J17 - the matriarch of one of the most studied orca families, J pod - as she was recently spotted emaciated. Killers: J pod on the brink is a new CBC podcast that dives deep into what’s putting B.C.'s orca population at risk - from climate change to politics. Today on Front Burner, producer Catherine Rolfsen on why these marine mammals matter.

In 2007, Hassan Diab was an unassuming sociology lecturer at Carleton University, when he was suddenly told French authorities were investigating him for committing a terrorist act in Paris in 1980. Diab has always claimed innocence — but the revelation was just the beginning of an 12-year ordeal, including a lengthy court case, extradition to France and three years spent in prison. An external review was ordered into his case, but Diab and his legal team are less than satisfied with its findings. On Front Burner, CBC senior reporter David Cochrane breaks down one of the most intensely fought extradition cases in Canadian history.