Front Burner

On Feb. 19, Jean-Luc Brunel, a top French model scout and longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in his Paris prison cell. The 75-year-old was being held on suspicion of sexually abusing minors and sex-trafficking.

Allegations against Brunel date back to his time as the head of top-ranked modelling agency Karin Models in the '80s and '90s, when he had close personal relationships with Epstein and other powerful figures. The long-running investigation into Epstein revealed ties to Brunel and the role he may have played in a global sex-trafficking ring that potentially targeted thousands of underage women.

Today on Front Burner, we hear from former models Heather Braden and Thysia Huisman, who say they were among Brunel’s victims while they were underage and living in New York and Paris in the ‘80s. Then, we talk to The Guardian’s Jon Henley about the circumstances surrounding Brunel’s death, which echo that of Epstein’s, who died by suicide in prison.

Brunel's death has ignited a firestorm of questions, even conspiracy theories, as another purported sex trafficker dies before anybody gets answers.

On Saturday morning, as war shook his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a defiant video to his Facebook page. Standing outside, on the streets of the capital, Kyiv, he said: “There has been a lot of fake information online that I am calling on our army to lay down their arms and to evacuate. Listen, I am here. We are not going to lay down anything. We will protect our country. Our weapon is truth. And the truth is, that it is our land. Our country. Our children. And we will protect it.”

Today on Front Burner, with BBC World Service’s Kateryna Khinkulova, we trace Zelensky’s path from playing the president on TV to leading the country through a Russian invasion.

From David Ridgen, the creator of Someone Knows Something, comes the new investigative podcast The Next Call. Tackling unsolved cases through strategic phone calls. In the case of Nadia Atwi, on December 8, 2017, Salwa Atwi arrived at her daughter Nadia’s home in Edmonton as part of their regular carpooling. But Nadia didn’t come outside, and the 32-year-old kindergarten teacher was never seen again. Edmonton’s Muslim and Lebanese communities pulled together to search in the days following. Initial searches seem promising, as Nadia’s car is found in a park with her phone inside, but four years later there is still no sign of her. More episodes are available at: smarturl.it/thenextcall

Early Thursday morning, Russia launched a broad-scale invasion of Ukraine, attacking the country from three sides and targeting major urban centres.

Today, we hear from two people on the ground there.

First, we’ll speak to freelance journalist Olga Tokariuk, sheltering in an undisclosed location. And then BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet describes how the first hours of the invasion unfolded in the capital of Kyiv, and what may happen next.

NOTE: This episode was recorded before Putin’s declaration on Wednesday evening that Russia would conduct what he called a “special military operation” in Eastern Ukraine.

For months, tensions have been escalating between Russia and Ukraine. But this week, they ratcheted way up after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the expanded territorial claims of two Russian-controlled breakaway regions in Ukraine and ordered troops into the two territories.

Today, Andrew Roth, The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, joins us to break down a major week in the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The video game phenomenon set to release Friday isn’t a U.S. military shooter, a space epic or even a carjacking simulator.

FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, a fantasy game from an auteur Japanese video game director, is part of a series known for its unwelcoming gameplay and frustrating difficulty. The cult following of previous games like Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls has exploded into mainstream popularity, with trailers for the series showing up on network television and before movies.

To write the background for Elden Ring's world, FromSoftware managed to recruit author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the A Song of Ice and Fire novels that became the basis for Game of Thrones. Fans on the game's Reddit forums have said — some satirically, some genuinely — that they fear they might die before they get to experience Elden Ring.

Today, to understand how a challenging niche game captured the world's attention, we'll talk with GameSpot managing editor Tamoor Hussain as he explains the allure of the game's desolate atmosphere, and how its difficulty level helped him through some real-life personal struggles.

The streets in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa are now mostly cleared after more than three weeks of intense protest. But the debate inside Parliament carried on into Monday night as MPs voted to pass the Emergencies Act.

Still, the impact of those convoy protests that led to the unprecedented use of this emergency law could last beyond just this week.

Today, Aaron Wherry, of CBC's Parliamentary Bureau, talks about the potential effects of the convoy protests on the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the health of our political discourse writ large.

As police clashed with protesters near Parliament this weekend, a different fight was playing out inside the House of Commons: a debate over the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

The federal Liberals invoked the act last Monday, granting temporary powers to the government to handle ongoing blockades and protests against pandemic restrictions, including clearing protesters and freezing associated bank accounts. The Liberals say it was a necessary move to end illegal protests; some opponents, meanwhile, argue it was an overreach that sets a dangerous precedent for cracking down on future protests.

The House of Commons is set for a vote that could strike down the emergency powers tonight. But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is one of multiple groups taking the federal government to court over the act’s use. Today, executive director and general counsel Noa Mendelsohn Aviv on what the CCLA fears the normalization of emergency powers could mean for Canadian democracy.

Anna Maria Tremonti has been keeping her past a secret for over 40 years. As one of Canada’s most respected journalists, she has a reputation for being fearless. She’s reported from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. But there’s one story she’s never made public: when she was 23 years old, she married a man who became physically abusive. This is the first time Anna Maria has told anyone—including family or close friends—the details of what she endured. Working with her therapist, she reveals the intimate details of a past she’s kept to herself for most of her life. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at cbc.ca/WTPresources. More episodes are available at: hyperurl.co/welcometoparadise

In this special edition of Front Burner, we take you to the heart of the convoy protest that has been choking our national capital.

Jayme Poisson goes inside a key supply camp in Ottawa and accompanies Steve Day, former head of the Canadian Armed Forces’ JTF-2 special-operations task force, to other protest sites to examine the challenges law enforcement could face.

We also talk to protesters about why they’re digging in.