Front Burner

A few weeks ago, Syrian-Canadian doctor Anas Al-Kassem, along with 5 other doctors from the U.S and Canada, went on a medical mission to southern Gaza.

They were stationed at two hospitals in Khan Younis. With explosions nearby, they closed wounds, amputated limbs, and saved the lives that they could.

Today, Dr. Anas Al-Kassem on what he saw during the mission, the state of the hospitals in Gaza, and the continuing health and humanitarian crisis in the region.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Yemen’s Houthi militias are attacking commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, and say the attacks will continue until Israel ends its “crimes in Gaza.”

Who’s backing the Houthi rebels?

Why is the U.S. sinking Houthi ships and sailing naval destroyers in the region?

What could the attacks mean for fears of a broader regional conflict?

Iona Craig is an investigative journalist who’s been covering Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula for over a decade.

Jeffrey Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019, before he could stand trial for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring involving underaged girls and dozens of high-profile clients. Now, court documents including names of Epstein's known associates are being unsealed, shedding new light on the nature and scale of his network.

Senior Washington Post editor Marc Fisher walks us through the list so far — which includes Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — and why further document releases might never fully answer the remaining mysteries.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The brand new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) kicked off its inaugural season this week, with Toronto hosting the team from New York.

Hailey Salvian, a senior writer for The Athletic, walks us through the promise of the fledgling new league — but also the challenges ahead for the organization, which is hoping to succeed where others have failed.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

2024 is an election year in the U.S., but the country is still dealing with the fallout of their last election.

Could former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles and accusations of insurrection interfere with his bid to return to office?

Why are some Democrats questioning whether current President Joe Biden should be their nominee?

Could a close election result trigger another violent, January 6-style reaction?

Cameron Joseph is a freelance political reporter writing for the Guardian.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From the Arab Spring that swept across the Middle East and North Africa to the fare increase protests in Brazil that snowballed into much more, the 2010s started off with a wave of mass protests all over the world. But why did so many of them end in ways the activists behind them didn’t intend? That’s what journalist Vincent Bevins tries to answer in his new book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Dose is a weekly look at the health news that matters to you. Dr. Brian Goldman brings you the best science from top experts in plain language. This episode examines the many factors that influence our mood, including one we may not think about: our diet. It turns out the emotions you feel have a lot to do with what’s happening in your gut, or your gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Mary Sco., a family doctor with a PhD in nutrition, breaks it all down.

More episodes of The Dose are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/PNoxliEC

In 2018, under bombardment in Syria, a 2-year-old boy named Salmaan disappeared along with his mother. At the time, the Islamic State was at the brink of defeat. For years, ISIS led a brutal campaign across Syria and Iraq, killing and kidnapping thousands of people.

After the war against the Islamic State was won, many of the wives and children of its fighters were placed in prison camps in Northeast Syria. Today, BBC investigative journalist Poonam Taneja on her journey to those camps to find out what happened to Salmaan, and the fate of the thousands of children left behind in the Syrian desert.

The Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto had their worst month on record last March: more people used their services than at any other time in their 40-year history. The situation is similarly dire at food banks across the country. Today on Front Burner, producer Imogen Birchard heads out to a food bank in Etobicoke, to find out who’s using the service now and what’s driving them there. This is an encore of that documentary.

Does it feel harder these days to find the info you need on Google? Do the Amazon products that show up at the top of your search turn out to be poorer quality than the ones you really wanted?

Cory Doctorow calls that 'Enshittification.'

Today, an encore of our interview with Doctorow, explaining how the big internet companies have changed their profit-making strategy over time in ways that are making our experience of the internet worse.