With over 4 million COVID-19 cases, and 70,000 deaths, India is set to surpass Brazil as the second most-affected country in the world by the coronavirus. But that hasn't stopped the country from reopening, because the pandemic has also taken a massive toll on India's economy and workforce.

Today on Front Burner, host Josh Bloch talks to the Washington Post's India Bureau Chief, Joanna Slater, about why the Indian government is lifting its lockdown, just as the country recorded the largest single-day jump of COVID-19 cases anywhere in the world.

Why India is lifting its lockdown as COVID-19 cases surpass 4 million

Your essential daily news podcast. We take you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world. Hosted by Jayme Poisson. Every morning, Monday to Friday. 
 Visit https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner for show descriptions, links, and transcripts. 
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For some time now, there’s been a growing trend on TikTok and Instagram of young women sharing about their daily lives as “trad wives.” “Traditional wives” forego the workplace, extol the virtues of homemaking, and often talk about the ways they “submit” to their husbands. 
 So why do these women say they’ve chosen a life at home? How does their messaging cross into religion and politics? And is this “movement” a reaction to the burdens on modern women, or a threat to feminism’s progress? 
 Journalist Sophie Elmhirst recently published a piece in the New Yorker titled “The Rise and Fall of the Trad Wife.” 
 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 ‘trad wives’ glamorizing life at home

Today we are joined by Beirut-based journalist Kim Ghattas, author of the bestselling book Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. She is also a contributing editor at the Financial Times. 
 We’re speaking to Kim about the unprecedented, overt attacks exchanged this month between Israel and Iran — most recently an Israeli strike on Friday near the Iranian city of Isfahan.  
 Where is this dangerous tit-for-tat headed next, and what’s at stake? What do Iran and Israel’s leaders actually want here? And what does it mean for the wider 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.

After the airstrikes: Where do Iran and Israel go from here?

The single biggest election in the history of democracy is happening right now in India. Just shy of one billion people are eligible voters, but it's not just big from a numbers perspective. It's also being called one of the most pivotal elections in Indian history. 
 Incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is projected to win. But Modi's commitment to Hindu nationalism has many questioning what a third term might mean for the future of India’s democracy, and the idea of a pluralistic Indian society. 
 Salimah Shivji is the CBC's South Asia correspondent. She’s also working on a new CBC podcast about Modi and the fundamental ways he’s changing his country. It’ll be part of our Understood feed, you can subscribe here.  
 Salimah spoke to host Jayme Poisson about why the stakes of this election are so high.

Is democracy at stake in India’s election?

What is the point of Hollywood? There are two obvious answers, right? To make good stuff that entertains people. And to make money for the big studios and the people who work for them. 
 Those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. But Daniel Bessner believes increasingly they have been. 
 Bessner spent a year working on a deep dive into how Hollywood has evolved for Harper's Magazine. Bessner is also a historian, writer, and host of the podcast "American Prestige". 
 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.

Is high finance killing Hollywood?

Lubna Al Rayyes, was in the third trimester of a high risk pregnancy when the war in Gaza started. She was frightened of what that meant for her and her baby. How do you plan for your delivery, when you’re living with airstrikes and having to uproot your life?  
 That’s when she connected with reporter Gabrielle Berbey, who documented Lubna’s journey…from attempting to get medical care in a warzone, to trying to make her way to Canada, where she has family. Gabrielle’s reporting is featured in the most recent episode of the critically-acclaimed podcast Reveal, from the Centre of Investigative Reporting.

Why India is lifting its lockdown as COVID-19 cases surpass 4 million

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