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As It Happens

As It Happens

By: CBC
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About this listen

News that’s not afraid of fun. Meet people at the centre of the day’s most hard-hitting, hilarious and heartbreaking stories — powerful leaders, proud eccentrics and ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And plenty of puns too. Hosted by Nil Köksal and Chris Howden, find out why As It Happens is one of Canada’s longest-running and most beloved shows. (Ahem, we literally helped make the beaver a national symbol.)


New episodes Monday to Friday by 7:30 pm E.T.

Copyright © CBC 2025
Politics & Government
Episodes
  • How seriously should Canada take Trump’s trade threats?
    Jul 11 2025

    U-S President Donald Trump threatens Canada -- again -- with another tariff hike. Even as the two countries are talking at the negotiating table.


    The president of an organization representing Canadian manufacturers says his members are already hurting -- but hope for a deal springs eternal.


    Critics say Alberta’s new policies for school libraries are simple book-banning -- but the province’s education minister tells us he's trying to protect kids from explicit content.


    35 years after the start of what's commonly known as the Oka Crisis, Mohawk activist and artist Ellen Gabriel reflects on the police and military siege on her community. The Kanehsatà:ke Nation negotiator says that siege was a moment of awakening for Canada, and Indigenous people -- but that far too little has changed since.


    Regardless of blistering heat or blistering blisters, our guest is trying to become the first woman to walk from the southernmost tip of South America to the top of North America.


    As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that warns: she does tend to ramble.

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    51 mins
  • The troubled path forward for the global fight against AIDS
    Jul 10 2025

    The head of UNAIDS says it is painful -- and cruel -- to watch life-saving progress erode because of Donald Trump's abrupt cuts to funding. She tells us there are solutions, but they'll only work if countries like Canada step in to fill the void.


    Amid the immigration crackdown in the U.S., one Quebec border crossing sees a surge in asylum applications. A woman who works with news arrivals from Haiti tells us about the fears of the families showing up at her door.


    Researchers in California develop a new underwater microscope and our guest says it's already bringing fragile coral ecosystems into focus -- in their natural habitat -- instead of a lab.


    After a Newfoundland couple stuck a message in a bottle, they didn't think about it much -- until it ended up in the hands of another couple, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, 13 years later.


    Heathrow Airport sets out to capture the magic of the airport by commissioning a subtle soundtrack that incorporates the sounds of the airport, to be played on repeat at the airport.


    Chimpanzees in Zambia appear to be sticking grass in their ears as a kind of fashion trend -- which they may have learned from humans. And also: in their rumps. Which it appears they taught themselves.


    As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that salutes them for blades-ing a trail.

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    47 mins
  • Will Russia’s latest attacks sour Trump on Putin?
    Jul 9 2025

    After a barrage of drone attacks from Russia, a Ukrainian MP in Kyiv calls a timely renewal of support from the U.S. "a matter of pure survival."


    Choked by wildfire smoke, a Manitoba Cree community works to get its most vulnerable people out to safety. But their deputy chief tells us that won't happen until his people have somewhere safe to go.


    Toronto is considering new colour-coded signage to alert prospective renters to bad landlords. A tenant advocate explains why she thinks that public shaming could help.


    How the threat of American tariffs on Asian imports is already shrinking profits for the independent grocers who serve immigrant communities in the US.


    When he lost his sight, a young man in San Francisco man immediately set out to be the best blind skateboarder around. Two years after his death, the city is honouring his legacy.


    Bodyguards protecting the prime minister of Sweden are potentially endangering the prime minister of Sweden -- by posting their runs to a fitness app, repeatedly revealing exactly where he is.


    As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that knows if you forget where the PM is, his guards will jog your memory.

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    49 mins
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Most relevant  
I listen to this when walking. I love the silly puns along with the news.

No pun intended. ;)

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