Canada's men's soccer team plays its first FIFA World Cup game at home. We reach a fan in Toronto with divided loyalties. Ireland is not in the FIFA World Cup. But a closer look at another country's flag is giving fans something to cheer about. A woman in Florida discovers a thrift-store painting that's been hanging in her home for 60 years is actually a Scottish masterpiece — after her son gets an AI appraisal.The organization that governs international chess suspends the game's Russian federation. We hear from the Ukrainian grandmaster who helped lead the charge. An Ontario man explains his unique role at the World Cup: training border collies to keep honking invaders off the practice pitch. We hear from a streamer whose quest to rank every early Nintendo game took him three years and meant working his way through more than 700 titles. As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that imagines he took things 8-bit at a time.

SpaceX goes public tomorrow. Elon Musk is promising investors a chance to own a piece of the future. Our guest says everyone needs to come back down to earth. A woman in Belfast tells us what the past few days have been like for her family and the entire Sudanese community as violent anti-immigrant rioters terrorized the city. A Toronto police officer is shot and killed after executing a search warrant in a residential building. A councillor for the ward where gunfire broke out tells us how her constituents are processing the news. As the FIFA World Cup gets underway, soccer fans all over the world are buzzing — including those in Miami’s Little Haiti, who are celebrating their team’s first world cup in more than fifty years. After a historic comeback on the court, the New York Knicks are now one win away from an NBA title. An ecstatic fan tells us why he was just as star-struck to see star player Jalen Brunson's mom. In a bid to curb overcrowding on Sardinian beaches, authorities there have decided to ban umbrellas for most of the population — a measure that has some beach-goers throwing serious shade.As It Happens, the Thursday Edition. Radio that thinks they're headed beyond the pale.

A city councilor in the Northern Irish city appeals for calm, after a night of violent anti-immigrant rioting in which families were forced from their homes by arson. In a new "online harms" bill, Ottawa proposes a social media ban for kids under 16; and an expert advisor to the government tells us what it would take to make that idea a reality. The government says a brand-new task force will update the country's cancer screening guidelines, after the last group was disbanded due to a controversial recommendation on mammograms.You may not have heard of the rock star Carlos "Indio" Solari — but right now, Argentinians are mourning the truly massive homegrown hero. A French woman has won Icelandair's World's Worst Photographer contest — and now she'll put her lack of talent to the test in one of the most photogenic places on Earth. Scientists are left stunned by a study that suggests humans have an innate tendency to turn left — even when we're feeling all right. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that puts the "left" in "left to our own devices."

A longtime soccer correspondent tells us he's ready to cover this year's big tournament — but worrying that a never-ending list of FIFA controversies might just drain the World Cup of its magic.The organization that represents Inuit in Canada launches a new poverty-reduction strategy — and calls on Ottawa to scrap a federal food-subsidy program our guest says simply isn't working. The long delayed Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan may finally be set to open — even as the U-S President keeps throwing up road blocks.Elections Alberta says finding enough staff to work this fall's referendum is a huge undertaking. We'll talk to the woman in charge of organizing the manual counting of up to 45 million ballots. At an exhibition of terrible album art in England, you can see aesthetic disasters that might change your feelings about particular musicians — and perhaps even all human life. Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan is not pleased to be facing a challenge from a new rival whose name is Dan Sullivan — and wants to boot his namesake for his name's sake.As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that wonders if we're seeing the Dan of a new era.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre makes his case for Alberta to remain in Canada — and says Liberal governments should shoulder the blame for increasing separatist sentiment in the province where he grew up.The mayor of London, Ontario tells us why he believes the feds should treat addressing homelessness as a nation-building project — and fund it accordingly. A Michigan state highway is renamed in honour of a regiment of Indigenous soldiers who fought in the Civil War — when they weren't even considered U.S. citizens. British Prime Minister Kier Starmer gives tech companies three months to roll out features that would stop children from seeing or sending explicit material online. A Mohawk flight attendant tells us about getting ready to work on what she thought would be another routine commercial flight — and then learning that Rihanna would be on board. We hear from two Liverpudlian golfing buddies whose incredible feats on the course defied 17-million-to-one odds. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that knows they were not teed off after they teed off.

Quebec tables a bill that would ban the sale of energy drinks to anyone under the age of 16 — something Zachary Miron's parents and their community have been pushing for since the teenager's death. Photographer Angelina Katsanis was covering protests at an ICE detention centre in New Jersey when she was injured, and lost her camera bag. And now a police officer has been charged with theft. A British man who climbed Everest describes the shock and joy of learning that one of their guides was still alive — six harrowing days after he disappeared. Edith Wharton’s novels famously gave readers a peek behind the curtain of New York’s high society. And now, a previously unpublished short story — set in a French chateau at the end of the First World War — again takes aim at the elite. Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered to protest a proposal to build an AI data centre in Hamilton, Ontario. One of those residents tells us about the community's first small victory — and what they plan to do next. If it feels like your seasonal allergies are getting worse, you’re not alone. A new study suggests that bright lights in the big city could be to blame. Scientists tasked bees with solving a problem meant to test their basic intelligence: pushing a tiny ball into a corner to reach a sweet treat. And they aced it. As It Happens, the Friday Edition, radio that’ll bee-lieve it when we see it.

The Prime Minister unveils a new AI strategy that he says will help Canada catch up with the rest of the world. Our guest says it's a start, but it could use some fine-tuning. Hezbollah has rejected a ceasefire deal brokered between Israel and Lebanon; our guest in Beirut tells us people there were already referring to it as a "less-fire" anyway. A protestor in Albania tells us a crucial stopover for migrating birds is in danger of being destroyed — because Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump want to build a resort. Trixie and Nacho have been busy getting busy — which is great, because the prolific parakeet couple are almost singlehandedly rebuilding New Zealand’s kākāriki karaka population.A scientist explains how the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman devised a mathematical solution to the eternal question: stick with your favourite restaurant, or risk trying somewhere new?Blanket forts aren't just a quilt draped over some stuffed animals on the couch anymore — now that some students in Las Vegas have definitively shattered the world record for building the biggest one ever."As It Happens", the Thursday Edition. Radio that's usually suspicious of blanket statements.

The European Union has finalized key elements of its strictest-ever immigration agreement, prompting right-wing politician Charlie Weimers to pronounce that "the era of deportations has begun." Irish MEP Regina Doherty tells us why she’s aligned with the people behind that kind of rhetoric. U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra has made some questionable comments in public, but Quebec trade representative Louise Blais says he was much more diplomatic in their private meeting today.We remember Grammy-winning R&B artist Peabo Bryson, who infused his songs, including the Disney classics "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Whole New World" with magic. Regina Belle tells us what made singing with him so special. The murder of a white college student handcuffed by police as he was dying has ignited a complicated debate on race and policing in the English city of Southampton — because Henry Nowak’s killer claimed he'd been the victim of a racist attack.The Trump administration moves to dismantle a vast under-sea research network; a former ocean scientist tells us that's a huge loss to the scientific community — and the rest of us too.An NGO says the Ebola outbreak is far larger than officials have admitted — and it will take a big international push to get the virus under control. As temperatures rise, students in Winnipeg are feeling the heat, with classrooms hitting 30 plus degrees Celsius. And one mother, teacher and board of trustees chair says conditions are no longer safe. Get this patty started. It looks ridiculous, but tastes ridiculously good — and that's why an aesthetically disastrous burger from one Montreal restaurant has been named the fifth-best in the world. As It Happens, the Wednesday Edition. Radio that thinks this story is a real something-burger.

The Prime Minister's team says it wants to renew the free-trade deal with the US and Mexico. We'll ask the trade representative once berated by the US Ambassador whether Team Canada is playing too nice. Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine kill more than 20 people and injure dozens more. A long-time resident of Kyiv says there's no way to be safe — but that doesn't mean he's going to leave his home. NDP MP Don Davies is fed up with Canadian politicians abandoning their original parties for the government benches. He'll tell us about his plan to force floor-crossers to face the music. Brooklyn Rivera was imprisoned for fighting for the rights of the Miskito people in Nicaragua. Now, he's died in custody — and our guest says that should be a wake up call. Invasive rodents once had the run of a remote Australian Island — but now, in their absence, a biology student has returned to find a burgeoning bonanza of rare cockroaches and other bugs. Several times over the past month, mystery men have been emerging from the sewers of New York — and that's creating a bit of surface tension. As It Happens, the Tuesday Edition. Radio that's suspicious of anyone behaving sewer-reptitiously.

Cricket's international governing body suspends Cricket Canada for financial and governance issues; we'll speak to the CBC journalist, and avid cricketer, whose work helped uncover alleged corruption. After a day of conflicting statements and mixed messages from all sides, the United States, Israel, Iran and Lebanon appear to be at yet another dangerous crossroads. Nil asks a former negotiator where we go from here. Female police officers in British Columbia say they faced gender-based discrimination on the job; one tells us she won't let the recent court ruling against their class-action suit stop her from fighting. To help make the American’s imminent 250th birthday a little frothier, New Yorkers recreate a beer first brewed by a future president in 1757 — and find it slightly sweet and highly quaffable. The short documentary “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” has had a long life as a cult classic. It just turned 40 — and the filmmakers tell us what they think is the key to its enduring appeal. Once again, despite past complaints, the bus to the Polish resort of Hel — H-E-L — will be given the number 6-6-6. As It Happens, the Monday Edition. Radio that goes to the beach via the route of all evil.

Romania's foreign minister says there's no doubt in her mind that an armed Russian drone hit an apartment building in her country -- and believes NATO must respond forcefully, even if it was an accident. The daughter of former Cuban president Fidel Castro has lived in exile for decades -- and Alina Fernández is very hopeful that this U.S. administration will bring about regime change in her homeland. Gilbert Bernal was among those killed in this week's deadly chemical tank implosion in Washington state -- and a friend tells us he still doesn't know how it happened. Hundreds of volunteers team up to restore the Cerne Abbas Giant -- an enormous, centuries-old, chalk figure carved into the Dorset countryside.Senegal's national soccer team has a serious shot at winning this year's World Cup -- a dream fans are finally daring to believe could come true.Baseball superstar Bryce Harper weirds everyone out by posting a video documenting his morning routine -- in which he applies the toothpaste directly to his tongue.As It Happens, the Friday Edition. Radio that finds that a refreshing change of paste.

New York and New Jersey investigate allegations that FIFA is misleading soccer fans -- and unfairly inflating World Cup ticket prices.A year ago, the arrest of an anti-corruption lawyer prompted dozens of journalists and democracy advocates to flee El Salvador. Now, that lawyer's husband says he can no longer stay silent. For more than a century, Saskatchewan's Legislature has had a well-appointed private bathroom for male law-makers. But female MLAs won't have their own updated loo until sometime next month. Fire tears through a girls’ boarding school in Kenya, killing at least 16 students -- and forcing desperate families to rush to the scene, and wait for news. Audio artists recorded birds, bombs, and bugs, with an eye -- and an ear -- toward winning the coveted "sound of the year" award. You'll hear the victorious sound, and meet the man who chose it; he's a great listener. Athletes are heartened to hear the modern pentathlon will no longer involve horseback-riding -- then disheartened to hear they'll have to complete a "Ninja Warrior"-style obstacle course.As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that thinks this is just adding insult to ninja-ry.