As It Happens

According to the Taliban, Manizha Bakhtari no longer represents Afghanistan abroad. But that hasn't stopped the country's one-time top diplomat in Austria from keeping the doors of its embassy in Vienna open and now her efforts are the subject of the new documentary, The Last Ambassador. Nil Köksal sits down with Bakhtari and director Natalie Halla on the eve of three Canadian screenings.

Plus: Judy Kurtz from The Hill prepares for a White House Correspondents Dinner unlike any other. 

Also: Nearly four years after the Lytton wildfire wiped out most of her village, Mayor Denise O'Connor gives a tour of her new home.

Plus: After scientists created "olo" -- a colour they say no one else can see, artist Stuart Semple created "yolo". And he says it can be yours for a small price. 

Also: We remember tireless B.C. drug and addiction advocate Trey Helton. 

Plus: Nil reaches Nardwuar the Human Serviette, who’s snagged more interviews with Canadian political leaders during this campaign than anyone. 

Also: Up until 2015, academics at Oxford drank wine out of a chalice made from the human skull -- likely that of an enslaved woman. Archeologist Dan Hicks uncovered that history and says it's now his goal to make sure this woman is given back her dignity and humanity.

Plus: How getting stuck in quicksand led to a rom-com worthy love story for a Michigan couple. 

Also: Canadian author Robin Stevenson’s book Pride Puppy is at the centre of a Supreme Court decision on 2SLGTBQ+ books in schools. She says she was shocked to hear a Justice repeat the false claim that her alphabet book -- about a puppy at a Pride parade -- included a mention of bondage.

Plus: Did the search for extraterrestrial life just take a huge leap? We reach Cambridge University’s Nikku Madhusudhan to explore the possibility. 

Also: As spring struggles to break through, we bring you the late, great Fireside Al Maitland’s reading of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. 

Plus: Game, Set and Match medieval style. We hear about Australian efforts to revive Real Tennis, a move to bring the sport back to it’s Henry VIII roots.

Also: A special edition of As It Happened, diving into the archives for some “new discoveries”.

Plus: At the San Diego zoo, elephants go viral when video captures their touching and fascinating reaction to an earthquake. 

Also: Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi on the death of her new documentary’s subject: 25 year old Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, reported killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Plus: A Michigan bookstore gets a lot of unexpected help moving its entire inventory. 

Also: Ahead of the inaugural game of the new Northern Super League, founder and soccer star Diana Matheson tells Nil it's been years in the making to get to the first professional women's soccer game ever played on Canadian soil. But now that we're here, she knows Canada is ready.

Plus: Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker investigates a shockingly violent woodpecker terrorizing Rockport, Mass.

Also: It was no surprise that Paige Beuckers was picked first overall at last night's WNBA draft -- least of all to Gary Knox, a dad who just happened to be at the right place at the right time and predict her stardom way back in 2013, when she was in the sixth grade.

Plus: CBC's Kate McKenna tells us about stumbling onto a story of campaign “dirty tricks” in an Ottawa bar.

Also: Speaking of watering holes, An Edinburgh man embarks on an ambitious project: creating miniature versions of some 300 pubs across the city. And he says attention to detail is the key to his success.

Plus: Canadian Will Nediger writes his name in the history books -- in pen -- by taking second-place at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Also: Nil talks to Paul Wells about what the veteran political journalist thinks of the campaign so far, and what he’s looking for in the weeks ahead.

Plus: A French presidential hopeful says migrants could be deported to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, islands off the coast of Newfoundland. 

Also: Alasdair Spark says he’s solved the mystery of that deeply creepy (and conspiracy theory-provoking) final scene in The Shining. 

Plus: We follow up with the starting pitcher for one of two absolutely terrible teams who both ended epic losing streaks this week.  

Also: The mother of an Indigenous woman killed by police in New Brunswick tells us about her efforts to effect change in policing -- and about how one police chief on the other side of the country has responded.

Plus: A conversation with Fred Armisen about the late, great Blondie Drummer Clem Burke. 

Also: The editor of a low German newspaper tells us about his visit to a measles-afflicted Mennonite community in Texas... and about his efforts to get through to its residents.

Plus: Baseball YouTuber Dan Sarmiento of Enjoy The Show breaks down an epic match up between two of the worst teams ever.   

Also: Drumheller, Alberta is home to the world's largest replica dinosaur. And its owners say they plan to take it down. But a local food truck owner is launching a rebellion, hoping to save Tyra.

On the other hand: It's boom time for the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats, thanks to a fad that’s taking the sport by storm. 

Also: With Jordan's Principle funding up in the air, the Council for Yukon First Nations is forced to halt crucial community services. And the executive director tells us it's heartbreaking for the people she serves.

Plus: We'll hear from a pair of nonagenarians who have been exchanging the same birthday card with one another twice a year for eight decades. 

Also: Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey takes us inside the Canadian decision making on a tariff response.

Plus: Hooters declares bankruptcy, prompting a writer to remember an awkward…but ultimately sweet…experience.

Also: The Norwegian Refugee Council's Secretary General Jan Egeland calls on the international community to end its "chronic neglect" of displaced people in eastern Congo.