Inside Ukraine’s kill zone

Toronto police announced this week that nearly 30 recent shootings across the Greater Toronto Area are linked by a multi-layered gun-for-hire network. They say teens have been recruited through encrypted messaging apps to carry out attacks, from targets linked to local tow truck and waste management disputes, to synagogues, Jewish schools and even the US consulate. In almost all the cases, they filmed the acts for proof of payment. Now police say they want to know who’s hiring them and how far this network spans.Abby O’Brien is a reporter at the Toronto Star who has been following Toronto organized crime networks and the recent news. She walked us through what we know so far.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Andrew Tate – the controversial British-American influencer, and self-described misogynist – has millions of followers around the world.He often tells young men that they’re victims of a feminized society and that they need to reclaim their “natural masculine imperative for power”.Tate became even more famous after he and his brother were subject to a police raid on their Romanian property in 2022, due to suspected human trafficking. In the years after, they’ve also been investigated for rape and sexual assault. The brothers deny all wrongdoing.Heidi Blake is an investigative reporter who recently wrote a piece for The New Yorker that meticulously peels back the industry that Andrew Tate built up: from an online porn empire, to a so-called educational network for men to learn how to recruit women into “sexual slavery”. She walks us through her findings.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Reporter Francis Farrell of the Kyiv Independent recently took a harrowing journey alongside a group of Ukrainian soldiers into what they describe as the kill zone.They travelled by foot down a long road swarmed by drones, littered with shell casings and bombed out vehicles. He captured the trip in a documentary that paints a stark and dystopian picture of a war that is at once both futuristic and primitive.He joins us to talk about that trip, and about the broader conflict as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with other leaders at the G7, hoping to revive stalled peace talks.You can watch Francis’s documentary here.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

This week, after more than a hundred days of fighting, the United States and Iran have reached a preliminary agreement to end the war, set to be signed in Geneva this Friday. This deal is meant to end the fighting, open the Strait of Hormuz and as U.S. President Donald Trump put it, “let the oil flow”.Iran’s top military command has framed the deal as a defeat for the US and Israel.To talk about the peace deal and how Iran will emerge from this war, we’re joined again by Vali Nasr, Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the author of ‘Iran’s Grand Strategy: A political history.’For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

A common refrain among those who support Albertan separatism is that they would like a deal similar to what Quebec earned through its decades-long fight for greater autonomy.So as Alberta heads towards its own referendum on a separation, we wanted to try and answer the question: What did Quebec actually get?Chantal Hébert is a longtime political reporter, commentator and panellist on CBC’s At Issue. She also wrote the book, “The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was”. She’s our guide.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates built a public persona as an unrelenting, tech visionary – and later as a global health and climate philanthropist. But that reputation has started to fracture, largely because of one man: Jeffrey Epstein.The partial release of the Epstein files revealed extensive communication between Epstein and Gates, his foundation, and people who worked for him. On Wednesday, Gates testified before congress in a closed door hearing. In his opening statement, he said that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct”. He was unequivocal that he has never victimized anyone.Today, guest host Aaron Wherry, speaks with Emily Glazer, a Pulitzer prize winning enterprise reporter with The Wall Street Journal who's been covering Gates and his connection with Epstein for years.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Canada has introduced new legislation that puts big tech social platforms on notice: change your platforms to make them safer for kids, or children under the age of 16 will be banned from using them. Taylor Owen is back on the show to walk us through the proposed Safe Social Media Act and how it’d be enforced. He’s the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications at McGill University. He was also part of an expert panel advising the government on online harms, and a member of the AI Strategy Task Force.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Even before a game has been played, this year’s World Cup has been the source of controversy. Officials and staff from countries like Iraq, Iran and Somalia have been refused entry or face lengthy interrogation by immigration officials at American airports.  FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been widely criticized for his proximity to U.S. President Donald Trump after presenting Trump with a ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ award and sitting in the front row at Trump’s inauguration. For nearly 100 years, leaders across the world have used soccer, and the World Cup specifically, as a tool of power and politics.David Goldblatt is a journalist, sociologist, professor, and the author of bestselling books such as ‘The Ball is round: A Global History of Soccer.’ He joins the program to discuss the World Cup’s political history, the failed promise of this year's tournament, and how soccer became “our great public and political theatre.” For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

As Alberta hurtles towards a referendum on whether or not to hold a separation referendum, we wanted to take a look at how the campaigns on both sides are shaping up.Who are the players? Are they cohesive? Organized? Charismatic?Jason Markusoff, who covers Alberta politics for CBC, is here to walk us through it.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC, has been one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in Washington.It has helped shape U.S. policy toward Israel, cultivated relationships with lawmakers from both parties, and more recently spent millions of dollars helping elect candidates it supports and defeat those it doesn't.But after the war in Gaza, Israel's conflicts with Iran and Lebanon, and a dramatic shift in public opinion among many Democrats, AIPAC's influence is facing new scrutiny. Candidates are increasingly being asked whether they'll accept its support, some are actively distancing themselves from the organization. Today on Front Burner, Alex Shephard of The New Republic explains how AIPAC became one of the most powerful forces in American politics, and why, for the first time, its political influence is facing meaningful resistance.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts