Front Burner

Canada has granted asylum to Rahaf Mohammed, a Saudi teenager who fled to Thailand to escape alleged abuse from her family. CBC's senior correspondent Susan Ormiston shares the inside story of Mohammed's plight and her plans for the future.

A Chinese court has sentenced Canadian Robert Schellenberg to death for drug smuggling. His retrial was announced a few weeks ago, amid growing tensions between Canada and China. The CBC's Asia correspondent Sasa Petricic explains how this death sentence is being seen as retribution for the arrest of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.

Maxime Bernier says the People's Party of Canada will be on the ballot across the country in the upcoming federal election. But for a lot of people, the new fiscally-conservative libertarian party is still a big mystery. To find out more, we went to one of his political rallies and spoke to three Canadians who showed up to hear the former cabinet minister speak.

As Venezuela struggles with food shortages and hyperinflation, journalists Adrienne Arsenault and Evan Dyer describe the conditions on the ground and how Canada is responding. Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland has condemned the country's government, saying it is "fully entrenched as a dictatorship."

As the debate rages in the U.S. over funding for Donald Trump's proposed wall on the country's southern border, we ask CBC correspondent Nahlah Ayed just how effective Europe's barriers have been in stopping the flow of migrants. Ayed has travelled across Europe to investigate the recent proliferation of border walls as part of her reporting on the migration crisis.

Why have benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax been involved in a large number of Canadian opioid overdose deaths? Zachary Siegel, a journalist and fellow at Northeastern University, breaks down benzos, why they're having a moment in the rap world and what role the drug plays in the overall overdose crisis.

"By 2045, China wants to become the strongest space power and space technology-based power in the world," says Namrata Goswami, an expert on China's space program. One step towards that goal is the launch of a research mission to the far side of the moon, where right now a Chinese rover is at work exploring. It was a complicated technological feat, and Goswami says it's just the beginning of the country's plans.

"The fact that these three judges really got this power imbalance between workers and this huge behemoth multi-national corporation...was just really breath-taking." Labour law professor and gig economy expert Veena Dubal talks about the significance of the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision to let a proposed class action lawsuit against Uber proceed, and how it fits into a larger picture of gig economy workers around the world trying to get recognized as employees.

"This is his biggest political test to date. It will decide the fate of Jagmeet Singh." With a federal election looming, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is under intense pressure to win a seat in the House of Commons in the upcoming Burnaby South byelection. Today on Front Burner, CBC National News reporter Hannah Thibedeau breaks down how things are looking for Singh and explains what's at stake for the future of the entire New Democratic Party.

The United States government is entering the thirteenth day of a government shutdown that some predict will last for weeks. So how does this end? CBC correspondent Paul Hunter warns we are in uncharted territory. "There's no path out, and that's the problem right now."

"I have a love-hate relationship with it." CBC senior technology reporter, Matthew Braga, explains how smart speakers work, why companies like Google and Amazon want you to have one in your home, and what privacy issues you should consider before setting up a Google Home or an Amazon Echo on your kitchen counter.

"The power that we have comes from influence, it comes from trying to convince countries to do things," says co-host of The National, Rosemary Barton. She joins Jayme to reexamine a series of events that challenged Canada's position in 2018 - from the chaos of the Trump presidency, to the diplomatic rift with China caused by Canada's arrest of Huawei's chief operating officer.

"We must engage with people who don't agree with us," says Simi Sara host of The Simi Sara Show. She joins Buzzfeed's Elamin Abdelmahmoud and The Globe's Adrian Lee for a chat about the stories that generated the most discussion and opinion in 2018.

"What Fortnite has done is break all the rules around what makes a successful video game," says Tom Power, host of CBC Radio's q. Fortnite has over 200 million registered users, and is reported to have brought in two billion dollars in profits for Epic Games this year. Since its launch in 2017, it's also become a pop culture phenomenon. So how did a free-to-play game become such a cultural and economic powerhouse? Tom Power helps us understand the game, and even teaches host Jayme Poisson how to play.

"For 40 years, sovereignty has been in elections by default because either the party in power or the party in opposition was a sovereigntist party ? that is no longer the case," says long-time Quebec journalist Martin Patriquin. While the question of sovereignty remains front of mind for many Quebecers, this year it wasn't an issue in a Quebec election for the first time in decades. Today on Front Burner, Patriquin sheds light on why the province's separatist movement is struggling, but why it will endure.