The Wednesday Edition

Tonight:

An uneasy alliance? The Minister for International Cooperation explains why Ottawa is awarding millions of dollars to NGOs that work with Canadian mining companies.

Act Two. After yesterday's Crown-First-Nations Summit, a former aboriginal politician explains why he first wanted the Indian Act preserved, but now would like to see it scrapped.

One year after Tahrir. We catch up with one of the revolutionaries who helped launch the Egyptian uprising, to see what's changed and what still needs changing.

The state of the State of the Union. Barack Obama's speech last night may have less to do with where the U.S. is at and more to do with where he would like to take it if he wins a second term.

Pet peeve. Airline passengers on a Halifax-Toronto flight were delayed five hours after a cat named Ripples sneaked into the plane's cockpit.

And...It doesn't claim to prevent dishpan hands, but it's got a slick marketing campaign. Researchers have developed a magnetic soap they hope will be able to clean up oil spills.

As It Happens, the Wednesday edition. Radio that occasionally works itself into a lather.

Is the Canadian Government putting trade and economic interests ahead of international development, when it gives money to aid groups?

That one of the questions posed by Samantha Nutt, in her opinion piece published today in the Globe and Mail newspaper. Ms. Nutt is the founder of the non-profit organization, War Child, and she was refering to funding from the Canadian International Development Agency -- CIDA -- for three major NGOs that have partnered with major mining companies.

Bev Oda is the Minister of International Cooperation. We reached her in her riding of Durham, in Ontario.

That was the sound from Tahir Square one year ago today -- it was the beginning of Egypt's revolution.

Gameela Ismail was there that day. And she spoke to As It Happens. Here is part of what she had to say, for the record:

For the record, that was Egyptian activist Gameela Ismail speaking with Carol one year ago from Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Today, tens of thousands of people gathered there again to mark the anniversary, including Ms. Ismail.

We reached her at home a few hours ago. She had just returned from Tahrir Square to get some warm clothes and was about to head back.

The story of Constance and Patrick is a love story inasmuch as it is a crime story.

Yesterday we reminded you that in 1990, a London police officer ticketed Constance Scrafield, a woman, for allegedly going too fast on Patrick, her horse. And while you might think that's a one-of-a-kind story, apparently, it's not. Jerry Schwartz from Calgary sent us this note:

"[The] story brought back memories of my Junior year at New York University's School of Engineering, in the Bronx. It was 1952 and several times a week, I would travel over to a riding place and exercise the horses. My usual route took me down a secluded path where I would always gallop. On this particular day a mounted policeman appeared and ordered me to dismount.

He yelled at me. 'You were recklessly galloping that animal and would have endangered the lives of the children in that school ground if I hadn't stopped you.'

'But there is a six-foot fence separating it from the path,' I timidly noted.

He wrote out a ticket for galloping a horse.

In court, I pleaded guilty with an explanation.

'What's your explanation?' asked the Judge.

'The horse ran away with me,' I told him.

The Judge laughed and fined me a dollar for riding a horse without knowing how to.

Thank you for that email Jerry. If you're hot to trot because of something you've heard, send us a line at aih@cbc.ca. Or call our toll-free Talkback number at: 1-866-481-5718.

You may use it for virtually spotless dishes. But scientists at Bristol University in England have higher aspirations for their dish soap. They've made their soap magnetic.

Now, you may be thinking: "but wait, isn't soap wet, and slippery, and just a downright crazy thing to try to make magnetic?" Nonetheless, it was a challenge too attractive for Julian Eastoe to resist. He's a Chemistry Professor at Bristol University and he led the team of researchers on the magnetic soap project.

We reached Professor Eastoe in Bristol, England.

Dateline: Halifax, Nova Scotia.I will confess: I am not a cat person.

I am, however, a people person. Which is why I feel tremendous compassion for all the weary passengers who boarded Air Canada flight 603 -- due to depart from Halifax for Toronto, this morning at 5:40 A-M.

Wait a minute -- I take that back. Not all passengers. All, except one. No -- two. I reserve no sympathy for the person who brought her cat, Ripples, on board the flight. And I have less than no sympathy for Ripples, the aforementioned cat.

Shortly after boarding, Ripples somehow managed to escape from its pet carrier, and darted into the plane's cockpit. And that set off, well, what I'm gonna call the "Ripples effect".

It may or may not have begun with the following announcement: "Cabin crew, prepare for missing cat!" In any case, it ended with a frustrated flight crew locating Ripples in the cockpit.

Or rather, that's how it almost ended. According to a spokesperson for the airport authority, the cat had, quote "weaseled its way down into the wiring of the cockpit". Which makes me like Ripples even less. A cat is one thing. A cat acting like a weasel is another thing entirely.

I can just see it. Big Cheshire grin on its face. Having the time of its nine lives, as maintenance crew are forced to dismantle the cockpit's panels to retrieve it. And then check the wiring for damage.

The flight finally took off nearly five hours late, at ten this morning.

So I guess curiosity doesn't always kill the cat. But I bet there's a planeload of passengers who wish it did.

It's an old idea that's gaining new ground

Yesterday at the Crown-first-nations Summit in Ottawa, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, suggested the Indian Act ought to be repealed.

It's not a new idea. In fact, it's been batted around Ottawa for decades. But it's finding new support among First Nations leaders.

Noel Starblanket has spent his career in politics. Back in the 1970s he wasn't so crazy about scrapping the act. But things have changed since then.

We reached Mr. Starblanket on the Star Blanket Indian reserve in Saskatchewan.

Forty-four. That's how many times Barack Obama used the word "jobs" in his State of the Union address last night.

The speech sounded a lot like the launch of Mr. Obama's campaign for a second term as U.S. President. If it was, the "jobs" talk was pretty brave. Obama's been in the White House for more than three years and the U.S. economy is still sputtering. And, if there's one thing Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich -- the leading Republican presidential contenders -- agree on, it's that Obama has failed to get America back to work.

To explain, we've reached Amy Davidson, a senior editor with The New Yorker magazine. She's in New York.

Frank Gossner is a hunter in Africa. But he's not looking for rhinos, lions or shooting wildebeest on the Serengeti plains. He is hunting a more elusive prey - vinyl.

For years DJ Frank Gossner has been saving rare West African funk records from extinction. And recently, New York's Daptone Records released a collection of Mr Gossner's finds by Benin's Godfather of Funk, "El Rego".

We reached Frank Gossner at his home in New York by Skype.

That was New York's Voodoo Funk DJ, Frank Gossner. We reached him by Skype in New York.

And, as promised, here is some music that Frank Gossner unearthed by El Rego. From the recent Daptone records release "El Rego"- this is El Rego with "Djobime".

Sometimes it hurts to say you're sorry, but for one newspaper in Ecuador, not saying sorry may hurt a whole lot more.

The directors of El Universo -- one of the country's largest papers -- are offering an apology to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. And if El Presidente doesn't accept their apology, the ninety-year old paper may have to fold.

This is only the latest development in President Correa's continued effort to restrict freedom of the press.

Carlos Pérez is editor-in-chief of the El Universo newspaper. We reached him in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Dateline, Madhya Pradesh, India.I think I'd better start with the end of the story.

Gauri Shankar Bisen is a state minister in India. This week, he admitted to making a horrible mistake. And he promised, from now on, to only wear shoes without laces.

Now, I'll go back: the footwear controversy started at a recent public function, where the minister was seen having his shoelaces tied for him by a young man.

The shoelace-tying, which was caught on tape, caused a fury, and the opposition claimed that young shoe-tie-er belonged to a local tribe -- implying caste discrimination. One member of the oppostion called it "the most obnoxious episode" he'd ever seen in his thirty-one years in the constituency.

But Minister Bisen defended himself: the boy was actually a distant relative, from the same caste as the minister. And the minister had recently had surgery -- both a bypass, and a hernia operation. The boy knew that the minister was not supposed to bend over, and when he saw the untied lace, he rushed over.

Regardless of why it happened, the minister is taking steps to ensure no one else ever ties his shoes again. He has already bought six new pairs of slip-on shoes.

There's a road show touring Northern Alberta this week - giving communities a rare look at a piece of their history.

In 1919 the Hudson Bay Company commissioned a documentary for its two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary. The topic: Canadian Arctic fur trade posts.

The doc was long-forgotten but now it's being painstakingly restored by a Winnipeg film company. And this week the company is screening parts of the restored film in the communities originally featured in it. Kevin Nikkel is the founder of Five Door Films, the company doing the restoration. We reached him in Fort McMurray, on his mobile phone.

You know, I really love the vocabulary oenophiles use. Oh -- sorry, in case you don't know, an oenophile is a wine lover. You'd know that if you ran in the circles I do.

For instance, last night at my favourite vineyard I enjoyed a firm, foxy red that opened up fully with a jammy start, transitioned into a sassy middle and finished with an astringent bite.

Actually, no I didn't. I went home, chugged half a carton of chocolate milk and fell asleep on the couch. I don't really have a sophisticated appreciation of wine. But I do appreciate awesome terminology. And those are all real terms people use when they're chewing wine. Chewing is a real term, too. I'm pretty sure it means tasting.

Anyway, there's a new term to describe wine -- that term is "out of this world." It's not an official term. Not yet, anyway. But it is entirely accurate.

That's because Ian Hutcheson, a wine maker and astronomer from England, has created a wine that has been aged with a four-and-a-half billion year old meteorite. The grapes are Cab-Sauve -- that's Cabernet Sauvignon -- and the space rock originally hails from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

For now, the cosmic cabernet is only available at Mr. Hutcheson's observatory in Chile. Not so far away, all things considered.

I suspect it goes well with a good plate of moon-cheese.

It was once thought attractive -- but Cuba's marabu plant has long been nothing but a pest.

The invasive woody shrub has spread across the country at an alarming rate, destroying the landscape and sterilizing what was once fertile farmland.

You can't build with marabu. You can't burn marabu, because it's too smoky and releases carcinogens. It doesn't even float.

Useless. Or so they thought.

Professor Peter Hall, from the Scotland's University of Strathclyde, has been researching the plant. And he has made some rather fascinating finds. We reached Professor Hall at his home in Glasgow, Scotland.

Death may have claimed Johnny Ramone. But Johnny's having the last word.

His autobiography, titled Commando, is finally being published -- eight years after the lead guitarist died from pancreatic cancer at fifty-five.

Johnny Ramone was, of course, a founding member of the pioneering New-York punk band, The Ramones. They were famous for their sparse three-or-four-chord songs and nonsensical lyrics -- most of which were bashed out at breakneck speed and at an ear-bleeding volume. Their gigs often consisted of blowing through twenty or more songs in half-an-hour. And whatever technical skill they lacked, they made up for in attitude. And that attitude seriously influenced the burgeoning punk movement across the pond -- particularly British punk kingpins, The Sex Pistols.

The Ramones were the first punk band to sign with a major label, Sire -- and in 1976, they released their eponymous debut album, recorded in just two days.

Of course with hits like "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", and "Baby, I Love You", The Ramones secured their place in the annals of rock history, and in 2002, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Johnny Ramone, born John Cumming -- like all the band's members his name isn't really Ramone -- began writing his memoir after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And in a hundred-and-seventy-six pages, and several photos chosen by his wife, Linda -- the musician reveals what life was like in the 'seventies, as the band struggled for money, and recognition.

It also details the love triangle between him, his wife Linda, and the band's frontman, Joey Ramone. "The three of us all probably have a different story," she says "but this is Johnny's story".

Commando is due to be released this April.

And due for release, right here, right now -- The Ramones, with "I Wanna Be Sedated".