Tonight:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Médecins Sans Frontières suspends its work in Libya's detention centres because it says the post-Gadhafi regime continues to torture prisoners.

Good house keeping. A clanmother from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is overjoyed that her community's longhouse has been rebuilt two years after it was set on fire.

Inappropriate appropriations. War Child's Samantha Nutt questions whether it's ethical to give millions of taxpayer dollars to NGO's working with some of Canada's mining companies.

The few, the brave, the incredibly patient. A ninety-five year-old American man finally gets his dues, sixty-six years after single-handedly saving the lives of hundreds of fellow sailors.

The old bait and switch. Four U.S. senior citizens who were arrested as suspected terrorists may have been manipulated by a federal agent.

And... the walls have Euros -- about one-and-a-half billion of them. An unemployed Irish artist builds himself a home out of shredded Euro bills; a home-age to Ireland's economic crisis.

As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that's just learned that you can simultaneously live beyond your means as well as within them.

On the outside, a lot has changed in Libya since the days of Moammar Gadhafi. On the inside, some things haven't changed at all.

The crowded detention centres across the country bear a disturbing resemblance to the worst years of the Gadhafi regime. There are now more than eight-thousand prisoners stuck in a broken justice system that continues a long and brutal record of human rights violations.

Today, the aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières suspended its services in detention centres in Libya because of the continued torture of prisoners.

Christopher Stokes is the director general of M.S.F. We reached him in Brussels.

This week, the debate over the role of federal aid money in Canada's economic and trade interests is heating up. It dates back to an announcement this last month that Canadian International Development Agency would fund partnerships between three Canadian NGOs and three profitable Canadian mining companies.

Last night on As It Happens, Carol spoke to the minister of International Cooperation, Bev Oda, about those projects, which have since received million of dollars in federal funds.

That interview got our listeners writing to us.

Lee A. McKenna, in Toronto, sent us this email:

"I work in war zones in various parts of the world and there is rarely one whose violence and conflict is not exacerbated -- perhaps rooted in -- the activities of a Canadian-based resource extraction [company]. It is our shame and their suffering - all for the widest possible profit margin. These companies would not have to build schools and health clinics, et cetera, if they were forced to leave a sufficiently adequate percentage of the proceeds with the local folks who could then build their own schools and health clinics."

That email came to us from Lee A. McKenna, in Toronto.

Samantha Nutt is the founder of War Child Canada, and the author of Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies and Aid. Her column in yesterday's Globe and Mail took aim at CIDA's funding of these partnership programs, and that got a heated conversation going between critics and supporters of the partnership program.

Today, we reached Ms. Nutt in Toronto.

Brian Shead is spending his days in a Winnipeg hospital, focused on recovering from his injuries. But at night, in his dreams, he returns to the Piper PA-31 Navajo that crashed in northwestern Ontario just over two weeks ago.

Shortly before it was due to land in the tiny First Nations community of North Spirit Lake, Keystone Air Flight 231 slammed onto the frozen lake and burst into flames. Everyone on board, including the pilot, died in the accident -- everybody except Brian Shead.

Mr. Shead spoke publicly for the first time today at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. Here is some of what he told reporters, for the record.

Building your own house is a big project. First you need to find some land to build it on. You need designers and architects to draw it all up. You need contractors and construction workers to put it all together. And, of course, it's gonna cost you.

But probably not nearly as much as Frank Buckley's house in Ireland, though. His is worth nearly one-and-a-half-billion Euros. And yet, Mr. Buckley isn't a billionaire. Not even close.

We reached the artist in Dublin, Ireland, to explain.

The Longhouse is the spiritual centre of the Mohawk community in Tyendinaga - as it is in all Iroquois communities. So when it burned to the ground two years ago Clanmother, Jan Hill was deeply concerned.

Today, she's much more optimistic. To explain, we reached her in Kingston, Ontario.

Someone knows who murdered Anthony Spencer. In fact, an entire group of people know who murdered the aspiring rapper. But so far, no one has come forward to help police solve the crime.

Mr. Spencer was shot to death at a Toronto-area recording studio this past weekend. His friends drove him to a nearby hospital, but they all left before the police arrived.

On Tuesday, Anthony Spencer's sister Susan spoke out at a news conference, asking those friends to come forward and help. And today, Susan Spencer spoke with host Matt Galloway on CBC Toronto's Metro Morning.

Here, for the record, is an excerpt from that interview. In it, Susan Spencer starts by describing her brother.

Better late than never. But, still, this was ridiculous.

In 1945, Carl Clark single-handedly saved the lives of hundreds of men aboard the U.S.S. Aaron Ward.

Mr. Clark was serving in the American Navy and most would think that he would have been celebrated as a war hero. However, for sixty-six years, he was systematically denied any recognition for his bravery.

Last week though, the U.S. government finally awarded Mr. Clark a combat medal for bravery.

We reached Carl Clark at his home in Menlo Park, California.

After nearly sixty years of practising family medicine, Dr. James Colquhoun should be easing in to a well-deserved retirement. Instead, he's remaining on at the Port Arthur Health Centre in Thunder Bay, Ontario -- indefinitely. That is, until a suitable replacement can be found to look after his patients.

We reached eighty-four-year-old Dr. Colquhoun today in Toronto.

It's a place where a dream vacation can suddenly turn into a nightmare.

Today, a Calgary woman, Sheila Nabb , is recovering in a Mexican hospital after being brutally beaten at a local resort. She is expected to have reconstructive surgury on her face later this week this week.

Just under a year ago, an Ontario man staying at the same hotel -- the Riu Emerald Bay resort in Mazatlan -- was also badly beaten. Both ended up being treated at the same hospital.

For the record, here is Scott Giddy telling Calgary morning show host, David Gray, what happened to him last March when he stepped outside a local restaurant:

They say some things are too good to be true. Well, some things may also be too bad to be true.

A few months ago, we told you about four senior citizens who were arrested in that state of Georgia. They were accused of plotting to blow up government buildings and assassinate public figures.

People in their hometown were shocked. The grey-haired men hung out at the local Waffle House. One of them had even dressed up as Santa at Christmas.

They were not, it seemed, what they appeared to be.

Well, Tom Junod has been investigating the case for Esquire magazine. And there's even more to the story. We reached Mr. Junod in Marietta, Georgia.

Sometimes when you're trying to explain something a little unusual, it's hard to get to the point. But not in this case. In this case, the whole point is the point. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that the tip is the point. Or maybe I ought to say that the end is the point.

Obviously I'm not an expert with the correct terminology. But David Rees is. He's a pencil expert. More to the point, he's a pencil-sharpening expert. He's also a well-known political cartoonist. His satirical comic strip, "Get Your War On," appears regularly in Rolling Stone. Which doesn't really have much to do with pencil sharpening since his cartoons are illustrated entirely with computer clip art.

So what makes him a pencil sharpening expert, you ask? Apparently nothing more than passion added to his undying commitment to an incredibly obscure craft. Mr. Rees has recently launched a business as an Artisan Pencil Sharpener. On his website -- artisinal-pencil-sharpening-dot-com -- he advertises, quote: "an authentic interaction with your pencil".

That interaction involves Mr. Rees sharpening your pencil by hand. Here's how it works: You send your pencil to him in the mail and, for about ten bucks, you get it back, honed to hypodermic pointiness. It's shipped in a protective glass sleeve, along with a official certificate and a tiny bag of the pencil shavings.

A waste of money, you say. Perhaps. But as Mr. Rees points out on his site, "these extra-sharp pencils make wonderful gifts, perfect for artists, writers, and standardized test takers."

And at least a few people appreciate his talents. One testimony on his site lauds him as "the number one number-two pencil sharpener."

Which, given Mr. Rees' background as a satirist, makes you think the whole thing might just be one big joke.

And that, in the end, may be the whole point.