Tonight:

The Eastern Block. We speak with a member of the Syrian opposition who hopes the UN Security council can convince Russia that Bashar Al-Assad must step aside.

Tough talk, hard line. The Palestinian Authority reacts to Ottawa's assertion that Canada is in lock-step with Israel.

Of liberty and the libretto. Honouring Opera singer and civil-rights activist, Camilla Williams, who has died at the age of ninety-two.

His work was his life. Richard Olney, a leading American reseacher who was hoping to cure ALS, has died from the disease himself.

The colour of money. When it comes to convincing consumers to buy green, apparently brown is the new hue of eco-consciousness.

And...the parting of the waters. An ambitious new proposal to stop Asian carp from spreading into the Great Lakes carries a three billion dollar price tag.

As It Happens, the Tuesday edition. Radio that has a feeling the fish aren't the only things that need to be scaled back.

Syria's "killing machine is still at work."

That was the stark warning from the Prime Minister of Qatar to the UN Security Council, which assembled today to discuss a draft resolution to stop the violence in Syria. There is little doubt that Syria's ally, Russia, is key to what happens next -- having already hinted that it could use its veto to block a resolution.

Hassan Hashemi is with the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council. We reached him earlier today at the United Nations in New York.

It's a murder conviction that comes with a looming question: Could the killings have been prevented?

By the time the Shafia girls were murdered, along with their stepmother, their names were already known to child protection staff in Monreal.

Batshaw Youth and Family Services was the first agency to meet with the Shafias, in 2008, after Sahar Shafia told a teacher about her life at home. But the agency didn't intervene, partly because Sahar retracted her story -- that her brother had threatened her with sissors, and that she felt suicidal.

There are also concerns that undue cultural sensitivity may have been a factor. And some question whether it meant youth-protection staff overlooked serious abuse.

CBC Montreal host Mike Finnerty put that to Madelaine Berard this morning -- did political correctness cloud the agency's judgement? Ms. Berard is the director of youth protection at Batshaw Youth and Family Services.

The Asian carp -- if you live on or near the Great Lakes, this ugly fish is coming to a beach near you.

Or maybe not. That's the thinking behind a new study released today. It has come up with the best way to control the threat of this invasive species. Researchers want to separate the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes -- a plan that could cost billions of dollars.

Tim Eder is executive director of the Great Lakes Commission -- a body made up of government appointees from eight American states, along with Ontario and Quebec. The commission released today's report. We reached Mr. Eder in Chicago.

When the curtain opened at the New York City Opera on May 15th, 1946, Camilla Williams made history. It was a performance of Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Ms. Williams was playing the soprano Cio-Cio San. It was the first time a black woman appeared in a leading role with a major American opera company.

Camilla Williams died on Sunday. She was ninety-two years old.

As an opera singer and a civil rights advocate, she would continue to break down racial barriers. In 1963, Ms. Williams sang before tens of thousands of people at the civil rights march in Washington DC -- just moments before Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

When she retired from the opera world in 1971, Ms. Williams would go on to teach at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music -- again, forging a new era, when she became the school's first black vocal instructor.

For pianist Richard Glazier, Camilla Williams was both a friend and mentor. We reached him in Sacramento, California.

John Baird is doing something unusual in the diplomatic world on his current visit to the Middle East -- delivering blunt messages.

Yesterday, Canada's minister of foreign affairs told a crowd at Israel's Holocaust memorial that Israel has no greater friend in the world than Canada.

His tone was a little differerent when he met with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Maliki.

Mr. Baird insisted the Palestinian Authority was, quote, profoundly wrong, to attempt to win United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state.

To find out how that went over, we reached Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinian Authority's chief spokesperson in Ramallah.

Dr. Richard Olney was probably more familiar with ALS than anyone else. Not only was he a leading medical expert on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, he was diagnosed with the illness he was studying. That was eight years ago. And ever since, in a way, he became his own patient.

Dr. Olney died on Friday with his family around him.

We reached his son Nicholas, who is also a doctor, in Corte Madera, California.

The conventional wisdom in advertizing is clear: you're not selling a product, you're selling a feeling.

Which is why colour is such a big deal. Colours are music to our eyes. Case in point: energy drinks.You want to sell an energy drink? You've got to make people feel like they're about to jump off a cliff in a wingsuit, jacked up on adrenaline milked from the fangs of electric eels. Do electric eels even have fangs? It doesn't really matter. My point is, the energy drink should be orange. Orange is sunny, orange is radioactively awesome, orange is extreme! Which is why nothing rhymes with orange. Other colours just can't compete. Don't think too hard about that. Like, I said, it's about feeling.

Which is why conventional wisdom has some pretty harsh things to say about the colour brown. Traditionally, brown has been seen as the tax-collection agency of colours. It's a kill-joy, a party-pooper.

Which is why it's so weird that, in the world of advertizing, brown is suddenly the new black. More to the point, it's the new green.

So companies that want to brand their products as eco-friendly are now using brown. Take Dunkin Donuts. They've switched from white paper napkins to brown ones because tests show -- and I quote -- "that brown napkins made customers feel like they were doing something good for the environment." And now, a number of major fast-food chains have jumped on the brown napkin wagon.

Now, brown paper napkins aren't necessarily more eco-friendly than white ones made from recycled paper. But, as I said, it's not about thinking, it's about feeling. And if brown napkins can get customers past their eco-guilt to feel like spending money, you can bet there are advertizing execs out there who are tickled pink.

He had the heart of a true adventurer and his adventures touched the hearts of many Canadians.

Last night, we spoke to Chris Forde, a filmmaker and a friend of Don Starkell. Mr. Starkell, who died this past weekend, was best known for having paddled with his son, Dana, from their home in Winnipeg all the way to the mouth of the Amazon River.

Mr. Forde's recollection of Mr. Starkell prompted you to send in some of your own memories.

Steven Engler in Calgary sent us this email:

"I traveled alone throughout Brazil in 1982. One day, I was walking down a street in Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon, and I heard two guys talking in an unmistakably Canadian accent. I felt a sudden surge of excitement and homesickness.

"I stopped them and introduced myself, flashing a small Canadian flag that I had sewn on my camera bag. That got them excited as well. It was Don and Dana Starkell. I did more than a double take when Don told me that they had just arrived by canoe...from Winnipeg.

We hung out together for a couple of days. I was traveling with a small classical guitar, and Dana gave me lessons and some sheet music that I practiced over the following months. And we had many long conversations about their amazing canoe trip, from Winnipeg to Belem, and about Don's plans to canoe the Northwest Passage.

This was during the middle of the Falklands War. I had to defuse a nasty situation in a bar one night: a drunken Argentinean tried to pick a fight because we were speaking English. The man's awe--or confusion--at my account of Don and Dana's journey did more to stop him in his tracks than my attempt to explain the basics of post-Confederation colonial relations.

The next day I caught a boat up the Amazon, and Don and Dana soon made their way home.

I cherish the memory of those few days when our paths crossed. I know that Don leaves, in his long, bold wake, a stream of people who remember him as I do: the most energetic, determined, courageously ambitious, and bigger-than-life man that I have ever had the honour of meeting."

That email was from Steven Engler in Calgary.

Derek Wilson in Port Moody, British Columbia sent us this note:

In early 1980 I had been transferred to Winnipeg by my employer CN Rail. With a new job, recently married, and owner of an old home, I wasn't aware of Don's departure up the Red River that summer.

I bought a "Misty River" canoe that summer, and over the next decade, with friends and family I enjoyed many wilderness canoe camping trips in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Don published the chronicle of his trip from Winnipeg to the Amazon in 1987. I bought and read his tale of bold adventure with much enjoyment.

Then, perhaps in 1989, I attended a reception at Government House, the home of the Lieutenant-Governor, to receive a certificate for having made fifty blood donations. As the other award recipients were called to the podium to receive their certificates my ears pricked up when I heard the name "Don Starkell" announced.

At the reception, I made a beeline for Don. Of course, he was delighted by my enthusiasm for his book.

He reached into an inner pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a large button promoting his canoe journey; and pressed the gift on me. Tonight I retrieved the button from my bedside table to commiserate the death of a passionate and gritty adventurer.

Thank you Derek Wilson from Port Moody that wonderful story.

And of course, if any story you hear on the program, sends you on a voyage down memory lane, write to us Our e-mail address is aih@cbc.ca. And our toll-free Talkback number is 1-866-481-5718.

In the big business of oil production, Canada and China are big players. And according to our guest last night, columnist Terry Galvin, some of the rules they play by are a little contentious. Well that story got the attention of several of our listeners including Mark Heseltine in Edmonton, who sent us this email:

"I was intrigued to hear the minor story, buried at the end of the show about China's investment in Alberta's oil.

There seems to be something wrong when Canada appears to be giving away a strategic resource. Don't we need the oil and gas for our future?

Won't those resources keep us strong? And if we are willing to give away our resources, isn't keeping production in Canadian hands better for Canada?

With a government as we have, both in Alberta and in Ottawa, I am very pessimistic about my country's energy future.

I'm not a China-basher, but Canada can't be strong unless it stands up for its strategic needs. If you think the US is an elephant, wait until you see China flexing its muscles."

That e-mail was from Mark Heseltine in Edmonton.

And we also got this e-mail from John Paulin from somewhere in cyberspace:

"I can't tell you how disturbing I found your conversation with Terry Glavin regarding Ottawa's new-found friendship with the Chinese Government.

That these guys have done such an abrupt u-turn in the policies for dealing with abusers of human rights - for the sake of oil dollars, seems to me to be worth looking into."

That e-mail was from John Paulin. We're always interested what you think is worth looking into. Call Talkback at 1.866.481.5718 or email us at aih@cbc.ca.

On the banks of the Amazon, some reclusive celebrities are making cameo appearances.

The Mashco-Piro people are a native tribe that, until very recently, shunned the outside world. But now, members of the clan are showing up on a river bank that's popular with eco-tourists. They've even had their photographs taken. One advocacy group calls it "the most detailed sightings of uncontacted Indians ever recorded on camera".

But the encounters haven't been entirely friendly. In October, a forest ranger was wounded in a bow-and-arrow attack.

A month later, a man who was in frequent contact with the tribe was killed.

Glenn Shepard is an American anthropologist who has studied several of the so-called "hidden" tribes of the Amazons. He was also a friend of the slain man, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores. We reached Mr. Shepard in Bélem, Brazil.

And now another writer will show us his stripes.

As we mentioned last night, the Canada Reads competition begins on Monday. Five Canadian personalities have picked a book they want Canadians to read. And, over the course of Canada Reads, those books will be debated, mulled over and scrutinized. One-by-one they will be eliminated until a single winner is declared. And this year, for the first time, all of the contending books are works of non-fiction.

So, leading up to Canada Reads, we're featuring readings from the five competing authors. Tonight, John Vaillant reads from his award-winning book, The Tiger.

It's set on the edge of a forest in Russia's Far East and it's the tale of a man-eating tiger that hunts not only for food, but for revenge.

Here's John Vaillant reading a passage about a town that's in lockdown in order to guard against the predator. This is for the record:

It's a novel approach. But two Libyan dissidents are hoping it will reveal the truth.

Abdel Hakim Belhadj and Sami al-Saadi claim they were illegally rendered to Libya in 2004 by the UK's secret service, M-I-6.

And, now, the two are suing the man they believe is responsible -- former senior British secret service officer, Sir Mark Allen.

Cori Crider is the Legal Director for the human rights group, Reprieve. She's advising the former detainees.

We reached Cori Crider in London, England.

If you're like me, there are probably people in your life that get under your skin. You know the type. They seem almost purposefully obtuse. They're polite, but completely unhelpful. After a while, you start to wonder if they're doing it on purpose.

Well, if you're Scottish, you might feel that way about your iPhone.

You see, the latest iPhone has a voice recognition program. The problem is it doesn't recognize certain voices. Namely, those of most Scots.

Here's just a short compilation of some interactions between Scottish iPhone owners and their iPhones, our Sound of the Day.

It's music from a different era, when all music was live, heard once, by the players, people within earshot and no one else.

Now it's just a click away.

I'm talking about a collection of Alan Lomax recordings released online by Global Jukebox today -- the 97th anniversary of Mr. Lomax's birth.

Alan Lomax was the American music anthropologist who spent his life with recording tradition music before it was swept away by radio and phonographs. He began with African American folk songs, but his curiosity took him wherever people made music.

In 1994, Mr. Lomax released an autobiography. Michael Enright was the host of As It Happens at the time. He took the opportunity to ask Mr. Lomax whether he had ever figured out exactly what the blues is.

Here's his answer, from our archives.