The Current from CBC Radio (Highlights)

So what do you get when you cross a Canadian foreign office with the British diplomatic service? Cost savings and a new efficient diplomatic corps? More money for trade offices in other-one-time-colonies? Or as those critical of Ottawa's latest pairing predict increased security risks and foreign policy dominated by the so-called Anglosphere. We are discussing the twinning of diplomacy.

For a long time, The West has considered itself superior to The Rest. Often ignoring the advances and the thinking of the Orient and Asia. Pankaj Mishra shatters that smugness with his own history of those who have shaped Asia to the point where Asia is now shaping the world. Pankaj Mishra has staked different ground in this debate with his new book, "From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia". Pankaj Mishra sits down with us for a feature interview.

U.S. President Obama says "I do not have a policy of containment, I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." That as Iran's top atomic energy official admits his government gives false information on the Iranian nuclear program ... as the U.S. has more ships than ever in annual multi-nation war games in the Persian Gulf ... as Israel prepares to make its case on Iran before the UN this week ... as Iran prepares for its UN moment and as everyone watches a clock tick toward a U.S. Presidential election. Today, we're looking at the volley of statements, the political warnings and the political sniping surrounding the potential for escalated conflict with Iran.

David Crist's new book chronicles what he calls the Secret History of America's 30 year conflict with Iran. Our discussion with David Crist takes a look at what he calls the Twilight War -- one that often seems to be creeping further into the darkness. If you really want to understand what's unfolding this week, don't miss this interview.

What has the Willow Blister ever done for you? Or the woolly spider monkey for that matter? The Willow Blister is a fungus and the Monkey is well .. a monkey. Neither one is quite as endearing as a Panda but each has made the list of the 100 most endangered species in a whats-in-it-for-me world. Just how many obscure species are we willing to rescue from the brink of extinction?

Zoe Saldana caused no controversy when she played a blue-skinned alien in Avatar. But her skin colour is sure an issue in her latest project. Some people think she's not dark enough to portray the singer Nina Simone. We examine the issue of light-washing, and whether the outrage being expressed over the casting for the Nina Simone movie might be enough to change things. Nina Simone's daughter, Simone Kelly joins us.

In Uganda, not all of the drama in the theatre is happening on stage. A British theatre producer David Cecil is trying to stay out of prison in Kampala after staging an unauthorized performance of The River and the Mountain -- a play about being gay in Uganda. Some of the public and much of the government sees David Cecil as a promoter of homosexuality but others say gay people are being used as a distraction from the country's social and economic problems.

Facebook users in Canada have a new tool available this week... an organ donation tool. And that has some people talking about the role social media is starting to play in matters of life and death.

IN 2006, many were outraged over the violent reaction to Danish cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed. And now in France, this week's edition of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo includes cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed and the editor is under police protection for almost a year. He is unapologetic and the debate has begun anew … Free speech and free expression or the sanctity of religion?

He was 20 years old, a young man frustrated by his own limitations in a world where few understood how to help him. As part of our project, Line in the Sand, producer Howard Goldenthal brings us a documentary about the dilemmas facing those with Dual Diagnosis, people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities.

If you remember our conversation with Shin Dong Hyuk, the man born in a North Korean refugee camp who escaped, you'll want to hear from Marc Wise. His new documentary on Shin includes two former guards. Their description of prison camp life and their own brutal role in controlling it is disturbing and infuriating. Plus, we check in with what our listeners had to say about the stories of the week.

Back in 1997 in the U.S., 30 babies were conceived through a technology that transferred some of the cytoplasm in a donor’s eggs into the egg of their biological mother. Fast forward to Britain today and it is looking at this same technology to genetically modify an egg believed to be carrying the marker for an incurable disease. The implications offer new hope for some, for others they are far-reaching and problematic.

From spores - to sandpipers - to sloths .. in a world where so many living things face extinction, what is worth saving? What do we let go? Is there a Line in the Sand? The iconic conservationist and scientist Jane Goodall weighs in on the ethics and morality and responsibility behind how we see other living creatures.

So Mitt took off the gloves …musing on the hopelessness of Middle East Peace. But while the U.S. Republican Presidential candidate is dismissive, the balloon of Hope his Democratic opponent floated just three years ago before an enthusiastic crowd in Cairo is losing air. Today, as the anger smoulders on the streets of so many Arab nations, we’re assessing Obama’s progress or lack thereof in the Arab world.

The truth is the closest most of us ever get to a hog is when its sliced packaged and in the grocery cart. But it is now the pork Producers who say they are being pushed further away from the animals and the business. They face a perfect and threatening economic storm with the high dollar and higher feed costs . As one of the country's largest pork producers watches its pork bellies go belly-up there's a cry for government help.