As it Happens - Friday Edition

Part One

Burkini ban
Some French beaches have become a lot less relaxing, now that several towns have banned the full-body suit known as the "burkini" — and our guest says Islamophobia is behind the newly designated fashion crime. 

Organ donor
His anonymous organ donation saved the life of a girl suffering from a life-threatening disorder. Tonight, that donor will tell us why he decided to help — turning a heartbreaking story to a liver-saving one. 

Guatemalan soldier
A Guatemalan man, now living in North America, plans to return to his homeland to testify against a former soldier he accuses of being his captor for nearly 15 years.

Part Two

Charity Facebook arrest
An Australian man has been in detention in Dubai for nearly a month, for the crime of trying to raise money for children in refugee camps — through an unapproved charity in a Facebook post. 

Halifax video library
A beloved Halifax video store known for its selection of obscure films shuts down — but the city's libraries step in to buy much of the collection, and lend it out for free. 

As it Happens was produced this week by:

Laurie Allan
Jeanne Armstrong
Imogen Birchard
Sam Colbert 
Katie Geleff
Chris Harbord
Sean Laughlin
Kevin Robertson
Pedro Sanchez 
and Kate Swoger. 
    
Our intern is Aiden McRae. And today is her last day! Thanks for everything, Aiden.

Our technicians this week were Brittany Amodeo, Dean Ples, Jennifer Rowley and Mitchell Stuart. 

The show director is Kevin Ball. Chris Howden our writer.  

John Perry is the Senior Producer. And the Executive Producer of As It Happens is Robin Smythe.

We'd also like to thank some other people who helped us out this week: 

Susan McKenzie in Montreal
Kristen Nelson in Ottawa
Davorin Cikovic and Keith Hart in Toronto
Suzanne Dufresne in Winnipeg
Rosalie Woloski in Saskatoon 
and Bridget O'Toole, who is in Rio de Janeiro this week. 

And finally, we'd like to say a special thank you to longtime As It Happens producer Laurie Allan. She's taking a break from relentlessly covering pipeline controversies and reluctantly covering Budget Days to spend a season at Day Six. We'll miss you, Laurie. Day Six, you're lucky to have her — and we would like her back please.

As It Happens will be back again on Monday. Good night, and good weekend.