Saturday Morning

7.11 Closure of Heathrow Airport to cost millions

The complete shutdown of Heathrow Airport has stranded thousands of passengers and is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars and has stranded

A fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out the airport's power supply and its back-up power on Thursday night local time.

It's the largest disruption to one of the world's busiest airports since the Icelandic ash cloud of 2010.

Some flights have since resumed. Mihi speaks to our Europe correspondent Olly Barratt.

7.16 Drought in the Central North Island

A drought has been declared in the Northland, Waikato, Horizons, Marlborough-Tasman, and Taranaki regions.

Water restrictions are in place in Dargaville, Auckland has only had 33 mm of rain in March when it would normally be 130 mm.

And for many farmers there are fears about feed shortages as we head into winter.

Our reporter Alexa Cook has been out and about in the central North Island talking to farmers and speaks to Mihi.

7.24 Two-month truce in Gaza shattered

In Gaza, the two-month truce has been shattered this week. 

In defending the renewed bombing campaign Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu blamed Hamas and said it was rearming itself.

In turn Hamas, in the past 24 hours has launched rockets at Tel Aviv - and has blamed Israel.

The ceasefire had enabled tens of thousands of Palestinians to return to their destroyed homes and for the return of some Israeli hostages.

Giles Gibson is our correspondent in Tel Aviv.

7.34 New Zealander of the Year Bev Lawton

Excellence was celebrated this week with the announcement of the new Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

Professor Bev Lawton (Ngati Porou) is a pioneer in women's health.

Her advocacy in the last year in particular has led to an historic shift to HPV self-testing - as the primary way to screen for cervical cancer. 

She's also the founder and director of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine - the National Centre for Women's Health Research Aotearoa.

7.44 Catching Covid in hospitals

Experts are worried that lessons learnt during the Covid pandemic are being ignored and too many people are getting sick and dying after catching the virus in healthcare settings.

Australian data estimates that between 10 and 15 percent of Covid deaths are from hospital-acquired infections.

Meanwhile, Covid policies continue to be rolled back.

RNZ's explainer editor Kaite Kenny speaks to Susie.

7.52 The debate about under 18s rugby

This year for the first time New Zealand Rugby will field an under 18 team against Australia. 

While some, like the Chair of NZ School's Rugby Union supports the idea. 

On Friday a group of more than 40 schools argued it will damage the country's secondary schools' team.

Richard Hill is rector at Otago Boys High School and spokesman for the group opposed to it. 

8.11 Bob Geldof: 50 years on

Singer-songwriter and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof speaks with Susie on the eve of his one-man show coming to New Zealand.

An Evening with Bob Geldof - Songs and Stories from an Extraordinary Life  promises a mix of acoustic music and personal stories, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the formation of The Boomtown Rats and the 40th anniversary of the historic Live Aid concert, which Geldof organised to raise funds and awareness for famine relief in Africa.

His show is on in Auckland on 28 March at Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre and Wellington on 29 March at the Michael Fowler Centre.

8.40 Investigating the sounds in your head

A conference called Mind's Ear and Inner Voice will examine the different ways people hear sounds in their heads - from a music earworm, to a loved-ones' voice...to hearing nothing at all - and how sounds, or lack of them help with creative processes.

Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Auckland, Tony Lambert is the conference organiser and Principal Investigator of a condition called Anauralia coined by scientists from University of  Auckland to describe the little-known condition of a silent mind. 

Mind's Ear and Inner Voice runs at the University of Auckland from 14-16 April.

9.06 Growing kai sovereignty

In just a few generations, many New Zealanders have become disconnected from growing kai in their backyards, these days being completely reliant on big corporations who control the flow of food. The good news is there are communities trying to change the narrative and the practice.  

Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith have co-authored a new book Pātaka Kai highlighting the work small scale indigenous food growers across New Zealand and the Pacific are doing to create a sustainable food ecosystem and take back control.

Mihi speaks with Jessica Hutchings.

9.26 Channel finished to release tuna/eels

This week whānau from Wairewa, Lake Forsyth have been working hard to ensure tuna, long and short finned eels can complete their lifecycle.

The tuna have been trapped in the lake by a bank of shingle that's built up over time.

The group from the Environmental Board for Wairewa caught about a thousand tuna earlier this week and then released them into the ocean and in the last 24 hours they've finished digging a channel into the bank to release many more.

Aaria Rolleston is spokesperson for the Mana Whenua Mana Moana Pou - Environmental Board for Wairewa and speaks to Susie.

9.37 The rise of deepfake pornography 

New six part podcast Levittown shares the stories of dozens of young women in small town America, who discovered photos of themselves had been stolen from their social media accounts, manipulated and posted on a pornography site without their knowledge.

Kiwi, Olivia Carville is an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News in New York. She was recently named a Polk Awards winner for her work reporting on technology and online child safety. She co-hosts the podcast series.

Susie speaks with Olivia about how deepfakes work, what can be done to protect ourselves from the rise in AI cybercrimes, and the New Zealand connection to Levittown.

10.06 Laila Lalami: The Dream Hotel 

Laila Lalami is the author of five books, including The Moor's Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, was longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. 

Her latest work, The Dream Hotel is long listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025. It's a gripping speculative mystery about the seductive dangers of the technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier. As terrifying as it is inventive, it explores how well we can ever truly know those around us - even with the most invasive surveillance systems in place.

10.35 High-country high fashion

Eden Hore held one of one of the most significant high fashion collections of its kind in Australasia in a tractor shed on his high-country farm in the Māniatoto. A successful, quietly spoken farmer, he was the unlikely owner of more than 270 high fashion garments and accessories. Eden Hore defied the stereotype of what a 'Southern Man' should be and also wanted the collection to bring tourists to Naseby. 

A new book documents the incredible collection, with photographs by internationally renowned NZ photographer Derek Henderson Central Otago Couture: The Eden Hore Collection by Claire Regnault and Jane Malthus.

Mihi speaks with Jane Malthus and Derek Henderson. 

11.05 Five years on: where are the animals now? Dr Laura Jean McKay

Dr Laura Jean McKay is the first New Zealand-based author to win one of the world's top science fiction prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, for her novel The Animals in That Country, in which a pandemic enables animals and humans to communicate.

At the five year anniversary, Laura is reflecting on how far away the pandemic and lockdowns feel, yet how they've changed the world.  At the time animal adoptions were rife, and people also celebrated the possible environmental relief of humans staying inside. There were photos of wild animals in city streets and reports of cleaner air.

Laura's writing exposes our sometimes problematic relationships with animals, including in her most recent collection of short stories, Gunflower. 

11.20 Kulāiwi Hawaiian performance

Kulāiwi & Kaumakaiwa is a collective of award-winning Hawaiian performers in Aotearoa right now for Auckland's Art Festival. Through beautiful harmonies and hula dance they tell stories of their land and ancestors as a way to honour both. The group have won four Hawaiian Grammies including Group of the Year, for their first album, Native Lands.

Shawn Pimental, Kawika Kahiapo, Lehua Kalima, Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole and Pono Fernandez came into RNZ's music studio for a special performance and kōrero.

The group are forming at the Spiegeltent in Aotea Square tonight.

11.38 Why hybrid work is better 

Is allowing employees to work from home a few days a week good for their productivity, careers, and job satisfaction? 

Nicholas Bloom is a Stanford economist and one of the foremost researchers on work-from-home policies. He has uncovered compelling evidence that hybrid schedules are beneficial to both employees and their bosses.

Nick is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow of SIEPR, and the Co-Director of the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on management practices and uncertainty.