Nine To Noon

It is now one week from the midterms in the US, and Republicans look like they might struggle in districts redrawn under pressure from the President to favour votes for his party.

Inspired by his uncle who has cerebral palsy, Jack Harker, a Year 11 student at ACG Parnell College has developed a communication tool that may help more people participate in everyday conversations.

A visiting academic from Naples says he was able to create a legal 'hack' to open unused buildings for civic use.

There are new indications of an upturn in the construction industry, but prices are on the rise and there are questions about the availability of skilled staff.

Christchurch is the centre of the NZ sporting universe this week.

Justine Smith and Donna Brookbanks with a lighter take on some recent stories.

Kaitlyn has the latest on what is happening with the Cathedral Cove track, a dispute over the proposed felling of a protected tree, the new freight and logistics hub opened at the Port of Tauranga, meth testing increases after law changes and success for Tauranga's Men's Volleyball.

Chris Tse reviews two poetry collections: Salt Quilt by Airini Beautrais (Te Herenga Waka University Press), and I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken (Penguin Random House).

Kerrin Leoni, has resigned as a Labour candidate for Tamaki Makaurau. This comes after a video merged showing her campaigning with gang members. RNZ political editor Jo Moir.

Sociologist Maryam Aslany says there are still roughly two billion people out there living as peasants in her new book Peasants: Makers of the Modern World she argues that these small-scale farmers are essential to the global economy.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in India, while Japan carries out a first mission to Mars' moons to collect samples.

Gaming is set to take centre stage this Labour Weekend with an international e-sports test match between New Zealand and India. E Blacks team leader Jonathan Jansen and player Sam Johnson

WOMAD is returning to Taranaki in next March, following a year off this year amid rising costs, Drew James is the newly-appointed executive director.

US psychotherapist Rachel Bernstein has spent more than 30 years helping people recover from cults and is visiting New Zealand for the first time to speak at this weekend's DeCult 2026 conference.

Film and TV reviewer James Croot looks at new biographical film Tenzing, which was filmed in New Zealand. He also shares his picks of the British and Irish Film Festival, including: Everybody to Kenmure St, 500 Miles, Hill, The Incomer, Kenny Dalglish, Parky, Virginia Woolf's Night & Day and The Three Urns. James Croot is a TV Guide and The Press film and television reviewer

How we can support kids through frustration, without rushing to rescue them from it?

Cybersecurity expert Tony Grasso looks at the major attack against nearly 700 French supermarkets, where hackers were able to access commercial fridges and freezers and drive up temperatures to 50 degrees for hours. Not only did it cost millions in wasted food, the high temperatures triggered hardware and electrical fires - and sparked warnings about leaving industrial control systems exposed to the public internet. Cybersecurity expert Tony Grasso is Chief Information Security officer at COGENT. He worked at GCHQ in the UK and is a former Intelligence Officer in New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand says annual inflation has eased to 3.7 percent in the September quarter. That's down from an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the previous quarter and is slightly lower than market expectations. RNZ economics correspondent Gyles Beckford unpacks the latest data.

Kelly has more on a bottle store worker injured in what police say was the start of a crime spree, the young Rotorua women who has gone from from opera singing to the Black Fern's Sevens squad, the saga of a trapped kitten and attempted car invasions.

RNZ's Pacific correspondent Christina Persico looks at the storms that have already hit the Pacific outside of the normal cyclone season, including Cyclone Wati which passed the Cooks without too much damage. Meanwhile fire has hit an island in Papua New Guinea on a scale not seen before. The US is pushing ahead with its plan to lease 31 million acres of seabed around American Samoa and how are Pacific nations faring in the Rugby League World Cup?

From a startup staffed by AI agents to sending his digital clone to online therapy, US journalist and author Evan Ratliff loves testing the boundaries of new technologies.

UK correspondent Natasha Clare looks at why it was given the greenlight and the reaction to it. The UK government's debt has hit £3tn for the first time, as John Healey gets ready to present his first budget next week.

Less than three months after entering liquidation, gourmet burger chain Burger Burger has started re-opening.

Almost two-thirds of young people thought home care was meaningful work, however few associate it with fair pay or a clear career pathway.

Drought Indicator Maps provided by Earth Sciences NZ show a large part of the country is drier than usual, with only Christchurch and its surrounds wetter than normal.

Cushla McGoverin is a senior research fellow within the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland, and Principal Investigator in Te Whai Ao - Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies.

A new play is taking on a little-known chapter of Aotearoa's history: The dog tax that led to an armed standoff between Māori in Hokianga and government forces.

Logan discusses the upcoming anniversary of the windstorm that left 50,000 customers without power while a 95-year-old sets a world record on his birthday.

Stella Chrysostomou from VOLUME Books reviews two books: U.X.O. by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson), and A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta).

At 50 she set out alone to travel the full 24,000km route by foot, bike, canoe, snowshoe and ski, through mountains, boreal forest, prairie, and Arctic tundra.

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton has the latest in the shocking attack on MP Helen Haines in which she was rammed with a car and has had to have her leg amputated. Pauline Hanson's delivered a rare apology for a cartoon that ran as part of her 'Please Explain' series that mocked the vaginal prolapse suffered by Jacqui Lambie due to injuries sustained when she served in the Defence Force. National Australia Bank is sacking 1500 staff right before Christmas and another 1000 in the New Year, and a human resources exec's admission during a Bupa conference that she was prone to shoplifting has led to her resignation. Karen Middleton is a political correspondent based in Canberra

Three rivers have been selected as finalists in the inaugural River of the Year award.

In the United States, voters will soon be making choices in the mid-terms. But what positions are voters being asked to choose candidates for?

Nearly one in six Kiwis over the age of 55 have experienced abuse in the last year, according to new national research.

Sports correspondent Sam Ackerman has the latest from the world of sport.

Jess Dare's latest exhibition, I will Meet You in the Garden, is currently on at Toi Tauranga Art Gallery.

There's a call for a 'Truth in Politics Act' - from a leading lawyer, could it actually work?

Jimmy has more on the Otaki to north of Levin highway, campaigning in Manawatu and the Polish orphans who came to Pahiatua.

Estrangement between family members can be painful for both the parties involved, and the wider family who must navigate the situation.

The new Catholic cathedral in Christchurch will be the first one built in New Zealand in 120 years.

President Trump is looking for a new press secretary after questions were raised about the former incumbent Katie Zacharia's qualifications.

30 years after being part of the UN Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Captain Ben Green has returned and met some of the students he helped protect.

The country's major banks have signed an agreement to make it easier to open a bank account, which usually requires proof of ID and address.

New planning laws replacing the RMA are too vague to prevent development in flood-prone areas, according to planning experts.

Roger Parsons is a life long tramper and at 82 years old has become a master of adjustment to enable his love of tramping to continue.

Chef Olly Le Maitre and hospitality professional Santiago Burgos are taking that leap with their new restaurant Marlowe, based in Christchurch's CBD.

Dale Husband is a long time broadcaster and Radio Waatea presenter hosting a Maori focused current affairs programme. Liam Hehir is a Palmerston North lawyer, political commentator and a National Party member.

David discusses access to information about health services, a local City Mission reviews after the death of Braydon Hepworth, new schools but no libraries and the new exhibition on Antartic Connections.

Jenna Todd from Time Out Bookstore reviews Partita by Barbara Kingsolver and American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee.

The new film telling the story of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who achieved the world-first summit alongside Sir Edmund Hillary.