Saturday Morning for Saturday 14 June 2025

7.10 Israel and Iran strikes

Iran has accused Israel of initiating a war and said it will not be allowed to do "hit and run" attacks without grave consequences.

‎This comes after blasts and smoke can be seen rising from Tel Aviv early this morning.

Israel attacked Iran's nuclear sites on Friday, killing the chief of Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Israel's President Benjamin Netanyahu defended the strikes, saying they were a "targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival".

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Seb Usher speaks with Susie.

7.21 Israeli ministers banned 

Earlier in the week New Zealand joined several countries including the UK in imposing a travel ban on two Israeli politicians. 

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have "actively undermined peace and security."

Mihi spoke to former chief editor of the Associated Press for Europe, Africa and the Middle East - and author - Dan Perry who is based in Tel Aviv.

7.30 Gumboots and announcements at Fieldays

Today is the last day of largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere.

From gumboots to tractors to camo, Fieldays has had it all - including multiple government announcements and political parties of all stripes.

Thousands of people have made it to the event, including Federated Farmers national president Wayne Langford who talks to Susie.

7.38 LA protests after immigration crackdown

Protests over President Donald Trump's immigration raids have spread from California to other US cities, with hundreds of nationwide demonstrations planned for Saturday.

Trump's decision to dispatch troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom has sparked a national debate on the use of the military on US soil. Newsom has sued the administration, seeking to block the deployment of troops.

International Affiliate Correspondent Philip Crowther speaks to Mihi.

7.44 Educating the Asian community about neurodiversity and mental health

A charitable trust is partnering with schools to support neurodiverse students in our country's growing Asian population.

Previous reports have shown schools and early childhood centres are failing autistic and other neurodivergent children, and that support for students with mental health problems has become the number one issue for secondary schools.

And for migrant communities, add in the barrier of language and culture too.

The Asian Community Transformation Trust is trying to bridge that gap and its founder and manager Allen Hou talks to Susie.

7.50 Pet portraits for a good cause

Award-winning artist Julia Holden has invited pets and pet lovers to her exhibition, Best in Show 2025, showing in Auckland. 

It's a playful exhibition of beloved pets in support of Pet Refuge - which provide temporary shelter for pets while owners seek refuge from domestic violence

15 percent of all portrait commissions will be donated to Pet Refuge.

And there will be a gallery of Julia's images on our webpage

Joining us are, award winning artist Julia Holden and CEO and founder of Pet Refuge, Dame Julie Chapman.

8.10 Errol Morris: Separated

Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris's 2024 documentary Separated explores the U.S. government's family separation policy at the southern border during the first Trump administration, when an estimated 5,500 children were separated from their parents.

Based on NBC News Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff's book Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, Morris's film combines interviews with former government officials, legal experts, and whistleblowers, with dramatised scenes of one migrant family's experience of being detained and split apart. 

Interview subjects include the former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, and Jonathan White, a public health official who risked his career to speak out. 

Separated is screening as part of the Doc Edge film festival. 

8.30 The great shower debate

Most people fit into one of two categories when it comes to the great debate of the best time to shower.

Morning shower enthusiasts argue you start the day fresh, fully woken up, while night showers mean we're clean and relaxed before bed. 

Science shows there is a clear winner.  Dr Primrose Freestone is an Associate Professor in Clinical Microbiology in the Department of Respiratory Sciences at the University of Leicester in the UK.

8.45 GDP predictions with Liam Dann

Next week the GDP figures will be released, providing a snapshot of the performance of the economy. What are experts predicting? 

With the country starting to run at two speeds, with agriculture booming and urban areas struggling, and consumer fear continuing to stifle economic recovery, New Zealand Herald business editor-at-large Liam Dann unpack it all.  

Liam is the author of BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters. 

9.06 Ian Urbina: The Outlaw Ocean

Pulitzer-prize winning investigative journalist and author of New York Times bestseller The Outlaw Ocean, Ian Urbina is director of non-profit The Outlaw Ocean Project based in Washington D.C., investigating human rights, environment and labour concerns.

Urbina's award-winning podcast The Outlaw Ocean Season 2 casts light on secretive Libyan prisons swallowing up sea-faring migrants, flagrant human rights abuses in China's massive off-shore fleet and the horrors of a shrimp processing plant in India.

Ian speaks with Susie.

9.35 Issa Amro:  Youth Against Settlements

Issa Amro is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his decades of work advocating for peaceful resistance against settlements, which are illegal under international law, advocacy which has seen him become a target. 

Amro is based in the occupied West Bank, in Hebron - a city of about 250,000 mostly Palestinian people. He founded Youth Against Settlements. 

10.06 Kate Summerscale The Peepshow

The real life stranger-than-fiction story of serial killer Reg Christie rocked London in the 1950s.  

In The Peepshow, journalist turned award-winning true crime author Kate Summerscale scours historical archives to uncover the lives of Christie's victims, the tabloid frenzy following their deaths, and the truth about what happened inside the house.

10.40 Do we need more fat in our diets?

Kōanga Institute is the home of New Zealand's Largest Heritage Seed Bank  and Food Plant Collection. Kay Baxter is one of the co-founders of the not-for-profit charity, aiming to inspire and support regenerative living. 

On discovering indigenous groups world-wide have traditionally derived 30-80% of their calories from saturated fat, Kay found it impossible not to question her existing assumptions about health, the optimal human diet, and the best way to prepare food for maximum nutrition. 

Kay's research is based on both historical evidence and her personal experience transitioning away from a vegetarian diet. She speaks with Mihi Forbes. 

11.06 Witi Ihimaera - reclaiming his reo at 80

Legendary author Witi Ihimaera is the man behind Whale Rider and Pounamu Pounamu. 

Already a celebrated master of the pen, at the age of 80 he felt a yearning to master something new and learn te reo Māori.  While many people assumed he could already speak it, Witi grew up without becoming fluent in his tūpuna reo, encouraged instead to pursue achievements in the Pākehā world.  

After wrestling with deeply personal challenges that had held him back for decades, he took the leap and enrolled for an infamously difficult year-long crash course, with full-immersion lessons conducted in Māori only.

His journey has been documented in a new podcast, Witi Underwater, by Te Pūrongo Productions.

11.38 The Global Flourishing Study

A question everyone must ask themselves at some point: what does a life well lived look like? 

Tyler J. VanderWeele is co-director of the five-year Global Flourishing Study of about 200,000 people from more than 20 countries spanning every continent - the largest and most conclusive study of this kind. 

So how do a range of variables, including economic, religious and psychological affect well-being and happiness, and how are they measured to give a flourishing score? 

Tyler shares his research with Susie.

 

Music played in this show

Track: God Only Knows
Artist: Beach Boys
Time played: 9.30