Nine To Noon

The US President is offering some student loan leeway with his administration announcing it will forgive up to $10,000 for most borrowers ($20,000 for some who were low-income students). This comes after more than two years of a pause on student loan payments that started as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. And regarding the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, the government has released a heavily redacted version of the affidavit in the investigation. And Danielle says there's more evidence of the abortion issue's potential importance in this year's midterms. Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk

In the past week Ukraine has marked two significant events - 31 years of independence, and six months of holding off an invasion by its giant neighbour. It's a conflict that's had an enormous cost in a very short timeframe: tens of thousands dead, millions displaced, billions spent on military equipment - let alone the final total to rebuild shattered towns and cities. One immeasurable cost is the toll on the country's children. Unicef estimates two die every day in this conflict. Almost two in three children in Ukraine have been displaced by fighting. New Zealander Petra Straight has been in-country for Save the Children and joins Kathryn to talk about where the needs are greatest

The UK government is working to change the law on gene-edited food, allowing it to be sold in the country for the first time. The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, being introduced to Parliament, will allow gene-edited crops to be developed and grown in England and sold in Great Britain. That's despite the fact that polls indicate the vast majority of the UK public are opposed to the move. Supermarkets remain unenthusiastic and campaigners argue that gene-editing is just genetic modification by a more palatable name. Kathryn speaks with Adam Vaughan, chief reporter at New Scientist.

Countdown supermarkets is considering trialling the use of body cameras for some staff in a bid to address chronic verbal abuse directed at staff and as physical assaults become more common. Body cameras, if introduced, would be able to capture detailed evidence of abuse. Violence towards supermarket workers has become an urgent issue since a stabbing attack at Dunedin Central's Countdown store in May last year, and a terror attack at Auckland's LynnMall Countdown last September. Kiri Hannafin is the manager of corporate affairs at Countdown.

Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.

Hamilton food blogger Kathrine Lynch shares budget meal ideas on her website The Daily Menu. She shares three quick, low-cost recipes for taking care of your takeaway cravings.

Neale, Tim and Kathryn talk about the departure and the legacy of Speaker Trevor Mallard - how will he go in his ambassadorial post in Ireland? Also, the infrastructure blowouts. is it bad management or economic conditions. And ram raids continue to plague cities and towns across the motu it's forcing a law and order debate. Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of public affairs firm Capital. Tim Hurdle is a former National party advisor and was campaign director for National at the 2020 election.

Laura Caygill reviews 1989 by Val McDermid, published by Little Brown

Eight years ago, a catastrophic accident changed the life of elite athlete Brad Smeele. He says becoming quadriplegic as a 27 year old has taught him so much about survival and finding the strength to get through the darkest of times and the darkest of thoughts. His deeply personal memoir, Owning It - the ride that changed my life is an astonishingly raw and honest account of moving from a life of sporting success to dealing with the mental and physical challenges of losing mobility. He is now a motivational speaker and has an instagram account with 35-thousand followers.

Six months on from Russia's invasion, Debora is in Kyiv. She talks to Kathryn about the situation on the ground in Ukraine and what's changed ?. Also a dangerous situation with fighting around Europe's biggest nuclear plant, the Zaporizhzhia plant and the first grain ship left for Africa last week. Debora explores what hope that provides for the continen'ts food crisis.