Nine To Noon

Sally Wenley reviews Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz, published by Penguin Random House.

Kathryn speaks with an accomplished horse rider, archer, martial artist, gymnast and sword fighter who can fall from high places and emerge from fire unscathed! If she sounds like a modern day Wonder Woman, that's actually fitting, because that's probably where you've seen her last. Dayna Grant is a Kiwi stuntwoman with multiple film and TV credits to her name: from the early days on Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess to Max Max: Fury Road, Snow White and Huntsman, Underworld 3, The Meg, Adrift and yes, Wonder Woman 1984. Her work on that last production netted her a Screen Actors Guild Award last year for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture. The Ngapuhi performer and mother of three is also the founder of the New Zealand Stunt School, which helps to train the next generation of stunt artists.

The drought in Horn of Africa, Debora outlines how it is affecting Somalia and Ethiopia. She also looks at instability in many parts of the continent, including coups in Sudan and Burkina Faso, and the French military has pulled out of Mali. All this is against a backdrop of 18 different extremist groups on the rise across Africa. Meanwhile the the Omicron wave is subsiding in South Africa where it was first discovered, with scientists saying this could be the country's pandemic exit wave.

A community health clinic in Auckland says during last year's Delta outbreak, it became the default provider of medical and welfare care for self-isolating patients, because the Ministry of Health was failing to provide adequate care. Papakura Marae Health Centre serves a community of more than 3,200 people, with at least 95 percent identifying as Maori or Pasifika. When the government moved to a mixed MIQ and Community Supported Isolation and Quarantine (CIQ) model, the Ministry of Health contracted Whakarongorau Aotearoa to carry out a remote check-in service for patients. However the Papakura Marae Health Centre soon observed issues with the service, including reports of whanau isolating in unsafe homes and a failure to consistently perform timely check-ins and reviews. The Papakura Marae Health Centre decided to step in and take over the role of the Ministry of Health's system. Kathryn Dr Matire Harwood is a GP at the Papakura Marae Health Centre. She is also Associate Professor at the University of Auckland and senior researcher at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.

New Zealand's key exporters are chartering private ships to ferry produce to foreign markets, amid a Covid-driven cargo crisis. Meat producers and fresh fruit and vege producers are struggling to get goods to overseas buyers because of on-going container ship congestion. As more goods are being shipped, and delays lay siege to best-by dates, meat company Affco has resorted to chartering private vessels to get exports - valued at close to $120m - to their overseas markets. The company's third ship recently set sail from the Port of Tauranga, carrying 6,000 tonnes of frozen meat, destined for California and America's emptying meat aisles. And it's not just Affco. Rival meat companies and other primary producers are on board. In fact half the space in the first export vessel chartered was taken up by pip fruit exporters. Kathryn is joined by Simon Beale, both Logistics Manager for Turners and Growers, and Chair of the NZ Council of Cargo Owners and Mark de Lautour, Head of Affco sales and marketing, who have chartered three ships so far, and predicts this predicament is set to continue for three more years.

The week that was, comedians Te Radar and Elisabeth Easther bring a few laughs.

NZ Rugby has finally got the Silverlake deal over the line, with confirmation of the sale of a stake of a new commercial entity to the American private-equity business. This comes in the same week NZ Rugby introduced fulltime contracts for top Black Ferns players. And Dana also looks at the NZ triumphs and international controversy from the Winter Olympics. Dana Johannsen is Stuff's National Correspondent specialising in sport.

Gina Rogers reviews Will by Mark Manson and Will Smith published by Penguin Random House.

Rosemary Sullivan is the author of a controversial book on a cold case investigation into what led to young Jewish girl Anne Frank and her family being discovered by the Nazis. The Betrayal of Anne Frank follows a six-year investigation, and identifies a Jewish Notary as leading to the Franks being found, after they'd hidden undetected for two years in Amsterdam. Rosemary Sullivan is a professor emeritus at the university of Toronto and the author of many books including a biography Stalin's Daughter.

As the Winter Olympics draw to a close, from China, there are new signs that Beijing is deepening its support for Russia as the Ukraine crisis stands on a knife's edge. Grim times loom for Hong Kong as the city is forced into ever stricter anti-virus measures just as the rest of the world opens up. And in the Phillipines Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, has the emerged as the frontrunner in the country's presidential race. He's the son of former leader Ferdinand Marcos. Ed White is a correspondent with the Financial Times.