Rebecca Jones of Scorpio Books in Christchurch reviews Matariki by Rangi Matamua and Miriama Kamo, published by Scholastic

Paul Pritchard was a cutting edge British rock climber and mountaineer, whose love of the sport had taken him all over the world. Paul is also a writer, and when he won an award with his first book, he naturally spent the prize money on a world climbing tour, which took him to Tasmania. While climbing a 65 metre rock stack called The Totem Pole, he was struck in the head by a huge boulder, suffering a catestrophic brain injury. Paul spent a year in hospital and initally dotors through he might never walk or even speak again. He has though - Paul has climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, he's caved, sea kayaked, river rafted, ridden a recumbent bike through Tibet to Mt Everest and in 2016, he finally climbed the Totem Pole - 18 years after his accident. Paul is paralysed down one side, has epilepsy and issues with his his speech and memory but - amazingly - regards his accident it as a precious gift. He's speaking at the Mountain Film Festival in Wanaka, Queenstown and online; running between June 24 and July 2.

Two senior officials of India's ruling party have made controversial comments about the Prophet Muhammad, trigging condemnation of Islamic countries, and domestic unease from the country's minority Muslim population. Protests have broken out and Al-Qaida in India has threatened attacks. In Vietnam, the Health Minister and and Hanoi's mayor have been arrested amid an investigation into price gouging of Covid tests. And Australia's new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Indonesia's President Joko Widodo in Jakarta, keen to emphasise trade and strong Asia relations under his leadership. Elizabeth Beattie is a journalist at Thomson Reuters, based in Tokyo

Pie aficionados should put a visit to Cromwell Cromwell on their winter wishlist now that Sanga's Pies is open for business. Local tradies were getting underserved in the pie department, says Sang's owner Chris Sangster who works in construction with his brother Rob. So along with their ice hockey mate - trained chef Miro Kollar - the brothers have opened a gourmet pie shop that's attracting national attention.

More research is underway into bias within the police ranks. Last week - police released a progress report on their work to date, led by an independent panel. That panel, chaired by long-term justice reform advocate Ta Kim Workman, was established last year to investigate whether there is police bias in police treatment of Maori, Pasifika and other communities. After 15 months, the progress report held few concrete findings or definitive actions, and in fact pointed out that there is a lack of police data necessary to quantify rates of bias and consistent areas of concern that have not changed over time. Two more aspects of research are now underway by the same panel. The first will gather evidence on how different communites perceive police and the second will point the way to put it right. Kathryn speaks with Khylee Quince, Dean of the School of Law at Auckland University of Technology and a member of the independent panel overseeing the research.

The United Nations' Secretary General is warning the Ukraine war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented food crisis, which could months if not years. Kathryn speaks to finance correspondent at the Economist, Matthieu Favas who has been looking into the issue.

Film and TV correspondent Chris Schulz joins Kathryn to talk about season four of Stranger Things (Netflix), a new documentary series on Apple TV called Prehistoric Planet presented by David Attenborough and new Star Wars TV show Obi-wan Kenobi (Disney).

Many listeners may already have had time at home with Covid and other winter ills. So what's the best way to get through the time together? Ellie Gwilliam is with the Parenting Place, and has just gone through it with her family. She joins Kathryn to talk survival tips.

Technology correspondent Bill Bennett joins Kathryn to talk about PimEyes, a company offering the ability to scan people's faces on the internet - with great accuracy. Anyone can use it - and images of people were able to be found even if they had a mask on or had their face turned away from the camera. Chorus showed off its 25 Gbps fibre broadband last week - that's about 75 times faster than most fibre connections. The 2degrees merger with Vocus has created New Zealand's third largest telco, and Skinny Jump is offering low-income families a way to stay connected.

Lisa Finucane reviews Death at the Belvedere by Sue Williams, published by Text Publishing.