Along with the continuing Omicron threat, our Weekend panelists Janet Wilson and Al Gillespie discuss the Russia/Ukraine situation, Kainga Ora, political polling and why people are shunning rum and raisin chocolate.

The Villa Aurora in Rome is back on the market after being listed for a starting price of nearly NZ$800 million - making it potentially the most expensive home in the world. The BBC's Rome correspondent Mark Lowen was allowed inside.

Professor Gary McLean discusses the developing Omicron threat, the possibility of another bad mutation arriving, and the chances of getting Omicron more than once - especially for people who are under the age of 30.

Our US correspondent Karen Kasler, who is the Ohio Statehouse Bureau chief, joins the show for the last time this year, talking about the state of America and the big stories that are in play there at the moment.

In his new book, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, British palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist Dr Henry Gee offers a rather blunt assessment of why humanity might already be a dead species walking.

A new FDA-approved eye drop medicine could replace reading glasses for millions of people who have age-related blurry vision. Dr Sid Ogra joins the show to explain how the eye drops work and what they can do for vision.

Christmas Day is a time of tradition for a lot of people, but that sense of tradition doesn't always extend to the dinner table. Indeed, more and more people are shunning the season's traditional fare in favour of alternative options.

Welsh IT worker James Howells has spent the last eight years asking the Newport City Council for permission to search its landfill after claiming he unintentionally dumped 7,500 units of the cryptocurrency (now worth £340million) there.

New Zealand photojournalist Amos Chapple has just returned from a stint on the frontlines of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Chapple, who is now back at his Prague base, reflects on his time on the frontline and his encounters there.

Hawke's Bay native Dean Treml is a self-employed photographer who shoots mostly sports and worked for Red Bull for over 20 years, These days, he lives in the countryside in the canton of Luzern with wife Romina and son Diego.