The Mike Hosking Breakfast

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) One Man to Make America Great/Goodbye to a Great Woman/Coffee Discussion Closed/#bobjonesamovie

Al van der Beek was born in Tokoroa, and tomorrow, he'll be playing with his band as Donald Trump is inaugurated as the new President of the United States.

Van der Beek's American classical-pop crossover group The Piano Guys is one of the lesser-known groups performing at the inauguration.

He told Newstalk ZB's Rachel Smalley he's not sure how they came to be asked.

"We just feel really honoured for the opportunity, and to represent America and to play for Americans."

He said the group expected backlash from their fans - and that's what they got.

"We're not politicians, we're musicians and entertainers and our hope this week is that we perform for America, just to spread that hope and joy through our music.

"Hopefully we can bring people together," he added.

Van der Beek was born in Tokoroa, but his family moved to Utah when he was 6.

One man has died in a series of strong earthquakes which have hit central Italy, a region devastated by deadly tremors last year.

LISTEN ABOVE: Italy correspondent Jo McKenna speaks to Rachel Smalley.  Four quakes of magnitude 5.2 and higher struck near the hill town of Amatrice, 100 km northeast of Rome, in the space of four hours. Much of the area had already been abandoned after last year's earthquakes. The central Lazio, Marche and Abruzzo regions have been grappling with heavy snow, and one man aged about 82 died after the snow and one of the tremors made the roof of a farm building fall on him, a fire service spokesman said. A hotel in Abruzzo was hit by an avalanche and local media reported three people were feared missing. There were 20 people plus staff at the hotel, regional president Luciano D'Alfonso wrote on Facebook. Twenty firemen, two mountain rescue teams, six ambulances and local police were heading for the site, but the weather could mean it takes them hours to arrive, a civil protection agency spokesman said. No other deaths or serious injuries were reported. Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said soldiers would help rescue teams get to the affected villages. "This repetition of strong quakes is alarming for people who have already been so sorely tried," Gentiloni said in Berlin. A 30-year-old woman and a 17-year-old man were pulled out from the rubble, suffering from hypothermia, in the small town of Castiglione Messer Raimondo, the fire service said. "Some areas have no electricity because of the snow, so even cellphones don't work," said Sante Stragoni, mayor of Acquasanta Terme, a town hit hard by a quake in August that killed 300 people. "The snow is two metres deep in some areas," he told SkyTG 24 television. In Rome, buildings wobbled and the underground metro system was shut for several hours. Schoolchildren were sent home, and museums told visitors to leave. In all, there were 10 quakes over magnitude 4.0 clustered in a 10-km radius around Amatrice, which was devastated by last August's tremor. The belltower of the town's Sant'Agostino church, badly damaged in August, finally collapsed. The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in nearby Assisi was closed for the day as a precaution.

It seems American markets are holding their breath, waiting for Donald Trump to make his mark.

The US President-elect is due to be inaugurated on Saturday morning.

Scott Shellady from TJM Brokerage said there was a huge rally in the equity markets after Donald Trump was elected.

However, he told Rachel Smalley they're now hovering, hanging out for him to show them the money.

"But at the end of the day he keeps getting tapped on the shoulder by the grim reaper of an economy, that has not gotten any better since he was elected, so we're kind of in this limbo waiting for him to be inaugurated."

Scott Shellady fears the expectations on Donald Trump are too high.

LISTEN ABOVE: Scott Shellady from TJM Brokerage speaks to Rachel Smalley

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Thursday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Bad Movie in so Many Ways/Getting Your Shit Together/Good Looking Golf/Apple Sings Again/Trump's Unique Hair

Former pro golfer Anya Alvarez has taken a swing at Golf Magazine's 'The Most Beautiful Women in Golf' section, pointing out that its subjects were being identified for their looks, not for their ability. 

Alvarez joined Rachel Smalley this morning to discuss her criticism.

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) May Definitely Out/Alone and Forgotten/Wrong Ivanka/The Last Moonwalker/Abstaining Update

Any future search for the missing plane MH370 is extremely unlikely according to a renowned ocean explorer.

The current search which is focused in the Indian Ocean has been called off.

The plane went missing almost three years ago, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

David Gallo who has lead other ocean searches, told Rachel Smalley this almost certainly means the plane won't be found without a huge amount of investment.

"Right now they have the services and the talent and the technology, all in one spot, but in a few days it will be dispersed all over the planet, almost impossible to get all together again."

READ MORE: Wife of Kiwi on board MH370 'shocked, disappointed and angry' as search ends

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Tuesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Tourists Must Pay Their Share/The Dangers of Cricket/The New Food/Abstaining from Abstaining

A ban on personal care products containing microbeads is well overdue.

LISTEN ABOVE: Dr Michelle Dickinson from Auckland University spoke to Rachel Smalley on the Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Government's proposing to ban products containing the tiny plastic particles, which are used in some face-washers, toothpastes and body scrubs.

They're washed into waterways, where they can easily pick up pollutants, and are then consumed by marine life, and in turn eaten by us.

Auckland University's Dr Michelle Dickinson told Rachel Smalley microbeads pose a risk to human health, and to our marine industry.

"If we've got toxic substances in our shellfish that has a huge impact on New Zealand with our exports such as shellfish, mussels."

 

Dr Dickinson said cosmetic companies are already having to change their products, as countries like the US and the UK are banning microbeads.

"For Minister Smith it's great that he's making forward progress, but I feel like we're pretty far behind and many of the company will have changed what they're making before that ban for New Zealand comes into place. But I guess it's good that we're actually starting to make a move."

 

Associate Professor Mary Sewell of the School of Biological Sciences at Auckland University said these microbeads wash through our water filtration systems and end up at sea where they're consumed by plankton.

"And then those animals are eaten by fish and eventually those fish are eaten by use so the plastic is so small they can end up in our food chain and eventually end up in our food products."

Canterbury University researcher Dr Sally Gaw said people are trying to work out what are the health implications of having plastic in our sea food.

"But of course we're exposed to plastics in so many other places. Plastic is very prevalent in modern lifestyle, but it's very hard to work out whether that from seafood will be a larger problem that what we're already exposed to."