We cross to New York Times middle east correspondent Ben Hubbard to get talk about the impact of Soleimani's assassination by the United States on Iran, and the region.

We continue our book journey around the country - this time crossing live to Louise Ward from Wardini Books in Hawke's Bay.

Wellington artist Paul Forrest is aiming to create a kaleidoscope of butterflies around the country. From the backyard of his home in Newtown, Paul makes huge but incredibly lifelike butterflies destined for a life either inside or outside.

Students at New Plymouth Girls' High School researching sustainable energy generation have found that solar panels become less efficient once the temperature goes over 25 degrees....the opposite of what they'd expected. They talk to Lynn Freeman about their discovery.

Lynn Freeman went to the forest in northern Finland last May, camera in hand, and hit out in a wooden hut, waiting for brown bears, wolves and wolverines to go by. Here, she tells that story.

Gordie Tentrees, a Canadian troubadour who's performed 750 concerts in 11 countries in just four years, is making is first trip to New Zealand to perform at the Auckland Folk Festival. He speaks to Lynn Freeman about his music ahead of his visit here.

Over the summer we're profiling some of our Olympic hopefuls in less well known sports. Today it's the turn of BMX rider Jessie Smith, whose mentor and sponsor is London Olympic BMX silver medallist, Sarah Walker.

Travel writer Heather Hapeta has an allotment at Tanera Park in Wellington, within an organic garden there. For an apartment dweller like herself, the gardens give her a chance to get some fresh air, while growing her own food.

Thunderbirds, Gerry and Silvia Anderson's popular futuristic puppet sci-fi puppet TV series only had two series, on air from 1964 to 1966. The Dinky die-cast merchandise based on the characters and the vehicles were just as popular - and still are with collectors. As well as Thunderbirds craft models were cast for other Anderson shows like Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Space 1999. Aucklander Hamish Coney talks to Lynn Freeman about his collection.

Our series on lifesavers continues with the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue's senior rescue pilot and operations manager Stuart Farquhar. Over his 20 years on the job, Stuart Farquhar has no shortage of stories about callouts that resulted in lives being saved.