Features

A new wharf that has opened on Vanuatu's Espiritu Santo iss expected to be a boon for the island's tourism industry. Audio

Fairfax Media’s new investigative series is New Zealand's most ambitious multimedia journalism project yet and was funded from the public purse. What did it reveal? Audio

Four leading NZ documentary-makers talk candidly about navigating uncharted waters and their duty to the truth in a conversation chaired by Julie Hill. Audio

There's unfinished business at The Proms this week, not to mention sensational playing from Joshua Bell and a ground breaking performance of Philip Glass and Ravid Shankar's cross-cultural collaboration 'Passages'.

Always expect the unexpected from the dead, says Palmerston North pathologist Dr Cynric Temple-Camp. He tells interesting tales from his 30-year career in a new book The Cause of Death. Audio

Candidates for the Māori seat of Te Ikaroa-Rāwhiti debate welfare, health funding, the Ture Whenua bill, Treaty Settlements and boot camps. Audio

Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva makes a big impression as Bellini's Norma in this production from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The Australian Deputy Prime Minister has received the second highest number of nominations for New Zealander of the Year.  

“I think there’s a lot of Māori in NZ that have at one point known te reo and forgotten. The band writing in Māori has really been a huge help. It’s an awesome way for us to get that back.” Audio

If you were prime minister and had $1 million to spend in Wairoa, how would you do it? Max Towle asks young locals.

New Zealand pianist Michael Houstoun talks with Tim Dodd about his approach to playing the elusive music of Chopin. Audio

Internet users' worries about fake news, a new survey has revealed. Plus Samsung tries to put its exploding battery woes behind it by launching another big smartphone. Audio

Simon Morris enters the cinematic universe of Stephen King's The Dark Tower and checks out plus Steven Soderberg's heist film Logan Lucky and another Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon road trip, The Trip to Spain. Video, Audio

Former shepherd Gusta Peach came to New Zealand in 1951 to be a land girl. Now 87, her life story takes in a human skull on the mantlepiece, lost love with a married man and buried cars in Indonesia during WW2. Audio

Mark Rogers turns back the clock with Justin Townes Earle, Pokey LaFrage Son Volt, Nick Drake and Blind Willie McTell anong others. It's a beautiful thing. Audio

Hymn-singing is usually (not always) accompanied by the pipe organ and this week's selection takes a moment to appreciate different cathedral organs from Westminster Abbey to St Paul's in Dunedin. Audio

For the last three days, 24 secondary school choirs have been singing their hearts out at The Big Sing. Watch the finale live on RNZ Concert from 630pm.

The Gala Concert is the culmination of three days of exciting singing for the 24 secondary school choirs at The Big Sing Finale. Watch the live video stream here from 6.30pm.

American rock band Queens Of The Stone Age return with their most danceable album yet, Villains.  Aroha Harawira chats with bassist Dean Fertita and drummer Jon Theodore. Video, Audio

What is vitamin C and why do we need it? And can vitamin C really cure cancer, or is it all hype? Alison Ballance and Simon Morton are on the case. Video, Audio

The fact that we're exclaiming about the historic all-women Silver Scroll shortlist shows how far we've got to go, writes Jessie Moss.

Follow the journey of young Māori taonga pūoro practitioner Jerome Kavanagh, in one of a series of shorts from emerging young filmmakers that explore sustainability.

When Sergei Prokofiev returned to Soviet Russia in 1936, life was not exactly what he expected. Audio

New Zealand has awarded a Pacific woman as the nation's Poet Laureate for the next two years on National Poetry Day. Video, Audio