Nine To Noon for Friday 18 October 2019

 

 

09:05 Temporary ceasefire agreed in Northern Syria

The US Vice President says he has a deal with Turkey's President for a temporary ceasefire in Northern Syria. Turkish troops entered Syria last week in an offensive against the Kurdish-led "Syrian Democratic Forces", which Turkey has long maintained is an offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers' party. The assault was triggered by the US decision to withdraw its troops from Kurdish-held areas. Mike Pence is in Ankara for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and made the announcement about the "pause" in the offensive. Kathryn talks with Borzou Deragahi, International Correspondent for The Independent in Istanbul.

09:20 Organic entrepreneur Gary Hirshberg

Gary Hirshberg's business Stonyfield Farm began in the United States in 1983 with seven cows in a field. It's now the world's largest organic dairy company, with more than $600 million in annual sales and owned by the French multi-national Lactalis. Last year, Gary Hirshberg and his wife Margaret bought 69 hectares near Motueka, where they've set up an organic training farm and where they spend part of each year. Gary Hirshberg is in Auckland to run a training and leadership programme for organic and natural product producers and entreprenuers. He says New Zealand has a unique opportunity to develop its organic and natural primary products to supply growing consumer demand around the world.

09:30 Mediaworks to sell NZ TV operation

MediaWorks has announced it intends to sell its TV operation, including TV3. Earlier this week, it announced it was cancelling or heavily scaling back some of Three's biggest shows. MediaWorks chairman Jack Matthews says in a statement this morning that MediaWorks is committed to continuing to grow its business in New Zealand but the free-to-air television market is exteremely difficult. Kathryn talks with Colin Peacock from RNZ's Mediawatch.

09:45 Asia correspondent Ed White

Ed White, correspondent for the Financial Times, has the latest news from Hong Kong. He is  based in Seoul. 

10:05 Security threat on Cook Strait ferry

RNZ reporter Meriana Johnsen reports from the Wellington Interislander ferry terminal where the Kaitaki has been returned to port after a security threat.

10:08  Decades photographing NZ native trees

Rob Lucas has travelled to some of the country's most remote and inaccessible areas, photographing the country's native flora. More than 3200 of his images feature in New Zealand's Native Trees, written primarily with the botanist John Dawson, who died in March. The nearly 700 page hard-back was first published in 2011 and has just been updated and reissued with hundreds of new images taken by Rob in the intervening years. Rob Lucas trained as a horticulturalist at Wellington's botanic gardens. It was there that he met John Dawson at Victoria University and the two began a long professional partnership and friendship.

10:35 Book review - The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

Melanie O'Loughlin of Unity Books reviews The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. This book is published by Harvill Secker.

10:45 The Reading

The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke by Tina Makereti read by Mitch Thomas. Episode 7 of 12.

11:05 Music with Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor from Slow Boat Records has an eclectic selection of obscure faves from Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker's radio show, another album from the prolific Mark Kozelek and a quietly triumphant return from The Lilac Time.

11:30 Sports commentator Brendan Telfer

Brendan reports on the Rugby World Cup, the netball series between New Zealand and Australia, and asks whether the world's first sub two hour marathon was just a multi million dollar PR stunt, or a truly landmark moment in the history of sport?

11:45 The week that was

Te Radar and James Elliott take a wry look at the week, including the Vatican's new "click to pray" E-Rosary.