RNZ: Sunday Morning

For decades, renowned Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has been writing opinion pieces for the country's longest-running newspaper Haaretz. He has specialised in covering the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza for the past 25 years and doesn't hold back on his opinions on the issue. That's won him admirers internationally, but also many detractors including some who claim he should be tried for treason. Gideon Levy will give a talk in Auckland Sunday December at 3pm at the Mount Eden War Memorial Hall.

Zimbabweans are celebrating the fact that the 37-year reign of Robert Mugabe, leader of the ruling Zanu PF party is over. Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as The Crocodile, was sworn in last week as the country's new president and pledged to serve "all citizens" and indicated he plans to reverse Mr Mugabe's disastrous policies. Human rights lawyer David Coltart is a founding member of opposition party MDC and talks about his hope for the future of Zimbabwe under one of Mugabe's former henchmen.

The fallout from complaints about too much te reo on the radio; golden rule broken at journalism awards shindig; reporting risks grow under 'The Punisher' and his war on drugs.

New Zealand is stuck in an austerity model for health and it's about time doctors spoke out about it moving to an investment model, the founder of the Canterbury Charity Hospital says.

The fight to save the kauri and protect the noble trees against kauri dieback disease.

There's been a week of thunderstorms with around 40,000 lightning strikes, 11,000 on Tuesday alone. Animal control workers had to return many dog to their anxious owners after they bolted. Social media was flooded with people looking for their pets too. John Payne from Hastings District Council gives some tips on how to calm your dogs.

Back in 1984, Naida Glavish was the toll operator who greeted incoming callers with two words, "kia ora" going against the grain. She says the general public didn't mind but her managers did. She reflects on Don Brash's comments about there being too much te reo on RNZ. And she has a message for Guyon Espiner.

Sometimes watching Parliament is like being back in junior school. This week it felt like relentless testing of a new relieving teacher.     

On Friday night Callaghan Innovation held the final of its "C-Prize" technology competition.There were 10 teams of finalists, and one of those was young software developers Sheldon Nunes and Nick Mertens. Their Quoralis team didn't win the big prize, but their FallCast is working on a wearable technology that aims to predict and identify a person, such as an older person, at risk of falling. 22-year-old Sheldon Nunes explains.

On Friday the Ministry of Health announced that there was a national outbreak of whooping cough. More than 1300 cases of the disease have been reported since the beginning of the year. It's warning parents of young babies to be especially vigilant over Christmas and New Year when families get together, increasing the chance of passing on the disease... especially as adults may have whooping cough but not even know it. Dr Nikki Turner is the Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre explains.

Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI ... about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during the US election campaign. Flynn's decision to plead guilty about those conversations marked a significant new phase in the investigation by Robert Mueller, and a potentially treacherous development for Trump and his closest aides. Feature Story's Nina-Maria Potts reports from Washington.

Artist Jack Trolove says his technique of applying paint with a palette knife gives his work two variations - up close it's abstract, and the audience sees the form from a distance.  

Tim Watson-Munro is Australia's best-known criminal psychologist, as much for the dramas in his own life as for the cases he's been associated with. But many of those cases have been sensational, and they are chronicled in his new book, Dancing with Demons. His acquaintance with Australia's criminal underworld, and with the minds of criminals who've committed horrific crimes, has also given Tim Watson-Munro some strong ideas about what we're doing wrong with the people we put in jail.

Academics at the University of Cardiff have published a paper called "Selling Pain to the Saturated Self". The academics have an interesting theory that we crave bodily punishment in an age where so many of us sit around and just use our bodies to put food in and take us from A to B. Coast to Coast event director Richard Ussher is one of those and explains why it might be.

Hip hop is built on values of social justice, peace, self-worth, community, and having fun, according to Dr Alexander Crooke from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.