Morning Report for Thursday 7 March 2013

6:00 AM.Another North Island region asks for drought help from government, Drought could push up diary prices says economist, Seven days of mourning begins in Venezuela, NZ to send representative to Chavez's… Read more Audio

6:10 AM.The Labour Party says there is no justification for the Corrections Department's secrecy about the level of seismic risk in the country's 18 prisons. Audio

6:18 AM.The latest from the Pacific region. Audio

6:22 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Audio

6:27 AM.The Far North District Council's being accused by a Northland tribal leader of throwing their treaty relationship back into the dark ages; A Victoria University researcher who works at the School of… Read more Audio

6:35 AM.The Primary Industries Minister, Nathan Guy, estimates the economic cost of the drought is so far a billion dollars. Audio

6:38 AM.The president of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Angela Roberts, says an independent review was brave for criticising the Correspondence School's introduction of a new computer system. Audio

6:40 AM.An Australian MP and gay rights campaigner says there's been a loss of trust between the gay community and the police after a graphic video was posted online showing an 18-year-old teenager being… Read more Audio

6:47 AM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

7:09 AM.The drought is continuing to spread across the country. Audio

7:13 AM.As we heard earlier the Primary Industries Minister, Nathan Guy, has said the economic cost of the drought to this country is in the region of a billion dollars. Audio

7:16 AM.Seven days of mourning has begun in Venezuela, after the death of the country's 58-year-old President, Hugo Chavez. Audio

7:20 AM.The death of Hugo Chavez has meant some hasty schedule changes for John Key who is on a 10-day trip to Latin America. Audio

7:24 AM.new computer system that caused headaches for Correspondence School teachers and students last year was plagued by consistently poor decision-making, according to a report the school tried to keep… Read more Audio

7:27 AM.A Fiji human rights group says a group of police officers who have a reputation for strong-arm tactics may be responsible for the prolonged beating of two men which was captured on video and released… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.The new Housing Minister Nick Smith is vowing to break what he calls the "stranglehold" of Auckland Council's policy of containing urban sprawl. Audio

7:45 AM.An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

7:50 AM.The Corrections Department is refusing to reveal which of the country's 18 prisons are most at risk of crumbling in an earthquake. Audio

7:53 AM.After two years of civil war in Syria, the United Nations says the number of refugees who have fled the country has now passed one-million. Audio

7:57 AM.Cardinals meeting in the Vatican City have still not set a date for the election of a new pope. Audio

8:09 AM.As the drought conditions plaguing Northland farmers continue, those further south are also suffering. Audio

8:13 AM.The new Housing Minister Nick Smith has fired shots across the bow of Auckland council saying he will break what he calls the "stranglehold" of Auckland Council's policy of containing urban sprawl. Audio

8:16 AM.The Labour Party will move a notice of motion in Parliament next week condemning the beating and torture of two prisoners in Fiji. Audio

8:21 AM.Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, has confirmed a Melbourne man who died in a top secret prison in Israel worked for the Israeli government. Audio

8:25 AM.Whanganui people who were involved in the nearly three-month-long occupation of Moutoa Gardens nearly twenty-years ago will soon be reliving the event. Audio

8:29 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Audio

8:35 AM.An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

8:38 AM.The organisers of a popular annual student party in Dunedin have agreed to a raft of new restrictions for this year's event, in a last-ditch bid to prove it can be held safely. Audio

8:41 AM.A group of organisations hoping to clean up Wellington's waterways want a marine protection area - a blue belt to match the city's green belt - in the capital's harbour. Audio

8:46 AM.The Far North District Council's being accused by a Northland tribal leader of throwing their treaty relationship back into the dark ages; A Victoria University researcher who works at the School of… Read more Audio

8:49 AM.Should New Zealand continue to have separate Maori seats, and should the Government have to give more attention to the Treaty of Waitangi when passing new laws? Audio

8:53 AM.The owners of a Horror Maze on the outskirts of Christchurch, say they're consulting with their lawyer after being forced to shut down their business by the council because of the noise people were… Read more Audio