Morning Report for Thursday 18 October 2018

6:00 AM.Bridges apologises for calling Maureen Pugh 'useless', Simon Bridges, Jami-Lee Ross recording - analysis, Is Jami-Lee Ross' recording incriminating?, Bridges', Ross' race-based comments 'ugly… Read more Audio

6:06 AM.The former Hurricanes and Māori All Blacks loose forward Blade Thomson has been named in the Scotland rugby squad for next month's internationals. The 27-year-old joined the Welsh club Scarlets this… Read more Audio

6:09 AM.Cannabis is now legal in Canada - fufilling an election promise from the country's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It's the second country after Uruguay to legalise possession and use of recreational… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Audio

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

6:35 AM.National Party leader Simon Bridges has been shaken by the release of the recording of a conversation he had with Jami-Lee Ross about a $100,000 donation. Jami-Lee Ross provided police with the… Read more Audio

6:40 AM.The boss of Mainzeal's parent company says he never paid particular attention to the legal impact of transactions that ultimately led to the construction giant's demise. Richina chief executive… Read more Audio

6:49 AM.Genesis and Tilt agree on new windfarm for South Taranaki. Tauranga based software company bought by British firm. Steel & Tube relaxed about new investor. Wrap of global financial markets. Audio

7:06 AM.The Silver Ferns will show they are a netball force again if they're able to chalk up back to back wins against world champions Australia in Wellington tonight. Audio

7:10 AM.National's leader has apologised profusely for saying one of his own MPs is 'effing' useless and insists his leadership is safe and that his caucus is united behind him. Simon Bridges was recorded… Read more Audio

7:18 AM.On Wednesday, former National MP Jami-Lee Ross released the tape of a conversation between him and Mr Bridges where they discuss making room on the party's list for new MPs, amongst other things. Mr… Read more Audio

7:21 AM.Is what Jami-Lee Ross gave to police incriminating? Andrew Geddis is a Professor of law at Otago University. He joins Guyon Espiner with his analysis. Audio

7:35 AM.More fallout from Jami-Lee Ross' secretly recorded phone call. Simon Bridges is heard discussing with Mr Ross which MPs are expendable and should be cut from the party to make room for Chinese… Read more Audio

7:38 AM.Chinese and Indian people on the streets of Auckland say comments by Jami-Lee Ross and National leader Simon Bridges about the relative merits of ethnic candidates are ugly, unprofessional and racist… Read more Audio

7:41 AM.Gruesome details have emerged surrounding the alleged death of the missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The sometime Washington Post columnist and long-time Saudi critic walked into the Saudi Arabian… Read more Audio

7:45 AM.A student at a polytechnic college in Russian-annexed Crimea has shot and killed at least 19 people - and wounded as many as 50 more before turning the gun on himself. Surveillance footage has emerged… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.On Wednesday, Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross released a tape of a conversation between himself and Simon Bridges, where they discuss making room on the party's list for new MPs, as well as a… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.The Silver Ferns shooter Maria Folau has a target on her back in Wellington in game four of netball's Constellation Cup series against Australia. Audio

8:09 AM.It's now up to the police to decide if a recording of Simon Bridges talking about a 100 thousand dollar donation stacks up the electoral fraud allegations made by Jami-Lee Ross this week. The whole… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.National Party leader Simon Bridges believes MP Jami-Lee Ross has secretly recordered not only him but other MPs for many months. And Mr Ross has said he intends to release some of those recordings… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.The police are investigating a former priest living in China, who was nicknamed 'The Phantom Feeler' by boys at a leading Wellington Catholic school. A witness to Father Donnelly groping boys in the… Read more Audio

8:30 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Audio

8:45 AM.A family-run fuel company says it wants to disrupt the Wellington fuel market when it sets up shop in the capital early next year. Waitomo Group will open a 6-pump unmanned site on the Hutt Road in… Read more Audio

8:47 AM.The Catholic Bishop of Dunedin is under pressure to re-name a school called after a former Bishop who is now accused of covering up sexual abuse. Kavanagh College is named after the late John Kavanagh… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Australia is facing an ever mounting health crisis over its detainees on Nauru. So much so that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been considering allowing asylum seekers and refugees detained on… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.Lambs took their opportunity to hog centre stage at Ngaere School's "show day" in Taranaki yesterday with families being asked to keep calves on the farm in the wake of the mycoplasma bovis scare… Read more Audio

8:58 AM.Pāmu Deer Milk has won the prize for most novel product at the New Zealand Food Awards in Auckland. Earlier this year it won the Grassroots innovation award at Fieldays. Sarah Risell is the general… Read more Audio