Morning Report for Thursday 28 November 2019

6:00 AM.Dunedin doctor Venod Skantha faces a life sentence for murdering 16-year-old Amber Rush, 40 years on we look back at the Mount Erebus disaster that claimed 257 lives,  Australian writer and… Read more Audio

6:06 AM.The Black Caps are hopeful that the injured pair of pace bowler Trent Boult and allrounder Colin de Grandhomme will be fit to play the first cricket test against Australia in Perth next month. Read more Audio

6:09 AM.The National Party's proposal to set up a police unit that would have the sole purpose of targeting and harassing gangs has been ridiculed by a former Australian detective.

The Opposition is pitching… Read more Audio

6:12 AM.A Maori activist is vowing to keep the public gates into Lake Horowhenua locked until the Government listens to him.

Phil Taueki, who has been been occupying land beside the lake for 15 years, has… Read more Audio

6:18 AM.The UK's main parties are gearing up for a general election on 12 December.

These national votes to choose a government to run the country are supposed to be held every five years.

But this would be… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.A brief update from the business sector. Read more Audio

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

6:41 AM.The ninety-year-old Levin woman attacked in her home last month has died in hospital.

Grace Isobel Virtue was assaulted in her Levin home on Bath Street in early November.

The woman's death means… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.Principals say high-decile Auckland schools can afford more opportunities for their students than schools in the rest of the country.

Annual report figures show the city's decile eight, nine and ten… Read more Audio

6:46 AM.Clive James, the Australian writer and broadcaster known around the world for his dry wit, has died at the age of 80.

The author and critic rose to prominence delivering his wry commentary in such… Read more Audio

6:49 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:06 AM.England have rallied around fast bowler Jofra Archer who was racially taunted during the first cricket test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui says teamate Ben Stokes. Read more Audio

7:10 AM.A jury took just three hours to find former Dunedin doctor Venod Skantha guilty of murdering 16-year-old Amber-Rose Rush.

The teenager was found by her mother in her bed in a pool of blood on… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.It was 40 years ago today 257 people left on an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight to Antarctica.

The plane never came home, instead crashing into Mt Erebus and killing everyone on board.

The… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Transpower doesn't know how long it will take until they learn what caused yesterday's three-hour-long blackout across Northland.

A high-voltage circuit breaker tripped yesterday morning, leaving… Read more Audio

7:37 AM.Christian leaders want climate change to be seen as more of a religious issue.

Last week, former Australian rugby player Israel Folau said droughts and bush fires were punishments from God.

But most… Read more Audio

7:41 AM.Another Samoan child has died from measles, bringing the death toll to 33.

Another 249 people have been infected with the disease in the past 24 hours. Dozens of New Zealand nurses are in Samoa to… Read more Audio

7:46 AM.The temperatures are warming up and many Aucklanders are digging their togs out of the cupboard to hit the city's beaches.

But over on the North Shore, an e-coli contamination at Brown's Bay has been… Read more Audio

7:50 AM.National's Alfred Ngaro is calling for the Hepatitis Foundation's board chairperson to resign.

As RNZ revealed this week, a two-year investigation into the charity has found the foundation splashed… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.A food fight has broken out on the streets of Auckland between vegans and meat eaters who are each vying to display their campaign messages on road signs, before they're sabotaged by the opposition… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.England allrounder Ben Stokes wants racism in sport to be confronted and not simply brushed aside. Read more Audio

8:16 AM.Families of those killed in New Zealand's greatest peace-time disaster will meet the Prime Minister and Governor General in Auckland today.

A private ceremony is being held at Government House to… Read more Audio

8:20 AM.A national system of paying for public transport tickets virtually anywhere using cellphones, credit card or paywave is beset by delays and uncertainty.

The Transport Agency now says the rollout of… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.Two Christchurch families have been left traumatised by the actions of a 22-year-old truck driver who ran a red light and crashed into a car killing a 12-year-old boy and his uncle.

Driver Casey… Read more Audio

8:30 AM.A brief update on the movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:39 AM.Principals south of the Bombay Hills say the superior fund-raising ability of high-decile Auckland schools is creating a gap with the rest of the country.

Fees from foreign students and donations are… Read more Audio

8:47 AM.Christchurch could become the country's space hub within five years.

A government-commissioned report suggests it is the ideal spot for developing, testing and launching space equipment, thanks to… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.Wellingtonians may think they know a thing or two about gusts and gales, but the community of Castlepoint home of a howling southery and wind-whipped sand would like a word.

Yesterday historian… Read more Audio