Morning Report for Thursday 23 April 2020

6:08 AM.Spain's nationwide lockdown - which started on 14 March - has been extended until the middle of May.

But there's some relief for the country's children, who will be allowed outside for walks from… Read more Audio

6:25 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

6:28 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:39 AM.Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope says banks aren't making it easy for small and medium-sized operators to access loans through the Government's guarantee scheme.

The Finance Minister… Read more Audio

6:43 AM.Almost a month after other countries started repatriating their citizens from India, the New Zealand Government is this week getting its first plane off the ground.

Two weeks ago Germany had already… Read more Audio

6:48 AM.Germany has approved a human clinical trial in the search for a Covid-19 vaccine.

Two hundred people will receive the vaccine, developed by the German biotech company BioNTech.

The trial is only the… Read more Audio

6:55 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:09 AM.The secretive US data firm Palantir run by billionaire and New Zealand citizen Peter Thiel is in talks with the Government here about combating Covid-19.

Palantir has worked for spy agencies in the… Read more Audio

7:17 AM.An Invercargill woman fighting for her life in Dunedin hospital and five of her family members still don't know how they got Covid-19.

The family is believed to be among the rare cases of community… Read more Audio

7:22 AM.It would be anyone's worst nightmare: being stuck on a cruise ship, confined to your cabin, because more than half of the people on board have Covid-19.

But a mere two weeks ago, that was the… Read more Audio

7:28 AM.Health fears and lack of demand are likely to keep many early childhood centres shut when schools partially reopen next week.

Sector leaders say many centre owners and teachers are still not… Read more Audio

7:42 AM.A Whanganui man whose cancer surgery was put off by Covid-19 believes delays in treatment could lead to a worse nationwide death toll than Covid-19, currently at 14.

Others say they're amazed and… Read more Audio

7:45 AM.The number of food grants made by the Ministry of Social Development has skyrocketed under Alert Level 4, hitting close to 70,000 a week.

At the same time the demand of food banks has increased… Read more Audio

7:50 AM.The National Party says small to medium businesses are paying too a heavy price for the Government's extension of the lockdown period and they urgently need more support.

The government has admitted… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.Of the multitude of stunning images from space, one of the most memorable is a photo - taken in 1968 by astronaut William Anders - of a radiant blue-and-white sphere slowly appearing above the horizon… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.Calls and texts to the government's free national mental health helpline have risen sharply since the start of Alert Level 4.

In recent days, the number of calls to 'Need To Talk 1737' is up by 40… Read more Audio

8:14 AM.The Covid-19 pandemic has forced consumers to think about what they need, what they can get, and due to the lockdown, what they really can live without.

So while retailers are of course thinking… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.Offering visas to high-value overseas investors could be a good way to quickly inject capital into the economy.

The Times in London suggests rich Americans are turning to New Zealand for sanctuary… Read more Audio

8:23 AM.Where is North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un?

Is he seriously ill? Has he maybe died? Or is he just out of public view for a while?

Rumours are swirling, but no one seems to know anything definite.

… Read more Audio

8:28 AM.Whakatāne media organisations plan to give $750 vouchers to about 1000 local business next week to try to bring the town back to life and get them spending again.

Radio 1XX and the family-owned… Read more Audio

8:32 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:38 AM.A returned traveller is questioning if there is mixing going under mandatory isolation that presents a risk of spreading Covid-19.

Nathaniel Herz-Edinger, 27, is half way through 14 days of imposed… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.The Privacy Commissioner wants to assure people that his office is helping health authorities understand the risks of using technology to conquer Covid-19.

This morning, we reported the controversial… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.The President of the United States announced this week - via tweet - that he is suspending all immigration into the US.

Donald Trump says it's necessary to protect the country from what he calls the… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.A University of Otago psychologist is hoping many will fill out a survey on lockdown life before we move to Alert Level 3.

So far 1000 people have answered the 15-minute questionnaire exploring the… Read more Audio

8:57 AM.All week we've been talking to people about what life's been like in isolation.

Nick Baker's a digital analyst and he's turned his hand to running polls on Twitter about all the important things in… Read more Audio