Morning Report for Friday 24 September 2021

8:52 AM.A new study has teased out the voyages that Pacific peoples took by studying present-day genomes.

The study estimates that voyagers from Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga first migrated to Rarotonga around the… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.A Hawkes Bay man is taking the housing shortage into his own hands - living on site while he builds houses for his whanau.

Like elsewhere, the region is fighting the scourge of homelessness as it… Read more Audio

8:44 AM.Another long lockdown in Auckland is making it harder for older people to avoid loneliness.

Social isolation was already a major problem before the pandemic. National surveys of 40,000 pensioners… Read more Audio

8:40 AM.Widespread food shortages have been reported across the UK, with photos of empty shelves shared across social media and calls for urgent action from the government to address the shortages.

Talia… Read more Audio

8:36 AM.Silver Ferns' coach Dame Noeline Taurua has a tough task on her hands, as she assembles her starting line-up against the England Roses for tonight's series decider.

England levelled the three-test… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.Rugby's greatest rivalry will raise a century on Saturday in Townsville - an unlikely venue for the 100th test between the All Blacks and the Springboks.

The two nations have dominated the… Read more Audio

8:21 AM.Fast food outlets are coming under fire from academics, who are accusing corporate brands of using the Covid-19 pandemic as an advertising tactic.

Researchers at the University of Auckland found 27… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.The Down Syndrome Association says the community is heartbroken, in shock and outraged after the death of 27-year-old Lena Zhang Harrap.

Police have launched a homicide investigation following the… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.Covid-19 modeller Shaun Hendy says it's important to discuss the potential of severe health consequences if restrictions are lifted.

New modelling data shows if just 80 percent of the country's over… Read more Audio

7:54 AM.A Hauraki Plains health organisation Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki is pivoting from Covid-19 tests to a vaccine push on two marae this weekend.

The area went into lockdown after three members of a… Read more Audio

7:49 AM.Businesses are launching their own vaccination campaigns to reach people they say are being over-looked by the government's messaging.

At the start of the roll-out, the government set out its vaccine… Read more Audio

7:42 AM.Builders are learning that desperate times require desperate measures.

But woe betide if they take a shortcut.

Councils and a lawyer are warning that a rising tide of people wanting to alter their… Read more Audio

7:37 AM.Few people who upload their drawing to the internet expect their work to be picked up by a Donald Trump fundraising committee.

But that's exactly what happened to one Wellington-based graphic… Read more Audio

7:26 AM.Tomorrow night the All Blacks and Springboks play the 100th test between the two nations in what many believe is the greatest rivalry in rugby.

There have been thrilling matches, watershed series… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Government figures suggest taxpayers paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to accommodate visiting sports teams last year.

Documents provided to RNZ show every member of a cricket team that stayed in… Read more Audio

7:18 AM.About 300 people gathered outside the Timaru home where the three South African sisters were killed a week ago yesterday.

At the candlelight vigil last night, a message was read out from the father… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.The Mount Albert community in Auckland is shocked and upset at the violent death of a vulnerable young woman near Owairaka Domain.

Twenty-seven year old Lena Zhang Harrap, who had down syndrome… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.A claim yesterday that there could be 7000 deaths if only 80 percent of those over age five are vaccinated for Covid-19 is proving controversial.

Health authorities in Auckland are working overtime… Read more Audio

6:49 AM.There's an influx of wild boars on to roam in Rome.

It hasn't gone down well with locals, who say it's a sign the Italian capital is going to the dogs, or the hogs at least.

Rome correspondent Seema… Read more Audio

6:45 AM.The All Blacks will play their 100th test against the Springboks on Saturday. This comes 40 years after the South African team toured New Zealand - sparking outrage here and abroad.

For 56 days in… Read more Audio

6:40 AM.New Zealand is donating more Covid-19 vaccines to both the Pacific and the COVAX initiative - which supports global equitable access to the vaccine.

The move has just been announced by the… Read more Audio

6:36 AM.A Covid-19 modeller has described the Government's release of data on vaccination, disease and deaths rates as a sideshow causing unnecessary fear.

The modelling done by Te Pūnaha Matatini at the… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.Voters go to the polls in Germany this weekend to elect their next government and choose who will succeed the long-serving Angela Merkel as chancellor.

For millions of younger voters, Merkel is the… Read more Audio

6:12 AM.There's a call to bring down barriers preventing intensive care nurses from coming into the country and helping our ongoing Covid-19 response.

Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society… Read more Audio

6:08 AM.A little over 100,000 Pacific peoples are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, with first doses creeping towards 200,000.

It comes as new Ministry of Health research suggests that Pasifika are no… Read more Audio