Morning Report for Wednesday 28 August 2019

6:00 AM.New Zealand's spy agencies warn of troubling foreign donations and relationships right across the political spectrum, Out with the new, in with the old? MPs vote today on a way to set their pay… Read more Audio

6:06 AM.The All Blacks 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup will be named at midday today in Auckland, and flanker Liam Squire is providing the biggest talking point. Audio

6:10 AM.An amendment to the Smokefree Environment Act to control how vaping can be advertised is expected to go before Parliament next month. Local vaping businesses and anti-smoking groups say aggressive… Read more Audio

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

6:37 AM.An electoral law specialist says there's no easy solution to controlling donations to political parties by foreigners. MPs on the Justice Select Committee were told by the head of the Security… Read more Audio

6:42 AM.The government is scrapping the formula used to calculate the pay for MPs each year. In 2015, in response to public concern about big pay increases awarded by the Remuneration Authority, the… Read more Audio

7:06 AM.The All Blacks 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup will be named at midday today in Auckland, and flanker Liam Squire is providing the biggest talking point. Audio

7:10 AM.New Zealand's spy agencies have warned they know of troubling foreign donations and relationships right across the political spectrum at local and central government. They've told MPs they support… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.MPs will vote today on a new way to set their pay - it looks a lot like the old way and neither the Greens nor Act is happy about it. Since 2015 the Remuneration Authority has been required to use a… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway will today introduce a bill to Parliament that restores the authority's independence in determining the payscale for MPs. He spoke to Susie Ferguson… Read more Audio

7:21 AM.Health officials are being accused of "calculated neglect" and dismissing debilitating gynaecological conditions as "women's problems", as South Auckland women are denied care. Many women in the… Read more Audio

7:25 AM.New Zealand's spy agencies say they know of troubling foreign donations across the political spectrum. The agencies have told MPs they support greater transparency around political donations, but warn… Read more Audio

7:40 AM.Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has ruled out accepting a G7 offer of aid to fight fires in the Amazon rainforest unless he gets an apology from his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. Mr Bolsonaro… Read more Audio

7:44 AM.A blowout in waiting times at the Transport Agency is jeopardising garages' business and commercial drivers' livelihoods. Operators  say they are losing customers, and even the sale of entire… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.Big tobacco companies have been stepping up advertising for their vaping products. Local e-cigarette businesses and anti-smoking groups say the aggressive marketing campaigns are a bid to maximize… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.It's every badly behaved student's dream, and every school's nightmare. Hundreds of school reports from South Wellington Intermediate school have been lost in the post. Principal Traci Liddall spoke… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.Has he or hasn't he.... a phone call by Liam Squire to Steve Hansen has been the most talked about player-coach discussion in rugby circles over the past week. Audio

8:10 AM.An expert on China's global political influence is questioning the reasons behind a $150,000 donation to the National Party in 2016. National received the donation from a New Zealand company, owned by… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.The Advertising Standards Authority has had 58 complaints about advertisements for vaping products in the past year. A proposed amendment to the Smokefree Environment Act is due to go before… Read more Audio

8:22 AM.Women's health advocates are asking the Counties Manukau district health board to clarify what it considers to be a "non-urgent" health issue. The DHB says it can't guarantee treatment for people with… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.In the UK, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is wrangling MPs to try put a stop to a no-deal Brexit. Mr Corbyn is meeting with other opposition leaders to discuss ways of averting a no deal, possibly by… Read more Audio

8:36 AM.MPs will be urged today to make the teaching of New Zealand history compulsory. The History Teachers Association says it's vital children are taught their own country's history but as matters stand… Read more Audio

8:41 AM.US pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson says it will appeal after being ordered to pay close to $900m ($US572m) for its role in Oklahoma's opioid addiction epidemic. On average 130 Americans die… Read more Audio

8:52 AM.Canterbury Regional Council is about to undertake its first fully democratic election since 2010, when the National government sacked its councillors and replaced them with commissioners. Thirty-nine… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.A new study has found that optimists are more likely to live longer than those who have a more negative approach to life. The theory is that optimists may find it easier to control their emotions and… Read more Audio