Morning Report for Tuesday 17 August 2021

6:24 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

6:26 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:44 AM.As the Goverment races to get a rescue mission to Afghanistan off the ground there are warnings about how difficult it is likely to be.

A Hercules aircraft and 40 Defence Force troops are on standby… Read more Audio

6:47 AM.A former Afghan interpreter who worked for the New Zealand government says he'll never forgive himself if his family is captured by the Taliban.

The man - who RNZ has agreed to call Ali - was granted… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.New Zealand's military deployment to get its remaining citizens out of Afghanistan is expected to be a difficult and delicate mission.

A Hercules aircraft will depart as early as tomorrow morning… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.Among those trying to get out of Kabul are Afghan nationals who worked with the New Zealand military.

Those that are already here are begging our government to extend its rescue mission to include… Read more Audio

7:24 AM.A decorated former kiwi soldier says he's proud of New Zealand's contribution to the war in Afghanistan and says it will ultimately prove worthwhile if the crisis-hit country can find peace.

More… Read more Audio

7:29 AM.A young person has been arrested and charged with murder after the death of 16-year-old Zion Purukamu, who was stabbed at a party in Christchurch on Friday night.

Two other teenagers, aged 14 and 17… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.A train has derailed near State Highway 1 south of Paekakariki due to a slip caused by flooding on Tuesday morning.

A police spokesperson says emergency services are responding to reports of water… Read more Audio

7:40 AM.A leading Māori doctor is hopeful that children as young as five years old can get a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this year.

Dr Rawiri Jansen says about 30 percent of the Māori and Pacific… Read more Audio

7:47 AM.Patients at Palmerston North Hospital's mental health unit say their ward is understaffed, overcrowded and putting people in danger.

One woman is speaking out after suffering a violent and unprovoked… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.Tourism operators are warning the rules governing national parks are so outdated that when a crisis like Covid-19 strikes and they need to adapt, they're hamstrung.

A different set of rules - or… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.College sports - a $1 billion business in the US - are still a popular scholarship option for Aotearoa athletes despite the pandemic.

National Collegiate listings show at least seventeen of our Tokyo… Read more Audio

8:11 AM."Absolute chaos", "tragedy", "heartbreak". 

That's the description of the situation at the Kabul airport where thousands of Afghanis are desperately trying to get out of the country which has fallen… Read more Audio

8:14 AM.A New Zealand human rights campaigner who's worked in Afghanistan says her friends in Kabul are frightened.

Marianne Elliot says her former colleagues are seeking to leave, but there is no way out at… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.US president Joe Biden has addressed the situation in Afghanistan, after reporting back from a long weekend holiday.

Protesters have gathered at the White House, calling for the president to speak on… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.Devonport tops a list of the most polluted Defence Force bases in the country.

Trentham in Upper Hutt, which like Devonport has a lot of housing nearby, ranks among the top five most expensive bases… Read more Audio

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

8:39 AM.Melburnians face another two weeks in lockdown, with officials saying the city is teetering on "the brink" of losing control of the Delta outbreak.

A raft of new restrictions came into effect at… Read more Audio

8:41 AM.A miscalculation of how many Cantabrians are in group one of the vaccination rollout is being blamed for the DHB's stuttering progress.

Group 1 includes people working at the border or in MIQ, and… Read more Audio

8:46 AM.It could be weeks until the mystery of the green substance that was first spotted oozing into Lake Wakatipu over the weekend is finally solved.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council is investigating… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.Canadians will go to the polls next month two years ahead of schedule.

The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap summer general election as the country enters into a fourth Covid-19 wave.

… Read more Audio

8:54 AM.The trans-Tasman rivalry has reignited once again - this time in the search for the hardest working farm dog.

It's the first time New Zealand has entered the Cobber Working Dog Challenge, which… Read more Audio

8:57 AM.A pair of tītipounamu have been spotted on Te Ahūmairangi Hill in Wellington, in what's thought to be the first sighting there in over 100 years.

While the tītipounamu's common in some remote areas… Read more Audio