Morning Report for Wednesday 13 September 2023

8:54 AM.Images taken more than a million miles away show promising signs of life.

NASA's James Webb Telescope may have detected the presence of a molecule in planet K2-18b's atmosphere, which on Earth we… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.A local iwi in the Horowhenua says burying the remains of a dead whale was a sad occasion, but a useful lesson for their young people.

A large New Zealand pygmy blue whale was found dead on the sands… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Tech giant Meta is under fire from a New Zealand-based businesswoman who's been locked out of Facebook's support function for a year.

Adding insult to injury, when she paid for the platform's new… Read more Audio

8:41 AM.Passengers usually assume they're pretty safe when they hop on a bus.

But over the past five years,13,000 people have made claims to the Accident Compensation Corporation, after being injured on… Read more Audio

8:37 AM.Annual water restrictions in Wellington take effect in two weeks and they might get stricter as summer approaches.

Drier temperatures brought on by the El Niño weather pattern - combined with myriad… Read more Audio

8:23 AM.Scammers stole just over $4 million from New Zealanders between April and June - down by a quarter on the previous three months.

Despite that drop, more of us report being targeted by fraud attempts… Read more Audio

8:19 AM.The country's record-breaking number of new migrants will put extra pressure on housing and inflation - but that's no reason to turn them away, say economists.

Stats NZ says the population has been… Read more Audio

8:15 AM.One set of numbers, two political parties trying to tell the public what they mean after the government opened its books for pre-election scrutiny.

Labour says the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal… Read more Audio

7:46 AM.The National Party isn't impressed by the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update released yesterday.

National leader Chris Luxon spoke to Corin Dann. Read more Audio

7:42 AM.Inflation and high interest rates look like they'll be sticking around. While some of the numbers in Treasury's financial update make for better than expected reading, it's clear taxpayers will… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.Charges against two booking agents accused of health and safety failings in the Whakaari / White Island trial have been dismissed.

The companies, ID Tours and Tauranga Tourism Services, had been… Read more Audio

7:33 AM.Covid infections are putting people at higher risk of diabetes, strokes, heart disease and other long-term illnesses - but experts warn it may be decades before the full impact is known.

Meanwhile… Read more Audio

7:26 AM.A visa created to bring overseas workers in to help with the recovery in cyclone affected areas has received thousands of applications.

But immigration advisors warn that the process is rife with… Read more Audio

7:22 AM.Moroccan villagers in the Atlas mountains have been left to dig for earthquake survivors by hand, as the government comes under fire for accepting aid from only select countries.

Almost 3,000 people… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.Treasury released its Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update on Tuesday, to mixed reactions.

The Labour Party hailed the accounts as showing the economy was turning the corner, with no recession… Read more Audio

7:11 AM.Flooding has wiped entire towns off the map in Libya, after a powerful storm burst dams and swept away bridges.

More than 2,000 people have been killed and 10,000 are missing.

Poor infrastructure… Read more Audio

6:43 AM.Battered and bruised, but better than expected - that's the state of the government's books in Treasury's pre-election forecast.

The government is celebrating the state of the nation's coffers… Read more Audio

6:18 AM.Researchers in the US have found a standard chemotherapy drug used for breast cancer could inadvertently be encouraging recurrence of the disease.

Doctors delivered the chemotherapy drug Taxan to… Read more Audio