Morning Report for Friday 23 February 2024

8:45 AM.The very first Moana Auckland festival begins Saturday in Tāmaki Makaurau, a month-long festival set up to celebrate the city of sail's love affair with the ocean.

A range of events and activities… Read more Audio

8:40 AM.A Wellington taxi company says it's dropping its flat card fee - which it has been applying to Eftpos payments in order to comply with Commerce Commission rules.

But other taxi companies are… Read more Audio

8:28 AM.It's a time of year to relish for lovers of art and culture.

Friday sees the opening of both the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts in Wellington and the Hamilton Arts Festival.

And numerous… Read more Audio

8:23 AM.The Chiefs take on defending champions the Crusaders in the Super Rugby Pacific 2024 season-opening match Friday Night.

Robertson has moved on to coach the All Blacks, ending his extraordinary reign… Read more Audio

8:16 AM.This weekend is the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since then at least 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, and over six million have sought refuge… Read more Audio

8:11 AM.The Finance Minister Nicola Willis is in Sydney and met with her Australian counter-part Jim Chalmers on Thursday.

She said she shared the coalition Government's plans to grow trade and to deepen… Read more Audio

7:53 AM.The EU's climate service says humanity has experienced its first year of living at temperatures most countries have been trying to avoid.

It's been a long, hot summer in New Zealand, with… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.All this week a Royal Commission of Inquiry has been touring Northland to hear first-hand how people were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The inquiry was set up by the previous government with the… Read more Audio

7:45 AM.Hamilton ratepayers face their highest-ever rates increase if a proposal goes ahead this year.

Property owners could have to fork out another 19.9 percent, which is less than the 25.5 percent rate… Read more Audio

7:35 AM.Super Rugby Pacific is back for another year and as sure as night follows day, the Crusaders are one of the favourites to win the competition.

However the defending champs must overcome the challenge… Read more Audio

7:26 AM.It's been hailed as a "game-changer" in the frontline fight against brain injuries in collision sports.

But the roll-out of smart mouthguard technology in the Super Rugby Pacific this season has… Read more Audio

7:25 AM.A frustrated nurse says she'll be looking over her shoulder for years after her name was published online in an unauthorised leak of Te Whatu Ora data.

She is one of 12,000 vaccinators who had their… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.A bullying investigation into one of the country's most senior prosecutors has found her behaviour towards staff was challenging, critical, and unpredictable but did not meet the WorkSafe definition… Read more Audio

7:10 AM.Child advocates have criticised the government saying it doesn't have any specific strategy to fight child poverty.

They say changes to benefit indexing and tax cut policies won't help families that… Read more Audio

6:46 AM.The first commercial rideshare to the Moon is set to land later this morning, making it the first U.S. lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Odysseus, which launched last week, is part of NASA's… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.A group of senior government ministers will meet Tai Rāwhiti iwi, business, council and community leaders this morning in a summit to break down the challenges facing the region.

More than 100 people… Read more Audio

6:23 AM.It's taken more than fifty years to get off the ground, but approval's finally been granted for a community marae to be built on Auckland's Te Atatū peninsula.

The plot of land beside the… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.For the first time, Rocket Lab has successfully brought a spacecraft back from orbit to earth and landed it safely in the Utah desert.

The New Zealand rocket company designed, built and operated the… Read more Audio

6:09 AM.Advocates for children living in poverty are concerned the Government is not doing enough to support young people struggling to eat, let alone go to school.

The latest data from StatsNZ shows 23,000… Read more Audio