The war in Ukraine is sparing no sector of society. Civilians, children and aid workers have been among the casualties. United Nations agencies are in Ukraine to bring food and medicines. Another who's about to join the relief effort is New Zealander Mike Seawright who founded the humanitarian organisation ReliefAid. He's in the Romanian capital Bucharest and will soon head into Ukraine.

A new international study shows that Covid-19 can have a significant effect on brain size and function. The study was carried out by several institutions including Oxford University and the United States National Institutes of Health. It examined hundreds of people aged between 51 and 81 who had tested positive for Covid-19. Brain imaging scans showed some of those infected saw "significant, deleterious" changes to their brains. Maurice Curtis is a Professor of Neuroscience and head of Auckland University's anatomy and medical imaging department. He says the study shows in some cases that brain size went down by six percent.

BBC World reporter joins Karyn Hay to report the latest news from around the world.

The tara iti or fairy tern is native to New Zealand and is the country's rarest breeding bird with fewer than 40 adult birds across Aotearoa. DoC ranger Shelley Ogle has some good news for us... some new baby fairy terns have hatched.

Tom Mutch is a New Zealand photojournalist based in Kyiv, Ukraine. He speaks with Karyn Hay about what he has witnessed over the past few days of war.

Announced today by the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta 'The Russia Sanctions Bill' will pass under urgency this week with cross-party support. Tim Groser reacts with Karyn Hay.

A year ago the police warned that romance scammers were stealing millions of dollars from New Zealanders. A year on is the problem any better or worse? Detective Inspector Christiaan Barnard is the acting director of the Financial Crime Group.

Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine the concern and protests of Ukrainians living abroad is ongoing, and in New Zealand it's no different. There will be more protests this weekend against Russia's invasion including three events tomorrow in Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch and one on Sunday in Auckland. Olha Viazenko came to New Zealand from Kyiv in 2016. She says her mother and mother-in-law have fled Kyiv and are now in the western city of Lviv. Olha says she's trying to get them to New Zealand.

Rodney Harrex is the Chief Executive of the South Australia Tourism Commission. He says said the announcement that Kiwis can travel freely to and from Australia, without needing to isolate, is a huge step forward for South Australia's tourism industry.

Greenpeace hopes that negotiations starting in New York next week will be a crucial step towards protecting thirty percent of the world's oceans. The talks at the United Nations are aimed at concluding a Global Oceans Treaty. New Zealand is sending a delegation, along with countries from around the world. Ellie Hooper is an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa and helped organise a petition supporting the treaty, which gathered more than sixty thousand signatures.