Morning Report

The Highlanders chief executive, Roger Clark, says having fans back in the stadium is a major boon for the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition.

The Warehouse Group is planning to cut up to 1000 jobs across six stores and its head office. The move is part of a restructure which has been accelerated by Covid-19.

Two of the stores slated for closure are in regional Waikato - Noel Leeming in Tokoroa and Warehouse Stationery in Te Awamutu.

Don Good is the executive director of the Waikato Chamber of Commerce.

He speaks to Kim Hill.

The last New Zealander to be cleared of Covid-19 says she is lucky to be alive after battling the virus in Auckland's Middlemore Hospital for more than two months.

Lilian Su'a was sedated for a month and put on a ventilator in ICU after she and her husband Tofiga both contracted the disease just as the country went into Level 4 lockdown.

Tofiga Su'a doesn't know where he picked up the virus, but his family thinks it's likely it was at Auckland Airport where he works.

As he recovered at home alone during lockdown, his wife fought her battle alone in hospital.

It was a battle some medical specialists feared she'd lose.

First Up's Indira Stewart has the story.

If you're wanting to watch First Up's full interview its on their Facebook page and will be up on the RNZ website as well.

As people pay their respects at a memorial service in George Floyd's home city of Houston, Derek Chauvin, the policeman accused of murdering Floyd, has just appeared in a Minnesota District Court.

Chauvin's appearance comes as debate in the US turns to calls to "defund" police forces across the nation.

In Washington, Democrats are introducing a wave of measures designed to curb police powers; and in a number of cities already, authorities are pledging overhauls of police budgets.

In Minneapolis, the City Council has pledged to dismantle its city's police force.

US correspondent Simon Marks speaks to Corin Dann.

The former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has revealed the Soviet Union tried to penetrate New Zealand government systems and infiltrate the ruling Labour Party during the Cold War.

In an interview for The Service, a new RNZ podcast which explores Cold War espionage in New Zealand, Sir Geoffrey Palmer says the Russian spy agency was extremely active here from the mid-1980s.

Sir Geoffrey, and former intelligence figures interviewed for the podcast, say the Soviets were partly motivated by an opportunity they saw to stoke tensions between New Zealand and the US over the anti-nuclear law banning American warships from port visits.

RNZ investigative journalist Guyon Espiner worked with Wellington writer and documentary maker John Daniell to produce the podcast.

Guyon Espiner has the story.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she is "angry" after hearing up to 1000 jobs will go at The Warehouse Group. 

The large company has proposed shutting six stores as part of a restructure, which the Prime Minister says is unfortunate considering so many small businesses are fighting to keep their staff on. 

She speaks to Kim Hill.

Epidemiologists are still urging caution even though New Zealand now has no active cases of Covid-19 and has removed most virus restrictions.

Nick Wilson is Professor of Public Health at Otago University and speaks to Corin Dann.

As the clock struck midnight last night, New Zealand moved to Alert Level 1, meaning social, domestic travel and business restrictions are now completely lifted.

Under Level 1, large events can go ahead at any size - including sports matches and music shows.

Everyone can return to work and domestic travel will operate without restriction.

Retailers and hospitality venues don't have to take customer names, but people are still encouraged to keep a diary of where they go.

Reporter Jordan Bond went out to ask if life is back to normal.

New Zealand's security intelligence agency, the SIS, carried out multiple clandestine raids, breaking into foreign embassies in Wellington in the latter part of the 1980s, in breach of the Vienna convention. An RNZ podcast, The Service, launched today, reveals that one of the raids was on the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Wellington in 1986 and was a joint operation with Britain's MI6 to steal the Warsaw Pact codes. At the time Czechoslovakia was an ally of the USSR and the code books would have allowed the Five Eyes partners to break the encrypted communications of the communist-aligned countries. RNZ investigative journalist Guyon Espiner produced the podcast with John Daniell, and filed this story.

New Zealand Rugby says having crowds at Super Rugby Aotearoa games is a step in the right direction, but warn it is "no silver bullet" for the governing body's financial struggles.