Morning Report

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

Italy is waking up to the most stringent nationwide restrictions on public life since the Second World War as the government tries to battle a surge in coronavirus cases.

All public gatherings have been banned and people must now seek permission to travel.

One Kiwi caught up in it is Joanne Gillespie, an English teacher, orginally from Nelson.

She met her husband in the Czech Republic and has lived about and hour and a half north of Rome since 2000. Gillespie's been working from home since the schools were closed late last week.

Her teenage children are studying remotely.

Her husband, meanwhile, needs paperwork to travel 20 minutes to his job.

She told Morning Report producer Siobhan Wilson people queue to go into shops one at a time and they're trying to stay away from one another.

The New Zealand women's footballers are level 1-all with Norway in the second half of their third place playoff at the Algarve Cup in Portugal.

Global markets still unsteady after 'Black Monday', Covid-19: Italian government puts whole country into lockdown, Covid-19: Super fund says not time to be spooked, Simon Bridges promising 'bonfire of regulations'.

After more than two years of research, a South Island company has developed the country's first plastic-free, biodegradable coffee cup.

Christchurch-based Glopac wants to go a step further and make them recyclable for organic compost, but that's turning into a long and frustrating battle.

Christchurch reporter Anan Zaki has the story.

A Japanese political scientist says his government's response to the coronavirus outbreak has been "staggeringly incompetent" and is warning about the country hosting the Olympics in July.

Koichi Nakano from Sophia University in Tokyo calls the Diamond Princess cruise ship - where more than 600 people contracted the virus in two weeks - an "epidemiological disaster."

He says the response can be attributed to Japanese bureaucracy which prioritises stability and conformity, and shuns anything that might rock the institutional boat.

Corin Dann speaks to Nakano about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's response to the crisis.

Less than a third of Hurunui district's buildings red-stickered after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake in have been fixed or demolished.

That leaves more than fifty that are still too unsafe to enter.

Some residents says the council needs to act more quickly.

Katie Todd reports.

Some rain may have fallen in the north, but fire restrictions remain in place.

Last week a fire threatened at least 10 houses. Investigations are ongoing, but time, location and conditions point towards a campfire getting out of control.

There have been more than 100 avoidable fires in Northland so far this fire season and Fire and Emergency are urging people to heed the fire ban.

Myles Taylor is Northland's Principal Rural Fire officer.

He speaks to Susie Ferguson.

A brief update on the movements in the financial sector.