Morning Report

A second case of coronavirus is confirmed. We'll talk to the Director-General of Health, A special Cabinet committee to lead the country's response holds its first meeting. We hear from the Finance Minister, and Joe Biden's back in the running but Michael Bloomberg's out. We'll have all the drama from Super Tuesday.

Shearers have flocked to Masterton for the 60th anniversary of New Zealand's premier shearing competition which begins today.

There are 500 entries for the golden shears, up from 350 last year.

The contest is now one of the oldest volunteer-run events in the country.

Organisation president Sam Saunders speaks to Susie Ferguson.

Kea are well known as the big green parrots that steal your windscreen wipers and nick your cellphone, but this trickery may be indicative of a bird that isn't so different to humans when it comes to problem solving.

In a paper published today in Nature Communications, University of Auckland experts found the birds can judge statistical odds in a way only ever seen before in infants and great apes.

Rachel Thomas has the story.

Abortion reform has cleared another hurdle, passing its second reading in Parliament last night by 81 votes to 39.

It was a tighter margin than the first reading in August and was just as emotionally-charged.

Political reporter Jo Moir watched the debate unfold.

The opening of two long-awaited bridges north of Wellington has caused major delays for a stretch of State Highway 1 already plagued by traffic snarlups.

Locals are critical of the way the $70 million project between Levin and Foxton has been rolled out.

Hamish Cardwell reports.

A Covid-19 survey by the New Zealand Business Roundtable in China has found 81 percent of respondents expect China export revenue to be down at least 10 percent this year.

But while there was significant uncertainty around the containment of the virus, most respondents expected the issue to clear up within the next six months.

Mark Tanner is managing director of Shanghai-based China Skinny, a marketing and research agency.

Like many China-based expats, he is working remotely.

He speaks to Susie Ferguson.

A brief update on the movements in the financial sector.

Finalists for the country's top book prizes are out this morning.

Sixteen works have made it on to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist list for fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction and general non-fiction.

Awards trustee Paula Morris speaks to Corin Dann.

School librarians are fed up with repeated funding cuts and now they're calling for legal protection.

They want the government to pass a law requiring all schools to have a library and they want it to ring-fence their income so money for books can't be diverted to other things.

The call comes on the back of survey results that show one in five schools last year reduced funding for their library.

RNZ education correspondent John Gerritsen reports.

Whānau in the East Coast have been digging into their own pockets to provide food and financial support to those affected by major logging disruption in the region. 

About 300 forestry workers have lost their jobs or have had hours reduced due to the impact Covid-19 is having on logging exports. 

Around 95 percent of Gisborne's logs are exported to China. 

Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports.