Morning Report

Teachers warn proposed NCEA changes will mean fewer students taking science, and the death of Latin in New Zealand schools.

The Education Ministry has suggested dropping several subjects including chemistry and physics from level 1 and cutting Latin from all levels of the qualification entirely.

Education correspondent John Gerritsen reports.

One of the men charged over donations to the National Party was at one stage to have gone to the party's candidate college, which identifies and train potential members of Parliament.

Jami-Lee Ross and three Auckland businessmen have pleaded not guilty to charges related to two $100,000 donations paid to the National Party in 2017 and in 2018.

National leader Simon Bridges told Morning Report Zheng Shijia, also known as Colin Zheng, was going to go to candidate college but he did not know if Zheng actually attended.

"My sense is that he was going to go to, but I don't know that he in fact did," Bridges said.

When asked for detail Bridges said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

"You're asking me questions that are tied up in a court case, and I think out of respect for the courts and that process it's just not appropriate for me to be casting light on things in relation to that."

Asked if it was credible that he and the party knew nothing at a time when Jami-Lee Ross was the party's chief whip, Bridges repeated his previous advice.

"No one in the National Party has done anything wrong, whether that's members of Parliament, the board, staff members or office holders within the National Party I know that to be the case."

Bridges said if he was called as a witness in the court case he would "obviously fully cooperate".

International students stranded in China say the ban on coming to New Zealand because of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak is unfair and should be lifted.

Meanwhile some have sidestepped the ban by spending a fortnight in other countries before travelling here to resume their studies.

Chen Liu reports.

World stock markets have fallen further amid investor concerns over the impact of the spreading coronavirus outbreak.

Wall Street fell 1 percent after World Health Organisation officials said the coronavirus was "a rapidly escalating epidemic".

Britain's FTSE 100 index has ended the day at its lowest closing level in a year, down 1.9 percent.

New Zealand's top 50 index fell as much as 3 percent yesterday, but it clawed back much of its losses to close at just over 1 percent down.

Those declines came on the heels of the worst day for global equities in two years.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson told to Corin Dann the Government is preparing for a hit on the economy and he has three scenarios in mind.

"One of them is where there is a level of containment that means we get back to normal within the next two or three months.

"The second scenario is where the outbreak is both spreads further and is longer lasting and has an impact through 2020 and obviously that scenario is becoming more likely.

"The third scenario is one where we do move towards a global recession that obviously has significant impacts on New Zealand."

The coach of the New Zealand boxing team says they're following local advice as the coronavirus hits Italy.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The guilty verdicts in the New York case against Harvey Weinstein are only the beginning of the movie mogul's prosecution.

He still faces charges in Los Angeles of assaulting two women in 2013.

At least 80 women had accused him of sexual misconduct stretching back decades, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek.

Los Angeles entertainment correspondent Brad Pomerance speaks to Susie Ferguson.

The Prime Minister says she won't be wagging her finger at Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and demanding he do more to fight climate change when they meet this week.

Jacinda Ardern is in Fiji and was told by Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama yesterday she should demand more from her neighbours - a clear dig at Australia's resistance to take action over climate change.

But she told reporters her meeting with Morrison won't be an occasion for telling him off.

The forestry industry is in disbelief that the government won't yet consider scrapping the benefit stand-down period for those who've lost jobs due to the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says that's a conversation to be had when there's a clearer idea of how long the impact of the outbreak will last.

But the Forest Industry Contractors Association says that's unrealistic, short-sighted, and will leave workers, and the industry worse off in the long run.

Political reporter Yvette McCullough has more.

News from the rural and farming sector.