Morning Report

New Zealanders in Wuhan are asking the government to urgently get them out. Dozens of Kiwis are stuck in the Chinese city, which is locked down to limit the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Mackenzie Smith reports.

A study of inmates at Christchurch women's prison found nearly every woman interviewed had a history of multiple traumatic brain injuries.

The study was cited by Dr Ian Lambie, the chief science advisor to the justice sector, who has published a discussion paper looking at the prevalence of head injuries in people who end up in courts and prisons.

People with brain injuries are over-represented in the justice system, and Doctor Lambie says more could be done to deal with the problem.

Ben Strang reports.

The British government has decided to allow the Chinese telecoms company Huawei to have a limited role in the development of its 5G mobile network.

However it will be excluded from sensitive sites in Britain, including military bases and critical infrastructure.

The United States is suspicious of Huawei and has called on governments to lock the firm out of 5G networks.

The GCSB in New Zealand last year blocked Spark's application to use Huawei tech in its 5G rollout.

RNZ's correspondent in London is Vincent McAviney.

The Government is this morning announcing $10 million for eight schools and two hospitals to upgrade and run on clean energy.

They are the first projects under a $200 million programme to reduce the state sector's carbon emissions.

Climate Change Minister James Shaw speaks to Corin Dann.

Hong Kong has shut off links with mainland China in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus. Both the high-speed rail link and ferries between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland are to be closed. In Hong Kong the coronavirus has revived memories of the deadly SARS outbreak of the early 2000s. It was one of the hardest hit regions, with 300 people killed by that virus. Corin Dann spoke to Hong Kong correspondent Grace Lee about the anger about the government's response to the outbreak.

The countdown to Election Day is on - with the Prime Minister revealing people will head to the polls on September the 19th.

The date coincides with Suffrage Day - 127 years since women won the right to vote in New Zealand. 

Jacinda Ardern's proclamation comes early in the year in keeping with a precedent first set by the former National leader and Prime Minister John Key.

National Party leader Simon Bridges spoke to Susie Ferguson about his plan for the and the Facebook Ad Library.

Cabinet ministers have approved the first step towards creating a new public broadcasting "super entity" involving RNZ and TVNZ - but the plan looks quite different to what they considered at the end of last year.

RNZ News understands Cabinet has approved a high level decision to proceed, and has now signed off on commissioning a business case.

The Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi was told to go back and do more work on the original proposal, after he took it Cabinet in December.

RNZ political editor, Jane Patterson, has uncovered the details, she speaks to Susie Ferguson.

A mother who lost her first daughter at six days old says her baby wouldn't have died if hospital staff had acted more quickly.

Ruth and Kazu Toyoshima's girl Ellie died in mid-2016, after she was deprived of oxygen and suffered brain damage during birth.

A Health and Disability Commission report into the incident found Hutt Valley District Health Board and its staff provided substandard care, and breached the Code of Rights.

Jordan Bond reports.

Roger Federer defied age and logic once again to save seven match points before beating unseeded American Tennys Sandgren in a sensational Australian Open quarter-final.

President Donald Trump, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced his plans to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

The announcement of the 'Middle East peace plan' came hours after Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges, and on the third day of arguments from Trump's legal team in his impeachment trial.

RNZ's correspondent in Washington is Kate Fisher.