Morning Report

Prince Andrew has announced he is to step back from public life.

Duke of York said in a statement he is stepping back from royal duties for the "foreseeable future" due to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

He also says he is willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.

Prince Andrew said his links with the convicted sex offender had become a "major disruption" to the Royal Family.

In a statement, he said he deeply sympathised with Epstein's victims and "everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure".

It comes as the Duke has faced a growing backlash after a BBC interview.

Earlier, a letter written to the Times newspaper by Buckingham Palace cast doubt on when the duke first met Epstein.

The 2011 letter says they met in the early 1990s, not in 1999 as Prince Andrew said in his BBC interview.

London Correspondent Natalie Powell spoke to Morning Report.

Growing furore over the New Zealand First Foundation has led to calls for changes to electoral law.

RNZ political editor Jane Patterson speaks to Kim Hill.

A woman molested as a five-year-old girl by a high-profile Catholic theologian is outraged at a church leader justifying his abuse.

A Catholic leader is accused of telling a woman who was attacked when she was a girl by a high-profile priest, that he was "healing himself" when he had sex.

Rangi Davis is apologising.

But this has caused more ructions for the Church with the Royal Commission on abuse, already shaken by Bishop Charles Drennan's resigning over his affair with a young woman.

Phil Pennington reports.

The Black Caps coach Gary Stead there's no guarantee fast bowler Lockie Ferguson will make his Test debut in Hamilton - after missing out on the 11 for the first Test against England starting today in Mount Maunganui.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The New Zealand cricket team gets its chance to reverse a poor run against England when the test cricket season gets under way in Mount Maunganui today.

England of course won an unforgettable World Cup final in July after a controversial super over and edged the Black Caps 3-2 in November's T20 series.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead told sports editor Stephen Hewson the five-day game poses different challenges.

A challenge of a different kind was put to Prince Charles at Waitangi yesterday - to lend one of his sons to Aotearoa to be a governor-general.

The request came from Ngāti Hine kaumatua, Waihoroi Shortland.

Some thought it a cheeky suggestion but Mr Shortland told our Māori news director Māni Dunlop he was being serious.

A woman molested as a five-year-old girl by a high-profile theologian is outraged at a Catholic leader offered excuses for his abuse.

Anne Hill of Northland was preyed on from the age of five by the late Father Michael Shirres, who was revered for decades among Maori in the Far North.

She says that Rangi Davis, a representative on Te Ropu Tautoko, the church body that liases with the Royal Commission on abuse, told her Shirres was 'healing himself' by having sex with girls.

Te Ropu says Rangi Davis is "deeply sorry" the conversation has caused such distress, and has offered her profound apologies. Ms Davis has not returned RNZ's calls.

Ms Hill rejects that apology.

The two met at the Royal Commission's hearings in Auckland this month.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.