News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

The United Kingdom has plunged into its worst recession on record.

The British economy shrank 20.4 percent in the second quarter of 2020.

By way of comparison: In its worst month during the 2008 financial crisis, the UK's biggest quarterly contraction was 2.1 percent.

Vincent McAviney is our correspondent in London.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is due to make his first public appearance with his newly-minted running mate - Kamala Harris - in Delaware today.

Harris would be the first female Vice President, as well as the first black and Asian person to hold the role, in American history.

In a tweet, she wrote that together with Biden she is "in a battle for the soul of this nation," but that it is a battle she can win.

[embed] https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1293614557332680704

With all the players on the board, the stage is presumably set for the November election.

Isaac Dovere from The Atlantic speaks to Kim Hill from Delaware.

The move to Level 3 has emptied Auckland schools, forcing teachers and children to return to online and distance learning.

Karen McMurray from Randwick Park School spoke to our education correspondent, John Gerritsen, about how the first day under Alert Level 3.

There are nine police checkpoints at Auckland's boundaries to prevent residents from leaving - and outsiders coming in.

Members of Auckland iwi Ngāti Whātua are assisting police run the northern regional checkpoints. 

Kaimahi from Ngāti Whātua health provider Te Hā Oranga will assist police in running some of those checkpoints. 

It's general manager Boyd Boughton told RNZ reporter Meriana Johnsen their role would be to ease tensions at the checkpoints.

A public health professor says the latest Covid-19 oubreak is a wake up call for New Zealand after the country relaxed a little too far into Alert Level 1.

The co leader of Te Ropu Whakakaupapa Uruta, the National Maori Pandemic group, Papaarangi Reid says she hopes that level three is a reminder that the threat from the global pandemic is still very real.

Scientists say Covid 19 could have been spreading in Auckland for weeks, we'll speak to the director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield National demands more say in Covid decision-making, Grant Robertson and Judith Collins will be on the programme. 50 victims of the Christchurch gunman and their families have arrived back in New Zealand for the sentencing - they're in managed isolation. Overseas Joe Biden makes his first public appearance with his newly-minted running mate -- Kamala Harris .

The Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden has picked Kamala Harris as his running mate. If elected, she would be America's first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president. Washington DC correspondent Simon Marks speaks to Corin Dann.

Christchurch Hospital's new Acute Services Building finally has an opening date of November 16th - after two years of delays, at least $80 million over budget.

The big move is bittersweet for staff because it's not a solution to the health board's capacity problems and it won't fully replace the old hospital, as hoped.

As Katie Todd found out on a media tour it will make a dramatic difference for patients.