Good morning, here’s what you need to know this Thursday.
Joe Biden is the big winner in the Democrats' US election race as billionaire Michael Bloomberg drops out, Italy is closing all schools and colleges due to the coronavirus epidemic, and the bill to fix community midwives' pay is set at $50 million.
Bloomberg waves goodbye to US presidential bid
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has ended his run for the US presidency after Joe Biden surged to wins in nine of the 14 states which held votes for the Democrat hopefuls on Super Tuesday. The winner gets to take on Donald Trump in November's election. Bloomberg, who has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money on the race, called it quits after Biden’s back-from-the-dead victories , which sees the former US Vice-President jump ahead of Bernie Sanders in the delegate count – 433 to 388 (1991 are needed to win). Bloomberg backed Biden after he dropped out . But Sanders is far from giving up , saying: “You can’t beat Trump with the same-old, same-old kind of politics.”
Virus closes all Italy's schools
The main developments in the coronavirus epidemic worldwide overnight:
Third case confirmed in NZ ·
Test results have confirmed a third New Zealand case of Covid-19 this morning . It was revealed yesterday that a woman in her thirties who had recently returned from northern Italy has the virus. Her partner's being tested after showing symptoms, but the third confirmed case is another person. The woman in the second case and her family are now in isolation, with health services calling for restraint and calm after they were the target of abuse and bullying on social media .
Meanwhile, the 14-day quarantine period for six New Zealanders evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan is ending. They’ll be released from the Whangaparaoa naval base today.
Community midwives' pay fix 'urgent'
The bill for fixing pay and conditions for community midwives is being put at $50 million in a report out this morning. The NZIER says the way they’re funded at the moment isn’t working and needs to be completely revamped , with a hefty cost. It says they aren’t paid for the work they do, and some of these midwives are doing 20 percent more than an equivalent fulltime role.
Other news of note this morning:
And finally...
The return of a popular vintage Russian war plane , the Polikarpov, has aviation fans excited ahead of the Warbirds over Wanaka air show. “You've just got to look at it - it's short and stubby and it looks kind of aggressive. When it fires up, it sounds aggressive, it is a very noisy little aircraft,” says show organiser Ed Taylor.
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