Mōrena,  

Figures obtained by RNZ show since 2014, 32 mayors from most of the country's district and city councils, have made a total of 70 trips to China.  

The majority were paid for by ratepayers, but Chinese businesses and governments have funded about a third of the visits.   

Councils spent nearly $250,000 on those trips.  

Most trips were to establish sister relationships with cities and regions or to promote New Zealand at expos and conferences. 

More on Morning Report 

Jewish Council distressed by 'copycat' shooting in Germany

Religious leaders are appalled that the Christchurch mosque shooting appears to have inspired a copycat. 

A gunman killed two people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, in an attack in the German city of Halle that he livestreamed on a video-gaming platform. 

New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses says it is a sad reality that places of worship need to have a security system in the first place. 

Is it time for New Zealand to push through anti-slavery laws? 

Yesterday we brought you the story about migrants in Italy being exploited in the tinned tomato industry while the Italian mafia makes millions. 

The Detail today looks at what companies are doing to improve the transparency of the supply chain and why it's taking such a long time. 

Man fights to hold Catholic church accountable for abuse

The dark past of the Dunedin diocese and its clutch of clerical pedophiles still ensnares Marc (name changed). But he means to be free of it. 

It is his second attempt to get some kind of justice for how he was robbed of his childhood in Dunedin in the 1980s, by four Catholic leaders who sexually violated him for years. 

He considers his first attempt to be heard, in 2013, naive. The email he had sent resulted in a six-hour interview with the Christian Brothers in Australia. 

The Brothers gave Marc an apology, a payout, and a waiver he signed preventing him ever taking on the church again. 

More on Morning Report 

A history of cancelled rugby matches 

World Rugby has officially announced the cancellation of the All Blacks-Italy and England-France matches at the Rugby World Cup in Japan as Typhoon Hagibis bears down on the country. 

These two matches are the first at a Rugby World Cup ever to be cancelled in its history since 1987. 

Most games go ahead in rain, snow and all sorts of inclement weather, though hardly typhoons. Cancelling rugby test matches is very rare; here's a list of them. 

‘I disappeared from Sonoda and nobody noticed’ 

Analysis - When I read about how the body of student Mason Pendrous lay undiscovered for weeks at the Canterbury hall of residence Sonoda, I thought it was tragic, but I wasn't surprised. 

I lived in the halls in 2013, and all but moved out to live with my partner for a few months and Sonoda never noticed I was gone. 

Max Towle recalls how weeks went by and apparently no one missed him. 

Ngāpuhi leader Sonny Tau resigns 

Sonny Tau, 66, has resigned as the chairman of Te Rūnanga ā iwi o Ngāpuhi. The reasons are unclear at this stage. 

A rūnanga spokesperson has confirmed that the Ngāpuhi leader has resigned.  

Mr Tau has been the chair of Ngāpuhi since 2009. He was re-elected to the chair in August, following one of the highest voting turnouts for the rūnanga. 

We're working to make this newsletter even better, so we'd like to hear what you think about it.

We'd really appreciate if you took the time to answer a few questions by following this link.

And remember, if you prefer a simple RSS feed of our top stories instead of this curated newsletter, you can sign up for that here, just select the "RNZ Top Stories (automated RSS feed)" option.