Polls show neither major party will have enough seats to form government, meaning the fate could fall on centrist minor party, Opportunity

The final polls ahead of New Zealand’s election show a knife-edge path to power, with neither the ruling right-wing coalition or opposition left bloc able to form a government without the support of a newcomer centrist party.

New Zealanders will vote on 7 November, concluding a six-week campaign defined by the high costs of living, a wobbling healthcare system, political tit-for-tats over gangs, personal attacks, and complex vote-splitting strategies.

Brendan Larsen spent hours taking hundreds of photographs of the sky over a mountain in New Zealand

A photograph showing thousands of satellites cross-hatching the night sky over New Zealand appeared so extraordinary the astrophotographer who captured it is fighting accusations it was created by AI.

To create his spectacular image – now viewed millions of times online – Brendan Larsen spent two hours in September snapping hundreds of photographs of the night sky over Mount Taranaki in the North Island.

The tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin, known for its prominent yellow eyebrows, has for years baffled scientists with its unusual habits

Deep in the misty fjords of New Zealand’s South Island, a team of researchers is trying to catch one of the world’s most elusive penguins: the forest-dwelling tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguin. For weeks, researchers stand sentry each day over a burrow on Eleanor Island, hoping to corner the female bird so they can retrieve data from its tagging device.

But this penguin has developed a clever exit strategy – digging multiple tunnels to elude its captors.

The Tutoko I prepares for a research trip during its annual Fiordland crested penguin nest survey around Doubtful Sound

Government report finds the country could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves, as well as damaging storms and cyclones

New Zealand could be hit with more frequent and intense heatwaves and catastrophic glacier melts in the near future, as greenhouse gas levels hit record highs, a new report about the nation’s climate has revealed.

Released on Wednesday, the Our Atmosphere and Climate 2026 report shows New Zealand is experiencing mounting climate pressures, which will have wide-reaching implications for the environment, native species and communities.

Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss

The population of New Zealand’s endemic wētāpunga – believed to be the world’s heaviest insect – is officially “recovering” thanks to a groundbreaking breeding programme that has overseen the release of 11,000 insects into the wild.

“The future of wētāpunga is looking bright,” said Dr Chris Green, an honorary researcher at the department of conservation, who documented the success of the project for the New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Green co-authored a report released on 2 October that outlines the success of the breeding programme.

More than 100,000 have enrolled to vote from abroad in the November poll, and many are unhappy with how things look back home

New Zealander Kris Taute has lived in Australia for 15 years, but his head and heart are turning towards his home country and a looming general election that could be influenced by a large block of overseas voters.

From across the Tasman Sea, Taute has felt growing frustration at New Zealand’s centre-right coalition government, and analysts believe large numbers of New Zealanders who have left the country since they came to power in 2023 may be poised to vent their grievances at the ballot box in November.

Fondly known as the ‘goth’ of New Zealand’s bird world, the black robin now has a population of 350 adults thanks to a pioneering breeding programme

The black robin, once the world’s rarest bird before an extraordinary conservation project brought it back from brink of extinction, has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year, after record voter turnout.

The tiny bird is found only in the Chatham Islands, 800km east of mainland New Zealand. Called kakaruia in Māori and karure in Morirori – the language indigenous to the Chathams – the birds are also fondly known as the “goth” of New Zealand’s bird world, for its striking black plumage, black eyes and a little pointy black beak.

Inquiry uncovered missed opportunities and failures by New Zealand police and government agencies that could have avoided four-year hunt

A major public inquiry into the disappearance of fugitive father Tom Phillips, who hid in New Zealand’s wilderness for nearly four years with his three children, has found authorities played down the harms he inflicted on his children, and did not do enough to protect them.

Taking his children, of whom he did not have legal custody, Phillips disappeared into the rugged North Island wilderness in 2021. That disappearance was preempted by an earlier, shorter stint where Phillips went bush with his son and two daughters, aged five, seven and eight at the time.

Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325

The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.

Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began.

Kurdish New Zealander Baban Hussain has gained global fame with online hit he created with Australian producer

Two months ago, Baban Hussain, a 22-year-old Kurdish New Zealander, was working from a self-run studio in Auckland, putting out music to a few thousand followers as little-known rapper Fat Papi.

Then, as modern fairytales go, he made a viral hit that has amassed over 7.5bn views across YouTube, gained him nearly 10m new monthly listeners on Spotify, and catapulted him on to global charts – including the US Billboard Hot 100.

Anyone who has frequently landed in New Zealand’s capital has a hair-raising story to tell, and this year’s ‘super’ El Niño could only intensify the winds

It had been a smooth late-July flight from Auckland, until the plane started its descent into Wellington. Then the bumps and swaying began.

“The more we went down, the rockier it got,” says Laura, a Wellington resident who wished to give her first name only. “There was one point where we must have got a horrible cross-wind and it felt like the plane was about to flip over. At that point, the entire flight screamed.”

Just a few months ahead of an election, the prime minister said he had the full support of his party, after calling crisis meeting to address leadership speculation

New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon has survived a second leadership showdown in four months, just 87 days out from the country’s general election.

Talking to media after a three-hour meeting of his MPs in Wellington on Wednesday, the embattled leader said he had the full support of his party.

Forty years ago there were more than 22 sheep to every New Zealander, but wool prices and production declined with the uptake of synthetic alternatives

John Hargreaves’ family has farmed sheep and beef in Kaiwaka, north of Auckland, for generations. In the 1960s they had 3,000 ewes but in the decades since, as the value of wool declined and shearing costs grew, his flock slowly decreased to just over 1,700.

But now, for the first time in roughly six years, his wool is making money.

Snow falls in Wellington for the first time in 15 years while snow blanketed Dunedin and Christchurch on the country’s south island

Temperatures have plummeted across New Zealand as an Antarctic cold snap hovers over the country, delighting the capital, Wellington, which experienced snow for the first time in 15 years, while giving a southern city’s residents a chance to ski through the streets.

The front moved in on Tuesday, with much of the country waking to freezing conditions, frosts, snowfall, hail and bitingly cold wind.

Large tabby cat that wiped out dozens of rare pāteke, or brown teal, has been killed after eluding trappers with its ‘very erratic’ behaviour

A notorious feral cat given the name “Nine Lives” because it eluded trappers for three years has been caught and killed in New Zealand, ending its devastating rampage against one of the country’s rare duck populations.

The cat, a large grey tabby, is estimated to have killed dozens of New Zealand’s rarest mainland duck – or 1% of its population – plus a host of kiwi chicks, native geckos and other native wildlife during the three years it was known to be roaming the Purerua peninsula, near the top of the North Island.

Passing of bill gives English same status as Māori and sign language but, with it already spoken by 95% of country, critics call it ‘a pointless exercise’

Legislation recognising English as an official language of New Zealand has been passed by parliament, prompting derision from linguists and legal experts and a now-viral broadside from a Māori MP who called it “pathetic”.

The English language bill became law on 30 July giving English, which is spoken by 95% of the country, the same official status as te reo Māori (Māori language) and New Zealand sign language.

Footage shows North Island skies lighting up followed by a ‘huge boom’ days after a separate fireball in South Island

Two large suspected meteors have flashed and boomed across New Zealand’s skies in recent days, delighting those who glimpsed the celestial events and sending some animals into a frenzy.

A fireball was seen over parts of the North Island just after 10.20pm on Tuesday night, after a separate one streaked across South Island’s skies on Sunday evening.

Dunedin will be the focal point, having last experienced such an eclipse in 1163 – before any humans reached New Zealand

Hotels are booking out two years in advance in the New Zealand city of Dunedin as it prepares for the region’s first total solar eclipse in more than 850 years.

At 4.17pm on 22 July 2028, the moon will pass in front of the sun, casting a roughly 100km-wide shadowy band across parts of southern New Zealand. Everywhere within that band – from tourist hotspot Queenstown in the west to Dunedin city in the east – will be plunged into daytime darkness for 2 minutes and 51 seconds.

Thousands of dollars’ worth of donations also flood in to charity that Neill joined in protest against a controversial mine near his vineyard

• ‘He made wine and he shared it. What more do you want?’: Sam Neill remembered by his co-stars

New Zealand stores have been selling out of Sam Neill’s wine label, and the causes he held dear have had an influx of support, as fans find ways to pay tribute to the adored late actor.

The 78-year-old New Zealander died on 13 July of pneumonia, just three months after Neill revealed he was finally cancer-free since being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022.

Minister urges public to report cases of three or more sick or dead birds in a group after brown skua seabird tests positive for H5N1 on Wellington beach

The deadly H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in New Zealand for the first time, sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads.

A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test on Wednesday, after it was found on Petone beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the biosecurity minister.