New Zealand has passed world-first legislation granting victims of domestic violence 10 days paid leave to allow them to leave their partners, find new homes and protect themselves and their children. MPs clapped and cheered as bill passed on Wednesday night with 63 votes to 57. It is the result of seven years of work by Green MP Jan Logie, who worked in a women’s refuge before she became a politician.

Watch the New Zealand comedy duo’s video announcement

The New Zealand company behind a landmark trial of a four-day working week has concluded it an unmitigated success, with 78% of employees feeling they were able to successfully manage their work-life balance, an increase of 24%. Two-hundred-and-forty staff at Perpetual Guardian, a company which manages trusts, wills and estate planning, trialled a four-day working week over March and April, working four, eight-hour days but getting paid for five.

Two lost musical scores from Gustav Holst are being hand-delivered to the UK after being found in New Zealand. The works, which were signed by the renowned composer in 1906, turned up last year some 11,500 miles (18,500 km) from where they were written.

A new 3D color medical scanner invented by father and son scientists in New Zealand recently scanned its first human subject, according to a news release from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The novel imaging device, called the MARS spectral x-ray scanner, can capture enhanced detail of the body's chemical components—such as fat, water, and disease markers—by measuring the x-ray spectrum to produce images in color. Producing more detailed images than MRI or CT may allow physicians to identify and diagnosis diseases earlier.

New Zealand scientists have performed the first-ever 3-D, colour X-ray on a human, using a technique that promises to improve the field of medical diagnostics, said Europe's CERN physics lab which contributed imaging technology.

The New Zealand Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that internet entrepreneur and Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face racketeering and criminal copyright charges. The court’s written decision rejected Dotcom’s appeal and upheld a lower court ruling in 2017 that the extradition could take place. The six-year legal saga is widely seen as a test for how far the United States can reach globally to apply American firms’ intellectual property rights.

The United States wants Kim Dotcom extradited and tried over criminal copyright charges.

Photo by William Patino

When New Zealand police arrested Catherine Healy after raiding the Wellington brothel she worked in during the 1980s, it was impossible to imagine that one day she would be recognised by the Queen for her services to the industry. “It could have never happened in our minds,” Healy told the Guardian. “It couldn’t have happened in my mind even a couple of weeks ago.” For years she and her fellow sex workers fought stigma while campaigning for greater rights and recognition.

Nigel Rothsay spent five years in his Masterton NZ home before discovering his neighbours owned it.

A massive sinkhole has opened up on a New Zealand farm, with a volcanologist saying it is the biggest he has ever seen in the country. The crack was discovered at Earthquake Flat, 15 kilometres south-east of Rotorua on New Zealand's North Island. Vulcanologist Brad Scott visited the farm where it was discovered and said it would have taken decades for the underground cavity to grow, but was spurred on by recent heavy rain.

Comic Rhys Darby calls on Jacinda Ardern for help solving the 'next great conspiracy' – why the country keeps getting left off world maps

Gin Wigmore

New Zealand has stunned the energy industry by slapping a new cap on drilling for oil and gas in its waters as part of efforts to combat climate change. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Thursday that the government will "no longer be granting any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits." "This is another step on our transition away from fossil fuels and towards a carbon neutral economy," Ardern said in a speech.

Inbreeding and male infertility could be impeding the recovery of one of New Zealand's threatened birds - the stitchbird, or hihi. Hihi sperm might hold the answer, and help raise funds for conservation.

The New Zealand government will grant no new offshore oil exploration permits in a move that is being hailed by conservation and environmental groups as a historic victory in the battle against climate change. The ban will apply to new permits and won’t affect the existing 22, some of which have decades left on their exploration rights and cover an area of 100,000 sq km. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said her government “has a plan to transition towards a carbon-neutral future, one that looks 30 years in advance”.

Ten New Zealanders who downloaded an app on Facebook could have exposed up to 63,714 of their compatriots to the data mining tactics of Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has told the country’s privacy commissioner that it is in the process of alerting New Zealanders who were affected by the breach, which occurred when ten users downloaded a personality quiz app.

The Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that the Attorney-General broke the law by withholding information from Kim Dotcom, which he says means his extradition case is "over". In July 2015, Mr Dotcom sent an urgent information privacy request to all 28 Ministers of the Crown as well as almost all Government departments, asking for personal information they had on him, including under his previous names.