Nights

The Big Feed Telethon will be on air and on the phones tomorrow with the aim of raising over one million meals for families in need. Running from 6am until 8pm, the telethon is run by Meat the Need, a rural group who donates milk and mince to food banks around the country. Last year's event raised 1.2 million meals. This year's hosts are Matt Chisholm and Meat the Need co-founder Wayne Langford. Langford joins Mark Leishman to tell him what's planned for the big show.

A North Canterbury community's bid to become one of the premiere stargazing areas in New Zealand is a step closer. The Oxford Dark Sky Group has submitted its application for dark sky park status for the 11,350ha Oxford Forest Conservation Area. The decision will ultimately lie with the International Dark-Sky Association to determine whether Oxford fits the criteria. Raul Elias-Drago from the Oxford Dark Sky Group tells Mark Leishman about the work that's gone into the bid.

If you're struggling to find the right Christmas present for your gardening friend, look no further than the Soil & Health Association of New Zealand's first-ever calendar. It features everything you might expect: lovely photos of flowers, vegetables, and healthy, rich soil. But amongst the foliage and bright colours are people gardening au-naturel. Jenny Lux, an organic market gardener from Rotorua and the co-chair of Soil & Health, tells Mark Leishman about why the group decided to get closer to nature for its calendar.

A severe thunderstorm battered the Wellington and Wairarapa regions today with winds, hail, heavy rain and lightning strikes. The thunderstorm initially hit Canterbury this morning before moving north, and is expected to continue to move up the East Coast of the North Island this evening. More than 2000 people lost power in Wellington, residential streets were flooded, and eye witnesses have described a 'mini tornado' hitting buildings in the Hutt Valley, with shop windows shattered and roofs coming loose. Just after 5pm, it was announced two people had been taken to Hutt Hospital, one in a serious condition and one in a moderate condition. MetService meteorologist John Crouch tells Mark Leishman the latest.

Despite the severe weather, tonight, behind the clouds, a rare meteor shower is taking place over Aotearoa. The comet 46-P Wirtanen orbits Earth every five and a half years, and for the first time ever, it's looking like a trail of dust from the comet's tail will be visible on the ground in the form of a meteor shower. Earlier predictions had the North Island's East Coast singled out as the most likely spot to get a clear view of the show. Today's thunderstorm might have other plans, but the region is home to a clutch of dedicated stargazers. Mark Leishman dials in to Gary Sparks of the Hawke's Bay Astronomical Society and Holt Planetarium.

Pop culture heavyweights Barbie and Oppenheimer have swept many of the categories in the nominations for the 81st annual Golden Globes. Nominees for the awards celebrating excellence in film and television were announced today, with winners set to be announced on January 7, 2024. TV drama heavy-hitter Succession features for its fourth and final season too, as well as more recent TV favourites The Last of Us and The Bear. Stuff film and TV reviewer James Croot takes Mark Leishman through this year's snubs, surprises and success stories.

Many of Aotearoa New Zealand's iconic tree species are threatened with extinction and a new study says the traditional ways of preserving seeds might not work for all of them. The research has found about 1 in 5 native species, including forest giants like kauri, totara and rimu, can't be reliably preserved using conventional seedbanking techniques. Currently, little is known about how to perfect more complicated techniqes, such as cryopreservation, among these taonga species. Lead researcher Dr Sarah Wyse from the School of Forestry at Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha - University of Canterbury joins the programme.

We all know dogs are man's best friend - but if we were to disapear overnight, what would happen to the estimated one billion canines around the world? Dr Bradley Smith. a senior lecturer at CQ University in Australia studying animal behaviour, has been pondering this very question. He says without people, the 20 percent of the global dog population that are currently domesticated would swiftly come to experience the forces of natural selection. He joins Mark Leishman.

The BBC's Pete Ross with the stories making headlines around the world.

Scottish golf enthusist David Jones has played and reviewed courses all over the globe, from the United Kingdom and the United States to Dubai and Australia, and many places in between. Known as 'The Golf Guy', for the past 10 days, Jones has been getting the lay of the land in Aotearoa New Zealand. He joins Mark Leishman to share his opinions on New Zealand's golf courses.