A man charged with a double murder in Auckland has had his name suppressed so his children can be told of the charges. He will reappear in court on Monday.

No charges have been laid following the deaths of two men at a central Auckland mansion, but a man is assisting police with their inquiries.

Police have launched a double homicide investigation after two men were killed at at a multi-million dollar mansion in the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert today. A resident of the property is helping police with their enquiries.

The West Auckland parents accusing of abusing their nine-year-old girl have appeared in court today.

Flickering candles, flowers and stuffed toys cram the pavement in the immediate vicinity of shot congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford's office.

The family of a girl, 5, found dead last month had to be restrained when the man accused of sexually violating her appeared in court today.

It would be dangerous to instantly suggest that the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was the product of a poisoned political climate in the United States.

There was something awfully inevitable about the Tucson shooting, writes the Herald's Foreign Editor Nicola Lamb.

Jared Lee Loughner walked up to the crowd and opened fire... if everything had gone to plan he would no longer be around.

The man arrested for allegedly trying to set fire to a campervan with two people in it has been charged with the attempted murder of the pair.

The woman who was discovered seriously injured in Christchurch early today says she believes she was intentionally mown down by a driver.

A former Australian soldier has been sentenced to 20 years in jail in Afghanistan for murdering a colleague.

The Michael Jackson hearing hopes to determine whether the pop singer died of natural causes or criminal negligence.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen a man and a woman walking away after a man was stabbed in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula on New Year's Day to come forward.