Police dog Gage appears to have given up its life to save its handler and created some time to allow officers to escape from the scene of yesterday's shooting.

Sydney's real underbelly has been further rocked by the arrest of part-time model and socialite Shayda Bastani on a charge of conspiring to kill .

Guns could be made more accessible to police amid concerns about the growing number of officers being "ambushed".

Police are set to get greater access to firearms after two officers were shot and wounded in Christchurch today, according to Police Commissioner Howard Broad.

Two men have been taken into custody after a police dog was killed and two police officers injured in an armed incident in Christchurch.

The inmate charged with killing prison guard Jason Palmer has admitted his manslaughter.

The 2-year-old son of murdered farmer Scott Guy wants to go out on the farm with his dad.

The parents of murdered Manawatu dairy farmer Scott Guy say they are at a loss to understand why their son was killed, and have appealed to the public to come forward with any information they might have about the shooting.

A woman was heard yelling, "I wasn't dating you anyway", at a party before police arrived at the function to find a woman had been murdered.

The gunman who shot dead six people in the Raurimu massacre in 1997 has apologised publicly for the first time.

A homicide investigation is underway after the stabbing death of a woman at a party in Manurewa overnight.

"I couldn't stop myself watching," said one Rothbury resident of the Raoul Moat stand-off with police.

The dawn slaying of a Feilding dairy farmer in his driveway has left his shattered family struggling.

David Bain has again called emergency services - but this time it was to assist a stranger.

Fugitive British gunman Raoul Moat died after shooting himself following a six-hour stand-off with armed police.