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.

Eric Batchelor, one of NZ's most highly decorated World War II soldiers, died in Waimate, on Saturday.

Police investigating the murder of a dairy farmer in his driveway are looking into an unsolved arson at the property two years ago.

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

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.

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.

A young Manawatu dairy farmer shot dead in his driveway is now being treated as a homicide, police say.

The family of Feilding dairy farmer Scott Guy, whose death police are treating as suspicious, have paid tribute to him.