A man accused of shooting dead an undercover police officer in 2008 denied he had guns and weapons at his house to protect a meth operation, the High Court heard today.

The man accused of shooting dead an undercover police officer says he did so out of self defence, the High Court has heard.

Murder accused John Skinner said he fired shots at Sergeant Don Wilkinson because he thought Mr Wilkinson was "reaching for something to harm him with", a jury has heard.

An undercover officer says he took secret equipment from a slain colleague because he didn't want it falling into the wrong hands.

A police officer who was at the scene where an undercover officer was shot dead in 2008 says there was an element of risk involved that night.

A police officer at the scene where an undercover officer was killed in 2008 says body armour is "very hot, it's very bulky and... quite detectable".

Two undercover police officers were shot at close range, one fatally, after they and a colleague was sprung trying to put a tracking device on a car, a jury has been told.

Two women were car-jacked at gunpoint while sitting in a McDonalds carpark in the early hours of this morning.

Willie Jackson's urban authority wants to negotiate to buy a troubled rest home tagged for closure at the end of the month.

Broadcaster Willie Jackson is making a last-ditch attempt to save a Mangere rest home slated for closure by the Counties Manukau DHB.

A rest home and hospital for the aged in South Auckland will close next month after it failed to meet standards imposed by health authorities.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from the former owners of land purchased for the construction of Auckland Airport.

A girl, 2, helping her mother wash the family car was killed after another child climbed into the vehicle and released the hand brake.