The son of NZ fugitive Tom Phillips, who evaded police detection with his three children for nearly four years, was holding a rifle when police approached their makeshift camp.

Phillips was shot dead by police early Monday morning after officers were called to a robbery south of Auckland.

Phillips' oldest daughter was with Phillips at the time they were intercepted by police and she was able to guide police to her siblings in dense bushland.

Police sources told the New Zealand Herald Phillips' 10-year-old son Maverick was holding a rifle, before special unit officers were able to persuade him to put it down.

Chilling images of inside the bus where fugitive Dezi Freeman and his family lived in Victoria’s northwest have been revealed as the search for the alleged gunman and self-proclaimed “sovereign citizen” enters its 17th day.

The property where the officers were killed has since been forensically examined and is no longer declared a crime scene.

However, police said the home was still an “area of concern”.

“That property has been searched by Victoria Police a number of times,” Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly told reporters on Wednesday.

“We’ll work with owners in relation to steps going forward to the return of that property at the appropriate time.”

On Wednesday, vision emerged of the moment police asked Freeman to exit the bus prior to the deadly shooting. Police said the vision was not filmed by them and called the video's emergence "disappointing" and "distressing" for the victims' families.

- NewsWire

The winner of a $1.4m Saturday Lotto prize that sat unclaimed for five weeks has finally come forward.

It turns out the Sydney man had his ticket sat on his dresser for the whole time.

“I had absolutely no idea. The ticket was just sitting at home until I went to the newsagency to buy another one. I was just going to replay the ticket I had, and that’s when it showed I won!" he told lottery officials.

It's not the only big prize that has sat unclaimed for weeks this year. The Lott are still searching for a mystery winner of the mammoth $100m Powerball jackpot in June. The ticket was sold in Sydney's Bondi Junction but officials haven't been able to locate the winner.

Returning to Australian news now and three people and a police officer have been injured in a dog attack in Sydney’s west.

Police were called to the corner of Charles Hackett Drive and Great Western Highway in St Marys shortly before 10am after reports three people had been attacked by two dogs.

A man in his 50s, a woman in her 70s and anther man in his 30s were all treated at the scene by paramedics.

They have been transported to hospital in a stable condition. The two dogs are believed to be owned by one of the men, police say.

“A police officer was also attacked by the dogs and was taken to hospital in a stable condition,” a statement read.

The dogs have since been secured by officers, assisted by Penrith Council rangers, who have launched an investigation into the incident.

- NewsWire

Charlie Kirk was a married father-of-two who regularly spoke of the importance of his family to him.

Kirk married wife Erika in 2021 and welcomed a daughter in 2022 and a son in 2024.

"God, family, country. In that order," Kirk wrote in an Instagram post a week ago for Labor Day.

While often sharing photos of his family to social media, he purposely refrained from revealing his children's faces and names.

Politicians across Australia have responded to the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, with Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles calling his death an "absolute tragedy".

“Obviously, we condemn any form of political violence. It really matters that political discourse occurs peacefully and through dialogue and conversation, and what we’ve seen play out in the United States over the last few hours is an absolute tragedy," he told Sky News.

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson called the killing “absolutely shocking”, and the leading theory the shooting was politically motivated was "very distressing".

One Nation founder Pauline Hanson said she was "horrified and frightened at the idea that speaking out against the left's ideologies can lead to this".

"Your courage will continue to inspire people like myself and other genuine conservatives across the globe."

In some breaking news, a person who had been detained by authorities in the wake of the Charlie Kirk shooting has now been released.

There were conflicting reports over whether a suspect had been detained, with the FBI Director Kash Patel initially saying a suspect was in custody.

Utah Department of Public Safety Beau Mason said the man arrested was not the "accurate person of interest".

He's been described as a heavily-influential MAGA activist and "close friend" of US President Donald Trump. But who was Charlie Kirk?

The 31-year-old was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit youth organisation that promotes right-wing politics among young Americans at school and university campuses. He was just 18 when it was founded.

The organisation has rapidly grown in recent years and led to Kirk becoming a key MAGA figure and Trump ally who had been a regular visitor to the White House. His popularity led to him starting a daily podcast which has between 500,000 and 750,000 daily downloads, NBC reported.

He is well known for open-air political debates with students at campuses and has debated a range of issues including transgender identity, climate change and faith.

Charlie Kirk was asked about US mass shootings seconds before he was shot in the neck on Wednesday, videos circulating on social media show.

"Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America in the last 10 years?" a person asked Kirk. "Counting or not counting gang violence?" Kirk replied moments before he was shot.

Authorities say the alleged gunman possibly shot Kirk from a nearby roof. Utah Governor Spencer Cox said there was "no information" at this point to suggest a second person was involved.

An 11-year-old girl has died after a ute crashed into a dam in northern NSW.

The child was a passenger in an SUV that struck a tree before entering the dam in Tenterfield.

She was pulled unresponsive from the the water but died at the scene.

The 68-year-old female driver was also pulled from the water and was taken to hospital in a stable condition.

There have been dramatic scenes in Sydney overnight and this morning with large dumping of rain saw more than 100mm fall in parts of the city.

Flash flooding wreaked havoc on inner-city roads with trams brought to a halt on Wednesday night. In the 24-hour window to 9am this morning, Sydney Observatory received 122mm.

One video from a commuter on the eastern suburbs bus route 333 shows water seeping into the bus, flooding the floor as the bus continues to drive.

There was extreme rain falls in regions south of Sydney, with Ulladulla receiving 144mm in the 24-hour window to 9am.

We start with the biggest news of the morning. Donald Trump ally and MAGA activist Charlie Kirk has been shot dead, the US president has confirmed.

The 31-year-old was speaking at a Utah Valley University event when he was struck in the neck. The shooting caused the large crowd, several thousand people, to quickly disperse in fear.

Trump confirmed Kirk's death after he was rushed to hospital. He paid tribute to Kirk, calling him "legendary". Kirk was a well-known conservative activist and is said to have had a close relationship with the US president, with Trump calling him a "very good friend".

The Governor of Utah Spencer Cox called the shooting a "political assassination". The FBI says a suspect has now been caught.

Follow live updates from our team in the US here.