A man is facing drug charges after cash and methamphetamine were recovered by police executing search warrants in the Far North.Detectives from the Kaikohe Police Station and the Far North Organised Crime Unit executed search warrants…

A woman and a child have been assaulted after five men broke into their home in Melbourne's west overnight.

Police were told up to five men forced their way into the back door of a home on Raleighs Road, Melton, around 11.55pm last night.

A woman, a teenage boy and a child were home at the time.

READ MORE: New poll shows Liberals on edge of losing seat they've held since 1949

According to police, the armed men assaulted the nine-year-old child. They then assaulted and demanded money from the 51-year-old woman.

The 16-year-old boy ran from the home to get help, while the men fled after stealing a gaming console and mobile phone.

The child was uninjured but the woman was taken to hospital, although her injuries were not life-threatening.

READ MORE: How guard got her lover out of prison without anyone noticing

Sergeant Megan Stefanec described the group as being African in appearance and may be aged between 16 and 20 years old.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne has met with her Solomon Islands counterpart in Brisbane in a bid to repair relations with the Pacific Island nation.

Payne met with Jeremiah Manele overnight as he travelled through Brisbane.

It is the first high-level ministerial meeting between the two countries since the Solomon Islands signed a security pact which could see China set up a military base there.

READ MORE: New poll shows Liberals on edge of losing seat they've held since 1949

"Australia has been consistent and clear in stating our respect for Solomon Islands' sovereign decision-making, however we have reiterated our deep concerns about the security agreement with China, including the lack of transparency," Payne said in a statement.

"I again reinforced this in my meeting tonight.

"We agreed that Australia remains Solomon Islands' security partner of choice."

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"I again welcomed Prime Minister Sogavare's assurance that Solomon Islands will not be used for a foreign military base.

"Australia will always work constructively and respectfully with our Pacific family."

The meeting was welcomed by opposition leader Anthony Albanese.

"It's about time," he said.

READ MORE: Albanese backtracks on plan for free rapid antigen tests

He said he was not aware if shadow foreign minister Penny Wong was invited to the meeting, but said it would have been appropriate under caretaker mode rules which the government operates under during election campaigns.

The meeting came several days after Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said his country was being "threatened with invasion".

"We are being treated as kindergarten students walking around with Colt 45s in our hands, and therefore we need to be supervised," he told his country's parliament.

"We are insulted, Mr Speaker."

Earlier this week Prime Minister Scott Morrison described China building a military base on the Solomon Islands as a "red line".

FULL COVERAGE: Federal Election 2022

A marble bust that a Texas woman bought for nearly $50 from a Goodwill store is temporarily on display at a San Antonio museum after experts determined it was a centuries-old sculpture missing from Germany since World War II.

The bust, which art collector Laura Young found at Goodwill in 2018, once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, according to the San Antonio Museum of Art, which is temporarily displaying the piece until it is returned to Germany next year.

The ancient Roman bust dates to the first century BC or first century AD and historians believe it may depict a son of Pompey the Great, who was defeated in a civil war by Julius Caesar, the museum said.

READ MORE: 'Seemed like goodbye': Mariupol defenders make their stand

The sculpture was last seen in Aschaffenburg, Germany, and experts believe a soldier took the sculpture and brought it to the United States, the museum said.

A Sotheby's consultant identified the work and it was further authenticated, the museum said.

“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location," Bernd Schreiber said, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes.

Young said there were a few months of “intense excitement” after learning the history behind the piece, which she found on the floor beneath a table at a Goodwill in Austin, Texas.

READ MORE: Why May 9 is a big day for Russia

Young reached a deal to return the bust to Germany with the help of an attorney who specialises in international art law, Austin radio station KUT reported.

The terms of that deal were confidential.

“But it was bittersweet since I knew I couldn’t keep or sell the (bust),” she said.

"Either way, I’m glad I got to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history, and he looked great in the house while I had him.”

Anthony Albanese has backtracked on remarks from five months ago that rapid antigen tests should be free for all Australians.

The opposition leader made free RATs a Labor policy in January, at the height of the nation's Omicron wave.

But "times have changed", Albanese has said.

READ MORE: Poll shows Liberals on edge of losing seat they've held since 1949

"At the time there was an urgent need to get RATs out to people," he said at a press conference in Launceston.

"The government was too slow to order vaccines, and it was too slow to organise rapid antigen tests."

Minutes earlier, Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.

READ MORE: Albanese a 'weak leader', Morrison tells Perth crowd

Shorten tweeted about the positive test earlier today.

"Never good timing for anyone so will be in iso for a week and then free for final week of the campaign," he tweeted.

"A good reminder to take care of ourselves and one another, distance where you can, open the windows and do regular RATs."

https://twitter.com/billshortenmp/status/1522751851376295937

Thirty-three people in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have died with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

NSW reported 11,671 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, a rise from yesterday's 10,995 infections.

Victoria has recorded 9365 new COVID-19 cases overnight.

Queensland has recorded 6662 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, a drop from yesterday's 7040 infections.

FULL COVERAGE: Federal Election 2022

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

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The Liberal Party is facing a new headache in the previously safe seat of Mackellar, with independent candidate Sophie Scamps releasing a poll showing her neck-and-neck with sitting MP Jason Falinski.

The poll, conducted by UComms for the Scamps campaign, showed her polling 31 per cent of the primary vote, just one point behind Falinski.

A statement from Scamps' campaign said a "strong majority of preferences" were being directed in her direction.

READ MORE: Albanese a 'weak leader', Morrison tells Perth crowd

Labor is polling at 15 per cent and the Greens at nearly nine per cent.

The campaign says the poll shows momentum for Scamps, gaining seven points in primary support since a poll last month.

The seat, on Sydney's Northern Beaches, has been held by the Liberal Party since its inception in 1949.

READ MORE: How guard got her lover out of prison without anyone noticing

Mackellar stretches from Dee Why and Frenchs Forest up to Palm Beach.

While the seat has drawn less national attention than others with the so-called "teal independents" running, Scamps has built up a strong local profile.

The Narrabeen GP and 1992 Olympic athlete is running a campaign focused on climate action.

The Coalition is facing a serious challenge in seats that have been considered in the bag for the Liberals for generations, thanks to high-profile independents.

READ MORE: AEC investigating misleading signs targeting independents

The seats include Wentworth, North Sydney, Kooyong and Hughes.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison decried the independents running in Liberal seats.

"If they won't tell you how they would vote, how could you vote for them," he said.

"We've seen the weakness in the leadership of the Labor Party. Can you imagine having to go to that chorus of independents, the Greens, and everyone else, I mean, they're weak enough as it is."

Morrison has done little campaigning in the seats facing independent challengers.

FULL COVERAGE: Federal Election 2022

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