Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested a prominent Muslim lawmaker and his brother over suspected connections to the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in 2019 that killed 269 people.

Rishad Bathiudeen is a former Cabinet minister who currently leads an opposition party in Sri Lanka's Parliament. He and his brother, Reyaj Bathiudeen, were arrested in the capital for allegedly "aiding and abetting the suicide bombers who committed the Easter Sunday carnage," said police spokesman Ajith Rohana.

He said the brothers have not yet been officially charged but were arrested based on direct evidence, as well as what he called circumstantial and "scientific" evidence.

Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group have been blamed for the six near-simultaneous blasts at two Roman Catholic churches, a Protestant church and three tourist hotels. Both Muslims and Catholics are minorities in Sri Lanka, where Buddhists make up 70 per cent of the population.

Before his arrest Saturday, Bathiudeen wrote on Facebook that police were outside his house "since 1.30am today attempting to arrest me without a charge. … They have already arrested my brother. I have been in Parliament, and have cooperated with all lawful authorities until now. This is unjust."

Rushdhie Habeeb, a lawyer representing Bathiudeen, called the arrests politically motivated and said, "No reasons for the arrest had been given at the time of their arrest by those who conducted the midnight raid."

In his statement, Habeeb said the purpose was to "punish the political leadership of the Muslims, which had nothing to do with 21/4, for the dastardly acts of some Muslim youths who were widely alleged as having been used as pawns by foreign powers."

The arrests came amid growing demands for justice by Sri Lanka's Catholic leaders and community, including during a commemoration held Wednesday on the second anniversary of the attacks. Last month, Sri Lankan Catholics also attended Mass dressed in black and held placards in a silent "Black Sunday" protest.

Most of the people connected to the groups accused of carrying out the attacks have been arrested, but Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has insisted the bombings couldn't have been planned by the leader who committed suicide in one of the attacks.

The government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came to power later in 2019 after promising to determine the truth behind the attacks, is under pressure to find the mastermind.

His government accused an Islamic cleric arrested soon after the attacks of being the organiser, but the claim has not been accepted by the Catholic Church, which suspects there was larger foreign involvement.

Ranjith, the archbishop, has said a presidential commission that investigated the attacks focused on failures by those in political power at the time to prevent the bombings, instead of on finding the people who were directly responsible.

A power struggle between the then-president and prime minister, which led to a communications breakdown and a resulting lapse in security coordination, is said to have enabled the attacks, which occurred despite prior foreign intelligence warnings.

Indonesia's navy on Saturday declared its missing submarine had sunk and cracked open after finding items from the vessel over the past two days, apparently ending hope of finding any of the 53 crew members alive.

Military chief Hadi Tjahjanto said the presence of an oil slick as well as debris near the site where the submarine last dove Wednesday off the island of Bali were clear proof the KRI Nanggala 402 had sunk.

Indonesian officials earlier considered the vessel to be only missing, but said the submarine's oxygen supply would have run out early Saturday.

"If it's an explosion, it will be in pieces," Navy Chief Yudo Margono told a press conference in Bali.

"The cracks happened gradually in some parts when it went down from 300 metres to 400 metres to 500 metres. … If there was an explosion, it would be heard by the sonar."

READ MORE: 'Very grim': Not much hope for missing Indonesian submarine

The navy previously said it believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 metres, much deeper than its collapse depth of 200 metres, at which point water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand.

"With the authentic evidence we found believed to be from the submarine, we have now moved from the 'sub miss' phase to 'sub sunk,'" Margono said at the press conference, in which the found items were displayed.

The cause of the disappearance was still uncertain. The navy had previously said an electrical failure could have left the submarine unable to execute emergency procedures to resurface.

Margono said that in the past two days, searchers found parts of a torpedo straightener, a grease bottle believed to be used to oil the periscope, debris from prayer rugs and a broken piece from a coolant pipe that was refitted on the submarine in South Korea in 2012.

Margono said rescue teams from Indonesia and other countries will evaluate the findings. He said no bodies have been found so far.

An American reconnaissance plane, a P-8 Poseidon, landed early Saturday and had been set to join the search, along with 20 Indonesian ships, a sonar-equipped Australian warship and four Indonesian aircraft.

Singaporean rescue ships were also expected Saturday, while Malaysian rescue vessels were due to arrive Sunday, bolstering the underwater hunt, officials said earlier Saturday.

The two Australian warships, HMAS Ballarat and HMAS Sirius were both dispatched to help, after Indonesia accepted the Federal Government's offer of assistance.

Both warships were diverted from separate deployments to the search zone off the coast of Bali.

The Defence Department said HMAS Ballarat was equipped with sonar capabilities and a MH-60R helicopter. It was expected to arrive at the search area yesterday.

HMAS Sirius is currently off the coast of Brunei and was expected to reach the search area early next week.

Fleet commander Rear Admiral Mark Hammond said the two Australian ships would help expand the search area.

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"My thoughts are with the submariners of KRI Nanggala, their families and the Indonesian people," Rear Admiral Hammond said.

"As always, we stand ready to assist our fellow mariners in the Indonesian Navy."

The Indonesian submarine went missing on Wednesday with 53 sailors on board.

It lost contact after its last reported dive Wednesday off the resort island, and the navy chief has said it was expected to run out of oxygen early Saturday morning.

"We keep doing the search until we find it and whatever the result," Indonesia military spokesperson Djawara Whimbo said.

He said Indonesia's hydrographic vessel was still unable to detect an unidentified object exhibiting high magnetism that was earlier detected located at a depth of 50 to 100 metres.

"The object is floating in the water, so maybe it is moving," he said.

There have been no signs of life from the submarine, but family members have held out hope that the massive search effort would find the vessel in time.

"The family is in a good condition and keeps praying," said Ratih Wardhani, the sister of 49-year-old crewman Wisnu Subiyantoro. "We are optimistic that the Nanggala can be rescued with all the crew."

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered all-out efforts to locate the submarine and asked Indonesians to pray for the crew's safe return.

The search focused on an area near the starting position of its last dive where an oil slick was found but there is no conclusive evidence so far the oil slick was from the sub.

The German-built diesel-powered KRI Nanggala 402 has been in service in Indonesia since 1981 and was carrying 49 crew members and three gunners as well as its commander, the Indonesian Defence Ministry said.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation with more than 17,000 islands, has faced growing challenges to its maritime claims in recent years, including numerous incidents involving Chinese vessels near the Natuna islands.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Marcus Hellyer said earlier this week that things were looking "very grim" for the submarine crew.

"There's lots of things that can go wrong on submarines," Dr Hellyer told nine.com.au.

"If a submarine has an accident at sea, it tends to be catastrophically bad."

An oil slick had been spotted in the spot where the submarine dived from the surface, but aside from that, there is no trace of the KRI Nanggala-402.

And most submarines, including the KRI Nanggala-402, are not designed to survive more than a few hundred metres underwater.

The International Space Station's population swelled to 11 on Saturday with the jubilant arrival of SpaceX's third crew capsule in less than a year.

It's the biggest crowd up there in more than a decade.

All of the astronauts — representing the US, Russia, Japan and France — managed to squeeze into camera view for a congratulatory call from the leaders of their space agencies.

"In this tough situation around the world, I believe you have brought courage and hope for all of us," Japanese Space Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa said from his country's flight control centre, referring to the global pandemic.

A recycled SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts arrived at the space station a day after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre. The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost more than 420 kilometres above the Indian Ocean. The hatches swung open a couple hours later, uniting all 11 space travellers.

"Man, it is awesome to see the 11 of you on station," said NASA's acting administrator, Steve Jurczyk. He noted that this will be the norm, now that SpaceX is regularly flying crews.

The newcomers will spend six months at the space station. They'll replace four astronauts who will return to Earth in their own Dragon capsule Wednesday to end a half-year mission. NASA deliberately planned for a brief overlap so the outgoing SpaceX crew could show the new arrivals around.

Although this was SpaceX's third crew flight for NASA, it was the first to use a vehicle that's flown before, an essential part of Musk's push to the moon and Mars. The Dragon capsule was used for SpaceX's first crew launch last May, while the Falcon rocket soaring Friday hoisted crew two in November.

It was the first time two SpaceX crew Dragons were parked there at the same time — practically side by side.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur — the commander and pilot of the returning Dragon — monitored their capsule's flat screen computers during the morning rendezvous. They could have taken control if necessary, but the autonomous system did its job, much like a self-driving car.

Also checking into the space station: France's Thomas Pesquet and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide. Both have lived there before, as has Kimbrough. But it was the first station visit for McArthur. She flew up in the same seat and the same capsule — named Endeavour — as her husband, Bob Behnken, did on SpaceX's debut crew mission.

The European Space Agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, joked that the space station needs expansion with so many on board.

Pesquet — the first European to fly on a commercial crew capsule — noted that the space station has changed quite a bit since his last visit four years ago, with more people and types of spacecraft.

"We're so happy to see our friends," he said. "We wish we could keep them a little bit longer, but not too long as well, because 11 people is a lot on a space station."

The all-time record is 13, set during NASA's space shuttle era.

The current population includes six Americans, two Russians, two Japanese and one French. It will shrink by four on Wednesday when three Americans and one Japanese depart for home and a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA turned to private companies for space station deliveries after the shuttles retired in 2011.

SpaceX began supply runs in 2012, honing its skills before launching astronauts and ending NASA's reliance on Russia.

NASA also hired Boeing for taxi service, but the company's Starliner capsule isn't expected to fly astronauts until next year.

Five people were injured early Saturday in a shooting on New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street, and no arrests had been made as of a few hours after the incident, police said.

The shooting was reported to police at 1.16am CST (4.16pm AEST) on the street popular with tourists near an address on the edge of the French Quarter, not far from Canal Street, authorities said.

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All five injured people are believed to have been shot, and the injuries aren't believed to be life-threatening, police spokesman Aaron Looney said.

Details about what led to the shooting, or whether police had leads about who fired the shots, weren't immediately available. Detectives are investigating, Looney said.

Four of the injured people were taken to hospitals, and one was treated at the scene, Looney said.

New Zealanders are today commemorating Anzac Day in more traditional ways, after Covid-19 restrictions last year forced Kiwis to mark the anniversary without gathering in public for the first time since 1916. Instead of…

On the eve of Anzac Day, the sacred shores of Gallipoli are once again eerily deserted.

For the second year in a row, COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of traditional dawn services — and for locals it means another year of economic and cultural misery.

It would usually be swarming with thousands of Australians, but today, the birthplace of the Anzac legend is shut off from the rest of the world.

READ MORE: Anzac Day 2021 public holiday guide state-by-state

"Australians are missed here," Eceabat Mayor Saim Zileli told 9News.

"Their visits were important not just economically, but also culturally." 

Turkey is right now a country in lockdown, recording more than 60,000 new Coronavirus cases every day.

It means that just like in 2020, traditional Anzac ceremonies are cancelled with visitors nowhere to be seen.

READ MORE: Capital's lockdown cancels Anzac Day ceremonies

Local hotels say they're feeling the pinch on what is usually their favourite week of the year.

"Australians are one of our most loved visitors," Canakkale Tourism Association's Armagan Aydeger said.

"I started tourism from my childhood and we grew up with the Australian tourists. In those terms, we have very good friendships."

What will happen in Gallipoli at dawn?

On the Peninsula tomorrow there will only be small private ceremonies.

But the area is vowing to be ready for their Australian friends 12 months from now.

"Things will be much better," Mr Aydeger told 9News.

"They are not like only visitors but very close friends for us and we are all very excited to see them in the next years."

Western Australia has recorded one new local case of COVID-19 on the first day of a snap lockdown in metropolitan Perth and the Peel region.

The case was confirmed by WA Health as a person who visited a restaurant also visited by the positive Victorian case who spent five days attending several venues around Perth.

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READ MORE: Perth venues visited by positive Victorian case

The new WA community transmission case means more public exposure sites have been identified by contact tracers today.

These include:

Morley: Kung Fu Kitchen, 129 Russell Street, on 21/04/2021 between 5:00pm – 7:00pm

Northbridge: City China Garden on 20/04/2021 between 5:00pm – 8:00pm

Northbridge: Good Fortune Roast Duck House on 19/04/2021 between 5:00pm – 8:00pm

Northbridge: Fortune Five Chinese Restaurant on 18/04/2021 between 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Kardinya: Kitchen Inn, 19/17-23 South Street on 18/04/2021 between 12:00pm – 2:00pm

East Victoria Park: Anything La Corner, U5-6/910 Albany Highway on 17/04/2021 between 5:30pm – 8:00pm

Anyone who visited these locations on the above mentioned dates and times should isolate and get tested as soon as possible.

Earlier, Premier Mark McGowan set his targets on the Federal Government, saying calls for help with the hotel quarantine system have been ignored.

The blast came as Premier Mark McGowan updated media on the current coronavirus situation in his state, which entered a snap lockdown midnight Friday.

Mr McGowan warned the current hotel quarantine system was not sustainable in its current form.

"I'm getting to the end of my tether with the Commonwealth handing responsibility to the states and not helping," Mr McGowan said.

"We cannot continue down this path for another year or beyond.

"Hotel quarantine is an imperfect system but largely it has worked well with around 45,000 returning Australians being processed through the West Australian system.

"I have been calling for the Commonwealth's assistance with quarantine for many months now. CBD hotels are not fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities, and quarantine is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government under the Constitution.

"There are a number of Commonwealth facilities that would be more suitable for quarantine purposes.

"The pandemic will be here for at least the rest of this year. It is time for the Commonwealth to step up and help."

Western Australia recorded no new local cases of COVID-19 on the first day of the lockdown.

Included in today's COVID-19 figures from Perth are two cases, a returned traveller from India in hotel quarantine and a close contact of the 54-year-old Victorian man who sparked the current three-day lockdown in Perth and Peel, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan said.

The infection of the man's close contact, a woman in her 40s, was widely reported yesterday.

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Mr McGowan said the news today was a positive start and there had been "extensive testing of the close contacts of the two positive local cases".

"In total, to date, we have identified 337 contacts, including 71 close contacts. They have all been tested or will be today. They will remain in quarantine. So far 27 close contacts have tested negative.

READ MORE: Perth's snap lockdown sparks border closures across Australia

READ MORE: Packed Perth flights to touch down in Sydney today

Perth and Peel's three-day lockdown began after midnight and was triggered by an outbreak at quarantine hotel Mercure Perth.

The 54-year-old Victorian man is believed to have been infected at the Mercure Hotel and spent five days out and about in Perth while infectious.

WA's acting Chief Health Officer, Dr Paul Armstrong, said yesterday it was likely the man was infected while staying at Mercure Perth, before being released on April 17 and flying to Melbourne on April 21.

He was in an adjacent room on the same floor where it was revealed earlier in the week that the coronavirus had spread between guests in two separate rooms.

Mr McGowan said there were 24 guests on the affected floor at the Mercure Hotel during the outbreak.

"Five guests have left Australia. The remaining 19 have tested and 18 have tested negative. The one positive is the Victorian man," he said.

"In addition, various hotel quarantine staff worked on the floor during the same period. 57 have returned a negative result. Two results are pending. These are encouraging signs, but we're not out of the woods just yet, particularly with number of contacts that we are awaiting test results for."

Two men have been charged over the alleged theft of a pricey Big Bird costume from an Adelaide circus.

The theft of the Sesame Street character costume, worth an impressive $160,000, happened at between 4.30pm Sunday, April 18 and 9.30am Monday, April 19.

But after the incident was covered by national news outlets, the thieves returned the costume to Bonython Park in the early hours of Wednesday morning with a note left in the bird's beak apologising to circus owners.

READ MORE: Big Bird costume returned after circus theft

"We had no idea what we were doing, or what our actions would cause," they said.

"We were just having a rough time and trying to cheer ourselfs (sic) up."

The pair assured the circus owners they did not cause Big Bird any harm.

"Sorry to be such a big birden!" they said, as they signed off as "the Big Bird bandits".

Two men were seen running away from the circus just before 5am.

Following an investigation by SA Police, two men aged 26 and 22, from Norwood and Murray Bridge were arrested last night and charged with theft and being on premises unlawfully.

They will appear at Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 30.

New details have emerged of a suspected murder-suicide on the Gold Coast as police continue their investigation.

Officers were called for a welfare check about 10.20am on Friday to a unit in the Sapphire apartment complex in Labrador, where they found the body of a 53-year-old man.

A second body, believed to be that of a 48-year-old woman, was then found wrapped and stuffed inside a chest.

Police said the woman's death was being treated as suspicious but the man's death was not.

Investigators now believe the woman had predeceased the man by some time, and had been dead since at least last weekend.

It is believed the man was her carer and that the pair were in a de facto relationship.

Police are now seeking to examine the woman's medical records to determine what underlying conditions she may have had.

She has not yet been formally identified.

Detectives said the pair could have been dead for several days before they were discovered.

There was no history of domestic violence between the pair and family had said they had not noticed anything different recently.

Homicide detectives and forensic investigators locked down the apartment building as they investigated.

A neighbour described the couple as "happy and friendly" and said he didn't hear anything to suggest anything "weird" had happened.

"She smoked a bit and I noticed over the last couple of days that there wasn't a lot of smoke smell… so I just assumed she must have gone on holidays," he said.

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Suicide Callback Line on 1300 659 467.