It was envisioned as an elite hit squad and a US Marine was flown here to make it happen.

The road was closed while the Serious Crash Unit examined the scene.

New footage has emerged of the moment Trump was reluctantly hurried off stage by armed Secret Service.

Trade Minister Todd McClay is leading the delegation for the historic occasion.

Sporadic closures of SH35 and SH2 are putting mounting pressure on Tairāwhiti tourism.

OPINION: Mining is neither a cure-all nor an unmitigated disaster.

Security measures for the much-anticipated visit to the United States by King Charles III this week are in the spotlight following the shooting ⁠at a dinner attended ​by President Donald Trump.

Buckingham Palace said ​the four-day trip to ‌the United States by King Charles and Queen Camilla ​would go ahead as ​planned following the security scare involving Trump.

"Following ​discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and ​acting on advice ​of government, we can confirm the ‌state ⁠visit by their majesties will proceed as planned," a palace spokesperson said.

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"The ​king and ​queen ⁠are most grateful to all those ​who have worked at ​pace ⁠to ensure this remains the case and are ⁠looking ​forward to ​the visit getting underway tomorrow."

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said he was "very confident" the royal couple would be safe during their visit. He said the incident showed how robust the American security measures were.

Senior British cabinet minister Darren Jones told Sky News UK there would be "appropriate security in place in relation to the risk".

Security for the royal family and senior UK officials is provided by the Metropolitan Police's Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) Command.

According to the Metropolitan Police's website, the RaSP is part of a wider unit that "integrates intelligence and operational tactics to mitigate risks that exceed standard frontline policing".

READ MORE: Can King Charles's visit rebuild UK ties with Trump?

The RaSP provides protection at the royal residences in London, Windsor and Scotland and close protection to the King.

Under existing protocol for royal overseas visits, UK close protection officers would liaise with local law enforcement.

In the case of the US, that would be the country's Secret Service, charged with protecting the president.

Even before the shooting at the White House Foreign Correspondents' dinner in Washington DC on Saturday, the king's visit was shaping as the most important overseas trip of his reign.

Differences between the Trump administration and the UK government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the Iran war have seen relations between the close allies slump to their lowest for decades.

The monarch will hold a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.

It offers the chance to deliver the message that long-term friendship is more important than transient disputes.

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Two children have died in a horror house fire in the Hawkesbury region of NSW, after the blaze caused the roof of the two-storey property to collapse.

Their father and four other children managed to escape the blaze at the home in Bowen Mountain, about 77km north-west of Sydney.

The family had planned to relocate to Queensland today, with the mother of the children already on her way there when the flames erupted at about 2am.

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She is now on her way back to the Hawkesbury to be with her family.

Firefighters were on the scene within "seven to eight minutes" of the alarm being raised, yet arrived to a "very, very developed" fire, Rural Fire Service (RFS) Superintendent Jonathon Hill said.

"When firefighters arrived, we had a fully developed fire at the time, with the roof collapsing," he said.

"It was deemed unsafe to enter the house at that point in time."

Crews were forced to temporarily retreat and take defensive action.

It took two hours for 12 fire trucks and around 50 firefighters to bring the blaze under control, with emergency crews beginning their search of the home around 4am.

They found one of the victims downstairs and one upstairs.

The surviving family members are in Nepean Hospital being treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns.

Those who died in the fire have yet to be formally identified, but police say the children in the household range in age from three to 16.

A crime scene has been established and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Police Superintendent Nadine Roberts said police "are certainly not treating it as suspicious" at this stage.

It was unclear whether the property was fitted with working smoke alarms.

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said the crews had no choice but to initially take defensive action.

"Firefighters want to get in there with their hoselines and getting in and locating people who might be missing, but an early assessment of the building recognised that parts of the walls were looking to collapse, and parts of the structure had collapsed," he said.

"It would have been too dangerous to go inside the home while it was collapsing."

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"Some parts of the home are hot and smouldering, and many parts of the home have collapsed," Curtin said.

Curtin praised the actions of responding crews to ensure the fierce fire didn't spread to other homes, and he said all firefighters would be offered support.

"[It's] very tough for our firefighters… all of those firefighters are impacted by the circumstances," he said.

Investigations have commenced into how the fire started.

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A Toowoomba man has been charged after he allegedly followed a woman for several kilometres, hit her over the head with a rock and attempted to rape her.

Police say the assault only stopped when a nearby resident interrupted the offender, who then took off on foot.

The alleged attack on the 30-year-old woman occurred at 11pm on March 30 in Newtown, a large inner-city suburb of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

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Investigators found the alleged offender, a 20-year-old man from Glenvale on Toowoomba's outskirts, in the CBD yesterday and arrested him.

He has been charged with unlawful stalking and attempt to commit rape and will appear in court today.

Anyone with information is urged to come forward to police.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Deputy Opposition leader Jane Hume has been grilled over Angus Taylor's remarks about "bad people" coming to Australia from "bad countries".

In another sign the Coalition is moving to a tougher immigration policy, Taylor told the ABC yesterday "there is a higher risk that some bad people come from those bad countries".

The opposition leader did not name the nations, but on Today this morning co-host Sarah Abo, who was born in Syria, put his deputy on the spot.

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Hume began by attacking the Albanese government's record on migration numbers, saying "standards" were slipping.

"We've had 1.4 million new people come from this country in the last four years along … we know the numbers are too high and standards too low," she said.

Then Abo asked her: "So which are the bad countries Angus talks about"?

Hume initially hesitated with naming any, saying there were regimes around the world seeking to harm Australia.

But when pressed she gave Iran as a "very good example".

This prompted Abo to ask, "So everyone from Iran is a bad person?", and whether under a Coalition government Iranians would be placed on a "banned list".

Hume, clearly irritated, replied the questions were "oversimplifying" the issue, and told Abo she had "obviously" not read the Coalition policy statement.

Earlier this month, Taylor launched a revamped Coalition immigration stance in response to surging support for the populist One Nation party.

He has insisted the new policy is in line with Australia's non-discriminatory migration system, which does not bar people in specific countries from applying to come here.

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