Chad Daybell, the stepfather of two children who have been missing in the US since last year, has been charged with destroying evidence as prosecutors said two children's remains were found on his Idaho property.

The children of Lori Vallow, Daybell's wife, have not been seen since September.

Tylee Ryan, 16, was last seen when she visited Yellowstone National Park on September 8 with her brother, her mother and her uncle Alex Cox, according to authorities.

Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, was last seen at a school in Idaho later that month.

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The families of the children said in a statement that the remains "are indeed our beloved JJ and Tylee."

"We are filled with unfathomable sadness that these two bright stars were stolen from us, and only hope that they died without pain or suffering," said Larry and Kay Woodcock, J.J.'s biological grandparents, Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow's son from a prior marriage, and Kelsee Ryan, Colby's wife, in their statement.

"This is the worst news we will ever get in our lives and want to be left alone for the time being," they said, adding that "once officially confirmed, statements from The Rexburg Police, The Medical Examiner and the FBI will be released."

The charges filed against Daybell allege he concealed the remains sometime between September 2019 and June 2020.

His bail was set at $1 million.

Vallow, is currently awaiting trial for multiple charges, including two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of children, according to a criminal complaint filed with an Idaho court.

The charges against Daybell are part of a sprawling investigation that has stretched from Idaho to Arizona to Hawaii, picked up connections to a deep religious ideology and raised new questions about the deaths of other family members.

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Daybell and Vallow married in November, not long after their previous spouses died.

Chad Daybell's brother, Matt Daybell, sent his sympathies to the children's families.

"Throughout this ordeal, we have supported one another in pursuit of the truth, and will continue to do so. They have been praying for our family, as we have prayed for them. Our heartfelt love and prayers continue to go out to them and their family at this very difficult time," Matt Daybell said.

How we got here

In late November, relatives asked police in Rexburg, Idaho, to do a welfare check on Joshua because they hadn't talked to him recently. But police didn't find him at the house when they arrived.

They did see Vallow and Daybell, who, authorities said, told them Joshua was staying with a family friend in Arizona.

When police returned the next day to serve a search warrant, both Vallow and Daybell were gone.

The couple was found in January in Hawaii, where they had been since December 1 as authorities searched for Vallow's children.

They were served with a search warrant, and police gave Vallow a deadline to turn Joshua and Tylee over to authorities.

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But that deadline passed without any sign of the two.

Vallow was arrested in February, and in March she was extradited from Hawaii. Her bail remains at $1 million and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 9.

The investigation has also led to questions surrounding other family members' deaths.

Shortly before Tylee, Joshua and their mother moved from Arizona to Idaho, Vallow's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed during a fight with her brother, CNN affiliate KIFI/KIDK reported.

The brother was not charged in the case, and he then died in December, the affiliate reported.

Daybell was also married before. His first wife, Tammy Daybell, died on October 19, and a few weeks later, he and Vallow were married.

Authorities initially believed Tammy Daybell died of natural causes, but Rexburg police later said her death was suspicious and exhumed her body.

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After Vallow and Daybell married, they told some witnesses Tylee had died a year before her father, and told others that Vallow did not have any young children, police said.

Further, those close to the couple said they had been involved in strong religious ideologies.

Arizona police released body camera footage from January 2019 of Vallow's ex-husband saying he could not get in touch with the children. He said their marriage had rapidly deteriorated and that "she thinks she's a resurrected being and a god."

In addition, Daybell was connected to a religious website called "Preparing a People," a doomsday prepper site that describes itself as a "series of lecture events focusing on self-reliance and personal preparation."

The publishers of the site said they decided to pull content featuring either Daybell or Vallow in light of the children's disappearance.

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Exclusive: A woman with a painful back condition said she doesn't know how she'll cope as a drug she says is essential to her life is discontinued in Australia.

Anna McKay, 67, has been taking a form of liquid morphine called Ordine for more than ten years for the pain from Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is caused by a compression of a bundle of spinal nerves.

As reported by 9news.com.au Ordine is a type of liquid morphine which won't be available anymore because it's "not commercially viable".

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Different strengths will be discontinued between the end of this year and early 2024.

But when McKay, from Melbourne, went to collect her latest prescription last week, her local pharmacist told her the 10mg form she takes is running out already.

"She said 'there's only 36 bottles left at the warehouse'," she told 9news.com.au.

"I don't know if that's all pharmacies. She said she would have to try and order in another one or two," she told 9News.com.au

"She didn't give us much hope.

"Without the Ordine I don't know how I'm going to cope.

'Disastrous' situation

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) flagged a shortage after company Mundipharma announced the plan to stop supplying the medicine.

The drug is also used in end of life care and for progressive and painful conditions such as COPD.

Doctors said they feared dying patients could face more pain and suffering due to the expected shortage and discontinuation.

McKay, whose husband Ron, 69, is her carer said she has tried alternative painkillers but none of them work as well as the slow release liquid.

"It's not enough," she said.

"My doctor was talking about alternatives and none of them sounds too great.

"This is disastrous. It's constantly on my mind. It's ghastly."

McKay, who has a son Nicholas, 31, has undergone nine back surgeries since damaging her back lifting a box in her 20s.

She later developed nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy which also causes numbness.

The TGA predicted different strengths of the drug would start running out from the end of the year and according to a statement, Mrs McKay's isn't being discontinued until March 2024.

Palliative care advocates are calling on the government to find another supplier, plus remove red tape so patients can afford access to it as soon as possible.

Australian Doctor's organisation Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) urged the government and pharmaceutical industry to work together to ensure patients can get the medicines they need

"Medicine or dose substitution is often an option, but it's not always an option," RACGP Vice President Dr Bruce Willett told 9News.com.

"It's vital we have a sufficient supply of medicines and plans in place where shortages might become an issue."

Issue is a 'high priority'

Earlier this month, the TGA said it was treating the discontinuation with "high priority".

It is now looking at importing similar drugs from overseas, it told 9news.com.au.

"The TGA is investigating the potential for approvals for importation and supply of overseas-registered morphine oral liquids under section 19A of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989," a spokesman said.

"We are working with the sponsor of these products as well as health professional groups to minimise the impact of these discontinuations on patients."

A spokeswoman for Mundipharma told 9News.com.au it "strongly regrets any distress caused..

"Ordine was manufactured by a third-party in Australia with Mundipharma holding the Market Authorisation and it was the decision of the third-party organisation to cease production of the range," the spokeswoman said.

"We continue to work with the authorities."

Anybody affected should talk to their doctor.

Crisis support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.Support is available from Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Do you have a story? Contact journalist Sarah Swain at ss****@******om.au

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‘This a phenomenal number of people to a supposedly minor party.’

A man has been charged for posing in a photo with a toddler holding guns the day before a man was allegedly executed in a shooting gangland murder.

NSW Police were investigating the alleged murder of Marvin Oraiha in Elizabeth Hills on May 22, when they seized a ballistic vest, ammunition and six phones from a home in Yagoona.

Detectives said they found several images of a 21-year-old allegedly "holding two pistols in the company of a young child, who was also holding a third glock-style pistol" on the phones seized.

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Police alleged the images were taken on May 21, the day before 24-year-old Oraiha was gunned down in the driveway of his south west Sydney home about 4pm.

Detective chief superintendent Jason Weinstein alleged the child holding the firearm was about three years old.

"Quite frankly the images that were on this individual's phone are appalling and very disturbing and probably some of the worst things I have seen in a long period of time in my policing history," Weinstein said.

He said police had about 150 of the "labour force of organised crime" on their radar and would be pursuing them for minor offences.

Weinstein said they were working to divert younger people away from organised crime.

"There is a younger element that's coming through and that is what we are concerned about."

A 22-year-old was charged with murder after police searched seven homes across Roselands, Edensor Park, Green Valley, Yagoona, Liverpool, Merrylands and Guildford.

The phone pictures were allegedly found in a Yagoona home, where the 21-year-old was arrested today.

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He was charged with 13 firearm-related offences including possessing an unauthorised pistol and supplying a pistol to an unauthorised person.

The man is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court today.

The arrest is part of Task Force Magnus, which was established last week to disrupt gun-related crime and to investigate links between the recent spate of shootings.

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The Māori in Me podcast reaches its end looking at how to feel ‘enough’.

Thunderstorms and hail may also accompany the strong gusts.

The families of four missing military personnel killed in a helicopter crash off the Queensland coast have paid tribute to their loved ones, as the grim recovery mission continues.

Those onboard and presumed dead have been identified as Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Corporal Alexander Naggs, and Warrant Officer Joseph Laycock.

Their bodies are yet to be retrieved after they were onboard an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter that crashed near Hamilton Island at about 11pm on Friday during the Talisman Sabre military exercises

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The family of Nugent remembered him as a much-loved person generous person.

The 24-year-old had always aspired to become an officer in the army, they said.

"Becoming an officer in the Army was a long-held dream for our son, brother and partner Max," the family said in a statement.

"He made that dream a reality through stubborn grit, resilience and a wicked sense of humour. He embodied the values of integrity and honour, which made him a natural fit for a life of service to others.

"His loss leaves an unbearable grief in our hearts."

Lyon, meanwhile, was remembered as being a "devoted father of two and great mate".

"Danniel is a beloved husband, devoted father of two and great mate. Danniel's smile could brighten even the darkest days. His light shone so brightly we cannot imagine a world without it," his family said.

Naggs' partner described him as a "beloved partner, son, brother and friend"

"Alex was an inspiration to his family and those around him. We are heartbroken to lose him so soon," they said.

"Alex was a hard-working, generous and kind man who was always there for his mates."

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Laycock's parents, Joseph Wayne and Dianne, said he had two loves in his life: his military career and his three boys.

"Outside of his Army career, Phillip was a devoted father and enthusiastic mountain biker," they said.

"He was an excellent cook, and prepared the family's Christmas dinner on a number of occasions, with the same meticulous precision he brought to his work – he would shoo us out of the kitchen if we threatened to interfere."

Defence Minister Richard Marles on Monday confirmed "significant wreckage" of the MRH-90 Taipan has been discovered.

"With every passing hour, it is now clear any hope of finding Captain Lyon, Lieutenant Nugent, Corporal Naggs and Warrant Office Laycock alive has been lost," Marles said.

"The tragedies that have taken place in the Whitsundays have transferred from those being of search and rescue to an activity of recovery."

Marles said there will be a full and thorough investigation into the crash but for now, the government and defence force stands with the families of the men.

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Repeat drink-driver stuck in rut of alcohol use to numb the pain of illness and ridicule.

Bill Shorten has delivered a stinging rebuke to Scott Morrison over his response to the robodebt royal commission, calling the former prime minister a "bottomless well of self-pity".

The current government services minister, Shorten was scathing of Morrison, who on Monday told parliament that the findings against him were unsubstantiated.

"The purpose of that statement was to frame himself as the real victim of the robodebt royal commission," Shorten told question time on Tuesday.

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"The Member for Cook (Morrison) said, and I quote, that in making their finding, the commission sought to reverse the onus of proof to establish their claim.

"Satire is truly dead in this country, when the Member for Cook complains about the reversal of onus of proof on him, but not the 434,000 people who did have their reverse onus.

"And the Member for Cook then said the royal commission was a quasi-legal process, a new Morrisonian doctrine about the law.

"The royal commission was not quasi-legal.

"It's real. It was constituted by the law. Forty-six days of public hearings, over 100 witnesses under oath…

"The victims of robodebt never had their legal costs paid for. Never had the chance to see the evidence put against them.

"The Member for Cook is a bottomless well of self-pity and not a drop of mercy for all of the real victims of robodebt."

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Morrison was seen shaking his head during Shorten's address and appeared to say "here we go" when he was first mentioned.

On Monday, the former prime minister expressed his "deep regret" for robodebt's impact on millions of welfare recipients, but continued to label any findings against him as "disproportionate, wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear evidence".

"As minister for social services, I played no role and had no responsibility in the operation nor administration of the robodebt scheme," he said.

He added that he "completely rejects each of the adverse findings against me in the commission's report as unfounded and wrong".

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Two men dramatically arrested in Serbia have been found not guilty of trying to import drugs into Australia, but will be sentenced for attempting to possess them overseas.

David Campbell, 54, and Tristan Waters, 40, were arrested in January 2018 after a meeting with undercover operatives at a luxury hotel in the Serbian capital Belgrade, along with a third Australian, Rohan Arnold, who they were accused of conspiring with.

Footage of their arrests reached Australia before they did but the trio were eventually extradited home.

Arnold was jailed in 2020 for a minimum of 19 years and six months after pleading guilty over the import.

Authorities had allegedly found almost a tonne of pure cocaine, worth more than a billion dollars, concealed in steel beams from China inside a shipping container at Sydney's Port Botany in 2017.

Campbell was then told the shipment had been lost after only one of two containers he expected arrived.

The arrests and eventual extraditions came at the end of a globe-trotting undercover police operation where officers posed as criminals who had happened upon the missing container, eventually luring Campbell to New Zealand to try and retrieve it.

The jury was taken through messaging threads from encrypted devices, including one where Campbell used the identity "importer", to support the Crown's circumstantial case.

Campbell said at trial he imported steel from China on behalf of his former business mentor Arnold and was paid in cattle panels.

Arnold had told him there was a "Chinese asset" hidden inside by the time he sought to retrieve the container, however, he was unaware it was drugs and the undercover operatives never referred to it as such, Campbell said.

Waters pleaded guilty in the NSW District Court to conspiring to possess the illicit drugs but denied any involvement in its importation.

He did not give evidence but his lawyer David Dalton SC said he was brought in as an outside troubleshooter, merely playing the role of a principal at the meeting in Belgrade, pretending to be a high-ranking "heavy" in an international drug syndicate.

Waters was recorded during the meeting lying about having been stabbed with a screwdriver, which Dalton said was done to bolster his "heavy" character and should cause the jury to doubt other things he said, which prosecutors sought to paint as admissions.

Crown prosecutor Sean Flood highlighted Waters expressing familiarity with other members of the encrypted group chat, whose identities were not known, as evidence his role went beyond hired help at a late stage.

The meeting was to exchange funds before the drugs would change hands in Australia.

Dalton said Waters did not appear in the group chats, or more broadly in the crown case before the attempted possession began.

He was also pretending to rank above Arnold in the syndicate's hierarchy when the pair attended the meeting with undercover operatives in Belgrade while Campbell waited outside with a gun, Dalton said.

On Tuesday the jury found Waters not guilty of conspiring to import along with Campbell.

Campbell pleaded not guilty to both counts but the jury found him guilty of the attempted possession.

He said he was threatened into participating in the attempt to possess the drugs, which the jury was told to disregard if they considered those threats came from people Campbell was voluntarily working with.

A jury of six women and six men retired for about two weeks before reaching verdicts.

The pair are scheduled to be sentenced for the attempted possession on October 19.

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