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A helicopter has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Miami Beach in the United States, according to a tweet by Miami Beach Police.

Two passengers were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, police said in the tweet. Their conditions were described as "stable." A third passenger was not injured in the crash, according to Miami Beach Police Public Information Officer Ernesto Rodriguez.

Police said there were three people on board the helicopter when the crash occurred on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) but it was unclear which person was the pilot.

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"This afternoon at 1.10pm (5.10am Sunday AEDT), MBPD received a call of a helicopter crash in the ocean near 10 Street. Police and @MiamiBeachFire responded to the scene along with several partner agencies. Two occupants have been transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition," police said.

A video accompanying the tweet shows a helicopter falling into the ocean near a populated area of beachgoers and swimmers.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was ​responding to the scene and officials had closed off a two-block stretch of the beach between Ninth and 11th streets, police said.

The helicopter is a Robinson R44, according to a statement from the FAA obtained by CNN. The crash occurred under "unknown circumstances", the FAA said.

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"The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate," the statement reads.

"The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates."

Beachgoer Sean Adams, who was on vacation at Miami Beach with his wife from Las Vegas, described the crash to CNN affiliate WPLG as a "harrowing experience."

Mr Adams, who is an aircraft mechanic, told WPLG that the helicopter went "back and forth over the deep water several times."

After it crashed, the helicopter started tipping and the "whole beach ran to the scene," he said.

"These are things you never want to see or talk about," he said.

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"It was 50 yards (about 45m) from the beach, right next to everybody. It was crazy that nobody got hurt."

Mr Adams said the pilot exited the aircraft and the passengers were "somewhat unconscious" and "in shock," as they were being helped out of the helicopter.

Another traveler, Ana Diaz, was swimming in the ocean when she heard her family calling for her to come to shore as they watched the helicopter descend, she told WPLG.

Ms Diaz, who was visiting Miami with her family from Colombia, said she was just 6–8m away from where the crash took place.

She described the crash scene as one from a "movie" with extremely loud noises as the aircraft hit the water.

"I was really scared and I was swimming towards my family," Ms Diaz told WPLG.

"I was very worried about it and it was a very tough moment."

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Warning: This story contains content that some readers may find disturbing.

A man charged with murder in Queensland's far north cut off the victim's leg as part of an arrangement between the pair, police allege.

Just before 4am yesterday morning, It's alleged a 36-year-old man used a circular saw to cut off a 66-year-old man's leg near Fitzgerald Esplanade in Innisfail, about an hour south of Cairns.

Police now say the amputation was planned as part of a pact between friends.

"During my 34 years of being a police officer, I have never experienced a situation as we are presented with here," Detective Acting Inspector Gary Hunter said.

"We are unable to establish the motive behind the removal of the leg but we can say it's an arrangement between the two people."

9News understands the saw belonged to the 66-year-old and that the men travelled to the park together with the intent to carry out the amputation.

Police allege the 36-year-old Innisfail man helped the older man back to his car, before leaving the area on foot.

But the older man was unable to get back into the car and lost consciousness before two locals on their morning walk found him.

He died before paramedics arrived.

The 36-year-old has been charged with one count of murder.

A 47-year-old Adelaide man in a wheelchair who was fatally hit by a car on his way to the pub overnight has been remembered as a "joker" who will be "sorely missed".

Jason Edwards was on his way to his local haunt when the silver station wagon struck him about 7.30pm while pulling out of the On The Run service station on Brighton Road.

Mr Edwards took the same route to the pub often — although he'd been kept away by COVID-19 restrictions for long periods — according to people close to him.

"He didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him — he just wanted people to accept him for who he was," carer Paul Paget said.

Mr Paget said Mr Edwards loved music, motorsport, and the Collingwood AFL club.

"Everybody knew him. Everybody loved him," he said.

"He was a joker and he will be extremely sorely missed."

The 26-year-old woman behind the wheel was not injured but was taken to hospital for mandatory testing.

No charges have been laid.

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Emergency services have been called to Parklea prison in Sydney after fires were lit in the facility.

Up to 100 inmates were reportedly evacuated to the prison yard after two detainees allegedly set a fridge and mattress alight in the day room about 3.30pm on Sunday.

Parklea Correctional Centre operators MTC-Broadspectrum said in a statement that the pair had become "non-compliant".

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"The fire was extinguished and the two inmates were placed in segregation," the spokesperson said.

"The incident was resolved within 30 minutes."

Aerial images showed evacuated prisoners forced to lay facedown in the yard.

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The other inmates were provided outdoor yard access until the smoke dissipated.

No injuries were sustained.

Fire trucks were still on the scene shortly after 6pm (AEDT).

The Joe Biden administration in the US has been quietly laying the groundwork to release prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center and at least move closer to being able to shut it down.

A review board that includes military and intelligence officials has now determined more than half of the 39 men held indefinitely without charge at the US base in Cuba can now be safely released to their homelands or sent to another country.

Decisions about several of these prisoners, including some denied under previous reviews, have come in recent weeks as the administration faced criticism from human rights groups for not doing more to close Guantanamo, releasing only a single prisoner over the past year. Here's where things stand.

Is the Biden Administration about to empty Guantanamo?

No. With the most recent decisions, there are now 20 prisoners deemed eligible for release or transfer and one due to soon complete a sentence after being convicted by military commission in a plea deal.

Much still must happen, such as in some cases finding countries willing to accept prisoners and impose security controls on them.

But some could start to leave in the coming weeks and months.

Does this mean the US is closer to shuttering Guantanamo?

In theory, yes. But even if the US releases all 20, what to do with the rest?

There are 10 still facing trial by military commission. They include five charged with planning and aiding the September 11 attacks.

The death penalty case has been bogged down in pretrial litigation for years and there still is no start date.

One potential solution would be plea bargains to end all pending cases, but that leaves open the question of where they would serve out any sentences.

How did we get here?

The US opened the detention center under President George W Bush in January 2002 after the September 11 attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan. It was intended to hold and interrogate prisoners suspected of having links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

About 780 men have passed through Guantanamo, which hit a peak of a about 680 in 2003.

Mr Bush's defense secretary, DonaldRumsfeld, famously referred to the men held there as "the worst of the worst," but many were low-level militants, some had no connection to terrorism at all, and few would ever be charged with a crime.

As reports of torture and abuse emerged, the detention center became a lightning rod for international criticism from American allies and a propaganda bonanza for enemies. Mr Bush released 532 prisoners but left it to his successor to figure out what to do with the rest.

President Barack Obama pledged to close Guantanamo upon taking office. But members of Congress resisted the idea of transferring prisoners to the United States, even to face trial in federal court.

The Obama administration created the Periodic Review Board to evaluate prisoners and determine if they could be released without posing a threat to national security. Under Mr Obama, 197 prisoners left Guantanamo.

Under President Donald Trump, a single prisoner was released as part of a plea bargain, bringing the total to 40.

President Joe Biden has said little about Guantanamo, which has largely fallen out of the political spotlight. So far, just one prisoner has been released under his administration.

What's been happening in recent weeks?

In January, human rights groups were marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo and bemoaning what they saw as a lack of progress on closure.

Since then, there's been some behind-the scenes activity with the board, which was never popular with detainee advocates but has been one of the few paths out of confinement.

When Mr Biden came into office, there were five cleared detainees; four were holdovers from the Obama administration and one was approved under Mr Trump. Under Mr Biden, 15 have been cleared so far, including more than half a dozen in recent weeks.

This is what the administration considers a "deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and closing of the Guantanamo facility," according to said Pentagon deputy press secretary J Todd Breasseale.

Among the factors they consider, Mr Breasseale said, are the age and health of the detainees.

They have included Mohammed al-Qahtani, a mentally ill Saudi who authorities said intended to be one of the 9/11 hijackers but was prevented from entering the US by a suspicious Customs officer at the airport in Orlando, Florida.

A Bush legal official concluded al-Qahtani had been tortured at Guantanamo and an effort to try him by military commission was scrapped.

Also cleared under Mr Biden was Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani with various medical ailments who, at 74, is the oldest prisoner at Guantanamo.

The review board for this first time has cleared one of the "high-value detainees," designated as such because they were held in the clandestine CIA prisons known as black sites.

What has been the reaction?

Some Republicans in Congress have expressed outrage at the al-Qahtani decision. Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, called it "an appalling capitulation to the far left."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is critical of the policy more broadly of seeking to close Guantanamo, which he recently defended as "a highly secure, humane and entirely legal place to detain terrorists."

Under the law, Congress must be notified in advance of any pending transfers or releases but is largely powerless to stop it from occurring.

Among detainee advocates, there is a wait-and-see attitude. They welcome the board's decisions but want to see if the administration follows through with releases.

Wells Dixon, an attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, is waiting to see what happens with his client, Majid Khan, the prisoner who has reached a plea bargain and has nearly completed his sentence.

"It's a positive thing for these men to be cleared," Mr Dixon said.

"But it's not meaningful progress toward closure unless there are transfers."

With dusty desert plains and thundering waterfalls, the Red Centre and the Top End are home to some of Australia's most famous sites.

But when it comes to the country's political landscape, the Northern Territory is usually out of sight and out of mind.

With only two lower house seats in the federal parliament – and a relatively lengthy journey required from most capital cities – the Territory is rarely visited by political leaders traipsing electoral battlegrounds.

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But in recent days, the NT has been front and centre in the unofficial election campaign – with both the Prime Minister and Opposition leader spending time here and promising dollars along the way.

The official reason for their coinciding visits was to mark the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, as the community gathered at commemorative services on Saturday.

But for electoral reasons, both leaders lingered in the NT.

Scott Morrison touched down in Alice Springs on Thursday night and visited a local welding business on Friday with a funding promise for an Indigenous leaders program – getting on the tools to perform for the cameras (in a moment his opponents seized upon, labelling it a cringe-worthy election stunt).

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The Prime Minister then used a naval base in Darwin as a backdrop for a $282m defence announcement – a continuation of the government's push to convince voters the Coalition is tough on matters of national security, and Labor is weak.

Then of course, there was the inevitable campaign stop-off at a watering hole to mingle with locals over a beer.

The Opposition Leader spent three days doing the rounds of businesses in Darwin – starting on Friday with a promise to improve Indigenous health services. He gave a rained-out pub speech to the party faithful on Saturday evening, and wrapped today, with a pledge to upgrade Northern Territory roads.

The leaders' schedules reflect the fact at the 2022 federal election, the territory will hold greater-than-usual significance.

There are two reasons to pay attention.

Arguably the most obvious is that Labor's Luke Gosling holds the urban seat of Solomon on a margin of only 3.08 per cent, after claiming it from the Country Liberals in 2016.

But interestingly, it's the less marginal of the NT's two seats that will be watched more closely.

The sprawling electorate of Lingiari is on a margin of 5.46 per cent – and has been in the comfortable hands of long-serving Labor MP Warren Snowdon since it was formed in 2001.

But after more than three decades in parliament – the Opposition MP is retiring at the next election.

Which means it will no longer be safeguarded by a well-known incumbent – and Lingiari becomes a risk for Labor, and an opportunity for the Coalition.

For each leader, every day is precious at this stage of the election cycle, and their campaign puppet-masters must calculate carefully how to best use their time.

The fact both leaders spent multiple days in the Northern Territory comes down to some simple equations.

The Coalition currently holds 76 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives.

Labor has 68 – but will pick up another due to redistributions.

Both sides will be aiming to end the race with at least 76 seats (ideally, 77 so they can provide a Speaker in the House of Representatives).

If Scott Morrison loses one seat, his government is in a minority.

If he loses five to Labor, Anthony Albanese could form a government with crossbench support.

And if Labor gains seven, the party will be able to govern in its own right.

When the numbers are this close, every seat matters.

Whether it's in the bustling big smoke or the remote red centre – if there is a political question mark over it, it will be on leaders' itineraries, and firmly in their sights.

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