Sunday's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the news you need to know today — so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Brussels is in lockdown after the countries terror threat level is raised to maximum. 

The European city of Brussels is swarmed with security after the government raised alert levels on a potential terrorist threat to the maximum.

The heightened level comes as the government believes there is a “serious and imminent” possibility of a Paris-style attack occurring involving firearms and explosives.

The city is in lockdown with the closure of the metro system on Saturday until Sunday afternoon.

Shopping centres have also been closed, professional football games cancelled and many concerts, music venues, museums and galleries have decided to lock their doors for the weekend as well.

The serious security alert level was increased following meetings which took place late on Friday involving the national security and counter-terror services , reports The Guardian.

The meeting concluded that based on undisclosed evidence, a major attack on the city was being planned.

The rest of the country was put on a level three alert, one level below the maximum.

2. Poor weather halts efforts to recover bodies of New Zealand helicopter crash victims. 

The bodies of two Australians, four Britons and the New Zealand pilot from a helicopter crash on New Zealand’s Fox Glacier are yet to be retrieved as bad weather causes delays.

The helicopter crashed at approximately 11am local time on Saturday during a sightseeing flight over the glacier on the South Island, Nine News reports. 

The debris is said to be wedged in a crevasse towards the peak of the glacier, making the recovery operation difficult.

The search area has been sighted from the air but rescuers have been unable to reach the crash site due to difficult terrain.

“Police can confirm that a pilot and six passengers were on board the helicopter and believe no one has survived the crash,” New Zealand Police made in a statement.

3. A Wollongong man has been charged after a woman was found dead

A man has been charged with assault following the death of his partner in suspicious circumstances.

Police received reports that a 36-year-old woman had died of a suspected drug overdose on Saturday evening at a property on Corrimal Street, Wollongong.

Despite paramedics attempts to treat the woman at the scene, she was unable to be revived.

Police later noted on examination of her body that she had been assaulted prior to her death, despite the cause of her death remaining unknown.

ABC News reports that a 34-year-old man was later arrested at home and will face court later today.

Inspector Mark Walker said the woman appeared to have injuries to her face and will undergo a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of her death.

“After speaking with the partner, police arrested him in relation to an earlier assault upon the deceased woman,” he said.

“The man was interviewed at Wollongong Police Station, he was later charged with domestic violence-related assault occasioning actual bodily harm.”

4. Four men have been arrested for drug trafficking at Victor Harbor Schoolies Festival

The first day of ‘Schoolies Festival’ at South Australia’s Victor Harbor has ended with a wild brawl between four young men.

Security officers can be seen frantically pulling the violent teens apart as they through numerous punches on Friday night in a video that was recorded near Warland Reserve, the centre of the festival.

The recorded right was only one of a host of problems police faced on the night with four men arrested and charged with trafficking drugs, reports the Courier Mail. 

Twenty party-goers were also taken to local hospitals for minor incidents.

Overall, police said they were impressed with the behaviour of school leavers on the first night of the three-day event which marks the end of high school for thousands of Adelaide students.

5. St Vincent de Paul celebrates 40 years of soup van 

The St Vincent de Paul’s soup can has been proving food and support for Melbourne’s homeless for 40 years.

The soup van was originated by a handful of volunteers who has been working with homeless men and women in Fitzroy, reports ABC News.

When another organisation suddenly shut its doors in 1975, the team of volunteers started their own concept.

“We wanted to keep our involvement with the men and women we met, so we were lucky to be put in touch with St Vincent de Paul who financed us,” organiser Christopher Knight too ABC News.

“We went and got our van and made our soup and sandwiches and went out looking for where these people were, on the streets.”

Currently the soup can has around 1,500 volunteers, or “vannies”, as they call themselves, who work 365 days a year.