Monday's news in under 5 minutes.

 We’ve rounded up all the latest news from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.

1. The cost of childcare is about to double for thousands of parents.

Childcare is about to cost a whole lot more for thousands of Australian parents after Government plans to cut the costs of childcare look unlikely to be legislated before the election.

With the Turnbull government now conceding Parliament will not pass promised reforms until after the election more families will hit the $7500 cap on childcare fee relief and be banned from claiming the 50 per cent rebate until the end of the financial year.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham is blaming Labor and the Greens for not passing family tax benefit cuts to fund the program saying they are preventing families being $1500 a year better off from proposed childcare reforms.

But Labor says it’s the government’s fault as it hasn’t even debated the legislation in the parliament.

“We do need to fix the childcare system, but it has to be paid for and the Turnbull government has clear plans that for ordinary working families would make them around $1500 a year better off,” Simon Birmingham said yesterday.

Opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis said Labor has made it clear it supports additional investment in childcare and would back the government’s legislation if it was brought into the house of representatives.

Mr Birmingham told Sky News the reforms will be taken as policy to the election.

“We can either put it to the parliament, have it defeated and abandon it or we can accept that it’s not going to pass the parliament and try and seek a mandate for the entire package and hope we can have more success in the next parliament.”

2. Airport strike to cause headaches for Easter travellers.

A public sector strike is set to disrupt Easter. The first round of industrial action will begin today when staff at Medicare, Centrelink, the Tax Office, Defence, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Bureau of Statistics strike for 24 hours.

On Thursday Immigration, Border Protection and Agriculture workers will then walk off the job at international airports for 24-hours

The Australian Public Service’s main workplace union, the CPSU, told Fairfax Media the strikes would have “some impact” on travellers at international airports advising passengers to allow extra time when departing and arriving for flights.

“That’s unfortunate, but two years into this dispute, these workers still face an attack on their family-friendly rights and other conditions of work” Union leader Nadine Flood said.

3. Khaled Sharrouf’s daughter says her and her siblings are doing well.

The eldest daughter of Australian IS fighter Khaled Sharrouf has said that her and her siblings and young baby are doing well.

Sharrouf is believed to have been killed in a drone strike last year, along with fellow Australian Mohammed Elomar, but his death has not been officially confirmed.

His 14-year-old daughter, Zaynab, the mother of a three-month-old has spoken to The Daily Telegraph about the constant threat of drone strikes in in Syria and has said that she is confident her father is dead.

“We know for sure that he’s dead. It was confirmed ages ago,” she said.

“Who would you believe, the media that like to make lies or his family who witnessed it?”

Zaynab said that her three-month-old daughter Ayesha and her five siblings were fine but that she would not reveal her location.

“They hit families alot [sic],” she said.

“I don’t have time to go on the net a lot and its pretty dangerous as well.”

Her mother Tara Nettleton is also believed to have died in Raqqa in September following complications after an appendicitis operation.

4. Turnbull’s approval enters negative territory for the first time.

The latest Newspoll has shown that Malcolm Turnbull’s approval rating as Prime Minister has fallen into negative territory for the first time, but the PM is still overwhelmingly regarded as the best leader to manage the economy and deliver tax reform.

Satisfaction with Mr Turnbull is down five points in the past fortnight to 39 per cent, a loss of 21 points since peaking at 60 per cent in mid-November.

But latest Newspoll, shows the Coalition has nudged ahead in two-party-preferred terms to lead by 51 per cent to Labor’s 49 per cent due to a slip in support for the opposition.

5. Rugby league star, Sam Burgess, stretchered off field after feared neck injury.

South Sydney captain Sam Burgess has been lucky after a sickening tackle in his side’s NRL game St George-Illawarra yesterday saw Burgess stretchered from the field.

There were concerns he had suffered a possible neck injury with his mother, and good family friend Russell Crowe watching anxiously from the stands.

But Souths coach Michael Maguire said Burgess could move his limbs and that was a positive sign.

“The doc is pretty positive and Sam is in a pretty good head space from what I was told,” Maguire said.

“He had some tingling down one arm (but) he had movement (in all his limbs) they are the first signs you look for when you have an incident like that.

“He was in a bit of pain, he sort of got compressed there quite heavily.”

Early this morning Burgess tweeted saying preliminary tests had come back positive.

6. QLD says yes to four year terms.

It looks like Saturday’s referendum in Queensland will see the state to shift to four-year election cycles for its state government with the vote backing a yes result.

Last night half of the votes from Queensland’s 3 million voters had been counted with the “Yes” case leading on 53.1 per cent over the “No” case with 46.9 per cent.

7. Cuba prepares for Obama’s arrival.

For the first time in nearly 90 years a US president visiting Cuba.

President Obama’s visit is the culmination of secret talks that began between the two countries two years ago.

While there he will meet with President Raul Castro, brother of Fidel along with conducting ceremonial duties such as the laying of a wreath at the memorial of Cuba’s national hero Jose Marti, and attend a state banquet.

The last US president to visit these shores was Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

8. Call for Easter to be on a fixed date.

There are increasing calls for Easter to be fixed with former deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, who also served as ambassador to the Vatican saying that Easter should be held on the first weekend in April each year.

He said the move would not only boost productivity but would provide “stability of planning”.

“If we could agree it would also be more convenient and bring in to line the Orthodox and Christian Churches,” Mr Fischer told The Herald Sun.

Christian leaders have said that they are five to 10 years away from agreeing on a fixed date for Easter possibly the second or third Sunday of April.

Anglicans and Catholics currently celebrate Easter Sunday on the first Sunday after the first full moon.

Mr Fisher has also called for Australia Day to be moved to the last Friday in January.

“For some with concerns relating to the aspect of ‘Invasion Day’, this could ease the burden on average six times out of seven,” Mr Fischer said.

“Productivity at the start of each year would be boosted in a way that would help especially small business if Australia Day was observed on the last Friday of January each year, so never held on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that always adds to absenteeism” he said.

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