Friday'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. Police search Logan home for a toddler that no one noticed missing.

Police yesterday began digging up a backyard north of the Gold Coast as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a New South Wales toddler.

The property at Woodridge in Logan has been declared a crime scene and is part of inquiries into the disappearance of a 22-month-old boy who has been missing since 2007.

Seven News reported that police found bone at the housing commission property, but police did not confirm that.

The boy was discovered missing after a magistrate in January, hearing a case involving the family, asked of the whereabouts of the boy, who would now be aged about 11.

The parents from Northern NSW, who once lived at the Logan property told the magistrate he had gone to live with relatives in another part of the state.

News Limited reports the family have a large number of children but that when police tried to track down the child and could not find any trace of him so a missing persons report was filed and the NSW Homicide Squad became involved.

Police began digging up the back yard in Woodridge yesterday morning looking for remains of the boy.

“State Crime Command Homicide Squad is conducting inquiries into the disappearance of a 22-month-old boy who has not been accounted for since 2007,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

“NSW detectives are being assisted by Queensland police.”

“It could turn out he is living with relatives or run away. Likewise, he could have been subjected to foul play. At this stage, we just don’t know,”

They said a number of items were seized which will undergo forensic testing.

Anyone with information is urges to call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

2. Young girl sexually assaulted in cinema by stranger in nearby seat.

Victorian Police are appealing for help in the hunt for a man accused of sexually assaulting a young girl in a Melbourne Cinema.

On Saturday 20 February the 13-year-old girl was watching a movie in Glen Waverley with her mother when a man entered the cinema and sat two seats down from the pair and placed a coat between them.

During the movie the man allegedly reached under the coat and sexually assaulted the young girl.

He was confronted by the girl’s mother and ran from the cinema when she went to report him to staff.

Police say the offender is perceived to be Asian, in his 20s with a medium to solid build and black short hair.

At the time of the offence he was wearing tan pants, blue zip top and glasses.

Anyone with information is urges to call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

3. Sean Price to be sentenced today over Masa Vukotic murder.

The man who killed Melbourne schoolgirl Masa Vukotic will be sentenced today, just over one year since the 17-year-old was stabbed to death while on her evening walk.

The prosecution has urged the judge to jail Price for life.

The 31-year-old, who defended himself in court pleaded guilty to the murder after fatally stabbing Masa 49 times. He also raping a separate woman and attempted to steal a BMW in a two-day crime spree after the killing.

He said he targeted Masa as she looked ‘rich’ and he hated rich people.

“I just thought I’m going to stab and I’m going to hurt these f**king dogs,” he told police. “So I thought originally, look for rich areas. I thought rich areas, these f**king c**ts, they don’t care unless it happens to them, unless it’s in their society.”

Price will be sentenced at 10.30am.

4. Telstra customers across the country are angry after being been hit by another widespread outage overnight.

Customers across Australia reporting an inability to make calls or access the Internet using their Telstra post-paid services are furious at the telco after it was hit by an outage from 6.30pm.

Early this morning some customers still could not access their Telstra service.

“We are aware of an issue affecting some of our mobile customers. We’re working to fix this as soon as possible. Sorry for inconvenience,” Telstra tweeted.

In February, the company blamed a worker for an “embarrassing” outage that saw customers all over Australia lose service for hours. They offered free data for a full day to make amends for the ‘human error’.

5. Fairfax staff walk out after job cuts.

Staff at two of Fairfax Media newsrooms have gone on strike until Monday to protest the cutting of 120 journalists and editorial staff jobs at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Yesterday staff were informed of the job cuts via email.

Media, Entertainment and Arts union CEO Paul Murphy said the company would face a battle over the cuts.

“It’s the staff on the newsroom floor who have driven the transition to digital and through all the challenges continued to produce high quality independent journalism.”

“And this is the reward. Yet another savage cut to editorial. We will be fighting for every job.”

6. Boy left with severe arm injuries after play centre accident.

A mother has taken to Facebook to express her horror after a Melbourne play centre failed to remove a piece of equipment that injured her six-year-old son.

Cristie Beggs took her son to YoYo’s Playland in Wantirna South on Saturday, February 27 when he ripped his arm open on a hook holding a horseshoe-shaped foam swing.

The metal hook left him with a horrific wound. The terrified mother rushed him to hospital where he required internal and external stitches.

“It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen,” Mrs Beggs told The Leader.

“He just went into shock; he went really pale and was sweating profusely.”

She said that a surgeon explained how lucky he was as the hook was a millimeter away from hitting the main artery in his arm.

Mrs Beggs said that Louka’s arm was in a sling for a couple of weeks, but the wound has now healed.

“He was incredibly traumatised, and he is still traumatised,” Mrs Beggs said.

“I think the psychological side of things is going to far outweigh the physical.”

To compound things she says that the day after the accident her husband went to the centre to explain to them what happened and the swing was still there.

Mrs Beggs’ shared Loukas’ story on Facebook to alert other families

The Leader reports that the manager has apologized to the family and that the swing has been sent back to the manufacturer.

7. Rolf Harris pleads not guilty to new indecent assault charges.

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris has pleaded not guilty to seven new  charges of indecent assault against women and girls in a London court.

Harris, 85, appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court via videolink yesterday, pleading not guilty to the alleged offences committed between 1971 and 2004.

One of the alleged victims is a 12-year-old girl the others range up to 27. One of the girls is disabled and says that Harris was “like an octopus” and she could not get away from him.

The case has been referred to a higher court.

8. Parliament sits through the night.

It’s been a long night in Federal parliament with debate right through the night over a controversial overhaul of voting laws.

The so called #senatesleepover was expected to continue well into this morning.

“Bring your pillows, bring your mattresses,” Labor frontbencher Sam Dastyari warned.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann threatened to keep Parliament sitting until the weekend and beyond if required.

“If you still want to be here on Easter Friday, on Good Friday, that’s fine,” he said.

“Let’s be here on Easter Friday. We will be here until this legislation is dealt with.”

Labor and most of the crossbench are against the changes but the bill is set to pass, with the Federal Government to gain the support of the Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon.

Penny Wong said the opposition would probably get more senators elected under the changes being proposed but despite that she said, “We are taking a stand because we do not believe this is the right reform.”

Senator Wong says the changes will prevent new parties from being elected, and risks turning the Senate into a rubber stamp for coalition governments.

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