We’ve rounded up all the latest stories from Australia and around the world – so you don’t have to go searching.
1. Masa Vukotic accused murderer faces court this morning.
The man charged with the murder of 17-year old Masa Vukotic will face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this morning.
CCTV showing the alleged suspect.
Sean Christian Price, 31, of Albion was last night charged with the murder of Ms Vukotic.
He was also charged with rape, three assaults and two robberies that police alleged he committed before surrendering to them.
Just minutes before handing himself in to police it is alleged he sexually attacked a woman in a business on Harvester Road in Sunshine.
Sky Newsreports that Price joked with the remand judge when his birth date was read out wrong.
“Are you a judge? I must look pretty good for my age,” Price said.
Yesterday, the local community paid their respects to 17-year old Masa Vukotic with a floral tribute building up in the park where she was brutally murdered.
More than 100 people gathered paying tribute to the Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College student.
The local community mourns
For more read this post: “Masa Vukotic could have been any one of us.”
2. Cyclone Nathan makes landfall.
Residents of far north Queensland are feeling the full effects of Cyclone Nathan as the category 4 storm makes landfall.
At 4:00am (AEST), the Bureau of Meteorology reported that the cyclone was about 90 kilometres north-west of Cooktown, moving west at 18 kilometres per hour.
Cooktown is in lockdown as Cyclone Nathan passes to the north of Cape Flattery.
ABC reporter Sharnie Kim said that there were reports of minor structural damage so far, although authorities haven’t been able to get out and about to survey the damage for themselves.
3. Lindt Café to reopen today.
The Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place will reopen this morning — three months after the siege that claimed the lives of cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, and barrister Katrina Dawson, 38, along with gunman Man Haron Monis.
The cafe doors will officially open at 10:00am – the same time Monis made cafe workers lock the doors on December 15th.
4. Canberra teenager’s parents hope to make contact with missing daughter today.
As the first group of Australian volunteers are located on a remote island in Vanuatu, the family of teenager Zoe Marshall have said they are disappointed she was not among the group, but have their fingers crossed she will make contact today.
Zoe Marshall and Ally Trueman
Ms Marshall was among a group of 19 volunteer teachers who were unaccounted for after the category 5 cyclone swept through the region last week.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said five volunteers were flown by helicopter to Port Vila yesterday and they hope to reach the other 11 volunteers later today.
The family of South Australian volunteerAlly Trueman are relieved to hear her voice as she made phone contact with her family last night.
5. Toddler drowns in dam near Brisbane.
The boy was just two-years old.
A two-year old boy has drowned in a dam on a property west of Brisbane.
Police were called to the property last night after being alerted to the toddler going missing.
A dog squad and a police helicopter searched the area.
Tragically he was found drowned in a dam at 8.45pm.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
6. A pregnant woman has been ambushed, attacked and her baby cut from her womb in an horrific case in the US.
A woman has been arrested over the attack.
The young mother-to-be was answering an ad on Craigslist for baby goods. With just two months to go before the birth of her baby the 26-year old pregnant woman arrived at a home in Colorado to look at some baby clothes advertised by another mother.
There the unthinkable happened. She was attacked, beaten and stabbed – and shockingly her baby was cut from her womb by her attacker.
For more read thispost here.
7. Islamic State claim responsibility for Tunisia museum attack.
Islamic State have claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack on a museum in Tunisia that killed at least 21 people.
In an audio recording a man claiming to be from IS said “two knights from the Islamic State… heavily armed with automatic weapons and grenades, targeted the Bardo Museum.”
Chillingly he added “What you have seen is only the start.”
The men were armed with machine guns and bombs when they launched the attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
Police have arrested nine people in connection with the attack.
8. Bali Nine duo have case adjourned.
Case adjourned again.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have had their latest appeal against the death penalty adjourned, once again, until next week.
Fairfax Media reports that judge Ujang Abdullah adjourned the case until March 25.
There are three more scheduled hearings for the case.
Judge Ujang said the court would summarise the rulings on April 1 and deliver the verdict a couple of days later.
9. ‘I am behind you': Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s video message to bullied children.
By James Bennett
The Prime Minister has used a video message aimed at school children to speak against cyber-bullying, labelling it “hurtful and wrong”.
“I want to speak to the children of Australia, you are our future,” Tony Abbott said in a video message filmed in his office.
“Everyone has a part to play in Australia and everyone belongs.
“We are all special, and that is why there is no place for bullying, in the playground or on the internet.”
The Government said 2014 research showed approximately one in five children experience bullying online, and Mr Abbott said children being bullied should not feel alone.
“If you are being bullied, I want you to know that I am behind you, that your teachers are behind you and your family is behind you as well,” he said.
He has issued the video as part of a national campaign against bullying.
Today, 1,900 schools across Australia are expected to “take a stand together” as part of the 2015 National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence.
“I encourage you to be part of that conversation,” Mr Abbott said in his address.
Mr Abbott said the campaign would talk about how to stop bullying, and wished it “every success”.
Yesterday, the Government appointed a children’s e-safety commissioner to investigate claims of bullying against children on social media.
Former senior AFP officer Alastair MacGibbon will have the power to fine companies $17,000 a day if they do not remove offensive material when asked.
A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.
10. QLD mother wants doctor who hog tied her seven-year old de-registered.
The mother provided A Current Affair with the footage.
A mother from the Gold Coast has spoken to A Current Affair saying a veteran paediatrician who hog tied her seven year old son should be deregistered.
Yesterday, the doctor was found guilty of assault, after sitting on a child during a consultation at a Gold Coast clinic in October 2012.
Dr Neville Goodwin Davis, 60, was treating the boy for ADHD.
“He bound his ankles together then he bound his hands together,” the unidentified mother said.
Dr Davis claimed he was trying to prove the boy did not have Asperger’s syndrome.
“He said an Asperger’s child would be screaming their lungs out by now.”
Dr Davis will face the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal March 27.
11. France rejects ban on skinny models.
France has rejected proposed “anti-anorexia” laws saying instead it will introduce a voluntary charter to make the fashion industry “more aware of the problem and not use skinny models”.
The French Health Ministry said imposing the ban would risk discriminating against ‘thin people’ in the workplace.
12. Kissing a dog could be good for you.
Good for cat’s too?
Pucker up pooches because new research has shown that microbes lurking in a dog’s gut could have a probiotic effect in humans.
The Daily Mail reports that researchers at the University of Arizona, are recruiting volunteers to take part in a study to test the theory. Participants will be paired with a dog who will live in their home for three months.
Dr Charles Raison said: “We think dogs might work as probiotics to enhance the health of the bacteria that live in our guts.
“These bacteria, or microbiota, are increasingly recognised as playing an essential role in our mental and physical health, especially as we age.
“We can get very sick from the ‘bad’ bacteria, and modern medicine has done a wonderful job of protecting us from various diseases that are created by these bacteria.
“But unfortunately, by eliminating the bad bacteria we’ve started eliminating the ‘good’ bacteria, too.”
What news are you talking about today?