Friday's news in under 5 minutes

1. Missing Chloe Campbell

The father of a missing three-year-old has said he fears that Chloe has been taken by a friend of the family.

The preschooler from Childers in QLD went missing overnight Wednesday from her home. Her mother discovered her missing when she went to check on her at 7am yesterday.

She then phoned the police.

Despite a massive search, which continued into the night, no trace of Chloe has been found.

For more, read this post here “Dad of missing three-year-old pleads, “Don’t hurt my little girl” 

2. Man charged with murder denied bail

A man charged with the murder of his partner’s 11-month-old girl, after claiming she had fallen off a trampoline, has been refused bail.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the girl was known to the Department of Family and Community Services.

The 35-year-old man drove the baby girl to Blayney hospital himself on April 2 and told the police she fell off a trampoline.

She died in hospital.

He has been charged with one count of murder.

3. Cyclone Ita

QLD is on the verge of a natural disaster with category 5 storm Cyclone Ita bearing down on the coast.

The powerful storm has been compared to Typhoon Haiyan that wiped out parts of the Phillipines and south-east Asia, killing thousands in the strongest wind speed ever recorded.

Ita is projected to cross the coast about 5pm today, though fierce winds began battering the coast this morning.

A warning has been issued for the coastal areas from Lockhart River to Innisfail.

Cooktown, Port Douglas and Cairns, Kalinga, Palmerville, Mareeba and Chillagoe are included in the threatened area.

For updates, visit the BOM site here.

4. Oscar Pistorius trial

Oscar Pistorius has continued to give evidence in the case against him in South Africa.

He is charged with murder after shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year. He has pleaded not guilty.

Overnight, the Paralympian was cross-examined by Prosecutor Gerrie Nell, who outlined what his case will be.

“I will build my case to say that when you got up, there was an argument and she ran away screaming,” Mr Nel said.

“It’s not true, my lady,” said the athletic track star.

The Daily Mirror in the UK has interviewed Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, who told them that she did not believe the apology the athlete had given in court.

“It left me unmoved. I knew it was coming,” she said.

5. Heartbleed bug

A worldwide computer bug dubbed the ‘Heartbleed bug’ has left 66 per cent of sites, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others open to attacks by hackers.

Millions of people worldwide have been urged to change their passwords to prevent sensitive data such as passwords and internet banking details from being stolen.

Bruce Schneier, a renowned security expert, said in a blog post on Wednesday: “Heartbleed is a catastrophic bug… on a scale of one to 10, it is an 11.”

However, Marco Ostini, an information security analyst from AusCERT told The Australian that people should wait before changing their passwords.

“If you changed your password on a website that is still vulnerable, you are actually doing more harm than good,” Mr Ostini said. “It is quite important to just wait until somebody notifies you.’’

6. Chocolate recall

A major supermarket brand has issued a product recall for some of their chocolate Easter eggs after they have been found to contain traces of tree nuts in them.

Three children have suffered an allergic reaction after eating the chocolate.

The recalled lines include ‘Coles brand Hollow Milk Chocolate Eggs’ (204g 12-pack carton), ‘Coles Brand 30 Easter Eggs Milk Chocolate Hollow Eggs’ (510g bag) and ‘Coles Brand Milk Chocolate Easter Bag — Contains Milk Chocolate Bunny & Hollow Eggs’ (300g bag).

7. MH370 signal detected

An Australian aircraft has picked up another signal off the coast of WA yesterday. Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who is heading the search, says the aircraft detected the signal near the Australian Navy ship Ocean Shield on Thursday.

Later yesterday, he said that further analysis is needed but the signal may be from a man-made source.

8. Will the Govt raise the age of the aged pension?

In a speech in Washington, Treasurer Joe Hockey has inferred the Government may raise the retirement age or crackdown on eligibility for the age pension.

The Australian reports that Mr Hockey warned that a sustainable budget will involve winding back entitlements that are taken for granted.

9. Girl poisons husband

A child bride in Nigeria has killed her husband and three of his friends by lacing a meal with rat poison.

Wasila Umaru, 14, was married last week to 35-year-old Umaru Sani, according to assistant superintendent Musa Magaji Majia.

She admitted to poisoning them and will likely be charged with culpable homicide.

10. German coffee mug stuff up

A German furniture store chain has apologised for selling coffee mugs featuring portraits of Adolf Hitler.

The vintage-style ceramic cups feature a faint image of a Nazi-era postage stamp that shows a black-and-white profile of Hitler, postmarked with a swastika stamp.

The owner blamed the “terrible” mistake on “a stupid chain of unfortunate circumstances” involving a Chinese designer who has mistakenly chosen the image of the Nazi leader.

11. No emails after 6pm

A deal which has been struck by French tech industry workers and unions in France means that employees are no longer required to answer work-related emails after 6pm. The new labour agreement will affect millions of workers.

The French already work a 35-hour week – and the move has some wondering how the tech industry will survive with this new deal.

 What news are you talking about today?