TRANSCRIPT
- A pause in the federal election campaign
- Australians mark Good Friday by attending church services
- Alex de Minaur advances to the Barcelona Open quarterfinals
The federal election campaigning has been put on pause, with Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton adopting a more laidback approach.
The prime minister joined Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale for a casual stroll with their dogs Toto and Toby at a park in the marginal seat.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader attended one of Australia's largest Good Friday services at the Monastery of Saint Charbel in western Sydney alongside 20,000 Maronite worshippers.
Both leaders posted messages on social media, wishing Australians a happy and safe Easter.
The federal election is just over two weeks away, on Saturday, May 3.
Early voting begins from Tuesday.
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Australia's Christian community have marked Good Friday by attending church services.
Catholics are celebrating a Jubilee Year and both Western and Orthodox churches sharing the same dates for the religious holiday.
Christians have also participated in the 'Stations of the Cross' - also called the Way of the Cross - that involves people reflecting on 14 key moments leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
This worshipper attended the service at the Saint Charbel's Maronite church in Sydney.
He has told SBS, Good Friday is an important day on the calendar.
"Good Friday is Jesus buying in the cross and for mankind and saving us in the sins. Without Good Friday basically Christianity doesn't exist, so that's why we are celebrating this."
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Pope Francis has visited inmates at Rome's main prison to mark the beginning of Easter.
The Pope spent about 20 minutes at Regina Caeli jail meeting with about 70 prisoners.
It's a prison Francis has visited before. He also performed the annual ritual of washing the feet of 12 people to re-enact Christ's gesture of humble service of washing the feet of 12 apostles before his crucifixion.
The pontiff is still recovering from a life-threatening bout of pneumonia, but is still expected to make some other public appearances over Easter.
He spoke to reporters outside the prison.
"Every time that I enter in these places, I ask myself, why them and not me."
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US President Donald Trump has hosted the Italian Prime Minister at the White House.
Georgia Meloni is the first leader from Europe to visit the Republican since he slapped 20 percent tariffs on EU exports, which he has since suspended for 90 days.
During the visit, Ms Meloni highlighted her conservative common ground with Mr Trump - and says she wants to "make the West great again."
She also says Mr Trump has accepted an invitation to vist Rome in the near future - although no firm date was given.
Mr Trump says he feels good about their meeting - and he is confident there will be an eventual trade deal with the EU at some point.
"She has taken Europe by storm. And highly respected, everybody loves her and respects her, and I can't say that about many people. And uh she's become a friend and we really have a great relationship between Italy and ourselves and we talked about trade, we talked about many, many things."
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Gunggari and Gubbi Gubbi man and NRL legend Steve Renouf [[Ren-noff]] is calling for more specialised care for First Nations people with diabetes.
The rugby league hall of famer is now working in the Indigenous health sector as an ambassador for preventative health program, Deadly Choices.
He says he was taken by surprise when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in his early 20s while playing for the Brisbane Broncos.
He told NITV, early diagnosis can make a huge difference in health outcomes.
"Just so we do footy carnels or deadly choices - so everyone who comes here gets a health check and that's where we pick up people with various health conditions whether it is heart disease or whatever. Usually a lot of that is caused by undiagnosed diabetes."
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In Tennis, Alex de Minaur will face world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona Open quarterfinals.
The Australian set up the contest against Alcaraz, after powering to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley in just 62 minutes.
The result has propelled the 26-year-old into his 50th tour-level quarterfinal.
He is the third man born in 1999 or later to achieve that feat, alongside Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner.
