The latest: Tomb of Jesus restored to former glory

1 Greek team completes work on shrine

The tomb of Jesus has been resurrected to its former glory. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. Gone is the unsightly iron cage built around the shrine by British authorities in 1947 to shore up the walls. Gone is the black soot on the shrine's stone façade from decades of pilgrims lighting candles. And gone are fears about the stability of the old shrine, which hadn't been restored in more than 200 years. The World Monuments Fund provided an initial US$1.4 million for the US$4m restoration. Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chipped in about €150,000 each, with other donations. The limestone and marble structure stands at the centre of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

2 White House 'bomb was asteroid'
A man who drove to a security checkpoint near the White House in a stolen car and was arrested after stating "there's a bomb in the trunk," later told authorities that the object was an asteroid and that he communicates telepathically with the president. According to a court document filed today, 29-year-old Sean Patrick Keoughan of Roanoke, Virginia, approached the checkpoint and said he had a meeting with President Donald Trump. Officers found no record for a meeting and Keoughan left. He approached again and made the statement about the bomb. Keoughan has been charged with threatening and conveying false information. Keoughan was ordered held in custody until another hearing on Friday. A mental health screening was also ordered.

3 French candidates debate
The top candidates in France's presidential election have gone head-to-head in a televised debate as polls showed centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen pulling away from the pack five weeks before the first round. The debate, the first between the five main candidates, may be crucial in helping viewers make up their minds in a French election that has seen major twists and turns. Opinion polls show almost 40 per cent of voters are not sure who to back in the election, which will be held over two rounds on April 24 and May 8 against a backdrop of high unemployment and sluggish growth.

4 Crocodile culling being discussed
Crocodile culling in north Queensland is back in the spotlight after two attacks - one of them fatal - over the weekend. Warren Hughes, 35, disappeared on Saturday after diving from his dinghy off Palmer Point, north of Innisfail, just hours before an 18-year-old was attacked in a nearby river. Water police pulled Hughes' body from the waters south of Palmer Point yesterday. The search was now on for a crocodile measuring more than 4m, Dr Matt Brien from the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said. "It's an aggressive animal and so we'll do what we need to do to remove it. We may capture it through conventional means, but lethal force is an option." Lee de Paauw, who was mauled at night in the Johnstone River, doesn't want the saltie who savaged him to suffer for it. "I don't want that crocodile harmed. I want it to have a happy life," he told the Nine Network from his hospital bed.

5 Scene from the past

It was all going so well. 100-million-years ago a male damselfly spotted a potential mate and set about attempting to woo her with an intricate courtship dance. Waving his impressive pod-like lower limbs in the air and beating his wings furiously, the tiny insect pulled out all the stops to signal his interest to his intended. But he found himself encased in sticky tree sap, which later turned into amber. It is the first time the mating dance of ancient insects has been discovered fossilised in amber. The frozen-in-time scene which dates from the Mid-cretaceous when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, was reported by researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in the journal

Scientific Reports

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- agencies