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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been re-elected as Zanu-PF leader for the next five years, urging supporters to work for the survival of the party.

A wild storm battered Darwin overnight, giving the city a month's worth of rain in less than a day.

Mick Fanning won his second world championship tour surfing title when fellow Queenslander Joel Parkinson was eliminated from the third round of the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii on Sunday morning (AEDT).

Catholic leaders are urging for calm amid strong speculation the Pope is set to announce that Sister Mary MacKillop is eligible for sainthood.

Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury is recovering in hospital after being king hit in the early hours of Sunday morning at a pub in eastern Victoria.

The United States has bluntly dismissed an Iranian offer to swap nuclear fuel, saying the offer was inconsistent with a deal allowing the Islamic republic to avoid further sanctions.

The search for the black boxes from an Air France airliner crash off Brazil six months ago will resume in early February, the head of the French office investigating the accident said.

A Sydney mother and her two-year-old daughter have had a terrifying ride after a carjacker drove off in their vehicle while they were still in it.

Iraq has completed its second international oil auction, awarding seven foreign firms the right to exploit some of the country's largest untapped oil fields.

Two giant pandas will officially be welcomed to the Adelaide Zoo this morning in a ceremony attended by the Governor-General Quentin Bryce and a number of other dignitaries.

The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann have returned to the small Portuguese seaside resort where she disappeared in 2007.

New South Wales Police have described as "abhorrent" the behaviour of people on the state's streets during a national crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence.

A gunman has killed 11 people and set fire to five houses in his home village in China's Hunan province, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

At least five whales have died after nine beached themselves off Italy's southern coast, in what experts called a highly unusual event in the Mediterranean.

Fire crews will continue to maintain containment lines around nearly 80 fires burning across New South Wales this morning.

Gibraltar Aldorino has been crowned Miss World 2009, outshining 111 other hopefuls at a glittering ceremony with a distinctly African flavour.

Fans and colleagues of Tiger Woods are lamenting his stunning fall from grace as major commercial sponsor Gillette says it will limit his role in its marketing.

Hundreds of youths shrouded in black have thrown bricks and smashed windows as at least 30,000 people marched in central Copenhagen to turn up the heat on world leaders debating how to tackle climate change.

Channel Nine's hit gangster series Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities, dominated the television categories at the AFI awards in Melbourne.

Samson And Delilah has cleaned up at the Australian film industry's night of nights in Melbourne.