Zimbabwe has blocked flights by South Africa's government-owned airline amid tensions over allegations that Zimbabwe's first lady assaulted a young model.

Update 7.09pm: Lawyers for the young model who claims Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe assaulted her in a Johannesburg hotel have said that her family has been approached with an offer of money to drop the allegation.

South African officials are debating whether to grant diplomatic immunity to Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe, who is accused of assaulting a 20-year-old model in Johannesburg this week.

The wife of Zimbabwe's president has been accused of assaulting a young woman at a hotel in South Africa.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has celebrated his 93rd birthday surrounded by thousands of supporters in a defiant show of strength after nearly four decades in power.

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 in February, has been endorsed as the ruling party's candidate in a national election scheduled for 2018.

Zimbabwe's 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe arrived home today after an overseas absence that led to rumours about a health crisis, joking to reporters: "Yes, I was dead".

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USA: To a girl aged two in South Carolina, struggling to get dressed is an emergency. The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office says the child called 911, asking for help getting dressed.

Zimbabwean officials have dismissed speculation about president Robert Mugabe’s health after the elderly leader stumbled in public.

Zimbabwe’s 91-year-old President Robert Mugabe read out an old speech at the opening of parliament without seeming to notice, an error which the main opposition quickly used to question whether Africa’s oldest leader was still of a sound mind.

Zimbabweans failed in their responsibility to protect a popular lion named Cecil that was killed by an American in an allegedly illegal hunt, President Robert Mugabe said yesterday.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe marked his 91st birthday by speaking for more than an hour on his feet, delivering a defiant speech in which he threatened to take over land and animal sanctuaries still in the hands of whites.

African leaders have appointed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as the new chairman of the 54-nation African Union.

Marking his 90th birthday, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe said he is not ready for retirement.

Zimbabwe’s president has threatened to expel foreign-owned companies over what he says is the West’s interference in the politics of the country he has led since 1980.

Lawyers for Zimbabwe’s opposition leader say they have filed a court suit to try to compel the state election commission to release full details of the disputed July 31 election.

Lawyers for Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court against the election results that gave President Robert Mugabe 61% of the presidential vote.

Zimbabwe’s electoral panel declared that President Robert Mugabe has won re-election by a landslide, a result that could exacerbate tensions in the country.

President Robert Mugabe won the Zimbabwe presidential election with 61% of the vote, compared to 34% for challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, election officials said.

Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismissed the election in Zimbabwe as a farce after his rival President Robert Mugabe’s party claimed a landslide victory that would secure another five years in power for Africa’s oldest head of state.

Zimbabweans are voting in elections that will determine the future of long-time President Robert Mugabe, who has denied allegations of vote-rigging despite concerns about the credibility of the polls.

Jamaica’s prime minister has described remarks by Zimbabwe’s leader disparaging the Caribbean island’s men were “grossly unfortunate, misguided and untrue”.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay arrived in Zimbabwe on the first mission to the troubled southern African nation by the world rights chief.

Zimbabwe’s president, appearing uncharacteristically conciliatory, said political violence must be “buried in the past” to move the nation toward free and unhindered elections.

Police have reportedly arrested a carpenter who questioned whether Zimbabwe’s president still had the strength to blow up balloons at his 88th birthday celebrations.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, who is visiting Hong Kong for his daughter’s graduation, has thanked Chinese authorities for shielding her from British journalists.

MASS evictions in Zimbabwe six years ago have left thousands of displaced children without education and even forced some to seek work in the sex industry to support their families, rights group Amnesty International said.

Mass evictions in Zimbabwe six years ago have left thousands of displaced children without education and even forced some to seek work in the sex industry to support their families, rights group Amnesty International said today.

Zimbabwe’s top Anglican bishop said an excommunicated church leader close to the country’s president has taken over an orphanage housing 80 children as part of a schism over gay marriage.

State media loyal to Zimbabwe’s president says he will hold elections in March to end the nation’s fragile coalition government.

THE Zimbabwe security forces are running illegal mining camps in the country’s Marange diamond fields where civilians are beaten and forced into intensive labour, the BBC has reported.

Twelve visibly wounded suspects accused of killing a police inspector have appeared in a Zimbabwe court, and their lawyer said they were tortured repeatedly by police in jail.

The failing health of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe could jeopardise efforts to resolve his nation's political crisis, South Africa's ruling party said.

POPE Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before 1.5 million people in St Peter’s Square and surrounding streets yesterday, moving the former pontiff one step closer to sainthood in one of the largest turnouts ever for a Vatican Mass.

More than a million people have crowded St Peter’s Square and surrounding streets for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, a celebration to honour one of the most adored popes as he moves a step closer to possible sainthood.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome, sidestepping a European Union travel ban because he is attending Pope John Paul II’s beatification, being held in Vatican City tomorrow.

A Zimbabwean court freed 39 of 45 people charged with plotting an Egypt-style uprising against the country’s long-time ruler, while a magistrate ordered six others to face treason charges later this month.

Zimbabwean police detained 46 people, including a former politician, for attending a lecture and discussion group on mass uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, an independent lawyers group said.

Zimbabwe’s prime minister has been accused by state-run radio of trying to spark anti-government uprisings similar to those seen in Tunisia and Egypt.

Zimbabwe’s 86-year-old President Robert Mugabe denies having been gravely ill and describes reports that he recently underwent surgery in Malaysia as “naked lies crafted by the Western-manipulated media”, state radio reported.

Militants from Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party have launched raids at boating clubs and tourism lodges on the shores of the capital’s main fishing and leisure area, tour operators said.

NEARLY one-third of Zimbabwe’s 5.5 million registered voters are dead, researchers have found.

MORE cyber attacks in retaliation for attempts to block the WikiLeaks website are likely in a “data war” to protect internet freedom, a representative of one of the groups involved warned last night.