Zimbabwe

Music by Prudence', an inspiring documentary about a group of handicapped Zimbabwean musicians, scooped the best prize for a short documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards held in Los Angeles, on Sunday night.

Youths from President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party today marched through the streets of Zimbabwe's capital demanding that Western sanctions against the country be lifted.

The placard waving youths staged peaceful demonstrations outside the United States Embassy and the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zanu PF is planning lavish birthday celebrations for President Robert Mugabe despite revelations last week that over two million Zimbabweans need urgent food aid. Mugabe, the country's only ruler since Independence in 1980, turns 86 today.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has given the clearest indication that his party is preparing for fresh elections when he hinted they were prepared to 'park' outstanding issues in the GPA and go for a poll.

The shaky inclusive government is facing renewed danger of collapse after ongoing inter-party negotiations yielded a stalemate over contentious issues confronting the three rival parties currently running the country.

THE Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has declared a "political logjam" in the inter-party talks and will refer the matter to South African President Jacob Zuma.

SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma is now pushing Zanu PF and the two MDC formations to expedite the resolution of outstanding issues in time for the 2011 elections, amid growing impatience among regional leaders and investors.

Civil servants have given the coalition government 14 days to address their wage demands or face a crippling public sector strike. Three unions representing the bulk of the civil servants held a joint press conference in Harare and made it clear they would strike if their demand for a minimum wage of US$630 per month was not met.

A failed clinical trial HIV vaccine that left 46 Zambian women infected with the virus has sparked controversy.

The Microbicides Development Programme (MDP) 301 trial, which was testing if the gel PRO2000 would prevent HIV infection took place between September 2005 and 2009.

It was conducted at six research centres in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and 9,385 participated.

GOVERNMENT yesterday shelved the auction of 300 000 carats of diamonds by Mbada Diamonds to ensure that all requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme are followed.

Besides the need to have an external Kimberley monitor present, there were also national requirements that had to be met before the diamonds could be sold.

A 24 year-old Zimbabwean man who has been languishing at an immigration detention centre in Portsmouth for over a year now, awaiting deportation, was last week moved to a psychiatric clinic.

There are fears that Tatenda Jera might be suffering from bouts of depression, anxiety and general mood disorders. Tatenda came to the UK in 2000 when he fled Zimbabwe's political troubles.

THE three principals to the Global Political Agreement met in Harare yesterday and agreed to the appointment of members of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and Zimbabwe Media Commission.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's refusal to let go the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a state security organisation that is only accountable to the veteran ruler, has emerged as the single biggest threat to Harare's shaky coalition government.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe will today officially open Zanu PF's congress at a defining moment following its defeat in last year's general election. There have been explosive internal clashes recently which have exposed simmering regional and ethnic hostilities threatening to tear the party apart.

THE Sadc facilitation team appointed by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma to assist in negotiations between parties to the Global Political Agreement arrived in Zimbabwe yesterday and met negotiators from the three parties.