Zimbabwe's new local ownership law, requiring locals to own 51 percent of major foreign firms, could hurt the nation's economic recovery, the main labour body said Monday.

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered two government mining firms to stop operations on British-owned diamond mining fields plagued by human rights abuses, state newspapers reported Thursday.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday threatened to defy the Kimberley Process to sell diamonds from a field where the global regulator accuses the military of forced labour and other abuses.

White businesspeople in Zimbabwe who don't cede control of their companies to black partners could face jail under a law going into effect next month.

A crippling general strike by Zimbabwe’s public workers inched closer on Tuesday after wage negotiations between the government and union leaders ended in deadlock yesterday.

Zimbabwe's enormous foreign debt is hampering efforts to mend the economy, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Monday, urging the government urgently to resolve the debt crisis.

Zimbabwe's gold production surged 35 percent to 4.2 tonnes last year in a "remarkable recovery" for the mining sector despite erratic power supply, the Chamber of Mines said Monday.

Zimbabwe's struggling power utility has signed an eight million dollar deal with Botswana to revive a shut-down thermal power station and ease national blackouts, state media reported on Wednesday.

Cleopatra Matimbe, 24, pushes her trolley slowly through a busy supermarket in central Harare, picking up groceries for Christmas.

The United Nations Monday launched an appeal for 378 million dollars in aid to Zimbabwe, saying the country's humanitarian crisis has eased but that the situation remains fragile.

Zimbabwe's central bank governor said the country will not put the local dollar back into circulation anytime soon as the economy must first achieve growth rates of at least seven percent, a state daily reported Saturday.

Zimbabwe's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to reform the central bank, including reducing the powers of the bank governor accused by critics of policies that ruined the economy.

Zimbabwe's tourism chief says hotels have seen occupancy rates double in the past year as the country begins to enjoys the political and economic stability brought about by a unity government.

Infrastructure development in sub-Saharan Africa needs 93 billion dollars annually over the next decade, with half to target the continent's power supply crisis, the World Bank said Thursday.

Zimbabwe on Monday launched a six-year economic blueprint aimed at reviving the country's economy, firmly rejecting a return to the local currency that was abandoned in January, a cabinet minister said.

Zimbabwe's rough diamond trade has escaped a six-month suspension by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) - an international initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - after its own investigating team recommended earlier in 2009 that the country be temporarily barred from importing and exporting the gems.

Zimbabwe has made progress in complying with the requirements of a diamond watchdog body, a state daily reported Wednesday as the Kimberley Process retreats in Namibia.

NATPAK Textiles, a division of National Foods, has sacked at least 52 employees on allegations of having participated in industrial action demanding salaries.

Capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector has improved from below 10 percent at the beginning of the year to an average 32,3%.

A local engineering company, TT Motor Cycles has invested more than US$1 million on a plant that assembles a new model of motor bikes ideal for use on farms.