ZIMBABWE needs to allow the national budget to fund all activities and stop money printing if the country is to chart an economic recovery path, a document by a United Nations agency shows.

Controversial playwright Raisedon Baya will next month publish a collection of some of his best plays that have over the years provoked the wrath of the government for their hard- hitting social commentary.

CAPS United's creaking ship is sailing in stormy waters.

THE country's two main teachers' unions - the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) - have called for the "complete scrapping off of 2008 from the academic year because it was a wasted year".

ZIMBABWEAN poets last Tuesday challenged the current political situation in a poetry session.

THEY say the early bird catches the fattest worm, but for many depositors, trying to withdraw their hard-earned money has become a nightmare.

ZAMBIAN firm, TAP Building Products Limited (TAP) paid up US$700 000 to service providers for the period it was erroneously put under the administration of AMG Global chief Arafas Gwaradzimba, it emerged last week.

THE former US president, Jimmy Carter, once walked out of a reception after the then Zimbabwean foreign minister, Witness Mangwende, made one of those ghastly gaffes which sets guests wondering if someone has imbibed too much of the nectar of illusory joy.

ZIMBABWE'S education standards have not been any worse despite a plethora of problems bedevilling the sector, outgoing finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi last week said.

ZIMBABWE'S journalists need reorientation through refresher courses, workshops and exchange programmes in an effort to rebuild the media, judges at a recent edition of the National Journalistic and Media Awards (NJAMA) said.

THE fairy-tale African Champions League first-leg semi-final pitting Zimbabwe football Kings, Dynamos and surprise packets Cameroonian champions, Cotonsport Garoua, explodes at Rufaro Stadium this afternoon.

Workers at Care International, one of the few non-governmental organisations that provide food aid to starving villagers, last week downed tools following a tax dispute with their employers.

FOUR Standard newspaper journalists were last Friday crowned among some of Zimbabwe's finest journalists at the 2007 National Journalistic and Media Awards (Njama).

AN MDC legislator has filed a High Court application demanding that the Chitungwiza Town Council reverses its plan to build houses on land earmarked for schools and recreational facilities, saying the development could cause an outbreak of cholera and other diseases linked to over-crowding.

THE Zimbabwean team for the 2008 Homeless World Cup soccer tournament in Melbourne, Australia, in December has been adopted by seven Australian schools under the AdoptaTeam Programme.

DYNAMOS came crashing down to earth as Cameroonian giants Cotonsport stole away a crucial lead in this Caf Champions League soccer semi-final, first leg clash at Rufaro yesterday.

AFRICAN Banking Corporation Holdings shareholders last week gave the bank the green light to proceed with the US$150 million rights offer.

IGNATIUS Mketekete is the 2008 Africom Pro-Am Golf Classic champion.

CHITUNGWIZA is slowly getting on top of the cholera outbreak in the town, with the number of reported cases going down by half and the death rate cut to zero, but wants sewers repaired to remove the threat entirely.

THE Food and Agriculture Organisation has made available a US$450 000 facility to the Technical Co-operation Programme on HIV and Aids to achieve lasting improvements in the agricultural production and food security of HIV and Aids-affected households and communities in Zimbabwe.