ZIMBABWE

Burning tyres, rebel checkpoints, an angry mob and a placard that reads, Gbagbo thief... The West African state of Ivory Coast seems to be rapidly descending into a state of crisis. Acknowledged as the most expensive polls in Africa, the recent run-off was aimed at unifying the country which suffered bitter divisions and wrath of an armed uprising in 2002. But instead, they bared the discrepancy within the nation's population.

A day after both candidates claimed Presidency in Ivory Coast, African Union said it would dispatch former South African premier Thabo Mbeki for mediations. Local media has reported of at least a dozen people killed in post-election violence in the former capital of Abijdan.

South African president Jacob Zuma set off to Harare on Friday expecting to even out the disputes of Zimbabwe's power-sharing government which is almost on the verge of collapse. The Zimbabwe standoff worsened as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai filed a lawsuit against ruling president Robert Mugabe accusing him of violating the global political agreement (GPA) signed between them.

African nations whose populations have been devastated by AIDS have made big strides in fighting HIV, with new infections down 25 percent since 2001 in some of the worst hit places, a U.N. report said on Friday.

Platinum miners are on a song this year with their profits scaling new heights. This week, Impala Platinum announced that production of platinum, palladium, rhodium and other associated metals rose from 3.43 million ounces to 3.69 million ounces this year.

England number three Jonathan Trott finally succumbed for 184 on Saturday after he and Stuart Broad had broken the world eighth wicket partnership record on the third day of the fourth test against Pakistan at Lord's.

Gold edged up in early European trade on Thursday underpinned by it safe-haven appeal due to increasing uncertainty about the health of the global economy, but a stronger dollar was likely to cap gains.

More trouble has come to Zimbabwe's Mugabe family with first lady Grace Mugabe figuring as one of the biggest beneficiaries from the diamonds from the controversial Chiadzwa fields after it emerged she is a shareholder in Mbada Diamonds.

With the diamond flow becoming tight in global markets, Surat's diamond polishing units are now awaiting roughs from Zimbabwe, which recently got a reprieve from the KP scheme, which allowed the country to sell a portion of its diamond stocks.

In a decision which will have a huge impact on the diamond sector across the globe, Zimbabwe announced that it will immediately auction a stockpile of more than 4.5 million carats of diamonds that it has been sitting on during the past nine months due to an international ban on trade in gems from the country's controversial Marange fields.

The recent decision of KP scheme to partially allow Zimbabwe to sell its diamonds has come as a respite for Surat, the biggest diamond processing centre in the world. In fact, now diamantaires in Surat can officially import rough diamonds from the troubled Marange diamond mines in Zimbabwe with the Kimberley Process allowing supervised exports of diamonds from Zimbabwe.

All diamond producing African antions are now rallying behind Zimbabwe threatening to leave the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme if Zimbabwe was not allowed to market its diamonds freely. African countries, led by diamond rich Namibia, has already conveyed this decision to the KP.

All miners in the world are now eyeing Zimbabwe. Reason: The country is witnessing major changes in the mining sector and Zimbabwe is one of the biggest sources of platinum group metals. Zimbabwe is witnessing a revival in its mining sector, with major companies committing to a number of significant platinum projects. And, if Zimbabwe decides to tap its mining resources properly, the country will be on way to high growth.

Zimbabwe has once again urged the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to allow the country to export its diamonds to world market. Zimbabwe finance minister tendai Biti said the KP should allow Zimbabwe to immediately start selling diamonds from Chiadzwa as the delay is affecting ordinary Zimbabweans.

Immediately after the Tel Aviv Meet on Zimbabwe's blood diamonds, the world was abuzz with the diamond controversy. Several newspapers carried articles on the blood diamonds and the Zimbabwe mine fields. Diamond jewelry is a powerful symbol of status and love, and a $72 billion-a-year retail business worldwide.

Till now Zimbabwe was the main country which has been drawing flak from across the world for the blood diamonds from its now infamous Marange diamond fields. But now, super model Naomi Campbell is in the eye of a storm for accepting blood diamonds as gift.

Is Zimbabwe's negative image of producing blood diamonds a result of falsified documents? It is now alleged that a person heading a non-governmental organisation had created false documents regarding human rights violations in Chiadzwa diamond fields and gave it to Kimbler Process. Zimbabwe's high court has refused bail to a man accused of jeopardizing the country's ability to trade diamonds on the international market, prosecutors say.

Changing scenarios in Zimbabwe did not prevent so called companies from sidelining it as TWP Investments has pulled out of a gold plant project citing the country as too risky.

A long-running controversy over Zimbabwe's allegedly illegal diamond trade, which human rights groups say is run by the army to enrich the power elite, took another twist with a watchdog official saying Harare can resume exports suspended in 2009.

IBTimes had an interview with James Turk, Founder & Chairman of GoldMoney.com. Who is your target audience? We have around 15,000 clients all over the world, and they share one common aim. They want to protect their wealth from the turmoil of national currencies and the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing financial crisis. So they want to own gold and find GoldMoney a convenient, economical and most importantly, a safe way of doing that. There is over $1 billion of customer assets in GoldMoney...

IBTimes had an interview with James Turk, Founder & Chairman of GoldMoney.com. Who is your target audience? We have around 15,000 clients all over the world, and they share one common aim. They want to protect their wealth from the turmoil of national currencies and the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing financial crisis. So they want to own gold and find GoldMoney a convenient, economical and most importantly, a safe way of doing that. There is over $1 billion of customer assets in GoldMoney...