Harare  - Zimbabwe's parliament Thursday passed a constitutional amendment bill that clears some of the remaining hurdles to the formation of a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition next week.

The amendment creates the post of prime minister for Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Harare - Police in Zimbabwe are holding a local employee of the United States stage aid agency USAID in connection with an alleged attack in December on the country's air force boss, Air Marshall Perence Shiri, court documents revealed Wednesday.

Frank Muchirahondo, 36, a driver with the agency, is being held at a remand prison in Bindura, around 80 kilometres north-east of the capital Harare, in connection with the attack on Shiri, who was reportedly shot in the hand by unknown assailants while driving in the area.

Muchirahondo was arrested at a border post with Mozambique on 22 January, court documents lodged at the High Court, where he is applying for bail, showed. He faces charges of attempted murder.

Harare - Four days after Zimbabwe's opposition gave in to pressure to join President Robert Mugabe in a unity government, the deal looked to be in jeopardy again Tuesday as Morgan Tsvangirai's party accused Mugabe's Zanu-PF of shirking its commitments.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nelson Chamisa accused Zanu-PF of backtracking on a commitment to resolve outstanding sticking points before the new government is formed.

Harare -

Harare  - Roy Bennett, the top pro-democracy official pursued by Zimbabwean secret police over an alleged plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, slipped quietly into Zimbabwe early Friday after nearly five years in political exile, sources in his Movement for Democratic Change party said.

Harare - A day before Zimbabwe's opposition votes on whether to join President Robert Mugabe in government, the United States ambassador to Zimbabwe expressed hope Thursday that a government would be formed quickly.

"We are hoping to see a government in place, an operational government in the very, very near future," ambassador James McGee told reporters during a visit to a clinic treating cholera patients in the capital Harare.