London, Oct. 10 : Zimbabwe''s inflation has skyrocketed to an astronomical 231 million per cent.

According to The Telegraph, the latest inflation figures show that Zimbabwe is suffering the highest inflation rate in the world.

In June the statistic stood at 11.2 million per cent a year, but the state-owned Herald newspaper said that in July it was more than 20 times higher. Monthly inflation was 2,600.2 per cent, it added.

Harare- Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday called on Zimbabwe's southern African neighbours and the African Union to intervene to end the deadlock in power-sharing talks between his and President Robert Mugabe's parties.

In a statement 24 days after Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a deal to share power, Tsvangirai said, despite claims of progress by Mugabe's party, the two sides were still poles apart on the formation of a 31-ministry unity government.

Johannesburg  - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday expressed regret that the party signed a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, without having first agreed on the composition of a unity government.

Speaking on South African radio about the three-week delay in the implementation of the landmark agreement, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he he thought the party's "big mistake" was to have signed a deal before the negotiations had been concluded.

Johannesburg - A spokesman for Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday expressed regret that the party signed a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, without having agreed on the make-up of a unity government.

Speaking on South African radio about the three-week delay in the implementation of the historic September 15 agreement, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he he thought the party's "big mistake" was to have signed a deal before the negotiations had been concluded.

Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's economic catastrophe is plunging the country into an "information dark age" as newspapers, radio and television become overwhelmed by multi-million per cent inflation and the breakdown of infrastructure, according to media analysts.

Newspapers have become too expensive for all but a tiny minority, while the state-controlled radio and television monopoly services are stricken by chronic power cuts, says the independent Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ).

Harare/Johannesburg - Hopes for an end to Zimbabwe's drawn- out political crisis were dashed again Monday when the pro-democracy Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dismissed reports that talks to settle the details of a power-sharing agreement signed with President Robert Mugabe three weeks ago were to resume immediately.