U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Tuesday for the "immediate and unconditional release" of Zimbabwean opposition activists detained after being attacked by security forces during a prayer meeting.

European Union governments renewed sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year Monday, including a travel ban against President Robert Mugabe to protest the African nation's poor human rights record.

Deteriorating economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe have prompted a call from the country's Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace urging the government to "immediately set priorities that put the people first before anything else."

A week after winning a court order to be allowed to continue mining, a British mining company has been denied permission to return to its claim in the Marange Communal lands in Manicaland province where a diamond rush began three months ago. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA, this is the first time the government has sought to expropriate a mine.

World Food Program chief executive James Morris, completing a Southern African tour before he steps down at the end of the year, told journalists in Johannesburg that he warned Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe that the WFP would not tolerate political interference with its food aid programs or official guidance on who to help.