BBC World Business News (Business)

There's been a surprise fall in the rate of unemployment in the United States. Are American companies really starting to feel more confident? And the Islamic investments at the heart of Dubai's debt problems.

Plans to create a new media superpower have been revealed in the United States. The country's biggest cable TV provider has agreed to buy a majority stake in the owner of NBC Television and Universal Pictures. But will this company have too much control over the entertainment industry?

Zimbabwe's finance minister has said his country's battered economy will grow this year for the first time in a decade. We ask if that optimism is justified and find out how much progress Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government has really made.

Fritz Henderson, the chief executive of the giant US carmaker General Motors has resigned. The man who led the troubled company through bankruptcy and restructuring with the use of large amounts of public money stepped down in a way that has taken many by surprise.

As Dubai's largest investment company says it is going to restructure parts of the debts it wants to freeze - who will be affected if it defaults? And should there be bankruptcy concerns about Greece?

World markets have been rattled by the request from Dubai to reschedule payments on the debt of one of its state-owned companies.We'll hear how this is likely to provoke a regional lending crisis for at least a year to come.

A showpiece development in the heart of London, intended to provide 170 new luxury hotel beds, has been mothballed. We hear how here, as in so many cities around the world, the lack of bank credit means building sites have fallen silent. Plus Iraq's stockmarket plans to go electronic as it enjoys an investment boom.

The Czech prime minister has condemned US President Barack Obama's economic recovery plans as "a way to hell". And we investigate the boiling row between Ethiopian coffee producers and their government.

How will the economic slowdown affect Africa? The International Monetary Fund has predicted severe economic repercussions for the continent; yet will some areas of African life remain immune from global trends?

America's richest hedge fund managers have been called before Congress to explain their role in the financial crisis. Will a Democrat White House force through new laws to make them less secretive and pay more tax?