A state banquet for Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe was less than stately after Garret FitzGerald took too long to handpick the wine and 30 unaccounted-for guests turned up.

Zimbabwe holds its one-candidate presidential run-off today with President Robert Mugabe expected to orchestrate a mass turnout of voters in a show of strength designed to emphasise his hold on power.

THE detention of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader for a third day has strengthened the party’s will to press on with sudden and “intense” anti-government protests, the opposition deputy leader said yesterday.

EXILED victims of President Robert Mugabe’s regime staged a noisy protest at Lord’s cricket ground as play began in the first match of the England-Zimbabwe cricket Test series.

Several banks and businesses closed today in support of a nationwide strike called to protest at irregularities in Zimbabwe’s widely condemned presidential election.