Restaurant customers in Zimbabwe pay with thick wads of local currency bulging in their bags and pockets. Real estate buyers hand over deposits of millions of Zimbabwean dollars stuffed into suitcases and car trunks.

Zimbabwe banned British Prime Minister Tony Blair and scores of his top officials from traveling here and imposed visa requirements on British citizens in retaliation for European sanctions, state radio reported on Friday.

POLICE arrested and charged a columnist for Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper on Monday, bringing to eight the number of journalists arrested under harsh new media laws.