The Home Office has suspended all deportations of Zimbabwean political activists and has launched an urgent review of the changed circumstances in the country.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that president Mugabe's clampdown on Zimbabwe's independent media was "resonant of dictatorship." Straw was speaking as the Zimbabwean parliament was preparing to approve new laws outlawing any criticism of Mugabe.

The British and US governments have begun searching for "missing millions" held around the world by Mugabe, reports the FT.