JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — About 200 Zimbabwe opposition supporters sought refuge Thursday at the U.S. Embassy in Harare amid new reports of violence against dissenters.

Loyalists of President Robert Mugabe, whose unopposed re-election last week was scorned by world leaders, have attacked supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Widespread state-sponsored violence had led the party’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to pull out of the presidential runoff, leaving the June 27 race to Mugabe.

On Thursday, people with small bundles of possessions milled outside the U.S. mission in the Zimbabwe capital. Riot police appeared there, but police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said they were at the scene only briefly.

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HARARE, Zimbabwe - With the verdict in on Zimbabwe’s presidential election runoff, it is back to reality for the long-suffering masses of this southern African country of 12 million.

For many, in spite of the controversy surrounding the runoff pitting President Robert Mugabe of Zanu PF against Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the election provided a real hope that the worst would finally be over. But this was not to be and it looks like the old man has dug in and is ready for the long haul.

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HARARE, July 3 (Reuters) - A solution to Zimbabwe’s crisis could be months or even years away despite President Robert Mugabe’s public promise, under heavy international pressure, to negotiate with the opposition.

Mugabe suffered unprecedented African and world censure after his refusal to call off a presidential vote in which he was re-elected as the sole candidate last week following opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s withdrawal. The African Union called for talks leading to a unity government and the West is preparing new sanctions against Mugabe’s entourage because of violence which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change says killed 86 supporters.

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DUBAI (AFP) — Strife-torn Zimbabwe will remain a full member of the International Cricket Council, officials said on Friday, after the deeply-divided world body worked out a last-minute compromise.

“The full membership of Zimbabwe is currently not in doubt,” incoming ICC president David Morgan of England told reporters at the conclusion of the council’s executive board meeting.

“There was not even a discussion on the issue of Zimbabwe’s membership,” he said.

The ICC Executive Board, which sat for an unscheduled third day, agreed to keep Zimbabwe in its fold after the African nation acceded to India’s request to pull out of next year’s World Twenty20 championships in England.

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Zimbabwe is the least happy nation while Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.

The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.

The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life.

Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.

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A German company which helps Zimbabwe supply its banknotes has become the latest firm to end links amid outrage over the situation in the country.

Giesecke & Devrient said it would stop providing paper for banknotes immediately following a “political and moral assessment” of conditions there.

Foreign firms in Zimbabwe are under pressure to pull out after President Mugabe’s controversial re-election.

The UN is considering tougher economic sanctions against his regime.

‘Political tension’

The UN’s Security Council has outlined a resolution calling for further measures against Robert Mugabe and key allies following Friday’s unopposed presidential vote, which the US, UK and other countries dismissed as a “sham”.

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LUSAKA, July 3 (Xinhua) — Zambia on Thursday denies the death rumor of Levy Mwanawsa after media reports suggested the Zambian president has passed away in Paris.     Speaking in a TV interview, Chief Government spokesman Mike Mulonguti dismissed the news of Mwanawasa’s death as untrue, saying that the President is now still “receiving treatment” in Paris and his condition “remains stable”.

    Mulonguti, who is also Information Minister, said doctors attending to the president are happy with the progress made by Mwanawasa.

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — A US draft resolution would slap a UN arms embargo on Zimbabwe as well as financial and travel sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and 11 of his aides, according to the text seen by AFP Wednesday.

The text also demands that the Harare government “begin without delay a substantive dialogue between the parties with the aim of arriving at a peaceful solution that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed by the March 29 (first-round presidential) elections.”

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South Africa is holding a day of national mourning to remember those killed during May’s xenophobic attacks.

President Thabo Mbeki is due to lead a tribute in the capital, Pretoria, to be attended by religious leaders and relatives of those who died.

More than 60 people died when armed groups in Johannesburg and other cities attacked foreigners, or those believed to be Mozambican or Zimbabwean.

They were blamed for fuelling high unemployment and crime.

It was the worst bloodshed in the county since the end of apartheid in 1994.

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Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has died after suffering a stroke earlier this week.

Mr Mwanawasa was rushed to a hospital in Egypt on Sunday just before an African Union Summit and was transferred to intensive care in a Paris hospital on Tuesday.

The Zambian leader was chairman of the Southern African Development Community and had been a vocal critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

He had been mediating between Mr Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to end the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. ITN

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