CNN denied permission to cover elections in Zimbabwe

(CNN) -- CNN has been denied permission to cover this week's parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe, an official at the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information and Publicity said Tuesday.

The official, who did not want to be named, gave no reason for the government's decision to bar CNN from the crucial vote.

Reached on the phone in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, the official would not reveal whether any international media organizations had been given permission to cover the election.

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Zimbabwe police arrests opposition officials, pilot

(Reuters) - Zimbabwe police on Tuesday arrested opposition officials and a pilot delivering campaign material for Saturday's general election at a small airport just outside Harare, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said.

An opposition parliamentary candidate representing Morgan Tsvangirai's faction of the MDC was among those arrested.

"One of our candidates, Jameson Timba, and his election agent Garikai Chuma were arrested this morning at Charles Prince airport as they were receiving campaign material," Luke Tamborinyoka, an official in Tsvangirai's MDC told Reuters.