In Brief

SURVIVAL – A flamboyant Egyptian minister who sparked a political furore when he described the Muslim headscarf as a “step backward” appears to have emerged largely unscathed from a row that many had predicted would unseat him.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, an abstract painter known for his liberal views and a member of Egypt’s ruling party, ended two weeks of self-imposed seclusion from public events on Tuesday to launch Cairo’s annual film festival. * JAILED – The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial yesterday ordered a defence lawyer to be jailed for a day for “insulting the court”.Badea Arif, a lawyer for co-defendant Farhan Mutlaq was ejected by the judge after twice being warned to stop addressing prosecutors as “brother”.The judge ordered that he be held in a detainment facility for a day.* SENTENCED – A Chinese court jailed two managers of a state-owned coal mine on Wednesday for negligence two years after a gas explosion killed 166 miners, Xinhua news agency said.The blast, one of the worst in China in decades, hit the Chenjiashan coal mine in Tongchuan in the northwestern province of Shaanxi just days after the pit had caught fire.* KILLED – Flash floods in southern Malawi killed four people and the government urged people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher ground.”Three women and one child have died and we now fear that more may die if they don’t move now because more heavy rains are expected,” Richard Msowoya, the cabinet official in charge of disaster preparedness, told Reuters yesterday.* RESUMPTION – North Korea, the United States and host China agreed after two days of meetings yesterday to push for an early resumption of stalled six-party talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, but no date was set.The three sides also agreed to try to achieve positive progress during the informal discussions in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).* WIN – A Pakistani court on Wednesday awarded custody of a British girl at the centre of a family dispute, Molly Campbell, to her mother in Scotland.Justice Saqib Nisar of the High Court in the Pakistani city of Lahore said the girl’s father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, must hand her over in a week.* NOT RIGHT – The Zambian government has overturned a police ban on planned nationwide rallies by the main opposition party, says the country’s solicitor-general.Sunday Nkonde said the police had no powers to stop the rallies due to be addressed by Patriotic Party leader Michael Sata, who lost to President Levy Mwanawasa in recent elections.* STUCK – Hundreds of people were stranded as a typhoon battered the eastern Philippines on Wednesday, forcing authorities to suspend school classes and sea travel in the affected areas.At least 300 passengers were stuck in seaports in the eastern provinces of Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Albay due to heavy rains and strong winds brought about by typhoon Durian.Nampa-AFP-AP-Reuters* JAILED – The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial yesterday ordered a defence lawyer to be jailed for a day for “insulting the court”.Badea Arif, a lawyer for co-defendant Farhan Mutlaq was ejected by the judge after twice being warned to stop addressing prosecutors as “brother”.The judge ordered that he be held in a detainment facility for a day.* SENTENCED – A Chinese court jailed two managers of a state-owned coal mine on Wednesday for negligence two years after a gas explosion killed 166 miners, Xinhua news agency said.The blast, one of the worst in China in decades, hit the Chenjiashan coal mine in Tongchuan in the northwestern province of Shaanxi just days after the pit had caught fire.* KILLED – Flash floods in southern Malawi killed four people and the government urged people living in flood-prone areas to move to higher ground.”Three women and one child have died and we now fear that more may die if they don’t move now because more heavy rains are expected,” Richard Msowoya, the cabinet official in charge of disaster preparedness, told Reuters yesterday.* RESUMPTION – North Korea, the United States and host China agreed after two days of meetings yesterday to push for an early resumption of stalled six-party talks on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, but no date was set.The three sides also agreed to try to achieve positive progress during the informal discussions in Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).* WIN – A Pakistani court on Wednesday awarded custody of a British girl at the centre of a family dispute, Molly Campbell, to her mother in Scotland.Justice Saqib Nisar of the High Court in the Pakistani city of Lahore said the girl’s father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, must hand her over in a week.* NOT RIGHT – The Zambian government has overturned a police ban on planned nationwide rallies by the main opposition party, says the country’s solicitor-general.Sunday Nkonde said the police had no powers to stop the rallies due to be addressed by Patriotic Party leader Michael Sata, who lost to President Levy Mwanawasa in recent elections.* STUCK – Hundreds of people were stranded as a typhoon battered the eastern Philippines on Wednesday, forcing authorities to suspend school classes and sea travel in the affected areas.At least 300 passengers were stuck in seaports in the eastern provinces of Sorsogon, Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Albay due to heavy rains and strong winds brought about by typhoon Durian.Nampa-AFP-AP-Reuters