Malawi rift

Malawian legal and opposition sources said the Justice Minister, Friday Makuta, had resigned, Reuter reports from Johannesburg. A government spokesman was unable to confirm or deny the reports. Legal sources and members of the opposition Alliance for Democracy said Mr Makuta had quit over a dispute about political interference in judicial affairs. They believed Mr Makuta disagreed with the government over how to handle the case of the opposition leader Chakufwa Chihana, sentenced last December to two years' hard labour for sedition.