In brief: Dishonoring Egyptian flag decreed illegal

CAIRO – Egypt’s outgoing interim president issued a decree making dishonoring the Egyptian flag or not standing for the national anthem a criminal offense, punishable by sentences of up to one year in prison and a fine of more than $4,000, his spokesman said Saturday.

Presidential spokesman Ihab Badawi told reporters the decree states that the national anthem and flag are “symbols of the state that must be respected and treated with veneration.”

Egypt is witnessing a rising wave of nationalist fervor following the July military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after mass protests against him.

Interim President Adly Mansour is spending his last days in office. After a recent three-day presidential election, reports show retired Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who removed Morsi, winning by a landslide. Official results are expected in the coming days.

U.S. lobster divers detained for weeks

MIAMI – Six U.S. men detained for weeks in Honduras were working on a project to aid local lobster divers, associates said Saturday, and they deny violating weapons laws by failing to declare a gun.

The crew from Aqua Quest International has been held at a prison in Puerto Lempira in that Central American country since May 5, when Honduran police and navy personnel raided their newly arrived 65-foot vessel and found a weapon, according to a news release from the shipwreck salvage and research company based in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

“We initially thought it would be over as fast as it started because they broke no laws,” said Stephen Mayne, brother of the company’s president, Robert Mayne, who is one of those held.

“There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to secure their release, and we thought it would be best to go through the proper channels. And after all this time, when it didn’t seem to be going anywhere, we decided to take a different approach” by making a more public appeal, he said.

Calls to Honduran prosecutors have gone unanswered and Honduran navy officials declined to comment Saturday.