International news briefs

Musharraf indicted on murder charges

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP):

In an unprecedented ruling that tests the military's aura of inviolability, a court indicted former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf Tuesday on murder charges stemming from the 2007 assassination of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, who became a key United States ally in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, pleaded not guilty. The decision by the court in Rawalpindi marked the first time a current or former army chief has been charged with a crime in the nation.

Musharraf, a 70-year-old former commando who took power in a 1999 coup and stepped down from office in disgrace nearly a decade later, now faces a string of legal problems that in many ways challenge the military's sacrosanct status in Pakistani society.

Mosquito nuisance increases

WASHINGTON, USA (AP):

The tiny mosquito all too often has man on the run. And this summer, it seems even worse than usual.

"You can't get from the car to inside your house without getting attacked. It's that bad," high school teacher Ryan Miller said from his home in Arlington, Vancouver. Minutes earlier, he saw a mosquito circling his four-month-old daughter indoors. Experts say it's been a buggier-than-normal summer in many places around the United States because of a combination of drought, heavy rain and heat.

Growing pains for US-Egypt relationship

WASHINGTON (AP):

For the Obama administration, there's a new wrinkle that could further complicate ties with post-coup Egypt: the possible release of the country's jailed former leader, Hosni Mubarak. For nearly three decades, the United States (US) propped up Mubarak and the Egyptian military with financial and military support. In exchange, Egypt helped protect US interests in the region, including a peace treaty with Israel.

But that long and tangled relationship is now casting a shadow over the Obama administration as it grapples for a coherent Egypt policy following the ouster of Mubarak's democratically elected successor, Mohammed Morsi. The US has refused to call Morsi's ouster a coup, a step that would require President Barack Obama to suspend $1.3 billion in annual military aid. The US still has not sent $585 million of that aid, and the fiscal year ends September 30.