Move to impeach Musharraf

Move to impeach Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After months of internal bickering, Pakistan’s governing coalition announced Thursday it will seek to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, cranking up pressure on the U.S.-backed former general to resign.

With his popularity at rock bottom and civilian political forces arrayed against him, the outlook is gloomy for the leader who pushed Pakistan into the U.S.-led war on extremist groups after the Sept. 11 attack on America.

But Musharraf, who is still seen as close to the armed forces he once commanded, appears in no mood to give up without a fight eight years after rising to power in a military coup.

Analysts said the coalition, which swept to power in February elections but has struggled with the pressing economic and security problems they inherited, is not assured of victory.

Stripping Musharraf of the presidency will require a two-thirds majority of lawmakers voting in a joint session of both houses of Parliament.

Indians awarded $455M

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Thursday that American Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million in a long-running trust case, a fraction of the $47 billion they wanted.

But U.S. District Judge James Robertson did not say how the government should award the money, writing that his opinion “leaves for another day the question of how and to whom the award should be distributed.”

Robertson’s final number is close to government estimates and far from the billions sought by plaintiffs in the 12-year trial. The lawsuit — filed on behalf of a half-million American Indians and their heirs — claims they were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

Illegal immigrant executed

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — An illegal immigrant who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery and murder has been executed in Texas.

The execution came Thursday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Heliberto Chi. It was the second case of its kind this week in Texas.

His lawyers argued he should have been told he could get legal aid from the Honduran consulate after being arrested.

The arguments used by Chi’s lawyers were similar to those used unsuccessfully Tuesday by lawyers for Jose Medellin. The Mexican immigrant was executed this week for participating in a rape and murder of two Houston teens.

Repaying for levee fixes

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government has agreed to give Louisiana 30 years to repay $1.8 billion for levee improvements in the New Orleans area.

Congress had initially said the money would need to be repaid by 2011. But state officials said they needed 30 to avoid hurting efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005.

The announcement came late Thursday after a meeting between Governor Bobby Jindal and retired Major General Douglas O’Dell, President Bush’s hurricane recovery chief.

New HIV infection numbers

Just more than 40 percent of the adult U.S. population has been screened at least once for HIV infection, but a quarter of a million people are infected and do not know it, government researchers said Thursday.

About 10 percent of the population receives an HIV test each year — a figure that has remained stable since 2000 despite efforts to increase testing, according to a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The release of the data was timed to coincide with the International AIDS Conference being held this week in Mexico City.

About 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV each year and between 1 million and 1.1 million are thought to be living with the virus.

Separatist fighting

TBILISI, Georgia — The capital of the separatist South Ossetia region came under heavy fire early today, just hours after Georgia’s president declared a cease-fire after days of sporadic fighting.

South Ossetia’s leader accused Georgia of treachery, but the Georgian government said its troops were responding to rebel attacks, news reports said.

The new violence after a week of clashes escalated fears that the confrontation could escalate into an all-out war that might engulf much of the Caucasus region and perhaps draw in Russia, which has close ties with the separatists.

Combined dispatches