ISLAMABAD -- Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested early Friday after he fled a court on Thursday when a judge ordered him detained on treason charges.

Musharraf's lawyer Qamar Afzal told NBC News, "Musharraf has surrendered himself before the law, and now he is in judicial custody."

Television footage showed Musharraf being escorted by uniformed police officers to an Islamabad court.

Earlier, Musharraf  had said he was being "punished for making Pakistan prosper and for making the country economically sound."

In a brief televised address that was distributed to different Pakistani channels, Musharraf claimed credit for bringing an "information revolution to Pakistan, breaking the shackles of IMF, building roads and protecting women and minorities. That's why I'm being punished."

Musharraf, a retired general, took power in Pakistan in a coup in 1999 and was an ally of the West until he resigned in 2008.

After nearly four years of self-imposed exile in England and despite Taliban death threats, he returned to Pakistan last month hoping to win a seat in the country’s National Assembly in elections in May.

But Musharraf was then accused of treason over events in 2007, when he declared emergency rule during a power struggle with judges. He had been on bail.

During a High Court hearing on Thursday, however, a judge ordered that his bail be canceled and that he be detained.

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Then, in dramatic scenes caught on television, Musharraf dashed from the court and left in a black SUV, Reuters reported. The images showed several lawyers making half-hearted attempts to pursue his vehicle.

When he returned to Pakistan, Musharraf was given a security detail -- including special forces units, police and helicopters -- and they helped him get back to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Rashid Qureshi, an adviser to Musharraf and also a former general, said that Musharraf was “safe” in the house.

“Roadblocks have been planted outside his house by the police to protect him, not to cut off his exit. The general is here to stay. He knew of these challenges when he decided to return boldly to Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

“He is still being protected by the police, and did not escape anything or anyone,” he said.

Musharraf's lawyer Afzal said later that the former president had filed petitions in the Supreme Court, hoping it would overturn the High Court's ruling.

Afzal had insisted Musharraf "did not flee" the court. "He came and left with the same security detail attached to him by the government, which is his right as a former president." 

Musharraf's hopes of standing in the elections were dashed earlier this week when election officers barred him from standing, in part due to the various legal challenges he faces, Reuters reported.

Pakistan's military has ruled the nation for more than half of its 66-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes. It sets foreign and security policy even when civilian administrations are in power.

The arrest pushes Pakistan's increasingly audacious judiciary into uncharted territory, challenging a long-standing, unwritten rule that the top ranks of the army, which ruled Pakistan for decades, are untouchable.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, is seen as the front-runner to win the premiership.

Musharraf also faces charges of failing to provide adequate security for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before she was assassinated in late 2007. 

Reuters and NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

Related:

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This story was originally published on Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:55 AM EDT

CAIRO, Egypt - In June of 2012, Egypt held its breath in anticipation of the court verdict against former President Hosni Mubarak, toppled by a revolution in which hundreds died at the hands of the security forces. 

They crowded around TV sets in coffee shops and cheered when the judge sentenced him to the maximum of 25 years in prison. But demonstrators also poured into streets across the country with many wanting to see the former autocratic leader sentenced to death instead.

What a difference 10 months makes. Ahead of his retrial on Saturday, social media was virtually silent on the subject and newspaper coverage was scant.

On the streets of Cairo, nine months of rule by Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, rising crime and a sputtering economy have led some to conclude that the revolution’s treatment of the former leader was too harsh.

---

“Even if Mubarak was bad, I don’t like my president to be in prison like this. He shouldn’t be treated the way he was after the revolution,” café owner Abdel Nabi al Shaer, 48, said.  “We should remember the good things, living in peace for 30 years. I don’t have to remember the bad.”  

A journalist who asked that her name not be used, went even further. “I would like to tell Mubarak we are sorry,” she said.

Mubarak, a staunch ally of the United States, was charged as an accessory to murder for failing to stop the killing of more than 800 people during the January 25 Revolution, as the movement that toppled him became known.

A thief or a job creator?
He was the first ruler overthrown by the Arab Spring movements to stand trial in person, appearing in court in a hospital bed. After his sentence, Mubarak challenged the ruling and a retrial was ordered in January.

Mubarak, now 84,  is also being investigated for squandering public funds. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, face retrial on charges of financial corruption.

One of Mubarak's lawyers, Yousri Abdul Razak, said he was confident his client would be cleared.

"President Mubarak asked for the police to show patience to the protesters," he said, adding that there was no evidence that Mubarak asked security forces to put down the demonstrations. 

Florist Khalid Ramadan agreed Mubarak should be set free.

“Now I can’t walk with my children on the street,” the 30-year-old said. “Since Morsi took over I haven’t had any work. Hosni was a thief but there was work. I have three kids and I can’t feed them.”

But anger toward Mubarak remains. Fruit seller Mohamed Abded Hamid said he thought the former leader deserved the ultimate punishment.

“I hope [Mubarak] will get the death sentence because [he] oppressed a lot of people,” he said. “If they [the Mubarak regime] hadn’t, there wouldn’t have been demonstrations in the first place.”

University student David Azer poured scorn on Mubarak and Morsi equally.

“I am not paying attention and am fed up because Morsi is doing nothing. He is not the president we want. Mubarak should be imprisoned for life because he did a lot of bad things.” 

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President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Israeli people to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians and recognize their "right to self-determination, their right to justice."

In a televised speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center, Obama said there should be "two states for two peoples."

Breaking off from his prepared text, he said that he recently met with a group of young Palestinians.

---

"Talking to them, they weren’t that different from my daughters, they weren’t that different from your daughters or sons," he said.

"I honestly believe that if any Israeli parent sat down with these kids, they’d say, 'I want these kids to succeed, I want them to prosper, I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do,'" he added to applause.

Obama, on the second day of his first official trip to Israel, warned that "the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state" was through the creation of an independent Palestine.

That state had to be "viable" with real borders, he said, criticizing the building of settlements in the West Bank.

He urged ordinary Israelis to put pressure on their leaders to achieve a future in which Jews, Christians and Muslims could live in peace.

"I also know that not everyone in this hall will agree with what I have to say about peace. I recognize that there are those who are not simply skeptical about peace, but question its underlying premise, have a different vision for Israel’s future and that's a part of democracy and the discourse between our two countries," he said.

"Peace is necessary, I believe that. I believe that peace is the only path to true security. You have the opportunity to be the generation that permanently secures the Zionist dream, or you can face a growing challenge to its future," he added.

At a state dinner in Jerusalem Thursday evening, Israel's President Shimon Peres awarded Obama with Israel’s highest honor — the Presidential Medal of Distinction — emphasizing what Peres called his "unforgettable contribution" to the security of Israel.

U.S. support for the Iron Dome missile defense system had been instrumental in saving Israeli lives, Peres said.

As Obama sat at the dais with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara before a room full of Israeli dignitaries, Peres called out the U.S. president's "tireless work to make Israel strong to make peace possible."

Peres said he was "convinced" the United States "will do whatever is necessary on the Iranian threat."

Obama said he was accepting the award "on behalf of the American people."

Israel must avoid 'isolation'
In his address at the convention center Obama stressed that America would always support Israel, echoing his comments Wednesday that the U.S. was Israel's "eternal" ally.

But he said peace had to be made between "peoples" and could not be achieved through military hardware alone.

"Given the frustration in the international community, Israel must reverse an undertow of isolation. And given the march of technology, the only way to truly protect the Israeli people over the long term is through the absence of war — because no wall is high enough, and no Iron Dome is strong enough and perfect enough, to stop every enemy that’s intent on doing so from inflicting harm," he added.

Obama said Israel could not be expected to negotiate with anyone "dedicated to its destruction."

But he said he believed that Israelis had a "true partner" in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, along with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. On a visit to the West Bank earlier Thursday, Obama condemned the Palestinian Hamas party, which holds sway in the Gaza Strip and is a rival to Abbas' Fatah movement.

"So many young Palestinians have rejected violence. There’s an opportunity there. There’s a window," he said. "Peace is possible."

At one point in the speech, someone in the audience began heckling Obama, who peered toward the back of the hall to try to see what was happening.

"This is part of the lively debate we talked about," he said, referencing a line earlier in his speech. "This is good."

He joked about media reports that he and Prime Minister Netanyahu do not get along. It was just a "plot" between him and "my friend Bibi" to give journalists something to write about, he suggested.

Earlier, Obama met with Abbas in the West Bank.

After his helicopter touched down in Ramallah, Obama was greeted cordially by Abbas and the two hugged.

"We cannot give up on the search for peace, no matter how hard it is. ... Too much is at stake," the president said during a joint news conference.

'Misery' of Hamas
He sounded hopeful about Abbas and the Palestinian Authority and reiterated U.S. willingness to help.

"The United States is deeply committed to the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine," he said, adding, "Simply, Palestinians deserve a state of their own."

When asked whether he thought a halt to further settlement activity was required before peace talks could begin in earnest, Obama demurred. 

"If the only way to even begin the conversation is that we get everything right from the outset … then we’re never going to get to the broader issue, which is how you actually structure a state of Palestine that is sovereign and contiguous," the president said.

"The core issue right now is how do we get sovereignty for the Palestinian people and ensure security for the Israeli people," he added. "If we solve those two problems, the settlement problem will be solved."

The president praised Abbas for his leadership and sharply criticized rival group Hamas for the "misery" of Palestinians in Gaza.

For his part, Abbas said he had "renewed confidence" in U.S. assistance with the peace process after meeting with Obama.

"We have conducted a good and useful round of talks," he said through an interpreter.

Abbas called for an end to Israeli construction of settlements in Palestinian territories.

He warned that continued building of the sites was causing Palestinians, particularly the younger generation, to lose hope that Israel and a sovereign Palestine could peacefully co-exist.

When young Palestinians see the settlements, he said, "they do not trust the two-state solution anymore, and this is very dangerous" for the future.

Two rockets that may have been a show of protest were fired into southern Israel close to the border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip early Thursday.

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This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:53 AM EDT

News analysis

Published at 4:10 a.m. ET: He has become the world’s biggest bogeyman for many in the West — infamous for calling for Israel to be wiped from the map, describing the Holocaust as "a myth" and, allegedly, seeking a nuclear bomb.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was once almost untouchable at home in Iran — daring even to challenge Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But in recent days he has come under such a severe attack from rivals that some experts now believe he is "finished."

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However, it seems clear that Ahmadinejad will go down fighting "like Scarface" in the words of one analyst.

After two terms, the former Revolutionary Guard must stand down ahead of Iran’s presidential election in June. Ahmadinejad appears to be hoping that a supporter will succeed him in office, enabling him to retain some power.

On Feb. 3, the Iranian parliament crossed a line with Ahmadinejad by dismissing one of his allies, the EAWorldView website reported.

Ahmadinejad went on the attack on the floor of the parliament, threatening to make public one of his secret files he claims to have on his rivals. "Should I tell? Should I tell?" he said, according to a translation on EAWorldView.

The speaker of parliament, the powerful Ali Larijani, called his bluff, saying: "Go ahead." It later emerged that the audio tape that supposedly exposed corruption involving Larijani’s brother Fazel was inaudible. The humiliating episode was broadcast live on Iranian radio.

Professor Scott Lucas, who edits EAWorldView, said he believed Ahmadinejad was effectively "finished."

Once upon a time, the president’s threats had kept his rivals in check. But "what happened this week showed they’re not scared enough to back down," Lucas added.

'Sulked'
Lucas, a professor at Birmingham University in England, said that in addition to making enemies in parliament, Ahmadinejad had flouted Khamenei’s power.

He even tried to take over the Ministry of Intelligence in 2011. "That’s the supreme leader’s domain. He was smacked down for that firmly and then he boycotted his duties. … He went and sulked," Lucas said.

Reza Marashi, research director of the National Iranian American Council, said it was "way too early" to write Ahmadinejad’s political obituary.

"He’s not going to go down without a fight — here’s a guy putting at least some of the regime’s dirty laundry out," he said. "He’s kind of like Scarface at the end of the movie."

Marashi, who worked for four years in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the State Department and was also a political consultant in Tehran, said Ahmadinejad’s exchange with Larijani was meant as only "a warning shot."

"At the end of the day, he knows too much," he added.

The president sparked headlines in the West when he said on Monday — the day after the confrontation in parliament — that he wanted to be an astronaut on the first manned Iranian space flight.

“It was completely missed here [in the West] that that was meant for domestic consumption,” Marashi said.

He said Ahmadinejad was really sending a message to his internal enemies: “You want to take me out … I’m willing to die.”

Former U.S. Ambassador John Limbert, now a professor of international affairs at the U.S. Naval College, was held hostage in Iran with 51 other Americans after Islamist students took over the American Embassy in 1979. During his captivity, he met Khamenei in an encounter that was filmed. 

He is married to an Iranian, is a scholar of Persian poetry and has had connections with the country for some 50 years.

Seeking martyrdom?
Limbert said the deck appeared “pretty much stacked against” Ahmadinejad, but added “you have to say he’s going to go down fighting.”

"There’s a wonderful word in Persian … 'serteq.' It means 'just doesn’t take any crap from anybody,' 'provokes confrontation,' 'rather than walks through a door, bangs his head against the wall,'" Limbert said.

"That’s a word that to me describes him. It's … pejorative, but also there’s a certain admiration for somebody who doesn’t bend," he added.

Limbert said Ahmadinejad might even be trying to provoke his enemies to attempt to unseat him before the election, possibly in the hope of turning himself into a martyr figure.

These internal struggles are likely to hurt efforts to end the standoff between the West and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program before the June election.

Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, the West and Israel fear it wants to build a nuclear bomb, a concern that has raised the prospect of airstrikes to take out its nuclear facilities.

But will a new president help or hinder the negotiations? Possible contenders named by several experts were Khamenei's foreign policy advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, former Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel and Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran.

Fariborz Ghadar, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, held a vice-ministerial position in the government of the Shah, which was ousted by the revolution that brought the ayatollahs to power. 

He said Ghalibaf had done a "very good job of managing Tehran" and would "be a better manager of the economy than Ahmadinejad was."

But he said he thought Iran’s relations with the West would be "probably the same" if Ghalibaf came to power.

While there might be a temporary boost with the departure of the Holocaust-denying Ahmadinejad, Ghadar feared the Western media would soon turn on Ghalibaf or whoever triumphs in the election. "It will probably be good until we get somebody else totally demonized," he said.

But Ghadar was also not quite prepared to rule out Ahmadinejad’s faction, saying someone might stay quiet until they got through the vetting process to become a presidential candidate, then signal they were sympathetic toward his camp.

The opposition Green movement is currently "out of the picture," Ghadar said, but its supporters might back such a candidate over a strict religious conservative — an unusual alliance given the protests amid Green faction claims that the last presidential election was rigged in Ahmadinejad’s favor.

Whether this is his strategy is unclear.

But, like Marashi, Ghadar also said he believed Ahmadinejad might still have a chance.

"I think Ahmadinejad still has a couple of bullets in his gun," he said, "although they are not as powerful as before."

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Updated at 7 p.m. ET: CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday invited political groups and legal figures to meet for a national dialogue on solutions to Egypt's political crisis after clashes between his supporters and his foes left seven dead and hundreds wounded.

Morsi did not, however, rescind decrees granting him wide powers that his opponents had demanded, and his overtures on talks were immediately rejected by opposition leaders.

The main office of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood was set ablaze late Thursday, the group's political party said, and another office used by the party was torched in a suburb south of the city, the state news agency reported.

In a nationally televised address to the nation, Morsi said he would bring together a number of groups at a Saturday meeting at the presidential palace. 

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"Such painful events happened because of political differences that should be resolved through dialogue," the Islamist president said after two days of violence during protests. 

The discussions would center on a political roadmap after a referendum on a new constitution, Reuters reported. Morsi said they would discuss the fate of the upper house of parliament after the lower house was dissolved in June, the election law and other issues. He said plans for the referendum on December 15 were on track. 

Analysis: Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

"I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures to meet this Saturday," Morsi said. He said he would harshly apply homeland security laws.

President Barack Obama called Morsi on Thursday to express his deep concern about the deaths and injuries of protesters in Egypt, the White House said in a statement.

“The President emphasized that all political leaders in Egypt should make clear to their supporters that violence is unacceptable,” the statement read. “Obama welcomed President Morsi's call for a dialogue with the opposition but stressed that such a dialogue should occur without preconditions.” The U.S. has also urged opposition leaders to join the dialogue without preconditions.

The speech seemed to do little to ease the crisis. The opposition has already said that it would not enter a dialogue with Morsi unless he first rescinds the decrees and shelves the constitution draft hurriedly adopted by his Islamist allies. 

Some members of the umbrella National Salvation Front coalition of major opposition parties have already rejected the dialogue, as did leaders of the "April 6" movement, a group instrumental in starting the Jan. 25 revolution.

Ayman Nour of al Ghad Party, who was formerly jailed under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, said the referendum must be postponed and demanded that Morsi provide evidence that acts of thuggery against protesters were planned.

The Freedom and Justice Party said on its Facebook page that the headquarters in the Mukattam district had been attacked in "a terrorist aggression'' by thugs, Reuters reported.   The state news agency said the office used by the FJP was set ablaze in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. Another office was broken into near the city centerr, it said. It was not clear who set the fires or perpetrated the break in and no groups had claimed responsibility for the acts.

Some among the thousands of opposition protesters gathered near his palace on Thursday raised their shoes in contempt as they listened to Morsi, The Associated Press reported. Others broke into the iconic Arab Spring chant of "the people want to topple the regime." 

Earlier Thursday, angry mobs battled each other with Molotov cocktails, rocks and sticks outside the presidential palace complex.

Egypt's Republican Guard, which witnesses said had deployed at least four tanks, later restored order outside the palace.

The street battles were the worst violence since Egypt's latest crisis erupted on Nov. 22, when Morsi assumed near absolute powers.

'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

The large scale and intensity of the fighting marked a milestone in Egypt's rapidly emerging schism, pitting the Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Islamists in one camp, against liberals, leftists and Christians in the other.

It was the first time supporters of the rival camps have fought each other since last year's uprising that toppled authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Officials said seven people had been killed and 350 wounded in the violence, for which each side blamed the other, Reuters reported. The Muslim Brotherhood said six of the dead were Morsi supporters.

The commander of the Republican Guard said deployment of tanks and troop carriers around the presidential palace was intended to separate the adversaries, not to repress them.

"The armed forces, and at the forefront of them the Republican Guard, will not be used as a tool to oppress the demonstrators," General Mohamed Zaki told the state news agency.

Hussein Abdel Ghani, spokesman of the opposition National Salvation Front, said more protests were planned, but not necessarily at the palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district.

"Our youth are leading us today and we decided to agree to whatever they want to do," he told Reuters.

Analysis: Egyptians warn that Morsi is no friend of US

The fighting erupted late Wednesday afternoon when thousands of Morsi's Islamist supporters descended on an area near the presidential palace where some 300 of his opponents were staging a sit-in.

The Islamists, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, chased the protesters away from their base outside the palace's main gate and tore down their tents.

After a brief lull, hundreds of Morsi opponents arrived and began throwing firebombs at the president's backers, who responded with rocks.

More Egypt coverage from NBC News

By dawn, the violence had calmed. But both sides appeared to be digging in for a long struggle, with the opposition vowing more protests later Thursday and rejecting any dialogue unless the charter is rescinded.

The violence spread to other parts of the country on Wednesday. Anti-Morsi protesters stormed and set ablaze the Muslim Brotherhood offices in Suez and Ismailia, east of Cairo, and there were clashes in the industrial city of Mahallah and the province of Menoufiyah in the Nile Delta north of the capital.

There were rival demonstrations outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in Alexandria. And security officials said senior Brotherhood official Sobhi Saleh was hospitalized after being severely beaten by Morsi opponents.

Morsi, for his part, seemed to be pressing relentlessly forward with plans for a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum to pass the new charter.

NBC News' Charlene Gubash, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 4:25 p.m. ET -- Opposition protesters fought presidential supporters outside the Egyptian presidential palace on Wednesday, while inside the building the president's deputy proposed a way to end a crisis over a draft constitution that has split the most populous Arab nation.

Stones and petrol bombs flew between opposition protesters and supporters of President Mohammed Morsi, and the Interior Ministry said 32 people had been arrested and three police vehicles destroyed.

The Egyptian ministry of health told NBC News 60 people have been wounded in the clashes, but said there have been no fatalities.

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The president's backers tore down tents erected by opponents of Morsi who began a sit-in protest on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The demonstrators are angry over the president's expanded powers and his decision to rush through a new constitution they say does not represent the whole nation.

Tweets from activists on the scene said some anti-Morsi protesters were overwhelmed by the president's backers, who beat some of the protesters with clubs. Rocks were thrown, and some protesters were left bleeding.

Riot police were deployed between the two sides to try to stop confrontations that flared after dark despite an attempt by Vice President Mahmoud Mekky to ease the crisis.

Mekky said amendments to disputed articles in the draft constitution could be agreed on with the opposition. A written agreement could then be submitted to the next parliament, to be elected after a referendum on the constitution on Dec. 15.

"There must be consensus," he told a news conference, saying opposition demands had to be respected to reach a solution.

Ready for dialogue
In a news conference Wednesday, opposition coordinator Mohamed ElBaradei said: "We hold President Morsi and his government completely responsible for the violence happening in Egypt today."

"We are ready for dialogue if the constitutional decree is canceled ... and the referendum on this constitution is postponed," he said of the document written by an Islamist-led assembly that the opposition says ignores its concerns.

Opposition leaders have previously urged Morsi to retract the Nov. 22 decree, defer the referendum and agree to revise the constitution, but have not echoed calls from street protesters for his overthrow and the "downfall of the regime."

Morsi has said his decree was needed to prevent courts still full of judges appointed by ousted leader Hosni Mubarak from derailing a constitution vital for Egypt's political transition.

Protests spread to other cities, and offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party in Ismailia and Suez were torched.

Morsi flees Egypt's presidential palace as 'last warning' protesters battle cops

 

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Egypt's unrest showed the urgent need for dialogue between Morsi's government and opposition figures.

Supporters of Islamist president push Egypt to tipping point

Speaking at NATO, Clinton said the U.S. wanted to see a constitution emerge that protects the rights of all Egyptians — men and women, and Christian and Muslim.

But asked to specifically address any shortcoming in the Islamist-supported draft constitution, Clinton didn't name any.

Rights groups as well as secular opponents of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have criticized the draft. They say it rolls back the rights of women, religious minorities and others.

Liberals, Christians left out as Islamists back Egypt's draft constitution

Clinton said Wednesday the dialogue needed to be two-way — not the government imposing its view.

She also called for Egypt's courts to be allowed to function.

On Tuesday, Egyptian police battled thousands of protesters outside the palace, prompting Morsi to leave the building, presidency sources said.

The Associated Press reported that some people broke through barbed wire around the building and hurled chairs and rocks at retreating police on Tuesday night.

The crowds had gathered in what organizers had dubbed "last warning" protests against Morsi, who infuriated opponents with a November 22 decree that expanded his powers. "The people want the downfall of the regime," the demonstrators chanted.

NBC's Jim Maceda and Charlene Gubash, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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