Pakistani Religious Scholar Dies

Prominent Pakistani religious scholar Qazi Hussain Ahmed has died at the age of 74.

He was the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's leading religious group, for 22 years before stepping down in 2009.

In November, Ahmed escaped unhurt from an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near him.

He was a strong critic of the U.S.-NATO participation in the civil war in neighboring Afghanistan.

Ahmed died Sunday morning in Islamabad. He had suffered from heart disease for years.

Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Dead at 93

Former Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who helped rewrite Italian politics after a devastating corruption scandal in the 1990s, has died at age 93.

No cause of death was given.

After working as a lawyer to help anti-Fascists jailed in World War II, Mr. Scalfaro entered politics and helped cobble together Italy's first constitution as a republic.

He was elected president in 1992 just as news of a widespread corruption scandal involving bribery and illegal political party funding emerged. The scandal wiped out the traditional two-party system in favor of today's multi-party coalitions.

Current Italian President Giorgio Napolitano praised Mr. Scalfaro as a leader of moral integrity who confronted one of the most difficult periods in Italian history.

Photo of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro courtesy of Presidenza della Repubblica.