Pakistan: Musharraf announces referendum to extend term

Pakistan’s military ruler said he will hold a national referendum in an effort to stay in power for another five years, newspapers reported Sunday.

President Pervez Musharraf, an army general who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999, told a group of Pakistani reporters that the referendum would “tell the world that Pakistanis need me.” He did not give a date for the referendum.

Soon after the 1999 coup, Pakistan’s Supreme Court endorsed the ouster of the elected government on charges of corruption and misrule, but ordered Musharraf to hold elections to restore a democratic government by October 2002.

The referendum would establish Musharraf’s control before the elections, which would then be held to choose the national Parliament.

Afghanistan: Commission promises seats to women in grand assembly

A grand council on Afghanistan’s future convening in June to install a new government will count at least 160 women among its more than 1,500 members, the organizing commission announced Sunday.

The commission chairman also said Afghanistan’s ex-king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, will return from exile April 16 to call the assembly, or loya jirga, into session. The assembly will be June 10-16.

The loya jirga literally “grand assembly” was envisioned under the agreement negotiated among Afghan factions in Bonn, Germany, last December that established an interim government to succeed the Islamic extremist Taliban, who were toppled from power in a U.S.-led war last fall.

Saudi Arabia: Bin Laden patriarch dies

Abdullah Awad bin Laden, patriarch of one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia and uncle of terror suspect Osama bin Laden, has died at the age of 75.

Though he was head of the family, in the last decade Abdullah bin Laden had had little to do with the day-to-day running of the lucrative family business, the Saudi bin Laden Group. The business, which started as a construction firm in the 1930s, had an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion in annual revenue.

The bin Laden family disavowed any links with Osama bin Laden in 1994, the year when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship for his opposition activities.

It was Abdullah bin Laden who issued a statement offering condolences to those who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks blamed on Osama bin Laden.

Alaska: Two killed in avalanche

Two men were killed Sunday in an avalanche, state troopers said.

Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said the men were snowshoeing when the snow let loose on the south side of Mount Magnificent.

The men were identified as William Crouse, 44, and his 26-year-old stepson, Donald Zimmerman III. Their hometown was not given. Two dogs with the men also died.