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New video appears to show Bhutto being shot

NAUDERO, Pakistan (CNN) — Dramatic new videotape of the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emerged Sunday, showing her slumping moments after gunshots ring out.

The tape provides the clearest view yet of the attack and appears to show that Bhutto was shot. That would contradict the Pakistan government’s account.

A previously released videotape shows a man at the right of her vehicle raising a gun, pointing it toward Bhutto, who is standing in her car with her upper body through the sunroof. He fires three shots. Then, there is an explosion. Watch the videotape of Bhutto reacting to shots

In the latest video Bhutto is standing, and her hair and scarf appear to move, perhaps from the bullet. Bhutto falls into the car. Then, the blast.

These images seem to support the theory that Bhutto died at the hands of a shooter before a bomb was detonated, killing another 23 people.

Everyone inside Bhutto’s bomb-proof car lived. Those traveling with her say they saw her bleeding, and the heavily blood-stained interior appears to support their accounts.

The doctor who initially examined the body said Bhutto died of bullet wounds. However, the Pakistani government later said she died from shrapnel wounds from the explosion.

And, in a move that caused more confusion, the government released X-rays of Bhutto’s skull and said they show she died when the force of the explosion caused her head to slam into a metal lever on the sunroof.

Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, disputed the government’s account.

I can say confidently that she was shot, he said.

He called the government’s explanation a useless excuse, because they have to divert attention from the main subject.

He added, The whole idea is there was a bomb blast.

Zardari also said Sunday he will serve as co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party while their 19-year-old son, Bilawal, and newly named heir to the party leadership, finishes his studies.

He will, of course, be kept aware of all that is happening with the party, Zardari told CNN sister network CNN-IBN. I will be looking after the interests of the party, as a guide, as a helper, and as a friend to the party, and as a part-time leader to the party.

Once the political science student at Oxford University has been properly groomed, then I can go and play golf, Zardari said, without specifying how long he thought the process would take.

Zardari acknowledged that his wife stipulated in her will that he was to step into her role in the event of her death. But Zardari said his decision to pass that role to their son is correct.

I, in my political wisdom, think we need a larger symbol than myself to keep the party united with her gone, he said. Because she could have probably not even herself imagined the reaction that her death would do to Pakistan.

He said Bhutto’s assassination on Thursday has thrust Pakistan onto the verge of disintegration.

But Zardari said the parliamentary elections slated to be held January 8, less than two weeks after his wife’s death, should not be postponed.

Our demand is elections on time — free, fair as promised, he said.

He called on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif — who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N party — to also take part in the vote. Sharif has previously said he would boycott the election.

But sources within the Pakistan Muslim League-N party say they will stand with the PPP and take part in the election. Speaking on Pakistan’s GEO-TV, Sharif said an official announcement on the party’s decision would take place Monday.

Musharraf’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the election commission and the interim Cabinet will hold separate meetings in the coming days to discuss the possibility of a delayed vote.

Zardari said he does not trust the government led by Pervez Musharraf to ensure the elections are indeed free and fair, but he does believe the people of Pakistan will be able to ensure that happens.

As for whether his other two children will decide to enter politics is entirely up to them, he said.

You know children today. You cannot force them or ask them to do anything. They do what they choose to do. Bilawal has chosen this. And so will the other two — if they choose to come and help their brother and help their father, they’re welcome to. If they choose not, then I will not impose anything upon anybody.

He said Bhutto had trained Bilawal: He realizes the enormity of the situation. So therefore, he’s accepted the responsibility. Watch Bhutto’s son and husband talk about the party’s future

The teenager, speaking in English at a news conference, said, I am thankful for the CEC [Central Election Commission] for imposing their trust in me as chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Like all chairmen of the PPP, I will stand as the symbol of the federation, said Bilawal Bhutto. The party’s long and historic struggle for democracy will continue with renewed vigor, and I stand committed to the stability of the federation.

My mother always said democracy is the best revenge. Watch Human Rights Watch official explain son’s important symbolic role

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Musharraf on the telephone Sunday, and the Pakistani leader agreed to consider international support for the investigation into Bhutto’s death, according to a statement from Brown’s office.

Musharraf’s government has previously rejected international help, specifically from Britain.

We understand our environment better than the international community, Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said Saturday.

Scotland Yard cannot investigate in Waziristan. They don’t understand Pashto.

Zardari also said the PPP is asking the United Nations to investigate the circumstances of Bhutto’s December 27 killing. He said he does not plan to call for an autopsy on his wife, who was buried in her hometown on Friday. See photos of I-Reporters’ memories of Bhutto

Musharraf also spoke Sunday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a French foreign ministry spokeswoman told CNN. After the conversation, it was announced that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will travel to Pakistan this week.

Musharraf’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the election commission and the interim Cabinet will hold separate meetings in the coming days to discuss the possibility of a delayed vote.

When asked about the naming of Bhutto’s successor, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said, It is up to the political parties in Pakistan to choose their leaders.

We believe it is important for Pakistan to confront extremists and continue on the path to democracy by holding free and fair elections, Stanzel said. The timing of those elections will be up to the Pakistanis.
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Drug firms probed in Iraq scandal

LONDON, England (AP) — Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has demanded documents from three major drug makers in connection with allegations the companies paid bribes to secure lucrative contracts in Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power, the companies said.

GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Co. Ltd. — the British affiliate of Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly and Co. — are all accused of violating the U.N.’s oil-for-food program, established in the mid-1990s to ease the impact on Iraqis of sanctions imposed on Saddam’s regime after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Under the program, money from Iraqi oil sales was to have been used for food and medicine.

All three companies have denied wrongdoing and said they were cooperating with the investigation.

The fraud office launched an inquiry after former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker detailed the scope of the corruption that marred the oil-for-food program.

His report, released in October 2005, accused 2,200 companies from some 40 countries of colluding with Saddam’s regime to bilk the humanitarian program of $1.8 billion. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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New videotape of Bhutto shooting emerges

NAUDERO, Pakistan (CNN) — Dramatic new videotape of the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto emerged Sunday, showing her slumping moments after gunshots ring out.

While the tape provides the clearest view yet of the attack, it doesn’t appear to answer who was behind the assassination or how Bhutto died.

Bhutto can be seen standing up through her vehicle’s sunroof. After the sound of three gunshots, her headscarf flaps up on her left side and she slumps forward and slides into the car.

The gunman, wearing sunglasses, appears to be in a black suit. The suicide bomber is seen dressed in white with his head covered. Watch the videotape of Bhutto being shot

Also Sunday, it was announced that the slain former leader’s 19-year-old son will succeed her as chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, which will take part in upcoming elections.

Bilawal Zardari, speaking in English at a news conference, said, I am thankful for the CEC [Central Election Commission] for imposing their trust in me as chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Like all chairmen of the PPP, I will stand as the symbol of the federation. The party’s long and historic struggle for democracy will continue with renewed vigor, and I stand committed to the stability of the federation.

My mother always said democracy is the best revenge.

Bhutto had named her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, to head the Pakistan People’s Party in her will, which was read on Sunday, but he handed over the position to the couple’s son, PPP official Makhdoom Amin Faheem said. Watch Bhutto’s son and husband talk about the party’s future

The party accepted that decision in a meeting following the reading of the will.

Party officials told CNN that the younger Zardari, who attends Oxford University in England, will take over as chairman once he completes his studies. Until then, senior party advisers will lead the PPP. Watch Human Rights Watch official explain son’s important symbolic role

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on the telephone Sunday, and the Pakistani leader agreed to consider international support for the investigation into Bhutto’s death, according to a statement from Brown’s office.

Musharraf’s government has previously rejected international help, specifically from Britain.

We understand our environment better than the international community, Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said Saturday.

Scotland Yard cannot investigate in Waziristan. They don’t understand Pashto.

Ali Zardari also said the PPP is asking the United Nations to investigate the circumstances of Bhutto’s December 27 killing. He said he does not plan to call for an autopsy on his wife, who was buried in her hometown on Friday. See photos of I-Reporters’ memories of Bhutto

Musharraf also spoke Sunday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a French foreign ministry spokeswoman told CNN. After the conversation, it was announced that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will travel to Pakistan this week. The spokeswoman would not elaborate on the details of the telephone conversation or Kouchner’s planned visit.

Kouchner is currently accompanying Sarkozy on an official trip to Egypt.

Meanwhile, Ali Zardari announced the PPP will participate in the upcoming parliamentary election which is scheduled for January 8, but could be postponed in the wake of the assassination of Bhutto.

He called on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif — who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N party — to also take part in the vote. Sharif has previously said he would boycott the election.

Sources within Sharif’s party said the Pakistan Muslim League-N party will stand with the PPP and take part in the election. Speaking on Pakistan’s GEO-TV, Sharif said an official announcement on the party’s decision would take place Monday.

It was unclear whether Pakistan’s government would delay the January 8 elections for parliament — which will eventually choose the prime minister, a post that both Bhutto and Sharif had held. Sharif has been barred from running for another term as prime minister.

Musharraf’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, the election commission and the interim Cabinet will hold separate meetings in the coming days to discuss the possibility of a delayed vote.

We will know in a day or two whether there will be a delay, Information Minister Nisar Memon said.

When asked about the naming of Bhutto’s successor, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said it is up to the political parties in Pakistan to choose their leaders.

We believe it is important for Pakistan to confront extremists and continue on the path to democracy by holding free and fair elections, Stanzel said. The timing of those elections will be up to the Pakistanis.

Pakistan’s government has given several explanations for the official cause of Bhutto’s death, most recently saying she died after striking her head on the sunroof of her car. The PPP has called the government’s changing position a pack of lies.

I have lived in this country long enough to know how the autopsies are done, Ali Zardari said Sunday, explaining why he did not give the home secretary of Punjab province permission for an autopsy.

It was an insult to my wife, to the sister of the nation, to the mother of the nation, if I was to give her last remains to be post-mortemed and I know the forensics reports are useless.

We know what the wound is, we know how it was done. We don’t need post-mortems to prove the death, therefore I refuse to give them the last remains, because they belong to God and the people of Pakistan.

I buried her with honor, I was not going to give it to them.
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Candidates hustle to show their Pakistan 101 skills

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. presidential candidates sought Sunday to use their response to the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as an example of their expertise in international affairs.

I was with Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East just a few years ago. We spoke at the same conference, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina told CBS’ Face the Nation.

After Bhutto’s killing, the Democrat said, I called the Pakistani ambassador that morning, expressed my concerns to him and said I’d like to speak to President (Pervez) Musharraf, whom I had met years ago in Islamabad, because I had some things I wanted to urge him to do.

When Musharraf returned his call, the U.S. presidential candidate asked him whether Pakistan would move on a path to democratization. Edwards said Musharraf assured him it would.

That has to be taken with a huge grain of salt, given his history, said Edwards.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson noted that he learned about international affairs while on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

I traveled the world, including Pakistan, the Tennessee Republican told Fox News Sunday.

I met with Musharraf and other foreign leaders, and I’m grounded and experienced in the matters that matter to us.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York, said she had spoken with Musharraf before last week’s killing. She called for the Pakistani leader to agree to an independent investigation.

This is an opportunity for President Musharraf to step up and actually fulfill many of the words and promises that he’s made to me and to many others over the course of a number of years, the former first lady told ABC’s This Week.

Sen. John McCain called for Pakistan’s January 8 election plans to move forward, but allowed that they may have to be delayed. The Republican from Arizona cited unrest along Pakistan’s northwest border region with Afghanistan and said, He’s disappointed me terribly on the Waziristan situation, which has provided a safe haven for Taliban, but some of that has to do with problems within his own military.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, told CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer that, based on the information I gathered today, Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile appears secure.

He too called for elections to be held as planned or shortly thereafter.

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, said experience is key to any future leader’s success in the region.

Voters out here want to know that they are going to nominate someone who has years of experience of dealing with these matters, as I have over a quarter of a century, the member of the Foreign Relations Committee told CNN.

And the chairman of that committee, Delaware Democrat Joseph Biden, said he too had spoken with Musharraf and that he does not have confidence in the man.

I have confidence in the process if we shift our policy from Musharraf to a Pakistan policy and insist on a couple of things: making clear to him that failure to have transparent elections in this month is going to be extremely consequential for him and for the army, Biden said.

He also called for a transparent investigation with some of our forensic help into the killing, but said he was not very hopeful that Musharraf would allow such an inquiry to go forth.

I don’t have confidence even in his judgment, said Biden, who called for U.S. pressure on Musharraf to make sure there are transparent elections.

But former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said the decision of when to hold elections was up to the Pakistanis to make.

I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to try to weigh in on whether or not they ought to have the elections in their own country, Huckabee, a leading GOP candidate in the upcoming Iowa caucuses, told NBC’s Meet the Press.

When it comes to al Qaeda, however, Pakistani sovereignty appeared to carry less weight with Huckabee: Rather than wait for the next strike, I prefer to cut to the chase by going after al Qaeda’s safe havens in Pakistan, he said in an article published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Asked when a President Huckabee would order such a strike, he said, Well, it would depend on how soon we had fixed a target.

Former Sen. Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, speaking to CNN as an advocate for Huckabee, said his fellow Arkansan has traveled to over 40 countries internationally. He’s met with international leaders. He’s been to Pakistan.

Last week, Huckabee suggested that the Pakistan crisis is related to the U.S. immigration problem.

There were more Pakistanis who illegally crossed the border than of any other nationality except for those immediately south of our border, 660 last year, he said. That’s a lot of illegals from Pakistan who came into our country illegally because we don’t have secure borders.

In an editorial Saturday, the Washington Post criticized his comment: The cynicism of this attempt to connect Pakistan’s crisis with an anti-immigrant sentiment was compounded by its astonishing senselessness.

Huckabee acknowledged to NBC that the numbers he cited were not precise, but he maintained that his point remains valid.

We’re talking about the potential of a person who can come across this border with a dirty bomb in his suitcase, somebody who can come across our borders who might be bringing a shoulder-fired missile. And if we don’t have better control of our borders, it does affect the people in Iowa and the rest of America.

But ignorance of Pakistan’s travails may not necessarily prove damaging to a candidate’s political aspirations. In 1999, shortly after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup, a Boston television reporter asked a U.S. presidential candidate if he could name the general in charge.

A new Pakistani general has just been elected, the candidate responded, then corrected himself. He’s not elected. This guy took over office. He appears he’s going to bring stability to the country, and I think that’s good news for the subcontinent.

And you can name him? the reporter asked.

General. I can name the general, the candidate said.

And it’s? the reporter pressed.

General, said Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
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‘National Treasure’ is box office gold for another weekend

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Fortune-seeker Nicolas Cage, lonely guy Will Smith and a pack of talking chipmunks ended Hollywood’s year on a happy note.

Cage’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets was the No. 1 movie for a second weekend with $35.6 million, followed by Alvin and the Chipmunks with $30 million and Smith’s I Am Legend with $27.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Those hits along with a solid crop of other holdovers and new movies that opened Christmas Day capped a year-end hot streak for Hollywood, whose business soared the last few weeks after a sluggish fall.

It’s being spread among three or four key movies, then another six or seven or eight below that, which is great, said Mark Zoradi, president of the motion-picture group at Disney, which released National Treasure.

The top 12 movies took in $169.2 million, up 18 percent from the final weekend of 2006, when Night at the Museum led the box office with $36.8 million.

Hollywood will finish the year with record revenues of about $9.7 billion, up from the previous best of $9.45 billion in 2004, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Since prices are higher, the revenue represents actual admissions that were up only a fraction over 2006’s and fell well short of modern Hollywood’s record of 1.6 billion tickets sold in 2002.

With the holidays falling on Tuesday, many people have been taking five-day weekends, a boost for the movie business. Many students are off from school until next week, too.

It’s turned into like a two-week-long weekend for the movie industry, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

National Treasure, a sequel with Cage chasing historical clues to find a legendary city of gold, raised its domestic total to $124 million.

Alvin and the Chipmunks, from 20th Century Fox, lifted its haul to $142.4 million. The Warner Bros. hit I Am Legend, with Smith as a plague survivor who may be the last man alive, has climbed to $194.6 million.

Opening with huge numbers in limited release was Paramount Vantage’s There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis in a tale of greed and violence during California’s oil boom in the early 20th century. Playing at just two theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, There Will Be Blood took in $185,525 over the weekend and $309,703 since opening Wednesday. It expands to the top 10 markets Friday.

There Will Be Blood joins other films of violence and misdeeds such as No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Michael Clayton aiming for top honors at the Academy Awards. All scored well in this month’s Golden Globe nominations.

Oscar campaigner Harvey Weinstein, who delivered such best-picture winners as Shakespeare in Love and Chicago while at Miramax, said he hoped his feel-good drama The Great Debaters would stand out for awards consideration among all the blood-soaked fare. The Weinstein Co. release, distributed by MGM, took in $6.3 million over the weekend and $13.5 million since opening on Christmas.

A Golden Globe nominee for best drama, The Great Debaters features director and star Denzel Washington alongside Forest Whitaker in a story of a black debate team in the 1930s South.

We’re late, but we’re hoping we can get that last best-picture spot for the Oscars, Weinstein said. The other movies are pretty bloody, but this is an uplifting American story.

Oscar nominations come out January 22.

Other films that debuted on Christmas had solid weekends. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, a sci-fi horror sequel from 20th Century Fox, took in $10.05 million, raising its total since opening day to $26.9 million. Sony’s Loch Ness monster fantasy The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep grossed $9.2 million and lifted its sum to $16.8 million.
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