Musharraf rules out UN probe of Bhutto murder: report
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf ruled out a United Nations probe into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, in an interview with a French newspaper published Saturday.
Musharraf told Le Figaro that UN involvement was out of the question, and that the investigation into Bhutto's murder would be handled internally with the help of British police from Scotland Yard.
Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and her teenage son Bilawal have both called for a UN inquiry, along the lines of the world body's probe into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"This is not possible. Another country is involved? Pakistan is not Lebanon," Musharraf said in a transcript released by the Pakistani government, referring to the implication of Syrian officials in the Hariri killing.
"It's a simple murder. We have our own institutions and we can count on the help of Scotland Yard. I hope that the investigation report will be made public before the elections," he added.
Pakistan's general elections are due on February 18. They were postponed by nearly six weeks because of widespread riots over Bhutto's killing at a political rally on December 27 that threw the nation into turmoil.
Bilawal said last week that the family and Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) wanted a "UN sponsored investigation, because we do not believe that an investigation under the authority of the Pakistan government has the necessary transparency."
The Pakistani president insisted the elections would go ahead and, while acknowledging an Al-Qaeda campaign to destabilise Pakistan, denied the country was "on the verge of disintegration."
"They (the elections) will be held whatever happens. We have to defeat (the) terrorists' campaign aimed at derailing the democratic and economic process," he said.
Pakistani security forces said Saturday that earlier this week they had killed more than 50 militants loyal to a Taliban warlord with links to Al-Qaeda accused of masterminding Bhutto's killing.
The Islamist fighters died after trying to besiege a paramilitary fort in the troubled tribal zone of South Waziristan, officials said.
Musharraf meanwhile said he would quit if he really believed that he no longer had the support of most Pakistanis, but that reports of his unpopularity were untrue.
"I know very well what is the support that I have from the masses, the elite and the army. The day I think that I am genuinely unpopular, I will be the first to resign," he told Le Figaro.
But in a sign of growing scepticism about Musharraf's regime, a survey released on Saturday showed that almost half of all Pakistanis believe government-allied agencies or politicians were responsible for Bhutto's death.
The survey by Gallup Pakistan said 23 percent of people suspected government intelligence or security agencies of being responsible for her assassination, and a further 25 percent believed government-allied politicians were to blame.
Only 17 percent of Pakistanis believed the government's official account that Al-Qaeda militants were responsible.
Bhutto herself accused several senior government and intelligence officials of plotting to kill her following a double suicide attack on a parade to welcome her home from exile in October.
Twelve percent suspected the United States, which counts President Musharraf as a key ally in the "war on terror", and four percent blamed Pakistan's regional rival India.
On Bhutto's succession, 53 percent of those questioned said the PPP had made the right decision to choose 19-year-old Bilawal as its new leader. A further 28 percent said it was wrong and 19 percent said they did not know.
Gallup Pakistan said it interviewed 1,300 men and women in towns and cities across Pakistan and the poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.
Les opérations de votes.
Le Guomindang, le parti nationaliste chinois, également connu sous le nom de Kuo-Min-Tang (KMT) a remporté le 12 janvier 2008 les élections législatives à Taiwan face au Parti démocratique progressiste du président Chen Shui-bian. Lors de l'élection de ce dernier en 2000, le PDP avait mis fin à un demi-siècle de règne du Guomindang, puis remporté plus de sièges que n'importe quel autre parti lors des élections de 2001.

Cette élection est un véritable raz de marée pour le KMT, qui remporte plus de 70 % des 113 sièges du parlement, alors que le PDP obtient seulement 25 % des sièges. L'agence Reuters annonce 86 sièges pour le KMT tandis que l'AFP fait quant à elle état de 82 sièges.

 de cette défaite, a déclaré le président Chen lors d'une conférence de presse. Il a donné immédiatement sa démission du poste de président du Parti démocrate.

Le Guomindang fait partie de la coalition pan-bleue, qui regroupe également le Qinmindang et le Nouveau Parti chinois. Cette coalition soutient une réunification de Taiwan avec la République populaire de Chine, à laquelle le Parti démocrate progressiste est opposé. Le PDP est quant à lui membre de la coalition pan-verte qui milite pour l'indépendance de Taiwan par rapport à la Chine, bien que cette indépendance ne soit reconnue que par quelques États et que Taiwan reste officiellement considéré par la communauté internationale comme partie intégrante de la Chine, mais une nation indépendante ''de facto''.