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Bhutto free to meet supporters

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has left her home for the first time since being placed under house arrest to stop her from leading a rally.

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Bhutto intends to continue her campaign against emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf a week ago, the BBC reported Saturday.

Pakistan's attorney general says the security situation in the country is improving and emergency rule could be lifted within a month.

Thousands of opposition supporters, lawyers and human rights workers are still in custody and Pakistan's television news channels remain off the air.

Now free to leave her home in Islamabad, Bhutto sought to meet with foreign diplomats, civil society leaders and supporters from her Pakistan People's Party.

She has termed President Musharraf's pledge to step down as head of the army and to hold parliamentary elections next year as "vague" and "generalized.

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Pakistan says liberties restored soon

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The Pakistan Attorney General Saturday said the country would consider lifting the week-old state of emergency in a month if law and order was maintained.

Attorney General Malik Muhammad said the government would restore civil liberties if the situation remained stable, but cautioned martial law could continue for years if national security continued to deteriorate, the Kuwait news agency KUNA reported.

He noted Pakistan's Supreme Court also could resume hearing the challenge to the ability of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to remain military chief while seeking reelection once all the seats on the court were filled.

Some analysts say Musharraf may continue the state of emergency, which also suspends the authority of the Supreme Court, until after the deadline for him to revoke his position as military head expires Nov. 15.

Bowing to international criticism, Musharraf announced general elections scheduled for Feb. 15 and said he would honor the Supreme Court's ruling in the challenge to the elections.


N. Korea wants removal from terrorism list

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- North Korea said Friday the agreement to end its nuclear program includes removal from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.

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The demand came in Chosun Shinbo, a newspaper published in Japan that is often used as a vehicle by the secretive North Korean government, the Yonhap news agency in South Korea reported.

The newspaper said North Korea, referred to as the D.P.R.K., was fulfilling its part of the agreement reached in the six-party talks.

"What was agreed in the six-party talks is the D.P.R.K. would disable its nuclear facilities by the end of the year and, in return, the United States would remove the D.P.R.K. from the list of terrorism-sponsoring states and end its application of the Trading with the Enemy Act."

Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks, said North Korea may have to wait until the United States is completely satisfied that North Korea has rejected terrorist actions.


U.N. chief visits Antarctica

SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has become the first chief of the United Nations to visit the continent of Antarctica.

Ban flew to Antarctica from southern Chile Saturday in preparation for a climate conference in Indonesia next month aimed at replacing the Kyoto accord, the BBC reported.

The U.N. chief wanted to see for himself the effects of climate change on the world's largest wilderness.

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Scientists say some parts of Antarctica are melting fast and warn that over the next century melting of the polar ice caps could spark major flooding of lowlands and cause changes in world crop production.

Ban told reporters what he had seen flying over the melting glaciers was both "extraordinarily beautiful" and "disturbing."

He visited a research station set up by his home country of South Korea and was briefed by experts about the impact of global warming on the frozen continent.

"This is an emergency and for emergency situations we need emergency action," the U.N. chief said.


Author Norman Mailer dead at 84

NEW YORK, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer died early Saturday morning of acute kidney failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City at 84.

Mailer's son, Stephen was at his side when he died, The Provincetown, Mass., Banner reported.

Mailer and his wife, Norris Church, kept an apartment in Brooklyn.

The author of more than 30 books and a co-founder of the Village Voice, Mailer is survived by nine children and ten grandchildren in addition to his wife.

An interest in politics prompted him to run for mayor of New York in the 1969 Democratic primary.

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He was and a member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters and won many literary awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award.

Mailer's latest book, "On God: an Uncommon Conversation," was published on October 16th.

A private funeral is planned for family and close friends.

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