World in brief

Clark to testify in closed court

LONDON - The Bush administration has imposed secrecy and censorship measures on the testimony of retired Gen. Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, when he takes the stand this month at the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

At the insistence of the State Department's legal office, the courtroom's public gallery will be cleared when Clark is called to testify Dec. 15 and 16 in The Hague, Netherlands. Cameras that normally broadcast the proceedings on closed circuit TV and the Internet will be blacked out.

There also will be a 48-hour delay on the release of the trial transcript that will enable State Department lawyers to examine Clark's testimony and request the deletion of portions that they deem harmful to national interests.

U.N. prosecutors are unhappy with the arrangement, but said they had little choice but to accept if they wanted Clark's testimony.

Milosevic, who is acting as his own lawyer in these proceedings, is defending himself against charges of genocide and other crimes against humanity in connection with a decade of war in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

JERUSALEM - Israeli troops killed an armed Palestinian and blew up two houses of terrorism suspects Tuesday in their second West Bank raid in two days.

The attacks marked an end to a lull in violence and cast a shadow over talks in Egypt this week designed to win a pledge from Palestinian militants to permanently stop attacks on Israel.

At the meeting in Cairo, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said he hoped to secure a cease-fire commitment from Palestinian factions. He then planned to present a truce offer to Israel, work out a cease-fire and reopen talks on the "road map" peace plan.

VATICAN CITY - The consecration of an openly gay bishop by the Episcopal Church in the United States has jolted Catholic-Anglican relations, a sign of spreading disapproval among Christian denominations around the world.

Two months after Pope John Paul II warned that the elevation of V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire could mean "serious difficulties" in efforts to unify Catholics and Anglicans, the Vatican announced Tuesday that a February meeting in Seattle to work on a common statement of faith "would have to be put on hold."

It also said a new committee will be formed to "reflect jointly" on the implications of Robinson's Nov. 2 consecration.

LONDON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has won this year's "Foot in Mouth" award for the most baffling statement by a public figure.

Britain's Plain English Campaign, scourge of jargon, cliches and legalese, announced the honors Tuesday, giving runnerup to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The top prize went to Rumsfeld for this statement at a news briefing on Iraq:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns, there are things we know we know," Rumsfeld said.

"We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."

"We think we know what he means," said Plain English Campaign spokesman John Lister. "But we don't know if we really know."

Schwarzenegger's entry, made to a radio interviewer, was more straightforward: "I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."

MOSCOW - Russia's Tax Ministry reportedly has said that oil giant Yukos, the target of a Kremlin investigation, owes the government about $5-billion in back taxes and penalties.

The tax statement represents the equivalent of one-sixth of the company's market value. Yukos chief shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested Oct. 25 on fraud and tax evasion charges.

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