Clinton doesn't have to testify in libel suit

Clinton doesn't haveto testify in libel suit
NEW YORK -- A judge has ruled that Bill Clinton does not have to provide sworn testimony in a libel lawsuit that a librarian filed over her alleged portrayal in "Primary Colors," a fictionalized account of the 1992 presidential campaign.
State Supreme Court Justice Richard Braun said the librarian, Daria Carter-Clark, had not shown that the ex-president "has anything particularly useful to provide." The judge also noted that Clinton said he recalls little about the 1991 event at which he met her.
"Primary Colors" was a best seller in 1996. Political columnist Joe Klein denied for months that he was the anonymous author of the novel before finally admitting that he wrote it.
Carter-Clark sued Klein and his publisher, Random House, for $100 million, saying she was depicted as a loose woman who slept with a politician who is a thinly disguised Clinton.
The sexual liaison, as presented in "Primary Colors," occurs between the librarian, Ms. Baum, and a Southern governor, Jack Stanton, when he visits her library's adult literacy program during his presidential campaign.
The judge, in the pretrial decision made public Wednesday, noted that Klein and Random House have never claimed there was any sexual activity during the real visit. He said Clinton's deposition "would not be material and necessary."
Senator files papersfor exploratory panel
WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry filed papers Wednesday to open an exploratory committee for a possible campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
With the creation of John Kerry for President Inc., Kerry can start raising money to pay for travel around the country and gauge voter support.
"We're going to build a grassroots organization of Americans who love their country and want to make it stronger," Kerry said in a statement. "I believe Americans want a better, different kind of politics, and I begin this exploratory effort optimistic."
Kerry, who was re-elected to a fourth, six-year Senate term in November, plans to transfer about $2.5 million into the committee from his Senate campaign fund. About $500,000 will stay in that fund to cover outstanding campaign bills.
Palestinian leaderplaced in solitary
JERUSALEM -- Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been placed in solitary confinement for five days because he gave an interview in which he called for a change in Palestinian leadership, his lawyer and prison authorities said Wednesday.
In written responses to questions from The Associated Press, presented to Barghouti in prison by his lawyer, Khader Shkirat, Barghouti said Palestinian leaders had failed in their uprising against Israel, but he supported violent resistance.
Prisons Authority spokeswoman Orit Messer-Harel said detainees were not allowed to be interviewed and that Barghouti was aware of this rule. "Because he broke that rule, he was sentenced to five days in isolation," Messer-Harel said.
Shkirat accused Israeli Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau of ordering Barghouti into isolation because of the nature of his statements. "Barghouti was expressing his point of view democratically about internal issues in the Palestinian society, and there is nothing that can justify taking such acts against him," Shkirat said.
Bodies in the streets
DUEKOUE, Ivory Coast -- Residents fleeing the western city of Man told of corpses scattered in the streets. No one thought this could happen in Ivory Coast, but in Man, the fall from grace of this West African nation can be seen -- and smelled.
"We went through living hell," said Carlos Fardom, a Frenchman who fled the city in the heart of the nation's rich cocoa belt on Wednesday. He said he saw two Mi-24 helicopters, two tanks and heavy machine guns during the loyalist attack to reclaim Man this week.
Ivory Coast has been split three ways after a rebel uprising on Sept. 19. The government holds the south, including the key port and economic hub of Abidjan, the rebels behind the uprising hold the north, and new shadowy rebel forces are battling the army in the west.
Residents said shooting could be heard in Man on Wednesday as army troops continued to hunt down rebels.
"There are bodies everywhere," Fardom said. "We never thought this could happen here," he said in Duekoue, 60 miles south of Man.
"Some people don't want to go out, because the bodies in the streets are decomposing, and it smells bad," said a man, who identified himself only by his first name, Ndri.
Associated Press