Zhang Mingqing, a spokesman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a public briefing that China will not meddle in the election.

"Most patients would be surprised at the number of organizations that receive information about their health record," Dr. Clayton said at a public briefing held to release the committee report.

Before the interminable public briefing reached its conclusion, he slipped out a side doorway, climbed down the sloping marble staircase, and melted into the anonymity of the city.

And in public briefings by various NATO leaders, their ministers and spokesmen invoked the idea of ground troops as they tried to send a unified message.

Reporters for regional and international papers write down what White House officials tell them in daily public briefings.

As the agents and investigators forged ahead through the gathering wreckage and the public briefings, they realized repeatedly what an odd fit they constituted.

The United States had sought all day, in a series of public briefings and background conversations, to keep the pressure on the Europeans on the issue of agricultural subsidies.

In advance of Congressional testimony or a public briefing, civilian officials and military officers subject themselves to a tough preparatory grilling by colleagues, called a "murder board."

When the rescue story broke on April 2, information came from a public briefing and from military intelligence sources, relying on field reports from soldiers and interviews with Iraqi civilians.

As chief scientist on Project Voyager, he has participated in some 60 public briefings and news conferences over the 13 years of the project.