The decision, which experts say is the first of its kind, is a rare judicial acknowledgment of the powerful role money plays in death penalty cases.

In a speech in New York yesterday, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz made a rare public acknowledgment of the administration's reliance on defectors.

"The citizens' mistrust could very quickly turn against the European idea," Mr. Kohl said in a rare acknowledgment of the domestic political problems confronting his pan-European dream.

Their disgust with the government was open and complete, a rare public acknowledgment in Uzbekistan, where dissent can invite imprisonment.

The beatification, which is the first step toward canonization, was a rare public acknowledgment of the contributions of a reviled and persecuted minority in Europe.

But his decision to cancel an O. J. Simpson television and book project by subsidiaries of the News Corporation was a rare acknowledgment that there are limits.

In a rare acknowledgment of internal military debate about the use of lethal force in the current conflict, he said there were unresolved questions about the Salahs' deaths.

"This is not the first and not the last," Mr. Sharon said tonight, in a rare public acknowledgment of such a killing.

In one sign of a more pragmatic position, North Korea has asked Japan for emergency supplies of rice, a rare and humiliating acknowledgment of its own food shortage.

The gathering, a rare public acknowledgment of the depth of the worker unrest, was part of an industry conference this week for game developers.