A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

eration , appeared to increase the likelihood that the Clinton administration wo

uld prevail in its attempts to cut it short . The `` nation-building '' has cost

 $ 1.5 billion so far but yielded few results . `` Of course , it looks bad , ''

 said a senior U.N. diplomat here speaking of this latest postponement . The tal

ks , originally scheduled for April but postponed four times , were supposed to 

prepare a full-fledged national reconciliation conference to choose a new govern

ment . Somalia has been without any government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre

 was overthrown in January 1991 and the country descended into anarchy . Diploma

ts had called these talks the Somali factional leaders ' last chance to reach a 

compromise and set up a government before the Security Council voted to shorten 

the mandate of the U.N. mission to just six more weeks . But antagonists Ali Mah

di Mohamed , the country 's self-styled `` interim president , '' and Gen. Moham

ed Farah Aideed , the strongman of South Mogadishu , did not show up .

 WASHINGTON Federal prosecutors plan to seek an indictment Tuesday against House

 Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , unless he makes a

 last minute offer for a plea agreement , sources familiar with the case said Mo

nday . By Monday afternoon , Rostenkowski still had not accepted a deal and sour

ces said that barring an immediate overture by the influential lawmaker the wait

ing was over . `` The government is ready to go , '' one source familiar with th

e negotiations said . Other sources said that the government 's case was already

 set for presentation to a grand jury . Tuesday is the `` day '' another source 

said . After more than two weeks of discussing the possibility of a plea bargain

 , Rostenkowski last week declined to accept a deal in which he would plead guil

ty to a felony and spend a limited amount of time in jail , sources said . U.S. 

Attorney Eric H . Holder Jr. gave Rostenkowski until over the holiday weekend to

 ponder his fate . Options for Rostenkowski appear to have run out , as has his 

tenure as chairman of Ways and Means , a committee that puts him in the forefron

t on President Clinton 's health-care legislation as well as major trade , welfa

re and tax bills . If the grand jury returns an indictment punishable by at leas

t two years in prison , under normal procedures of the House Democratic Caucus ,

 Rostenkowski would have to step down from the committee chairmanship . A plea b

argain would give him a slight chance of retaining his chairmanship . Caucus rul

es do not require a member convicted of criminal charges to resign from office o

r leadership positions , although such members are likely to face an ethics inve

stigation and disciplinary actions . House Republicans have indicated that they 

would seek to have Rostenkowski removed from the chairmanship if a plea agreemen

t is struck . Federal prosecutors have outlined a broad case against Rostenkowsk

i of conspiracy to defraud the government in what has been described as `` kitch

en sink '' approach alleging abuses of official accounts for postage , leased au

tomobiles , office space , supplies and personnel . Rostenkowski has publicly de

nied all the allegations . The FBI has investigated whether several so-called ``

 ghost employees '' in Rostenkowski 's Chicago office received pay for work neve

r down . The probe also examined whether Rostenkowski purchased personal and gif

t items through his expense account at the House Stationary Store . In addition 

, the prosecution 's case also reportedly examines whether government leased car

s were used primarily for personal use rather than official business and if Rost

enkowski and other lawmakers traded postage vouchers and stamps for thousands of

 dollars . Rostenkowski , completing his 36th year in Congress , entered plea di

scussions in an effort to reduce or eliminate any prison sentence while avoiding

 a lengthy legal battle . He also wanted to try to retain his chairmanship . The

 talks broke down as the government remained adamant that Rostenkowski must do j

ail time and plead guilty to a felony that is reflective of the breadth of the o

verall allegations against him . Rostenkowski is said to be frustrated that the 

government 's case originates from the initial investigation into the so-called 

House Post Office scam . He views those initial allegations as bogus and general

ly believes that the subsequent questions of wrongdoing are petty . Should he be

 indicted , the stage will be set for one of the more acrimonious and lengthy le

gal battles in recent memory , said sources , including one who described the re

sulting litigation in terms of `` nuclear war . ''

 JERICHO , West Bank A Palestinian official , just arrived with the new police f

orce from Jordan , waxed eloquent on the telephone last week to his wife back ho

me about life in Jericho . `` It 's like heaven , '' gushed Abu Yassin . `` Psyc

hologically , it is poetry to be in my homeland . `` But we are living in hell ,

 '' he admitted to her . `` The weather is very bad . There is no bed I sleep on

 the floor . And to eat , I have to go out to pick fruit from the banana fields 

. '' Such is the mix of emotions and complications that has marked the start of 

Palestinian autonomy in Jericho and the Gaza Strip . The first 10 days after Isr

aeli withdrawal have served up a salad of close calls , doomsday predictions , a

ngry threats and cautious whiffs of optimism . Palestinian autonomy has gotten o

ff to a predictably rocky start . There is little sign so far of a Palestinian g

overnment to replace the civil administration that left with the Israeli army . 

The last Israeli paycheck to civil servants here runs out Tuesday , and no one h

as stepped in to pick up the payroll . Palestinian soldiers-turned-police still 

are trickling in from scattered bases in the Middle East , but they have no supp

lies and little equipment . They have to borrow gas from Israel to put in their 

patrol jeeps , donated from the United States . Officers declared it unseemly fo

r their men to take handouts of food from local residents , but they had no othe

r provisions . The Israeli army started slipping combat rations to the new arriv

als . Yasser Arafat was still in Tunis , Tunisia , trying to appoint a national 

council . Other Palestinian figures balked at joining him and sharing blame for 

the mess . Surprisingly , it is Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who finds c

heer amid this gloom . It is `` a good start .. . a good chance for the future ,

 '' he said last week on a tour of the Gaza Strip . `` Things were carried out i

n a much better way than I thought . `` I had deep fears about .. . the way thin

gs would take shape , '' he said . But `` on the Palestinian side , a real effor

t was made to coordinate and understand . '' The prime minister may have been pr

acticing a little damage control . Public opinion polls showed a sharp dive in I

sraeli support last week for continuing the five-year autonomy process ; 63 perc

ent said stop now , according to one poll . ( Begin optional trim ) Israeli news

papers worked themselves into a froth over the first mishaps involving Palestini

an police . Last Monday , a Palestinian soldier shot out the tires of an Israeli

 who ignored a checkpoint . On Tuesday , the new officers improperly arrested th

ree armed Israelis . On Wednesday , a Palestinian private stopped at gunpoint an

 Israeli general . News photos showed Israeli and Palestinian soldiers faced off

 with guns , a hair-trigger away from disaster . But the disaster did not happen

 . Nor did other dire predictions that autonomy would bring civil war among Pale

stinian factions , or a revolt in other areas , or a slew of fresh terrorist inc

idents . In all , last week , things were relatively quiet . ( End optional trim

 ) In a background briefing to Israeli reporters , top Israeli army chiefs went 

out of their way to compliment the Palestinian police . The crisp-uniformed Pale

stinians look smarter than the determinedly sloppy Israeli soldiers , admitted a

 senior Israeli officer . And `` when an Israeli brigade replaces another , it i

s much less organized than what we have seen so far from the Palestinians , '' h

e said . But flattery and understanding could not hide obvious shortcomings in t

he Palestinian takeover . Although they have had eight months to plan their tran

sition , the Palestinians have arrived with no mechanism to continue government 

services . Israel 's civil administration said that it spent about $ 70 million 

a year on government services to the Gaza Strip and Jericho . With the additiona

l cost of police salaries , the Palestinians may need three times that amount . 

`` The Palestinian national authority is in financial straits , '' lamented the 

Arabic daily Al-Quds . `` Before the end of this month it has to have $ 20 milli

on in Gaza and Jericho . '' The Palestinians protest that international donors s

o far are deadbeats and have not backed up their pledges with cash . In part , t

he donor countries are wary of handing over money to the historically corrupt PL

O ; in part they prefer financing concrete projects over daily expense vouchers 

. `` They are insisting on specific projects that they can put a plaque on , pra

ising the donors . There is no money for operating expenses , '' acknowledged on

e Israeli official . ( Optional Add End ) The Israelis do not acknowledge any re

sponsibility for the situation . For 27 years , Israel silenced , imprisoned or 

deported emerging leaders of the Palestinian people . As for facilities , Israel

 this month left behind equipment ranging from computers to telephones in some o

ffices , but stripped others bare . Israel , too , has been less than faithful t

o its signature , Palestinians complain . Israel has released fewer than 1,000 o

f the 5,000 prisoners it had promised to free promptly after May 4 .

 VATICAN CITY In a stern veto , Pope John Paul II reasserted a ban against women

 priests Monday , ordering Catholics to end internal debate and obey historic te

achings . In a righteous , authoritarian apostolic letter addressed to his bisho

ps , Pope John Paul marked his first day back in the office after four weeks in 

a hospital for a broken leg . His resounding `` no '' to any possibility of a gr

eater religious role for Catholic women in their church was the second time in a

 week that the Vatican has crossed swords with assertive Catholic women . Before

 returning to the Vatican Friday , Pope John Paul accepted an English translatio

n of the church 's new catechism that women 's groups have denounced as sexist f

or its language . Monday 's 1,000-word letter , `` On Reserving Priestly Ordinat

ion To Men Alone , '' is remarkable for its bluntness and the absolute authority

 that Pope John Paul asserts `` in order that all doubt may be removed regarding

 a matter of great importance . `` I declare that the Church has no authority wh

atsoever to confer priestly ordination on women , and that this judgment is to b

e definitively held for all the Church 's faithful , '' Pope John Paul writes in

 the letter . Fundamentals of their faith make it impossible to ordain women as 

priests , the pope tells his bishops , noting that Christ `` acted in a complete

ly free and sovereign manner '' in selecting only men as his apostles the first 

priests . Still , Pope John Paul laments , despite an all-male priesthood unbrok

en across two millennia , `` in some places it is nonetheless considered open to

 debate . '' No more , in the pope 's view . An accompanying Vatican commentary 

said the letter `` confirms a certainty which has been constantly held and lived

 by the church . '' As such , the pope 's views are not to be regarded as new , 

or an opinion , or a matter of discipline , `` but as certainly true . '' `` The

refore , since it does not belong to matters freely open to dispute , it always 

requires the full and unconditional assent of the faithful , and to teach the co

ntrary is equivalent to leading consciences into error , '' his commentary says 

. Pope John Paul , 74 , who has been increasingly outspoken in recent months , w

ill host a private meeting at the Vatican Thursday with President Clinton , who 

may get a papal lecture for his support for abortion . In a debate the Vatican n

o longer wants to hear among Catholics , advocates of women priests say Christ '

s choice of disciples was determined by customs and laws of the time , not becau

se he sought a unisex ministry . ( Optional Add End ) Pope John Paul 's vigorous

 restatement of the ban may have been prompted in part by the ordination of the 

Church of England 's first women priests in March , an innovation that effective

ly scuttled reunification talks between the two churches . Thousands of Anglican

s and hundreds of Anglican priests have turned to Catholicism . The Vatican is a

ccepting even married Anglican priests as converts and priests despite its own b

an on married priests . Lobbying among Catholic activists for women priests has 

increased since the Anglican ordinations , a Vatican official noted . Pope John 

Paul has now fired an unanswerable broadside in response . `` The pope clearly i

ntends for the ban to stick , because he comes right up to the brink of infallib

ility with this teaching . Still , it is not infallible , and therefore it is op

en to possible change by some later pope , '' said one senior theologian . Under

 Catholic dogma , popes are infallible in matters of faith and morals when the s

ay they are giving infallible teachings .

 WASHINGTON The stubbornness of dictatorships has become one of the Clinton admi

nistration 's chief foreign-policy vexations . Leaders in Haiti , China , and mo

st recently North Korea , have found a way to thumb their noses at top U.S. dipl

omatic priorities . Haiti 's corrupt military regime showed no sign last week of

 buckling under to newly tightened U.S.-inspired economic sanctions aimed at for

cing the return of elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide . A clique of elderl

y Chinese generals and Communist Party bosses successfully called Washington 's 

bluff by ignoring the threat of new tariffs on exports to the United States unle

ss they improved their human-rights record . Then North Korea 's communist regim

e on Friday appeared to rule out critical international inspections of spent fue

l rods at a nuclear reactor north of its capital , giving every indication the c

ountry will never allow the outside world to perform inspections needed to learn

 how much plutonium it may have accumulated for nuclear arms . These dismal resu

lts of earnest U.S. diplomacy have not been flattering to America 's self-image 

as a world leader , and if President Clinton 's recent comments are any indicati

on , they are provoking some re-examination not only of his expectations for U.S

. foreign policy but also the administration 's often blunt and demanding style 

of dealing with recalcitrant foreign leaders . As one senior U.S. official expla

ined , when Clinton arrived at the White House , he shared a popular notion that

 foreign relations is an extension of domestic U.S. business relations a matter 

of rules and regulations in which the threat to sue , or impose legal sanctions 

, is a vital negotiating tool . Clinton had criticized President George Bush for

 `` coddling dictators , '' for example , and indicated he supported pursuing pu

nitive measures such as economic sanctions if other nations did not comply with 

U.S. demands . Recalling a statement by Dean Acheson that sanctions are essentia

lly a declaration of war without the willingness to use force , the senior offic

ial said Clinton had a misplaced faith that they could be used to alter other na

tions ' internal priorities , without the direct compulsion of a military attack

 . `` Sanctions did not get ( General Manuel ) Noriega out of Panama '' in 1989 

and they did not force the Iraqi military to withdraw from Kuwait in 1991 , the 

official said , calling America 's persistent faith in sanctions `` pathetic . '

' But several officials said the frustrating experience of the last few months a

ppears to have humbled the president 's ambitions . At a White House news confer

ence on Thursday , Clinton not only rejected future threats of higher tariffs on

 trade with China , he also counseled a more patient style of diplomacy , noting

 that `` a great society , so large and with such built-in habits , does not cha

nge overnight . '' He compared the challenge of improving human rights there to 

the reduction of `` crime and violence '' in U.S. society a goal that would take

 years to accomplish . Clinton had struck a similar theme of the limits of U.S. 

influence in a May 25 speech to the U.S. . Naval Academy 's graduating class , w

here he noted that many of the world 's `` most tearing conflicts .. . will rare

ly submit to instant solutions . '' Noting that the resolution of the Cold War t

ook decades , he said `` we must often be willing to pay the price of time , som

etimes the most painful price of all . '' In addition to lowering expectations a

bout quick results , Clinton also seemed last week to be pointing the way to a l

ess confrontational style of diplomacy . Revealing what could be taken as a pers

onal epiphany of sorts about the limits of U.S. powers of moral suasion , he sai

d that `` no nation likes to feel that every decision it makes for the good , to

 do something that 's right , that makes progress , is being made ... only becau

se of external pressure from someone else . '' Clinton was trying to explain why

 China had rebuffed Washington 's insistent entreaties to treat its people more 

like the United States treats its citizens . But several U.S. officials said the

y believe the lesson may also be relevant to Haiti and North Korea , which also 

have repeatedly ignored urgings that they respect U.S.-defined `` norms '' of in

ternational behavior . The officials suggested that in both cases , Washington h

as backed itself into a corner by using or threatening to use sanctions unlikely

 to produce instant policy shifts . The officials said Clinton might have unders

tood the magnitude of the challenge earlier had he listened to U.S. intelligence

 experts instead of the strains of popular opinion supporting tough demands and 

blunt threats . A number of classified studies reported last winter , for exampl

e , that the Chinese leadership was beset by worry about growing internal unrest

 , officials said . The studies also said key Chinese officials were jockeying f

or power , anticipating the death of aged leader Deng Xioaping , and would be un

likely to risk supporting any liberalization . They also reported that Chinese l

eaders were not taking seriously Washington 's threat of higher trade tariffs ev

en though the threat was not lifted until last week . A U.S. intelligence commun

ity report similarly predicted last fall correctly , it seems that North Korea w

ould not accede to demands for nuclear-related inspections that would reveal the

 size of its stockpile of plutonium , a key ingredient of nuclear arms . Other U

.S. intelligence reports have expressed skepticism that the economic embargo of 

Haiti would prompt its military rulers to resign soon . In its dealings with bot

h of these stubborn dictatorships , the Clinton administration might soon be fac

ed with the same choice it faced last week with China : to continue to pursue a 

policy that has not worked , or to face up to a further humbling of American for

eign-policy ambitions .

 VLADIVOSTOK , Russia The sun was still high and the day was warm , so by the ti

me he reached the top step , the Rev. Myron Effing was sweating and puffing . He

 had taken visitors up some splintering outdoor wooden stairs , up a hillside st

rewn with garbage and weeds , past flimsy lean-tos with laundry billowing from c

lotheslines , and finally to a simple , solid red-brick building overlooking a s

quare . `` Here it is , '' said the 53-year-old Roman Catholic priest , a little

 out of breath . `` It 's our pride right now , our joy . '' The object of Effin

g 's affection was a church with a history as tragic and grim and , now , as ful

l of hope as Russia 's own history in this century . For 58 years , it was not a

 place of worship , but an archive of the Soviet state . It was in the state 's 

hands for so long that people forgot it had ever been a church at all , and some

 bureaucrats even disputed it , despite abundant evidence and explicit testimony

 to prove it . The Communists had built a radio tower to jam foreign broadcasts 

atop a higher hill nearby , as if to remind those below that the party 's author

ity was loftier even than God 's . Then last New Year 's Eve , after a two-year 

struggle , Effing reclaimed the building from the government and proclaimed that

 the Church of the Most Holy Mother of God and the Roman Catholic Church had ret

urned to Vladivostok , at last . But as Effing knew better than anyone , that me

ant the real work was only about to start . It is the lone Catholic church in th

is boom town of 700,000 people , and these days it is very much Effing 's church

 his work in progress , his personal crusade . A native of Indiana , Effing had 

spent much of his adult life teaching in seminaries in the American Midwest and 

recruiting young men for the priesthood . In 1986 , he went to Guam and spent fo

ur years there as rector of a seminary . He returned to the United States in 199

0 as a university chaplain in California , but before long , he said , he grew t

ired of church politics there . His aim was to find a place where there were no 

other priests , and Russia seemed like ideal virgin territory . He appealed to t

he bishop of Novosibirsk in western Siberia the nearest diocesan seat to Vladivo

stok , though it is four time zones away . The bishop had no idea whether any Ca