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

tholic church had ever existed in Vladivostok but told Effing to go ahead and se

e whether a parish could be organized there . At the time , Vladivostok was stil

l a closed military city , barred not only to foreigners but also to Russians wh

o lacked special permission to enter . On an invitation from the city , Effing a

rrived in 1991 and discovered there had indeed once been a parish and a church .

 Rebuilding them would become his vocation . `` When we first came we didn't hav

e anything except our suitcases and a computer , '' he said . `` We had to borro

w the money to buy our plane tickets from San Francisco. .. . When I first saw t

he church I felt mostly pity because it was in such a rundown condition . And I 

felt pity that such a strong Catholic community in the past could build such a g

ood building only to have everything taken away . '' The building he found had b

een finished , or nearly finished , in a rush in 1922 as the Bolsheviks , on the

ir way to victory in Russia 's Civil War , approached Vladivostok . It was a cat

hedral , the seat of a diocese , but architecturally it was hardly distinct from

 countless red-brick churches built in cities in America 's eastern seaboard abo

ut the same time . Yet the panoramic setting , high above the city overlooking G

olden Horn Bay and its bustling harbor , was magnificent . The supression of the

 church began soon after the Bolsheviks arrived . The parish , which included 5,

000 Catholics in the city and 10,000 more in the surrounding Maritime Territory 

of Russia 's Far East , soon began to dwindle as priests and lay people left or 

were expelled or killed . When the atheistic Communists finally confiscated the 

church in 1935 , as they had confiscated everything else , the explanation was a

s simple as it was laughable : There were no more Catholics around , so who need

ed a church ? Inside the structure , they built three floors where before there 

had been soaring space and stained-glass windows , and they stacked shelves with

 documents and books . The altar , the crucifix , the pews and everything else f

rom the interior were removed . This was how Effing found it when he arrived 2 1

/2 years ago . He set about persuading city officials that the building should b

e returned to the Catholic Church . He collected affidavits from old people who 

remembered that the building had been built with private funds . Effing found a 

marble crucifix that had been dug up 20 years earlier near the church by a crew 

laying a cable and reclaimed it to use in a shrine commemorating martyrs of the 

parish . Workmen began digging to see whether anything else that might once have

 belonged to the church still lay underground . Last November , the parish celeb

rated its first Mass on the top floor inside the church , and on Dec. 31 Effing 

was formally presented with the keys to the building a place of worship at last 

for his 250 parishioners . On Sundays he says Mass in Russian , then preaches in

 English , using a translator . A few months ago he conducted his first full-fle

dged wedding , a young American man marrying a Russian . An older couple who had

 been married for decades also came to have their union blessed in the church . 

Effing now wants to restore the church to its original condition , a task made m

ore difficult since the plans for the interior have disappeared . The cost of re

pairing the church is astronomical $ 700,000 to shore up the crumbling facade al

one , Effing reckons . The nearest pipe organ he knows of is in Irkutsk , Siberi

a , 1,500 miles to the west . And he expects that his goal to reclaim land aroun

d the church will turn into a new fight with city authorities . But Effing said 

he has decided that rebuilding the church , and Vladivostok 's Catholic communit

y , will be his life 's remaining work .

 HOLLYWOOD What do you call $ 37.5 million in the box-office till ? Certainly no

t pebbles . Hollywood on Monday was calling the Memorial Day weekend gross for U

niversal Pictures ' `` The Flintstones '' something `` wonderful '' and a `` gre

at start for the summer . '' Starring John Goodman as Fred Flintstone , the live

-action version of the Hanna-Barbera animated TV series that was a hit in the 19

60s , established a record ticket-price inflation notwithstanding for a Memorial

 Day weekend opening , based on preliminary estimates . It surpassed the $ 37 mi

llion taken in by Paramount Pictures ' sequel `` Indiana Jones and the Last Crus

ade '' in 1989 , when ticket prices were somewhat lower . Both films are associa

ted with Steven Spielberg . `` The Flintstones '' also helped propel ticket sale

s for the overall movie business approximately 10 percent ahead of last year 's 

Memorial Day weekend , which is the traditional beginning to the summer season .

 Hollywood invests heavily in summer fare from which it hopes to derive 40 perce

nt of an entire year 's box-office receipts . `` After weeks of a springtime box

-office slump , this certainly bodes well , '' said John Krier of Exhibitor Rela

tions Co. , who noted that there are `` many big titles to come , '' including W

alt Disney 's animated `` The Lion King , '' which industry insiders have picked

 as this summer 's expected box-office champ . It opens June 15 . `` The Flintst

ones '' was launched with a massive marketing campaign notably a tie-in to McDon

ald 's restaurants but to mixed reactions from the critics who thought the audie

nce for the movie would be children . `` A lot of people thought this movie wasn

't going to work , or that it would be only for kids , '' said Universal Picture

s chairman Tom Pollock , whose studio released last summer 's `` Jurassic Park '

' ( another Spielberg picture and the industry 's all-time box-office champ ) . 

`` But when you have a Friday night where families comprise only about half the 

business , it means that the other half are adults and teens on dates . '' It al

so meant that about 40 percent of the weekend audience headed directly to `` The

 Flintstones ' ' ' hometown of Bedrock , and it might appear that the stampede l

eft other films in the proverbial dust . But not quite . `` Maverick , '' anothe

r remake of an old TV show with Mel Gibson as a card shark of the Old West and a

 cast that also bills Jodie Foster and James Garner , delivered an estimated big

 $ 18 million in the Friday-through-Monday period . That brought the total for t

he Warner Bros. release after two weekends of national release to just over $ 40

 million . Paramount Pictures ' `` Beverly Hills Cop III '' drew an estimated $ 

15.5 million in its debut . The film is the third in the series starring Eddie M

urphy as a Detroit cop who finds adventures in Beverly Hills . ( Optional add en

d ) For Murphy , the opening was the strongest of his last three movies . His fi

lm `` Boomerang '' opened on a peak summer weekend in 1992 to $ 13.6 million . `

` The Distinguished Gentleman '' scored $ 10.5 million in its first weekend duri

ng the Christmas season in December 1992 . The box-office figures released Monda

y were based on industry estimates for Friday through Monday . Final results wil

l be released Tuesday . In fourth place was the Andy Garcia-Meg Ryan alcoholism 

drama `` When a Man Loves a Woman '' with $ 7.1 million , followed by the late B

randon Lee and `` The Crow '' in fifth with $ 6.3 million and `` Four Weddings a

nd a Funeral '' in sixth with $ 2.7 million , estimates show . Spike Lee 's `` C

rooklyn '' finished seventh with $ 1.6 million , while `` With Honors '' was eig

hth with $ 1.4 million . `` Little Buddha '' was ninth with $ 834,000 and `` 3 N

injas Kick Back '' was 10th with $ 745,000 .

 TOKYO A suspected right-wing extremist fired a shot yards away from former Prim

e Minister Morihiro Hosokawa Monday in apparent protest over Hosokowa 's open ap

ologies for Japan 's actions in World War II . Hosokawa was not harmed . The bul

let hit the ceiling of a Tokyo hotel , where he had spoke at a political party m

eeting . Security guards quickly tackled the gunman , who was identified as Masa

katsu Nozoe , 52 . He later told police that he was upset by Hosokawa 's stateme

nts on Japan 's role during World War II and his economic policies , Japanese ne

ws reports said . Police refused to confirm those reports , but they said Nozoe 

was believed to be a member of an extremist right-wing group and that the shooti

ng may have been politically motivated . Shortly after his election last summer 

, Hosokawa became the first Japanese prime minister to candidly state that Japan

 had waged a war of aggression during the 1930s and 1940s . He offered apologies

 on behalf of Japan for the consequent suffering and encouraged revelations abou

t suspected atrocities . The comments were widely applauded throughout Asia and 

broadly endorsed even in Japan . But they were deeply resented by a small fringe

 of ultra-nationalists , commonly referred to as the country 's right wing , who

 believe the expansionist policies in China and Southeast Asia were proper and t

he attack on Pearl Harbor a justified pre-emptive strike against the United Stat

es . Since Hosokawa 's resignation last month in the midst of government gridloc

k and allegations of financial improprieties , the forthrightness that marked hi

s tenure has receded . A June trip by Japanese Emperor Akihito to the United Sta

tes had included a stop at Pearl Harbor , planned by the Hosokawa administration

 . That has been canceled by the administration of Hosokawa 's successor , Tsuto

mu Hata. which has already been far less adamantly forthright about Japan 's pas

t provocations . Japan has hundreds of right-wing groups that make no apologies 

for the nation 's militant past . They advance their views by driving around in 

vans with speakers , but they do not have a wide following and generally have be

en nonviolent . Since late last year , however , that appears to have changed . 

The liberal Asahi Newspaper has been attacked several times recently , including

 an incident last month when hostages were taken and held for several hours . In

 the fall , a Japanese right-wing leader in the same group committed suicide whi

le visiting the Asahi , using handguns . That incident and Monday 's raise stron

g questions about Japan 's vaunted control of firearms . It is commonly thought 

that the major crime syndicates have amble supplies , but it is rare that they a

re used against outsiders . ( Optional add end ) Flush with confidence , the loc

al police have been slowly reducing security for former prime ministers , in som

e cases eliminating it altogether but not for Hosokawa . According to sources qu

oted by the Kyodo wire service , threats against Hosokawa have been made since l

ast summer by right-wing groups . Police official Kiyotaka Osaki said the shot w

as fired from about 10 yards away from Hosokawa . `` I 'm just glad no one was i

njured , '' Hosokawa said after the attack . He declined to comment on the gunma

n 's possible motive . Japan 's wartime past has been been the focus of national

 attention recently because of remarks by a Cabinet minister that Japanese atroc

ities in Nanking , China 's wartime capital , in 1937 were exaggerated . The rem

arks ignited a storm of protest in Asia and the official was forced to resign . 

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service .

 JERICHO , West Bank Not even a month old , the Palestinian Authority is facing 

a crisis that could bring its collapse an acute shortage of cash . Although prom

ised $ 2.4 billion for economic development over five years , the new Palestinia

n administration has virtually no funds with which to operate no money to pay it

s police and civil servants , no money to maintain local hospitals , trash colle

ction and other public services , no money for its own telephones and office lig

hts . `` The situation is very , very serious , '' said Saeb Erekat , the author

ity council member for local government . `` Our institutions are brand new , an

d they need money to operate and meet the people 's needs . Without money , they

 willn't function . The whole effort could fail for the lack of start-up funds .

 '' Palestinian leaders fear that public support for the self-governing authorit

y , which already is controversial as a product of many difficult compromises wi

th Israel , will decline rapidly if it falters in any way ; thus , inability to 

pay its workers , maintain public services and expand the economy could lead to 

a loss of legitimacy and perhaps rebellion . Freih Abu Meddein , a Gaza Strip la

wyer with responsibility for justice on the authority council , warns of possibl

e food riots in Gaza if the new administration does not receive enough assistanc

e to begin full operations and to launch its initial development programs . `` W

e had many promises that we would get the money as soon as we signed the Cairo a

greement on autonomy , '' Abu Meddein said in Gaza City . `` It has been nearly 

four weeks , and we have received only a fraction of our immediate and most urge

nt needs . '' The crisis is so serious that Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 

is looking at ways to assist the Palestinians , perhaps by continuing a public w

orks program that employs 16,000 in the Gaza Strip , perhaps by lending the Pale

stinian Authority some of the operating funds it will need for June . `` I am wo

rried because , if it will not work , it will not take more than three months ..

 . until there will be no food , '' Rabin said over the weekend . Senior Israeli

 officials have sketched alarming scenarios of possible riots , bloodshed and ev

en civil war for the impoverished Gaza Strip , home to more than 850,000 Palesti

nians , if the new authority does not establish itself fast and effectively with

 the money to back it up . Amid the mounting concern , Faisal Husseini , a senio

r Palestinian Authority member , sought to assure the Palestinian police and civ

il servants Monday that they would be paid in June . `` The money 's there , '' 

he told a news conference in Jerusalem , alluding to a $ 19 million emergency fu

nd . Israeli officials estimate the Palestinian Authority will need $ 600 millio

n to $ 700 million a year to administer the Gaza Strip and the West Bank ; the P

alestinian police force alone will cost about $ 105 million . Local revenues may

 come to only $ 200 million to $ 300 million , depending on local tax rates . Th

e development program , starting with the 27-year backlog of public works but re

aching well beyond to the industrialization of some regions and the the rehabili

tation of agriculture in others , will cost at least as much on an annual basis 

, Palestinian economists say . The World Bank says that international pledges fo

r the first year of self-rule total $ 720 million . ( Begin optional trim ) The 

money has been slow in coming for these reasons : Western donors , mistrustful o

f Arafat , his secretive ways and past profligacy , have insisted on full accoun

tability of how their money is spent . Arafat , wanting to ensure his own contro

l of the funds , was slow in staffing the Palestinian Economic Council , approvi

ng its bylaws and appointing a Western investment bank , Morgan Stanley Asset Ma

nagement , to oversee it . Many Western governments prefer to finance specific p

rojects and to give contracts to their own companies , thus boosting their expor

ts , as well as providing foreign aid . This has led to a proliferation of propo

sals to PLO headquarters in Tunis for projects such as the construction of airpo

rts , offshore generation of electricity and a new telephone system , while imme

diate needs have been ignored . The Palestinian Authority 's own tax collections

 will probably not start for months . A new tax system must be adopted to replac

e the one imposed by the Israeli army during its occupation ; the new administra

tion would like to lower the burden carried by local businessmen to foster an ec

onomic resurgence . ( End optional trim ) Erekat said he hoped the Western count

ries that pledged extensive economic assistance and development advice last Sept

ember when Israel and the PLO signed the autonomy agree will now free substantia

l amounts to underwrite the authority 's operations . `` We were born without a 

penny , and we are told that our ability to cope will test our readiness to gove

rn ourselves , '' Erekat said bitterly . `` In a sense , this is right if we can

 run Gaza and Jericho without cash , we are miracle workers . `` Instead of real

 help , we are getting one delegation of experts after another , flying in first

-class and business-class from around the world , spending money on hotels and m

eals that we could use to pay salaries , and then telling us they will make a re

commendation after the summer , '' he said .

 CAIRO , Egypt The world seemed to be sliding inexorably toward violent confront

ation , if not nuclear disaster , that day in 1961 when the leaders of Egypt , Y

ugoslavia and India declared themselves officially out of the running of the Col

d War , laying the groundwork for a network of nations that would be neither of 

the East nor the West . The Berlin Crisis threatened superpower confrontation in

 the middle of Europe ; an ill-fated U.S.-backed attempt to topple the Marxist r

egime in Cuba foundered near America 's southern shores ; disputes broke out ove

r nuclear testing around the globe ; superpowers still extended their military a

nd colonial influence in large areas of Africa and Asia . Tuesday , the Non-Alig

ned Movement created by Yugoslavian leader Josip Tito , Egyptian President Gamal

 Abdul Nasser and Indian Prime Minister Jawharlal Nehru convenes here for its 11

th Council of Ministers in a dramatically changed world . Not only is there no l

onger any East-West axis with which to be non-aligned , Yugoslavia , host of the

 first meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade , has for the first time 

been refused an invitation . The new world 's confrontations are erupting along 

religious and nationalistic frontiers , and the new Yugoslavia will find itself 

competing for a chance to debate foreign ministers of break-away Croatia and Bos

nia-Herzegovina over an appropriate response to the long-running Balkan civil wa

r . Iran , embroiled in mounting disputes with the Arab world over its support o

f Islamic fundamentalist militants , will send its foreign minister to Cairo for

 the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran . South Africa , one o

f whose first actions as a new black-majority-led government was to join the Non

-Aligned Movement , will sit at the table with nations that spent decades revili

ng apartheid . For the 108 disenfranchised , non-aligned countries that represen

t two-thirds of the world 's people , the battles this week are more likely to s

hape up over trade policy than national liberation the widely loathed GATT agree

ment , economic relief for debt-ridden nations and access for Third World goods 

to the world 's major markets . `` There is really a different agenda coming . W

ell over half of the active members are concerned about getting northern markets

 open to their products . They 're concerned about being shut out . They 're con

cerned about changing the terms of credit , '' said Tim Sullivan , a political a

nalyst who has studied the Non-Aligned Movement . Egypt has pushed since the las

t summit of movement leaders in Jakarta in 1992 to merge the Non-Aligned Movemen

t with the Group of 77 developing nations , effectively undercutting its politic

al role and focusing squarely on the economic frontier between developed countri

es and the Third World . `` When you consider the new economic realities of the 

world , it is important to try to identify certain commercial interests and form

ulate government positions which put us in a better negotiating position when de

aling with the West or developed countries , '' said Nagui Ghatrify , foreign mi

nistry spokesman for Egypt , which for years capitalized on its non-aligned stat

us by playing off the Soviet Union against the United States . ( Optional add en

d ) Officials of the non-aligned movement say the political crises that have bee

n bungled or ignored by the world 's superpowers the chaos in Rwanda , Somalia a

nd Liberia can perhaps best be addressed closer to home . Several nations at thi

s week 's meeting propose to discuss a new peacemaking and peacekeeping role for

 non-aligned nations , similar to plans under discussion by the Organization of 

African Unity . Non-aligned nations also are almost certain to continue the push

 for a greater voice for the Third World in the United Nations , with the most p

opular proposal being a permanent seat on the Security Council for a developing 

regional power such as Egypt , Brazil or India .

 ARLINGTON , Va. . On the cusp of the 50th anniversary of D-day , President Clin

ton remembered America 's war dead Monday as `` the backbone that secured our na

tion 's liberty '' as thousands gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to pay h

omage to the fallen . Addressing a throng of veterans , families and friends , C

linton said `` it was the independence and the can-do confidence of the sons and

 daughters of American and the other democracies that won the day '' on June 6 ,

 1944 , when allied soldiers stormed the beaches of northern France and lay the 

foundation for Adolph Hitler 's defeat . The president leaves Wednesday for an e

ight-day trip to Italy , France and Britain , his first visit to those countries

 since taking office . A highlight will be ceremonies to commemorate D-day 's go

lden anniversary . More than 10,000 Allied soldiers were slain or wounded in the

 Normandy landing , which Clinton said started a battle that `` was not just bet

ween two armies . It was as clearly as any conflict in all of human history a ba

ttle between two ways of life . '' Clinton said he mourned the suicide earlier t

his month of Lewis Puller Jr. , a disabled Vietnam War veteran who wrote a Pulit