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

ouncement . The Chicago lawmaker 's lawyers had urged him to consider the deal b

eing offered by U.S. . Attorney Eric Holder , a Clinton administration appointee

 . Although it was understood to have meant a one-year prison term and his resig

nation from Congress , the bargain would have spared Rostenkowski and his family

 the humiliation of a public trial and possibly a longer prison term . Under the

 rules of the House Democratic Caucus , an indictment on felony charges punishab

le by a prison term of more than two years would mean that Rostenkowski would ha

ve to relinquish his chairmanship , until and unless he were acquitted . The imp

lications of his removal go far beyond the effects on the 35-year congressional 

career of a single lawmaker . Rostenkowski , whose legislative deal-making skill

s are considered unparalleled in Congress , is one of President Clinton 's most 

crucial allies in the administration 's uphill efforts to pass comprehensive hea

lth care legislation this year . Rostenkowski , 66 , was considered so vital to 

the passage of the health bill that Clinton went to Chicago to campaign for him 

earlier this year , when it appeared that he faced a strong challenge in the Dem

ocratic primary . The Ways and Means Committee has already begun its deliberatio

ns on the health bill , and it now appears it will lose its chairman just as it 

is to start its voting after Congress ' weeklong Memorial Day recess . Ways and 

Means is one of five committees in Congress that have jurisdiction over the bill

 . In the last few days , as negotiations between Rostenkowski and federal prose

cutors reached a critical phase , a pall had settled over the House . While few 

House members had been willing to discuss it on the record , the situation had s

eemed to overshadow all the House 's official business , and was the topic of ma

ny whispered conversations in the corridors and cloakrooms of the Capitol . Alth

ough the chairman had agonized over the choice before him , the idea of pleading

 guilty had gone against all his instincts , friends said . `` He finally came t

o closure late this afternoon , '' spokesman Jim Jaffe said Monday . The helm of

 the committee is expected to pass to the second most senior Democrat , Rep. Sam

 Gibbons of Florida . Though genial and well-liked , Gibbons has not been tested

 on such major legislation . His expertise is in trade matters . Though Rostenko

wski would relinquish the chairmanship , he could still exert considerable influ

ence as a member of the committee . The Democrats on the panel are fiercely loya

l to him , and have received many breaks for their constituents from him in the 

past . Also , he hired the Ways and Means Committee 's entire staff . ( Optional

 add end ) Rostenkowski is represented by Robert S. Bennett , a leading Washingt

on attorney well known for his defense of public officials and others accused of

 white-collar crimes . It is expected that Bennett , who also is representing Cl

inton against a sexual harassment suit filed by Paula Corbin Jones , could delay

 any trial until after the November elections . The federal investigation of Ros

tenkowski has been under way for more than two years . Among the charges that pr

obably would be included in an indictment : That between 1985 and 1991 , he ille

gally converted stamps from the House Post Office to cash for his personal use .

 A key witness against him is likely to be former House Postmaster Robert V. Rot

a , who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor embezzlement charges last July . That he i

mproperly used office funds to buy lavish gifts for friends from the House Stati

onery Store . On the advice of his lawyers , Rostenkowski earlier reimbursed Con

gress for about $ 82,000 of purchases , without admitting wrongdoing . That he c

onverted government-leased cars to his personal ownership . That he used governm

ent funds to pay `` ghost employees '' people who were on his payroll but did no

 work . All told , the charges could be such that the chairman would face a leng

thy prison term , if convicted .

 RIVERSIDE , Calif. University of California officials said Monday that Khallid 

Abdul Muhammad , the controversial Nation of Islam figure shot in the legs here 

Sunday night , disregarded an elaborate security plan by continuing to answer qu

estions outside the gymnasium where he had just given a speech . The alleged gun

man has been identified as James Edward Bess , who authorities said is a member 

of a `` subset of the Nation of Islam '' in the Tacoma , Wash. , area . Bess was

 severely beaten by a crowd of bystanders and had to be rescued by police . He i

s under heavy guard at a local hospital . Muhammad , 43 , is listed in stable co

ndition at another local hospital . He was an aide to Louis Farrakhan , head of 

the Nation of Islam , until he was demoted following a national outcry over anti

semitic remarks he made during a speech last November in New Jersey . Some membe

rs of the crowd that beat Bess shouted that the gunman worked `` for the Jews . 

'' Minutes after leaving the gym , Muhammad was shot at close range while standi

ng at the top of some steps about 100 yards from the gym entrance on the Univers

ity of California at Riverside . The security plan drawn up by campus police and

 Muhammad 's bodyguards had called for him to exit quickly through a rear door a

nd leave by car . Authorities had no explanation for why Muhammad did not follow

 the plan . Five of his bodyguards were also wounded in the attack . Only one of

 the bodyguards was wounded seriously enough to be in the hospital tonight . The

 investigation into the shooting is being handled by University of California ca

mpus police , who would not speculate Monday on the motive for the attack . Acco

rding to Leon Forrest , former editor of the Nation of Islam 's newspaper , Muha

mmad Speaks , the shooting of Muhammad by a disgruntled Nation member is reflect

ive of ongoing leadership problems in the organization . It was not uncommon for

 people to join the Nation and then leave , often over ideological differences o

r a belief that power was not distributed in an equitable way , said Forrest , n

ow chair of African American studies at Northwestern University . Joseph E. Lowe

ry , president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , said he regarde

d the shooting , which he deplored , as an `` internal conflict '' in the Nation

 of Islam . Police said they found three weapons of Bess 's in addition to the 9

mm handgun used in the shooting . Two additional 9mm weapons were found at the s

cene . In his vehicle nearby , they said , they found a rifle with a telescope s

ight . Riverside Police Chief Ken Fortier said that police are not ruling out a 

conspiracy but they believe Bess acted alone . He said Bess has not been charged

 yet . Forrest recalled the shooting 29 years ago of Malcolm X , a former Nation

 of Islam leader who broke away and attracted a following of young blacks . Thre

e members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of the killing . University offi

cials said security arrangements for Muhammad 's Sunday appearance had been adeq

uate . `` There was good security , '' David H. Warren , the university 's execu

tive vice chancellor said at a news conference here Monday . `` What went wrong 

was he ( Muhammad ) completely broke with what his scheduling was and his routin

g was . '' Since being suspended by Farrakhan in February , Muhammad has continu

ed to make controversial speeches , describing himself at one point as a `` trut

h terrorist '' for the Nation of Islam leader . He has done little to soften the

 rhetoric that first gained widespread attention in an address Nov. 29 at Kean C

ollege in New Jersey that was later denounced by President Clinton , Congress an

d many black and Jewish leaders . In his two-hour speech here Sunday , Muhammad 

sounded many familiar themes , including the need for blacks to overcome white r

acist oppression and the attempt by Jews in the entertainment industry to promot

e negative images of blacks . University officials said Monday they considered b

locking Muhammad from speaking but decided to allow it because they feared being

 sued . After protests from Jewish groups on campus , however , they refused to 

allow Muhammad 's bodyguards to conduct searches of the audience , and they also

 insisted that reporters be allowed to bring recording equipment into the gym .

 WASHINGTON Ezra Taft Benson , head of the Mormon Church since 1985 , secretary 

of agriculture from 1953 to 1961 and a pugnacious force in matters of church and

 state for much of his life , died Monday at his home in Salt Lake City . Church

 officials said he had been hospitalized briefly last week for congestive heart 

failure . He was 94 . Incapacitated since 1989 and unable to speak or , at times

 , to recognize even close relatives , Benson spent his last years under the 24-

hour care of nurses in his apartment across the street from church headquarters 

. His last public appearance was at the funeral of his wife of nearly 66 years ,

 Flora Amussen Benson , in 1992 . The severity of his condition became public la

st year when one of his grandsons , tired of what he said was a charade involvin

g posed pictures and letters signed by an automatic pen , denounced Mormon leade

rs for participating in a deception . His grandfather 's absence , Steve Benson 

conceded , had made little difference in running the church , whose bureaucracy 

he compared to that of the former Soviet Union . `` To me , it was just further 

evidence of the systematic illness that has affected the hierarchy of the church

 , '' said Benson , 39 , a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Arizona Rep

ublic . The grandson , a sixth-generation Mormon , later left the church . Benso

n became the 13th president , prophet , seer and revelator of the Church of Jesu

s Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1985 , after the death of Spencer W. Kimball. P

residents of the Mormon Church serve for life . He took over leadership of a chu

rch that was 156 years old and had about 6 million members worldwide . During hi

s administration , the church membership grew to nearly 9 million , church spoke

smen said . Benson was president of the Boise ( Idaho ) stake , or district , of

 the Mormon Church in the late 1930s and headed the Washington stake from 1940 t

o 1943 . He was chosen as a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles , the churc

h 's ruling group , in 1943 . Three years later , he became president of the chu

rch 's European Mission , headquartered in London . When he was appointed agricu

lture secretary , he took a leave of absence from his duties as eighth-ranking c

hurch apostle . After leaving government service in 1961 , he devoted his life t

o church work full time . Yet he did not become a stranger to controversy . He s

poke out on a variety of social and political questions . He attacked the civil 

rights movement as advancing communism , called the graduated income tax `` Marx

ist , '' attacked detente with the Soviet Union , lambasted the women 's movemen

t and became closely associated with members of the reactionary John Birch Socie

ty . When he became church president in 1985 , many observers wondered whether t

he Mormon Church would take a turn to the political right and whether Benson , w

ho had been restrained in his comments in recent years , would begin to speak ou

t again on political issues . When he took office , Benson expressed love for ``

 every creed , color and political persuasion . '' `` Some have expectantly inqu

ired about the direction the church will take in the future , '' he said . `` Ma

y we suggest that the Lord , through President Kimball , has sharply focused on 

the threefold mission of the church : to preach the gospel , to perfect the sain

ts and to redeem the dead . We shall continue every effort to carry out this mis

sion . '' During his years as agriculture secretary , Benson opposed increases i

n parity payments , intended to ensure farmers stable prices for crops . He also

 opposed soil bank schemes , which would pay farmers for cutting production , sa

ying he was dead against paying farmers for doing nothing . In the spring of 195

6 , President Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to take measures to bolster fallin

g hog prices , after protests from Republican members of Congress representing t

he Midwest farm vote . Benson opposed measures to help those small farmers , say

ing the farmers were inefficient and the government should not pay to bail them 

out . But members of Congress pointed out just how crucial the farm vote could b

e in a presidential election year , and farmers got what they wanted . Benson 's

 image as a foe of many small farmers was bolstered when he was battered by eggs

 thrown at him during a speaking engagement in South Dakota . Another time , Dem

ocrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee hectored him so persistently that it 

took him 90 minutes to get through three pages of testimony . Authorities say on

e measure of his unpopularity among farmers was the steady loss of Republican vo

tes in congressional elections in farm states during the 1950s . Another measure

 was the sure-fire success with farm crowds of Democrats campaigning for the pre

sidency in 1960 when they promised that , if elected , they would fire Ezra Taft

 Benson . Benson is survived by six children .

 RIVERSIDE , Calif. . A former Nation of Islam minister who clashed with fellow 

Muslims had a small arsenal , including a hunting rifle with a scope , when he a

llegedly shot black nationalist Khallid Abdul Muhammad and five other men outsid

e a university auditorium , authorities said Monday . The suspect , identified a

s James Edward Bess , 49 , opened fire just after Muhammad finished a speech on 

the University of California campus . Khallid Muhammad a former Nation of Islam 

spokesman known for his fiery anti-Jewish , anti-white rhetoric was shot in the 

legs . He and a bodyguard were reported in stable condition . Four other bodygua

rds were treated and released . Law enforcement authorities said they have not r

uled out a conspiracy in the shooting , but they believe Bess was acting alone .

 Investigators have not offered a motive . People familiar with the suspect desc

ribed Bess as a contentious figure and a devotee of Nation of Islam leader Louis

 Farrakhan . Bess had been removed from his post as a leader of the Seattle area

 mosque . He once wrote an open letter in a black community newspaper criticizin

g the mayor of Seattle for denouncing remarks by Farrakhan . And , on another oc

casion , he told television viewers in Seattle , where he frequently appeared on

 public access TV , that violence was the way to deal with black leaders who let

 down the black community . `` If this false leadership continues I willn't be s

urprised to see the same thing as happened in South Africa , where the black wom

an was hacked to death with a axe and .. . thrown on a fire and burned up , '' B

ess said . `` Matter of fact , I think that 's what needs to take place with thi

s leadership . They ought to be doused with gasoline and burned in public . '' A

 former top aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan , Muhammad had been o

ne of Farrakhan 's most vituperative lieutenants until a verbal assault on Jews 

, Arabs and whites provoked denunciations by the Rev. Jesse Jackson , black memb

ers of Congress and President Clinton and led to his suspension . Despite his su

spension , Muhammad has publicly remained so loyal to Farrakhan that many wonder

 if he continues to speak for Farrakhan . He says only that they remain in conta

ct but adds , `` We don't have the closeness that we had . We don't have the com

munication that we used to . '' Muhammad had come to Riverside to make the secon

d of two speeches in the Los Angeles area over the weekend ( Riverside is about 

60 miles east of Los Angeles . ) The shooting Sunday night occurred despite tigh

t security inside the University of California , Riverside , auditorium during h

is two-hour speech . The 500 members of the audience were frisked as they entere

d the room . In addition to two city police officers , about 50 members of the F

ruit of Islam the security arm of the nation of Islam were present . Muhammad dr

ew cheers during his speech when he described whites as satanic and Jews as oppr

essors . In a speech in Los Angeles Saturday , Muhammad referred to Jews as `` b

agel-eating '' and `` hook nosed '' and contended that `` the black holocaust is

 100 times worse than any other holocaust '' . But police and university spokesm

en spokesman said that security personnel were caught by surprise when Muhammad 

left the podium and said he would continue to field questions outside . Muhammad

 said he was going outdoors because he had been told apparently in error that th

e sponsoring organization had to give up the gymnasium or pay additional costs .

 University officials acknowledged they were apprehensive about Muhammad 's spee

ch on campus , sponsored by the African Student Alliance , but said that to have

 blocked the talk would have been a denial of free speech . When he came outside

 , Muhammad , 43 , was hit in both legs by shots fired from a 9-mm handgun . One

 bodyguard , Cakliph Saduik , 33 , was shot in the upper right back . Another gu

ard , Barnado Puckett , 34 , was shot three times . Terrell D. Strait , 20 , was

 shot in the left shoulder and stomach . Steve L. Washington received a minor gu

nshot injury , and Thomas L. Harri had a minor gunshot graze to the back . Bess 

was was severely beaten by a crowd of people who had witnessed the shooting . Au

thorities said he suffered a fractured shoulder , multiple abrasions and lost te

eth . Riverside police reported Monday that they confiscated not only the 9-mm h

andgun alleged used in the shooting , but also found a backpack containing two o

ther guns and a hunting rifle in Bess ' car which was parked nearby . ( Optional

 Add End ) By Monday afternoon , Muhammad had gotten out of his hospital bed and

 was walking around his room , according to Nation of Islam security guards who 

declined to identify themselves . `` He is fine . His spirits are fine , '' said

 a woman who identified herself as Muhammad 's sister at Riverside Community Hos

pital Monday afternoon . `` He 's just tired . Doing his father 's work makes hi

m tired , '' said the woman who would not give her name but was sitting in a roo

m beside Muhammad 's 9-year-old son in the hospital 's intensive care wing . One

 knowledgeable source told the Los Angeles Times that Bess was suspended about t

hree years ago from his post as minister of a mosque in Seattle by a former Nati

on of Islam minister and official , Wazir Muhammad . A resident of Los Angeles ,

 Wazir Muhammad was said to be with Khallid Muhammad during the speech but not a

t his side when the shooting took place .

 In ROSTY-TIMES ( Tumulty-Times ) sub for 3rd graf ( recasting first sentence ) 

xxx night : His remarks came on the eve of Tuesday 's deadline by the government

 to accept or reject its plea-bargain . `` That is a far more attractive arrange

ment option than pleading guilty to crimes that I did not commit , '' Rostenkows

ki said . PICK UP 4TH GRAF : The decision xxx

 WASHINGTON House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , 

said Monday that he has chosen to fight charges of fraud and abuse of his public

 office , rather than making a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to 

lesser offenses . `` I have always fought for what I believe in . I strongly bel

ieve that I am not guilty of these charges , and will fight to regain my reputat

ion in court , '' Rostenkowski said in a statement issued Monday night . His rem

arks came on the eve of Tuesday 's deadline by the government to accept or rejec

t its plea-bargain offer . `` That is a far more attractive option than pleading

 guilty to crimes that I did not commit , '' Rostenkowski said . PICKUP 4TH GRAF

 : The decision xxx

 The Security Council issued an appeal to North Korea Monday night to allow the 

international nuclear agency to monitor the discharge of fuel from a reactor . T

he non-binding statement , which had the crucial support of China , did not incl

ude any explicit threat of sanctions against North Korea for violating nuclear s

afeguards . But diplomats said the measure would likely be the last the Security

 Council will take before considering sanctions , if North Korea continues to un

load fuel from the Yongbyon reactor without oversight by the International Atomi

c Energy Agency . IAEA Director General Hans Blix reported Friday that North Kor

ea had accelerated the unsupervised discharge of fuel and was only days away fro

m making it impossible for the IAEA to determine whether fuel from the reactor h

ad been diverted secretly in the past , perhaps for weapons . If North Korea doe

s not halt the fuel discharge , it will spell the failure of more than a year of

 efforts by the Clinton administration to use dialogue to bring the Communist re

gime in Pyongyang back into line with nuclear safeguards . `` We are perilously 

close to the precipice , '' a U.S. official said . The statement `` strongly urg

es '' North Korea to continue unloading thousands of spent fuel rods `` in a man

ner which preserves the technical possibility '' of measuring nuclear materials 

according to IAEA procedures . It calls for new talks between Pyongyang and the 

IAEA and asks the agency to leave two inspectors in the country . An IAEA offici

al left North Korea on Friday after talks on inspections failed . The United Sta

tes opted for a `` last-minute appeal rather than a warning , '' a U.S. official

 said , to secure the cooperation of China before the council is forced to debat

e punitive sanctions . Beijing has been opposed to sanctions and will probably a

bstain on any resolution . North Korea has said it would view sanctions as an ac

t of war . The IAEA has said that so far North Korea did not appear to be divert