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

g the neo-fascists are in full cry to the embarrassment of Berlusconi and Nation

al Alliance leader Gianfranco Fini . `` The National Alliance condemns any total

itarianism and certainly does not propose a model for a totalitarian or despotic

 state , '' Fini told Italian state radio over the weekend . ( Optional add end 

) Fini , a slick , 42-year-old professional politician , has made neo-fascism po

litically acceptable . But he also triggered a storm after the election by decla

ring that Mussolini was the century 's greatest statesman . He says he was quote

d out of context . Many of Berlusconi 's ministers are more technocrat than poli

tician , and in the economic and international arenas they are well-respected . 

Foreign Minister Antonio Martino , a university professor , won high marks on co

nfidence-building visits to Washington and Brussels . `` I 'm sure there will be

 no difficulty in collaboration between Britain and Italy , '' said British Fore

ign Secretary Douglas Hurd after meeting Martino in Brussels . French Foreign Mi

nister Alain Juppe observed : `` I have no reason to worry , but all that will b

e judged by actions . '' Berlusconi who promises a jobs-producing , more efficie

nt government that is based on free-market economics and is able to pay its bill

s asks to be evaluated `` on the basis of facts and not on prejudices . '' That 

was an appeal he made again Tuesday in conversation with the Wiesenthal Center d

elegation , which has been pressing for vigorous Italian action to bring Priebke

 to trial . The former SS captain has confessed to being second in command of Ge

rman soldiers who executed 335 Italian civilians , about 75 of them Jews , at th

e Ardeatine Caves south of Rome in 1944 . The Wiesenthal delegation gave Berlusc

oni and Justice Minister Alfredo Biondi a bulky dossier on Priebke , including a

 1946 confession in which he says he shot at least two people at the caves , Coo

per said . `` Berlusconi told us that four days ago that Italy officially reques

ted of Argentina that Priebke , who is under house arrest , does not flee , '' t

he rabbi said . `` When we talked about concerns about fascism , the prime minis

ter assured us that his ministers harbor no feelings and no links to the past . 

The justice minister said he personally would not serve in any government with a

ny minister who believed in fascism . `` We heard what we hoped we 'd hear , '' 

Cooper said .

 WASHINGTON There are mounting signs that the buying spree American consumers be

gan at the end of 1991 may be over , signaling that the economy likely will expa

nd more slowly in coming months than it did during the burst of growth at the en

d of last year . From the last three months of 1991 through the first three mont

hs of this year , consumers increased their purchases of goods and services so s

ignificantly up 8.5 percent after adjustment for inflation that their spending w

as the driving force that lifted the economy out of its post-recession doldrums 

. Many analysts are welcoming the prospect of slower growth since it would head 

off any danger of the economy overheating and triggering a surge of inflation . 

The latest sign of cooling came Tuesday when the Commerce Department reported th

at consumer spending fell in April an inflation-adjusted 0.4 percent the first m

onthly drop since the end of the 1990-91 recession , except for a dip caused by 

a massive storm in March 1993 . In addition , a number of analysts said sources 

at department stores and auto dealers have indicated sales remained flat or perh

aps even fell last month . Meanwhile , the Conference Board , a New York-based b

usiness research group , said its monthly survey of consumer attitudes found tha

t households were slightly less confident about their current economic circumsta

nces in May , and how they expect the economy to look six months from now . The 

confidence index dipped from 92.1 in April to 87.6 last month . Robert Diederick

 , chief economist at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago , said an array of economic 

figures , including those released Tuesday , is pointing toward slower overall e

conomic growth for the coming year . He noted that since the middle of last year

 , real consumer spending had been rising at about a 4.5 percent annual rate , a

 string of gains that he said `` clearly were unsustainable . '' `` While the em

ployment gains have been nice recently , '' he said , other factors have not bee

n so favorable for consumer pocketbooks a sharp decline in the mortgage refinanc

ings that usually give households extra cash to spend , a low saving rate , last

 year 's income-tax increase for high-income individuals and overall gains in pe

rsonal income which `` has not been rising rapidly . '' Diederick said some of t

hese factors are only temporary . `` The employment gains , and the output gains

 , will slow after this quarter , '' with the inflation-adjusted gross domestic 

product increasing at a 2.5 percent to 3 percent rate , he predicted . Indeed , 

the Commerce Department said Tuesday that personal incomes rose in April by a mo

derate 0.4 percent , leaving them 5.4 percent higher than they were a year earli

er . Personal incomes rose 0.6 percent in March and 1.8 percent in February , wh

en they rebounded from a January decline due to severe winter weather in the Eas

t and an earthquake in Los Angeles . New homes sales ran at an annual rate of 68

3,000 in April compared with 733,000 in March , the Commerce Department reported

 . The April rate except for a January figure depressed by the weather was the s

lowest since August . `` Housing will make a positive contribution to second-qua

rter growth , merely because the weather hurt construction activity in the first

 quarter , '' said F. Ward McCarthy of Stone & McCarthy , a Princeton , N.J. , f

inancial-markets research firm . `` But beyond the second quarter , housing shou

ld be neutral or even a slight drag '' on economic growth . McCarthy 's colleagu

e , Ray Stone , said the April consumer spending figures were only slightly high

er than their average for the first three months of the year , implying that for

 the second quarter household purchases probably will be up at an annual rate of

 about 1.5 percent to 2 percent , following the much larger 4.6 percent rate in 

the first quarter . Since consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the

 gross domestic product , such a small increase in the three months from April t

hrough June `` means it will be difficult to get a GDP ( growth ) number much ab

ove 3 percent , compared to some forecasts in the 5 percent to 6 percent range ,

 '' Stone said . Fabian Linden , executive director of the Conference Board 's C

onsumer Research Center , said that `` although confidence retreated in May , th

e current reading continues to be at a fairly reassuring level . Consumers , on 

balance , remain fairly confident . '' However , somewhat fewer respondents desc

ribed business conditions as `` good '' and a few more said they were `` bad '' 

than the month before . Also , a third of the respondents said jobs are `` hard 

to get , '' more than had done so in April . Less than half that number said job

s are `` plentiful . ''

 WASHINGTON A family of tourists got quite a shock early Tuesday morning when Pr

esident Clinton jogged by on Pennsylvania Avenue and then stopped dead in his tr

acks to have his photo snapped with them . At least one cynic nearby , however ,

 wasn't too impressed . When a cameraman trailing the First Jogger yelled , `` W

hat more could you ask for ? '' a voice shot back , `` George Bush . '' The pass

erby in question did at least have the good form to wait till the prez was out o

f earshot . -0- Patti Davis , who 's lately taught us the real meaning of exhibi

tionism , never ceases to find new ways to tweak her parents . Now comes her tho

ughtful decision to become the next poster girl for People for the Ethical Treat

ment of Animals , which should allow all of Ronald Reagan 's old political pals 

to see her naked body , alongside Hugh Hefner 's dog , plastered in ads all over

 town . It 's part of PETA 's campaign that it 's better to `` go naked than wea

r fur , '' and we 're confident the group will be very aggressive in distributin

g the posters . Davis has also decided to donate half of the hefty fee she recei

ved for posing naked in the July Playboyto the animal rights group . This is the

 same group , we remind , that used to dog her mother , Nancy Reagan , from even

t to event for wearing mink . PETA even ran an ad about a decade ago featuring c

omedian Terry Sweeney dressed up as the former First Lady in a fur with a captio

n that shouted , `` Fake people wear real fur . '' This should really cement the

 family relationship . -0- We 've heard that .. . The American Civil Liberties U

nion has weighed in on the side of Warner Bros. in the movie company 's push-pul

l with the Consumer Product Safety Commission over Macaulay Culkin 's driving of

 a controversial all-terrain vehicle in the upcoming flick `` Richie Rich . '' T

he ACLU claims that Warner is `` entirely insulated from interference '' by the 

regulatory agency under its First Amendment right of free speech. .. . Chris Buc

kley 's latest novel , `` Thank You for Not Smoking , '' fortuitously heads to b

ookstores just as a new round of tobacco controversies are making headlines . To

 celebrate this spoof on lobbyists for the tobacco industry , a rather eclectic 

group , including G. Gordon Liddy ( non-smoker ) , Greek gossip columnist Taki (

 smoker ) , Marlin Fitzwater ( occasional cigar ) , Art Buchwald ( cigar ) and R

andom House Publisher Harry Evans ( non-smoker ) , throws Buckley a party here n

ext week . ( Note to guests : Bring a gas mask . We 're told smoke machines will

 billow the stuff out of some Ritz-Carlton Hotel windows as a bit of a joke . )

 WASHINGTON Sen. John W. Warner , R-Va. , said he will actively support an indep

endent Senate bid by fellow Republican J. Marshall Coleman if Oliver L. North wi

ns the GOP nomination Saturday , and he may even renounce the party by seeking r

e-election in 1996 as an independent . Virginia 's senior senator said he has be

en encouraging Coleman , a former state attorney general , to mount an independe

nt campaign because he finds North unfit to hold public office . And although Wa

rner has made no final decision , he said he will not allow the conservatives wh

o support North to prevent him from running again in two years . `` I will find 

a way of getting my name in front of the voters of Virginia , '' he said . `` I 

hope to do it through the party structure . But a small , tiny group is not goin

g to stop me . '' Warner , the highest-ranking elected Republican in Virginia , 

will not attend the party convention in Richmond this weekend ; he will be 4,000

 miles away on the beaches of Normandy , participating in ceremonies commemorati

ng the 50th anniversary of D-Day . He said one Republican activist recently joke

d to him : `` You 're going where the shooting has stopped . '' Warner 's blunt 

remarks are the clearest sign yet that the ideological schism caused by North 's

 candidacy likely will widen in coming months . The prospect of a Warner defecti

on in two years could shatter the party unity fostered by Republican Gov. George

 Allen 's unexpected victory last fall and throw Republicans into an internecine

 war . There also is evidence that Warner commands a much stronger political pos

ition than the hail of criticism directed at him in recent weeks would suggest .

 Although GOP conservatives are furious with him for disparaging North , senior 

Republicans and Democrats say Warner 's popularity with the general public has s

oared because of his stand . According to political strategists , numerous priva

te polls show that most voters consider his statements gutsy . Warner 's current

 approval ratings are the highest of any elected official in Virginia . The thre

e-term incumbent certainly doesn't sound worried . In remarks sure to rile North

 supporters , Warner said a North victory could turn this weekend 's meeting int

o a repeat of the party 's 1992 national convention , with its stridently conser

vative tone . `` I 'm deeply concerned , '' Warner said . `` I hope this convent

ion will not be compared to that which nominated George Bush in Houston . Histor

ians point to the Houston convention as the beginning of the road to his loss . 

'' Political analysts said that even though Coleman has lost two statewide races

 since he was elected attorney general in 1977 , an energetic effort by Warner c

ould help make him a serious contender . `` John Warner has the ability to trans

fer some of his popularity to a centrist Republican candidate like Marshall Cole

man , '' said Mark J. Rozell , a political scientist at Mary Washington College 

. `` There are a good many Republicans who are disgruntled with Oliver North. . 

. . North has a strong base , but his major problem is broadening that base . He

 needs the support of moderates , and Marshall Coleman would cut into that . '' 

The potential for a donnybrook began building four months ago , when Warner beca

me the first senior GOP official to publicly criticize North . On the day North 

formally declared his candidacy , Warner gave a round of scathing interviews in 

which he questioned North 's fitness for the job . `` What is the sign the Virgi

nia Republican Party sends , '' Warner asked , `` when the only person it can fi

nd is someone with ( North 's ) record ? '' Several weeks later , when former pr

esident Ronald Reagan released a letter criticizing North , Warner played a key 

role in disseminating it . Finally , Warner said he could not actively support N

orth under any circumstances .

 WASHINGTON For the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age , the world 's 

two superpowers are no longer in each other 's sights . The Defense Department a

nnounced Tuesday that it had `` detargeted '' all U.S. strategic missiles , matc

hing a similar move by the Russians and taking global nuclear war off hair-trigg

er readiness . It added that the British had also detargeted their nuclear weapo

ns as part of the international effort to step back from nuclear confrontation .

 Strategic targets in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states had been 

programmed into the United States ' 1,400 strategic nuclear delivery systems . W

ith the Kremlin locking its intercontinental missiles onto key targets in the Un

ited States , the policy that helped keep the peace for decades became known as 

MAD mutual assured destruction . The Pentagon said Tuesday that 50 10-warhead Pe

acekeeper missiles , which have a range of 6,000 miles and form the core of the 

U.S. land-based nuclear strike force , were no longer programmed with targeting 

information . The programmed targeting of the Trident missiles on 18 Ohio-class 

submarines , which carry 24 missiles each , was also erased . The computers on 5

00 older Minuteman IIIs , housed in silos in North Dakota and Wyoming , require 

constant targeting programs . They have now been targeted to fall into the sea .

 `` Detargeting is an important symbolic point , '' said Kathleen de Laski , a P

entagon spokeswoman . `` It emphasizes the strengthening partnership between the

 U.S. and Russia , a significant milestone which indicates we are no longer nucl

ear adversaries . '' But she stressed that the weapons could be retargeted quick

ly to hit military , political and urban centers , so that neither the United St

ates nor Russia is at `` a significant disadvantage . '' ( Optional Add End ) Co

nservative hawks are concerned that the administration might retreat from the la

nd- , sea- and air-based nuclear forces that have been the basis of U.S. deterre

nce for decades . Baker Spring , a nuclear-force expert with the conservative He

ritage Foundation , said : `` What worries me a little bit is whether the overal

l ( nuclear ) force will be in a ready enough state to retain a retaliatory capa

bility in the most extreme circumstance a bolt out of the blue , presumably from

 Russia . `` The question is , in an unexpected crisis , is the load-up time ( f

or retargeting the missiles ) still long enough that it reflects retaliatory cap

abilities . Ultimately , the targeting should be done so that the United States 

has the best chance possible .. . of reducing to an absolute minimum the amount 

of damage that would be done to this country , in the event deterrence fails . '

' The U.S.-Russian agreement to detarget the weapons of mass destruction was sig

ned by President Clinton and President Boris N . Yeltsin at their summit in Janu

ary . They set a deadline of May 30 for completion of the operation .

 WASHINGTON The Clinton administration decided Tuesday that North Korea is likel

y to continue to bar required international inspections at its principal nuclear

 reactor , and senior U.S. officials began detailed planning to seek punitive ec

onomic sanctions against the communist nation . In a telex to North Korea Tuesda

y night , the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) made a last-ditch appe

al for the country to halt its withdrawal of fuel rods from the nuclear reactor 

, or to follow acceptable procedures for storing the rods under international su

pervision . But at the IAEA 's headquarters in Vienna-as well as at the Defense 

Department , State Department and White House-there was uniform pessimism that N

orth Korea would accept the appeal . That consensus contrasts with a longstandin

g disagreement among U.S. officials over whether North Korea has simply been res

isting inspection as a negotiating ploy in hope of gaining concessions from the 

United States . In light of the new agreement within the administration , offici

als said they expected the United States would have to submit a proposal for san

ctions to the U.N. . Security Council . Washington has threatened such a respons

e if North Korea ruins any chance to measure the radioactive content of the fuel

 rods , a measurement considered critical to determining how much plutonium the 

country may have accumulated for nuclear weapons . The CIA has concluded that No

rth Korea may have a nuclear bomb now , and suspects it is trying to develop mor

e . The U.S. position has hardened in response to North Korea 's acceleration in

 recent days of unsupervised withdrawal of the nuclear fuel rods . A group of se

nior administration officials , including Secretary of State Warren Christopher 

and Defense Secretary William J. Perry , met Tuesday at the White House to discu

ss North Korea 's action and prepare for formal diplomatic consultations about s

anctions , officials said . `` We 're very concerned about the situation . We 'r

e following it closely , '' White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers said . `` The 

( sanctions ) issue is on the front burner , '' an official familiar with the Wh

ite House meeting said . Although U.S. officials said they did not see any signs

 of unusual North Korean military activity , South Korean president Kim Young Sa

m responded to heightened tension over the inspection issue by placing the count

ry 's military forces on a higher level of alert . Kim also telephoned President

 Clinton to offer his assurances that South Korea supports the U.S. position on 

the inspections . Clinton told Kim the situation has reached `` a very dangerous

 stage , '' a spokesman for Kim told reporters in Seoul . Pentagon spokeswoman K

athleen DeLaski said `` we are not pleased with the actions of the North Koreans

 over the past 48 hours . '' She said that while the military has `` shortened t

he time '' needed to reinforce the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea , the Unite

d States has not begun moving additional troops or helicopters to the country in

 anticipation of any conflict there .

 CHICAGO Dan Rostenkowski grew up in a political world far different from Washin

gton of the 1990s with its independent counsels and ethics codes . It was this k

ind of world : In 1963 , when Rostenkowski was 35 and in his third term in Congr

ess , a judge here ordered him to stop using local Democratic Party funds to pay

 his constituents ' parking tickets . Rostenkowski thought he was providing a se

rvice that also was `` good politics . '' During the two-year investigation that

 culminated in Rostenkowski 's indictment Tuesday , his friends often recalled t

hat distant and colorful world of ward bosses and old-style politics to try to e

xplain what was happening to the 66-year-old House Ways and Means Committee chai

rman . The rules of politics had changed over the years , they said , but stubbo

rn , proud `` Rosty '' was slow to adapt . What was once acceptable in the ward 

organizations of Chicago and the backrooms of Congress could now get a guy in tr

ouble . After the lengthy investigation and days of intense speculation about a 

possible plea bargain , Tuesday 's announcement of the 17-count indictment was g

reeted here with almost a sense of relief . Leading politicians had little to sa

y except for expressions of sadness and muted loyalty to their old friend . But 

few here expressed surprise over Rostenkowski 's decision to reject a plea barga

in and fight the charges in court . `` The spectacle of him cutting some sort of

 deal and slinking off was not in keeping with people 's image of him or Chicago

 , '' said political consultant David Axelrod , who worked for Rostenkowski in h

is last two campaigns . Indeed , Rostenkowski seems to personify Chicago 's self

-image big , broad-shouldered and gruff on the outside , someone who got things 

done . At a restaurant in Rostenkowski 's district Tuesday afternoon , owner Cha

rles Schulien called the indicted congressman `` a heavyweight . '' `` When you 

find somebody who can get the God-damned job done , they want to nail him , '' h

e said . `` I just hate to see it . '' To his critics here , however , Rostenkow