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

Nations special envoy Yasushi Akashi postponed the negotiations because the Serb

s declined to withdraw 300 soldiers from the Bosnian Muslim town of Gorazde as p

romised .

 In CLINTON-SCENE ( Montalbano , Times ) sub for 9th graf ( Changing spelling to

 Marc Antony sted Anthony ) xxx the Campidoglio : There , in a folksy speech par

tially translated by Clinton administration budget director Leon Panetta , an It

alian American , Clinton evoked Marc Antony 's `` Friends , Romans and countryme

n , '' hailing Italians , in Italian , as `` Alleati , amici , una famiglia . ''

 ( Allies , friends , one family . ) PICK UP 10th graf : `` I shaked ( cq ) xxx 

:

 WASHINGTON Eight baggage handlers at National Airport have been arrested after 

FBI surveillance cameras caught them rifling passengers ' suitcases and stealing

 jewelry , computers and other valuables , authorities said Thursday . The worke

rs , all employed by American Airlines , were rounded up Wednesday night and Thu

rsday after a three-month FBI investigation . More than two dozen times , the FB

I said , hidden cameras recorded them searching through belongings behind baggag

e carousels , as unsuspecting passengers waited nearby . The arrests were the la

test in a series of crackdowns by the FBI against thefts and other crimes at the

 nation 's airports . In recent years , the FBI has broken up other rings in New

 York , Miami , Houston , Chicago and Los Angeles . `` They 'd pick a bag , reac

h in , see if it had jewelry or cameras , and then pull the items out , '' said 

Timothy P. McNally , an FBI supervisor . `` We 're not talking about complex pla

nning or sophistication , but they moved with dispatch . These are not well-orga

nized rings they 're just primed for profit . '' The eight employees were charge

d with conspiracy to steal valuables and each could face up to five years in pri

son . The crime is a federal offense because baggage transportation is considere

d interstate commerce . Most of the thefts at National Airport occurred in the l

ate evening or early-morning hours , authorities said . They said they had not y

et determined how many bags had been pilfered or set a value on the stolen items

 . The FBI is attempting to trace the property , but so far none has been recove

red . The investigation began early this year after American Airlines contacted 

the airport 's police for help in solving a rash of thefts . The police brought 

in the FBI , which installed video cameras in the baggage area . The cameras wer

e used from February until May and recorded numerous thefts , the FBI said . A s

pokesman for American Airlines said the company routinely notifies law-enforceme

nt authorities when it uncovers evidence of thefts . `` We take these issues ver

y seriously , '' Al Becker said . The baggage handlers `` were helping each othe

r .. . by acting as lookouts , passing stolen items to each other , and arrangin

g for one to unload baggage while another stole , '' according to an affidavit f

iled by the FBI Thursday in U.S. . District Court in Alexandria , Va. . The docu

ment describes 29 instances in which the employees were videotaped while going t

hrough bags . According to airline-industry estimates , roughly three of every 1

00,000 checked bags nationwide are stolen or have property taken from them . Eac

h day , more than 2 million bags are checked at airports across the country . ``

 It 's a problem that exists , but it 's not an overwhelming problem , '' said T

im Neale , a spokesman for the Air Transport Association , which represents larg

e air carriers . `` There are some crooks out there . '' Other security speciali

sts said baggage thievery is more pervasive than the industry suggests . Louis R

. Mizell Jr. , a security consultant from Bethesda , Md. , who tracks airport cr

imes , estimated that 300,000 Americans have bags or belongings taken each year 

. Many never report the incidents to police , he said . `` Dishonest baggage han

dlers have been responsible for billions of dollars in losses over the years , '

' Mizell said . `` The best advice is never put anything in your checked luggage

 that you can't afford to lose . ''

 WASHINGTON Penny Marshall is whining . About the noisy vacuum cleaner across th

e room . About the state of the country 's schools . And about women who complai

n about the shabby treatment they 've gotten in Hollywood . `` They like to make

 it an issue because they like to get on soapboxes , '' the famous director is s

aying in the corner of a hotel restaurant here . `` I mean , I don't think it 's

 fair that a person should be limited because of their sex , their age , their c

olor ... . But there are women who think that just because they are women they d

eserve something . Even I get scared of them and don't want to hire them . '' An

d as one of a handful of successful female directors and one of the most powerfu

l people in the industry , she can do whatever she pleases . Marshall , with hit

s such as `` Big '' and `` A League of Their Own '' under her belt , is in town 

to flack her latest flick , `` Renaissance Man , '' a poignant comedy about an u

nemployed ad exec ( Danny DeVito ) who 's tapped by the Army to teach English to

 a group of slow learners . Touchstone moved up its opening date to Friday , for

cing Marshall to crash-edit the final print before her marathon promo tour . Whi

ch along with the Marlboros she chain-smokes and the diet Coke she guzzles might

 explain why the 50-year-old director landed in the hospital briefly over the we

ekend , suffering , doctors say , from anxiety and exhaustion . She 's apparentl

y okay now , and showed up in fine form at the film 's premiere in L.A. . The ma

cho subject of `` Renaissance Man '' didn't faze her , she insists . `` I did le

arn about the Army , and I had no experience with it , '' she said . `` And , I 

must say , the Army was very cooperative when they said they 'd have a thousand 

troops there at midnight , I mean they were there . And they marched their littl

e hearts out . '' In the mid- '70s , Marshall bubbled onto the scene to stay , a

s the wacky , insecure Laverne in TV 's `` Laverne & Shirley , '' which was prod

uced by her brother , Garry . She wet her feet directing near the end of the ser

ies 's run and made the leap to the big screen in '86 when she was called in at 

the last minute to save `` Jumpin ' Jack Flash '' with Whoopi Goldberg . To hear

 Marshall tell it , her MO in Hollywood is simple . `` You have to drag me into 

doing things . I don't volunteer and I don't demand . But once I say yes , I 'm 

obsessive , '' she allows in raw Brooklynese . `` If I get into a disagreement a

nd someone says , `` I don't think you should do this , ' then I say , `` Fine ,

 I 'll go home . I 'm happy to get back into bed . ' And they say , `` Ohhhhh , 

Penny , don't be silly . ' And I say , `` Okay , then this is how I 'm doing it.

 ' ' ' It can't hurt that she grew up surrounded by a family in the business and

 she was married to actor-director Rob Reiner for eight years in the '70s . Mars

hall 's daughter , Tracy , by her first husband , Michael Henry , is also an act

ress . But her real secret weapon , she says , is a common touch . `` I 'm a reg

ular person . If I 'm interested in something , I feel maybe somebody else is . 

'' So far , she 's been right . -O- The director of a Chicago museum was fired b

y the museum 's founder last week after co-hosting a party for the author of a b

ook on Pamela Harriman . Robert Donnelley told the Chicago Tribune that he was o

usted from the Terra Museum of American Art by Daniel J. Terra when he went ahea

d with a book-signing for Washington writer Christopher Odgen , author of `` Lif

e of the Party : The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman . '' T

erra 's letter to Donnelley said his intent to sponsor the party `` demonstrated

 disrespect '' for Harriman , who has served on the advisory council of Terra 's

 museums both in Chicago and in Giverny , France . Harriman is U.S. ambassador t

o France . Terra served as ambassador-at-large for cultural affairs during the R

eagan years . He could not be reached for comment . -O- We 've Heard That .. . B

ill and Hillary Clinton will finally host their first bona fide state dinner lat

er this month in honor of Japanese Emperor Hirohito . The June 13 affair for 130

 in the Rose Garden will be the first white-tie dinner in 18 years , since Queen

 Elizabeth was feted by Jerry Ford in 1976 . November 's fete for South Korean P

resident Kim Young Sam , while a state-level event , was just a flourish shy of 

the real thing . -O- Sen. George Mitchell was spotted in Paris this week attendi

ng the French Open with his fiancee , tennis honcho Heather MacLachlan . In his 

official capacity , he met with French Senate President Rene Monory , Prime Mini

ster Edouard Balladur and Foreign Minister Alain Juppe . He headed home to Maine

 Thursday night . -O- John Bobbitt , the target of an ongoing paternity suit in 

New York , conceded Thursday that he is indeed the father of the baby boy involv

ed . `` I want to provide Andrew with something I unfortunately never had a supp

orting , caring , nurturing relationship with his natural father , '' he said in

 a statement .

 In CLINTON-SCENE ( Montalbano , Times ) sub for 12th graf ( Correcting spelling

 of Hillary and making pronunciations conform ) xxx hall . Like Hillary Rodham C

linton , who swapped M & M 's for smiles with chanting , delighted Italian schoo

l kids in the Piazza Navona ( `` EE-la-ree ! EE-la-ree ! '' the children cried )

 , the president seemed to enjoy the experience at every stop on a cloudless Rom

an day more summer than spring . `` It 's unbelievable , '' said Clinton , enjoy

ing Michelangelo 's restored frescoes in the Sistine Chapel . PICK UP 13th graf 

: Even xxx :

 WASHINGTON White House officials , in an optimistic assessment of President Cli

nton 's prospects for achieving his key health-reform goals this year , said Thu

rsday that `` a great deal of progress has been made '' in Congress in the past 

10 to 11 weeks . `` On balance we are on target , the committees are on target ,

 '' said Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes at a briefing with reporters . `` We

 expect virtually all committees '' to report out legislation `` by the end of t

he month , '' despite some gloomy polls and predictions in the press . He said t

he president 's key goals include passing legislation to assure universal health

-insurance coverage and `` to get it done this year . '' Ickes , accompanied by 

Ira Magaziner , White House senior adviser for policy development and a principa

l author of Clinton 's health plan , said that of five committees with jurisdict

ion to work on developing major health plans , two the House and Senate labor co

mmittees are on track to report bills this month achieving many of the president

 's major goals . They said work was under way in the House Ways and Means Commi

ttee and that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Patrick Moynihan , D-N.Y.

 , had made clear he will begin legislative action soon . A major sticking point

 for the president in Congress , particularly in the Finance Committee , is his 

proposal that employers be required to pay part of the premiums for health care 

for their employees . This `` employer mandate '' is fiercely opposed by small b

usinesses and most Republicans . Ickes said that on the Finance Committee and el

sewhere `` there are Republicans who are in favor of universal coverage and real

 reform , '' and he believes that in the end , `` It is my sense there will be s

ome form of employer mandate . '' Meanwhile , Moynihan , in a speech in Buffalo 

on Wednesday that Ickes and Magaziner cited as one cause for optimism , told a s

tate Democratic party meeting that was nominating him for re-election , `` In th

is Congress , as Finance Committee chairman , my health-care mission is clear ge

t the president his bill . '' Moynihan recalled that he had co-sponsored a Canad

ian-style government health-insurance proposal with Sen. Bob Kerrey , D-Neb. , i

n 1992 , but said such a bill `` has no chance of passing the United States Sena

te , '' though he favors giving each state an option to create such a system wit

hin its own borders . He noted that he is a principal sponsor of the president '

s bill . In a May 26 letter to a Brooklyn , N.Y. , health official Moynihan wrot

e , `` I support indeed I insist that we must have universal coverage . I suppor

t an employer mandate and will oppose the taxation of benefits . I absolutely su

pport long-term care . '' In a telephone interview from Oregon Thursday , Sen. B

ob Packwood , R-Ore. , said he might support a requirement that employers help p

ay for health insurance for their workers that would not become effective immedi

ately , but would be triggered automatically if universal health-insurance cover

age were not achieved by some future date specified in the law . But Packwood , 

the senior Republican on the Finance Committee , said whether he would do so wou

ld depend on the specific terms and whether `` the rest of the bill is acceptabl

e . '' A triggering mechanism such as that described by Packwood , is being push

ed by Sen. John Breaux , D-La. , a Finance Committee member , as a compromise be

tween Clinton 's demand that employers help pay for premiums and Republican dema

nds that any employer mandate be dropped .

 WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration Thursday opened its inquiry into th

e safety of saline breast implants , provoking the same intensely emotional deba

te that surrounded the agency 's decision two years ago to sharply curtail the a

vailability of silicone breast implants . The FDA-sponsored hearing was called t

o hear views about when manufacturers should be required to submit safety data t

o the agency . But it quickly turned into a public opinion forum on the implants

 themselves . `` I 'm alive and happy with my body again , '' said breast cancer

 patient Susan Yuriditsky of Washington . `` I 'm happy saline implants were ava

ilable to me at my time of need . '' But Mary Spieker , a Florida woman who has 

suffered life-threatening infections she is convinced were caused by the saline 

implants she received for cosmetic augmentation , implored : `` Women can live w

ithout saline implants . '' The controversy over the silicone devices , which ul

timately resulted in their virtual removal from the market , pitted women agains

t women over the freedom of choice to use the implants and raised soul-searching

 questions about the values of a society so conscious of breasts . About 80 perc

ent of those who undergo implant surgery do so for cosmetic reasons . The remain

ing 20 percent seeks implants for reconstruction , usually after breast cancer s

urgery . Saline implants , which are the only breast implants still widely avail

able on the market , generally are considered safer than the silicone implants ,

 although their long-term safety has not been established . It is unclear how ma

ny women have saline implants , although one manufacturer said his company has s

old devices for roughly 1,500 women a month . A second company estimated it had 

sold implants for about 125,000 women since 1986 . Saline implants , which are f

illed with salt water , can leak or rupture , requiring further surgery to remov

e or replace . Other known risks include infection , capsular contracture which 

is the hardening of scar tissue around the device interference with mammography 

, and altered breast sensation . Officials from the two companies that manufactu

re saline implants , McGhan Medical Corp. and Mentor Corp. , both of Santa Barba

ra , Calif. , said they have studies under way assessing safety of the devices ,

 but did not expect them to be completed for several years . Based on preliminar

y data , however , they said the devices could continue to be used safely , and 

urged that they remain available . McGhan said results from its first two years 

of research showed only 3 percent of the nearly 500 patients studied had experie

nced capsular contracture ; 2 percent had suffered deflation of the device ; 0.2

 percent had developed infections ; and less than 1 percent developed breast dis

ease or immune system disorders . The early results indicate `` there would be n

o immediate health concerns associated with continued marketing , '' the company

 said . ( Optional add end ) Implants have been on the market for more than thre

e decades but escaped strict regulation until recent years because they were int

roduced before passage of legislation in 1976 that gave the FDA authority to reg

ulate medical devices . Like other devices grandfathered under that law , implan

ts were allowed to remain in use with the understanding that the agency would la

ter require manufacturers to submit evidence of product safety and effectiveness

 . Many women had blamed the silicone devices for connective tissue diseases and

 other immune system disorders , although the association has not yet been prove

n scientifically . In April 1992 , the FDA banned almost all cosmetic uses of th

e implants except for specific and closely monitored research purposes and restr

icted their use to breast cancer patients and those with other valid medical nee

ds . Today , all women who receive silicone gel implants , including for the pur

poses of reconstruction , must agree to participate in an overall research progr

am to evaluate their long-term effects . In January 1993 , the FDA announced it 

would require manufacturers of the saline devices to begin the process of provin

g their safety .

 WASHINGTON Disagreeing with the findings of an earlier federal investigation , 

an advisory panel of private physicians appointed by the National Institutes of 

Health has labeled the deaths of five hepatitis patients using an experimental d

rug `` an unavoidable accident . '' The controversy , which has shaken the world

 of biomedical research , involved people with chronic hepatitis who had been ta

king a drug known as fialuridine , or FIAU , in a clinical research project spon

sored by NIH . The deaths of one-third of the 15 patients who were on the drug i

n 1992 and 1993 occurred weeks after their last dosages , authorities said . Las

t month the U.S. . Food and Drug Administration , concluding a study of the trag

edy , said scientists , physicians and drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. involved in th

e FIAU research had failed to fully disclose the drug 's potential risks or take

 note of its ominous side effects . But the new study released Thursday by an NI

H panel of outside experts found no fault with those who developed the drug or a

dministered it to chronically ill patients who had volunteered for the research 

project . David R. Challoner and David M. Kipnis , who headed a panel of seven p

hysicians to determine what went wrong , said in a report to NIH director Harold

 E. Varmus that the deaths resulted from `` delayed drug toxicity '' and could n

ot have been foreseen . The panel did say that U.S. scientists must do a better 

job checking for drug toxicity by testing patients for six to nine months after 

they have taken certain experimental drugs . But it said that should not be done

 for all drug trials because of the expense . Challoner said his panel 's study 

has been forwarded to the FDA . Because that agency and NIH are both divisions o

f the Department of Health and Human Services , the department 's assistant secr

etary for health will be asked ultimately to develop a federal position on the c

ontroversy . The drug in question no longer is being used , although research on

 it is continuing . One reason for the conflicting conclusions , Challoner said 

, was a difference in approaches by FDA investigators and NIH panelists . He sai

d his panel focused on the quality of the clinical research project while the FD

A found faults based on records kept by those who conducted the research . Kipni

s said the recent FDA report , for example , criticized some physicians for fail

ing to report abdominal pains experienced by some people taking the new drug . B

ut he said interviews by panel members found the doctors felt `` abdominal disco

mfort did not reach the degree of severity to be reported . '' Dr. Jay Hoofnagle

 , the NIH 's lead investigator of FIAU , was criticized by the FDA for alleged 

`` significant violations '' of federal regulations . But the panel 's report de

fended him . `` Dr. Hoofnagle was enthusiastic about the possibility of developi

ng an efficacious treatment for hepatitis B . However , his approach was careful

 , '' the panel said . ( Optional add end ) Last November , as a result of the f

ailed drug trial , the FDA adopted new drug-testing regulations that were propos

ed by an internal review task force . The new rules require researchers to gathe

r and report more data on potentially adverse effects of trial drugs and to assu

me that any medical problems in patients may be caused by the test drug . Hepati

tis B , which scientists hoped could be cured by FIAU , is regarded as a signifi

cant global problem . In the United States , about 300,000 new cases of infectio

n are reported each year , while 4,000 to 5,000 Americans die from the chronic e

ffects of the infection cirrhosis of the liver , liver failure and liver cancer 

. It is transmitted primarily through blood transfusions , sex and sharing conta

minated hypodermic needles . Kipnis said FIAU probably caused genetic damage to 

the sub-units of liver cells , causing the next generation of liver cells to die

 . This would explain why FIAU 's side effects did not appear until long after p

atients took the drug , he said .

 WASHINGTON The International Atomic Energy Agency declared Thursday that its ab

ility to tell whether North Korea diverted reactor fuel to make nuclear weapons 

in 1989 has been `` seriously eroded '' and President Clinton said the United St

ates would press the United Nations to enact sanctions . While the president is