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

sed interview Sunday that `` it 's going to take a while '' before he decides wh

ether to support North , and that North 's victory `` makes it very difficult fo

r some in the Republican Party '' to stay loyal . He also said he plans to meet 

this week with Coleman , a former state attorney general who appears likely to b

olt the Republican Party and run for the Senate as an independent . Although Dol

e said `` I don't know what ( Coleman ) has to say , '' some political analysts 

immediately interpreted the meeting as a highly public slap at North . North got

 more unwelcome news from another Republican senator , John McCain of Arizona , 

and from the man he beat Saturday , former federal budget director James C. Mill

er III . Both offered North tepid support , but McCain , appearing with Dole on 

the CBS News program `` Face the Nation , '' said he thinks North is a weak cand

idate . Miller , in remarks to reporters after a GOP breakfast here this morning

 , said he has no plans to campaign for his erstwhile rival . In a press confere

nce this afternoon , North minimized the statements by Dole and McCain , noting 

that they came from two lawmakers `` neither of whom are running in Virginia . '

' `` I 'm running for the families of Virginia , '' he said . `` I 'm not runnin

g anywhere else but Virginia . '' North had hoped to start his general election 

drive on an emotional high note Sunday , attending a `` unity breakfast '' with 

Virginia Republicans and beginning a four-day bus tour through rural Virginia . 

He vowed to press ahead , even though his hoped-for political honeymoon lasted l

ess than 18 hours . `` The only thing that 's going to slow this parade down , '

' North said , `` is a flat tire between here and Danville . '' The criticism of

 North by senior members of his own party `` is simply remarkable , '' said Robe

rt Holsworth , a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University . `` No

rth 's candidacy is already becoming a national issue ... . You have an extraord

inarily divided Republican Party in Virginia at the moment . ( North ) is perhap

s the most polarizing figure on the political scene . '' North and Coleman are o

nly two contenders in what could become an unprecedented four-man field in this 

year 's Virginia Senate race . Democratic incumbent Charles S. Robb faces three 

underdog challengers in a party primary election June 14 . If Robb wins , former

 Gov. L. Douglas Wilder appears likely to break away from the Democrats and moun

t his own campaign as an independent . Sunday started well enough for North , as

 he and Miller addressed a breakfast of about 300 Republicans who offered both m

en enthusiastic applause . Gov. George Allen , who had shied away from any invol

vement in the Senate race , appeared wearing a North sticker on his lapel and to

ld the crowd , `` Ollie 's army won fair and square . '' The morning 's featured

 speaker , Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice , invoked Dole 's name , saying that by

 electing North , Virginians could help change Dole 's title from Senate minorit

y leader to Senate majority leader . But while the breakfast was under way , Dol

e was taping the `` Face the Nation '' interview in which he distanced himself f

rom North . `` I intend to meet with Marshall Coleman , I think , on Wednesday o

r Thursday of this next week and see what he has to say , '' Dole said . When as

ked whether Republicans should rally around North , he said , '' I think it 's g

oing to take a while to sort that out . `` There may be another candidate in the

 race , a Republican may enter the race as an independent ... . So we 're not ce

rtain what 's going to happen ... . It makes it very difficult for some in the R

epublican Party . '' Dole was later joined on the show by McCain , who said he w

ill support North but `` I think that from a clear political standpoint our chan

ces of winning that seat are dramatically diminished ( by North 's nomination ) 

. There 's no doubt about that . '' In remarks to reporters after Sunday 's brea

kfast , Miller seemed equally unenthused about the coming campaign . Miller has 

pledged to support North , but said that `` I have no specific plans '' to campa

ign for the nominee and that `` I 'm not sure what I could do '' on North 's beh

alf . `` You wouldn't believe all the jobs I have backed up , '' Miller said , t

icking off a list of personal concerns that included tending to his finances and

 cleaning out his swimming pool . `` Those are going to be my top priorities . '

' Coleman declined to comment Sunday on any of the remarks . Asked whether he in

tends to seek Dole 's backing , he said , `` I 'd be honored to have anyone 's s

upport . Dole has been traveling in Europe for the past week with a Senate deleg

ation that includes Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia , the Republican who has eme

rged as North 's most vocal critic . Warner said before North was nominated Satu

rday that he likely would support Coleman in the event of a North victory . Warn

er was in France Sunday and could not be reached for comment . But his top aide 

, Susan Magill , said the coming meeting between Dole and Coleman `` is not a me

eting that we requested . '' Virginia Republican Chairman Patrick M. McSweeny ch

ided Dole Sunday , saying the Senate leader `` ought to know better '' than to i

nterfere in a state election . But he admitted that the prospect of a damaging d

ivision remains . He said the shots from Dole and McCain `` foretell what 's goi

ng to come . This is not a contest between Republicans and Democrats , but betwe

en insiders and outsiders . '' `` It 's obvious things are not resolved yet with

 Dole , '' McSweeney said . `` But we 're not going begging , particularly to so

mebody from out of state , not even to John Warner , to accept our nominee . ''

 SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE , France Thomas Rice , a retired San Diego high school teach

er , gave the thumbs-up sign to his comrades Sunday and then stepped out of a pl

ane 3,500 feet above France . As a brisk wind opened his parachute and snapped a

t the crease in his new pants , Rice looked down on the green fields of Normandy

 . `` I just kept thinking I didn't want to land in that field with the three bu

lls in it , '' the 73-year-old Rice said moments later , safely on the ground , 

his angular face smeared with mud . `` But , thank goodness , I just got a littl

e wet . '' Rice and 39 other World War II veterans , ranging in age from 68 to 8

3 , parachuted near this village Sunday , re-enacting their daring invasion of G

erman-held France 50 years ago . With a crowd of dignitaries and a fully equippe

d medical unit waiting below , the men filled the sunny afternoon sky like multi

colored confetti . `` We did it because , well , a lot of our friends were kille

d here 50 years ago , '' said Rice , who had been a platoon leader in the 101st 

Airborne on D-day and suffered shrapnel wounds to a leg and arm . `` And sometim

es over the years we have felt some guilt about that . But today I feel like I c

an bury that guilt and not worry about it anymore . '' Added Robert Dunning , 73

 , from Atlanta : `` It was a great feeling . Back in 1944 , it was 2 a.m. , we 

were under sniper fire and I missed the target by 20 miles . It was easier this 

time . Nobody was shooting at us . '' But winds did push several of the veteran 

paratroopers off course . Rene Dussaq of Los Angeles , the oldest of the veteran

 jumpers , landed miles away from the drop zone , and U.S. spotters in helicopte

rs lost sight of him . He was eventually found by French firefighters , and two 

hours later Dussaq was having a drink in Sainte-Mere-Eglise . `` There was a lit

tle wind , but it was not too bad , '' Dussaq said . `` It was very pleasant . Y

ou could look around at the countryside . It was very beautiful . '' In the town

 square of Sainte-Mere-Eglise , a crowd of more than 8,000 turned up to greet th

e jumpers and other returning U.S. veterans . The grinning jumpers , wearing rep

licas of the uniforms they wore in 1944 , signed autographs , shouted `` Bonjour

 '' to well-wishers and accepted kisses from women in the crowd . Despite widesp

read fears for their safety , not the least from their own families , only two o

f the aging paratroopers were injured in the jump . One twisted his ankle , and 

a second , Earl Draper , 70 , of Inverness , Fla. , was hospitalized with minor 

back injuries . Draper 's main chute opened , but the lines became snarled . As 

the crowd watched in fearful silence , he deployed an emergency backup chute , w

hich is harder to control , and landed a few dozen feet from the MASH unit . He 

was taken by helicopter to a local hospital , where an Army spokesman said he wa

s `` doing fine . '' `` Mr. Draper did just the right thing , '' said U.S. . Arm

y Col. Richard M . Bridges , himself a paratrooper . `` My hat 's off to him . H

e did a terribly courageous thing . But I 'm proud of them all . I just hope I c

an do that when I 'm their age . '' The veterans ' jump was followed by a specta

cular jump by 700 U.S. and French paratroopers , who alighted without incident o

n the pastures amid the yellow buttercups . The show was part of a daylong celeb

ration at Sainte-Mere-Eglise , which was the first French town liberated on D-da

y , freed by U.S. paratroopers even before Allied troops landed at the nearby Ut

ah and Omaha beaches . The town has hosted U.S. veterans and their families ever

y year since the war , and for years the mayor 's wife wrote to families of U.S.

 servicemen and tended the graves of those who died here . ( Optional add end ) 

On Sunday , the community was bedecked with U.S. and other Allied nations ' flag

s . One sign in the crowd read , `` We Never Forget You Guys . '' Among those on

 hand to welcome the veterans was Prime Minister Edouard Balladur and Sam Gibbon

s , D-Fla. , the House Ways and Means Committee chairman and D-day veteran who i

s President Clinton 's representative to the festivities . `` We came to see the

m because of the memories , '' said Jean-Charles LePouder , 38 , who brought his

 wife and two children from a nearby town . `` This is really an important part 

of our history . '' A full day of activities , attended by Clinton and other hea

ds of state , was scheduled for Monday in Normandy . Clinton will first address 

veterans at Pointe de Hoc , the cliff taken by courageous U.S. . Army Rangers in

 1944 . Later , he will talk to several thousand veterans at the American Cemete

ry on the cliff above Omaha Beach .

 ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON A young sailor , watching President Clinton so

mewhat stiffly address sailors and officers aboard this nuclear-powered aircraft

 carrier as it steamed toward the beaches of Normandy , remarked with sympathy o

n Clinton 's record of trying to avoid military service in Vietnam as a young ma

n . `` I think he feels the stigma more than we in the military do , '' he said 

, adding , `` He said all the right things here . '' If Clinton , the first pres

ident born after World War II and one of the few without military service , feel

s any stigma , he showed no sign of it here on the eve of the observance of one 

of the greatest military triumphs in U.S. history , the D-Day invasion that help

ed liberate Europe . Aboard the George Washington , Clinton was the commander-in

-chief who saluted the crew of 6,000 and spent chunks of his evening eating with

 enlisted sailors and shaking hands with dozens upon dozens of them . `` Exactly

 50 years ago at this very time , '' he told the sailors , `` young people just 

like you were right here in this channel on some 5,000 ships ... . Imagine how t

hey must have felt . '' As the nation honors those who served in World War II , 

he said , `` we must also honor those who serve now , who are continuing the leg

acy they left us ... . Your country is deeply in your debt . '' Clinton began hi

s day in the company of the leaders of 12 nations that participated in the D-Day

 invasion 50 years ago this night . A traditional religious ceremony for ships e

mbarking on military action was held in Portsmouth , England , and then a huge f

lotilla , led by Queen Elizabeth 's giant yacht , the Brittania , set sail acros

s the channel to Normandy . A sunrise ceremony off the coast will begin the offi

cial D-Day observances . The Brittania first sailed past this carrier before del

ivering Clinton , and the George Washington gave him a one-of-a-kind salute . Hu

ndreds of sailors lined up in formation on deck , who lifted their hats in uniso

n and chanted , three times , `` hip-hip-hooray '' into the chilly winds . Some 

of the sailors here said that before Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clint

on arrived , there had been some grumbling about his lack of military service , 

of downsizing the Navy and of Democratic presidents in general . Eldon Cline , a

 sailor from Savannah , Ga. , said some of those complaining the loudest were pu

shing the hardest to shake Clinton 's hand and meet the first lady . Cline , in 

his respect for the office of the presidency , seemed to reflect an attitude rep

eated frequently by others aboard this ship , if not throughout a military that 

has had an uncomfortable time its first 18 months with a new president who has s

eemed less than at ease with things military . If the gods had devised a week of

 torture for someone discomfited by the military , this would be it : one milita

ry ceremony after another of sad , moving tributes to the memory of the thousand

s of young men who died to liberate Europe from the Nazis . Cline , in describin

g his joy at seeing Clinton , said : `` Hey , it 's got nothing to do with his p

olicies or anything like that . I joined the Navy to defend the country . He is 

my commander-in-chief . I 've never seen a president before . It was great . '' 

His face crinkled in disgust at the actions of one of his fellow sailors , Antho

ny Bonnici , who literally begged television correspondents to interview him abo

ut his dislike for the president . Bonnici said Clinton dodged the draft and sho

uld not be leading the nation 's commemoration of D-Day . He said Clinton `` nev

er served one day of his life in the military '' and could not possibly understa

nd what motivates military men and women . He said a lot worse about the Clinton

s , quoting conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy 

, both of whom he listens to frequently . He said he wanted to meet the person i

n charge of the country , and the president too a dig at Hillary Rodham Clinton 

. A half-hour later , the ecstatic Bonnici , of Virginia Beach , was back with a

 picture of both Clintons that he had talked each into autographing . He also go

t the Clintons to autograph a picture of his child . `` Hey , I don't have to li

ke the guy , '' he said , `` He is the president . How many times in your life d

o you get to meet the president ? ''

 JERUSALEM With its whole system of social services on the point of collapse , t

he Israeli government agreed Sunday to raise the pay of its 9,500 striking socia

l workers by an average of $ 550 a month , almost doubling the salaries of three

-quarters of them . Eli Ben-Gara , secretary general of the Israel Social Worker

s Union , said the 46-day strike had wrought `` a very significant revolution ''

 in forcing the government to rethink its spending priorities and treat social w

orkers once again as professionals . The strike had closed shelters for battered

 wives , shut down drug rehabilitation programs , kept patients otherwise ready 

for release in mental hospitals and left runaway children in the streets . Abort

ions , adoptions and divorces , all of which must involve social workers here , 

were held up . `` I think the social workers deserved ( the raise ) because they

 really work on the front lines of distress , '' said Shalom Granit , the govern

ment 's chief wage negotiator . `` The fear is always what will others say .. . 

because everyone has a reason on why they deserve a significant raise in pay . '

' Under the old salary scale , starting social workers were paid $ 625 a month ,

 including a supplement to bring them above the legal minimum wage ; a veteran w

ith 17 years experience was paid $ 900 a month . The social workers had original

ly demanded across-the-board raises of $ 965 a month , and the government offere

d 18 percent over four years .

 PORTSMOUTH , England President Clinton , under fire from critics who have accus

ed him of being too soft in opposing North Korea 's purported nuclear ambitions 

, significantly stepped up his rhetoric Sunday , saying that the United States w

ould consider imposing sanctions without the United Nations if the Security Coun

cil proves unable to make a decision . He also warned that the North would risk 

`` certain , terrible defeat and destruction '' if it retaliated . The remarks ,

 made in nationally televised interviews as Clinton sailed toward France for the

 commemoration of the D-Day landing , came only a day after the president had sa

id he did not want `` a lot of saber-rattling talk over this . '' Together , the

 president 's comments illustrate the narrow line he and his top aides are tryin

g to walk as they try to manage the crisis that has developed from North Korea '

s refusal to allow International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA inspections of its nu

clear facilities . On the one hand , the administration wants to counter the att

acks of domestic critics who have accused Clinton of being weak and vacillating 

in his foreign policy . On Sunday , for example , Sen. John McCain of Arizona , 

a leading Republican foreign policy spokesman , charged the administration with 

`` appeasement '' of the North Koreans and said Clinton was acting in the `` tra

dition of Neville Chamberlain , '' the British prime minister who appeased Hitle

r in seeking to avoid war over Czechoslovakia before World War II . McCain made 

his comments on the CBS `` Face the Nation '' program . At the same time , Clint

on and his aides want to play down the talk of war that has buzzed through Washi

ngton in recent days , fearing , among other things , that bellicose language fr

om U.S. officials could get out of hand , potentially prompting the unpredictabl

e North Korean leaders into a preemptive strike that could open a full-scale war

 . The United States , Japan and South Korea have agreed to seek sanctions again

st North Korea in the wake of the declaration by the IAEA that North Korean acti

ons had made it impossible to verify whether or not Pyongyang had diverted weapo

ns-grade plutonium from an experimental nuclear reactor . Such acts by North Kor

ea would violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty . In the past , North Kore

an spokesmen have said any sanctions would be considered an act of war , but Ame

rican officials have dismissed those statements as bluster . Clinton , interview

ed by ABC News , said he did not believe the North Koreans would carry through o

n those threats . `` I don't think that they would risk the certain , terrible d

efeat and destruction that would occur if they did that , '' he said . But while

 the administration proceeds to seek sanctions from the United Nations , senior 

U.S. officials , worried that China will veto any sanctions resolution , have be

gun to explore additional avenues to thwart the Pyongyang regime . Defense Secre

tary William J. Perry said Sunday on NBC 's `` Meet the Press '' program that it

 is `` entirely possible '' that Beijing would block a U.N. . Security Council r

esolution against North Korea . And Clinton , interviewed by NBC News , said tha

t while he still hopes support from China and from Russia will allow the United 

Nations to move forward , `` if it doesn't we 'll have to look at who else wants

 to do it , and what else we can do . '' Sanctions could be imposed by a `` so-c

alled coalition of the willing , '' Clinton added . Perry and other senior offic

ials here for ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-Day insisted th

at the administration will continue to work through the United Nations and priva

tely with Beijing to try to reach a consensus on a U.N. sanctions resolution . B

ut officials noted China 's continued reticence about punishing and possibly pro

voking its Communist neighbor and important trading partner . ( Optional Add End

 ) Other officials caution that the administration sees sanctions as a difficult

 and potentially dangerous step and would prefer to compel Pyongyang to accept i

nternational oversight of its nuclear facilities through less drastic means . Bu

t North Korea said Sunday that it will not bow to outside pressure to open up it

s nuclear program , which it insists is peaceful . `` We do not want confrontati

on , '' said the North Korean Workers Party daily Rodong Sinmun , according to t

he official Korean Central News Agency monitored in Tokyo . `` But we do not hav

e the intention to meet an unjustifiable demand under continued pressure and can

not tolerate our sovereignty encroached upon . '' Clinton and Perry both tried t

o downplay talk of possible military confrontation with North Korea over the nuc

lear issue . `` I do not think we are facing imminent danger , '' Perry said . `

` I think this whole talk of war is quite premature and it 's creating a sort of

 hysteria which is not appropriate to the present situation . ''

 SAN MARINO , Calif. . Two young people wielding semi-automatic weapons sprayed 

gunfire through a high school graduation party at a home in one of the nation 's

 wealthier cities early Sunday , killing two students and wounding seven other p

eople , authorities said . A 14-year-old boy died at the scene , a house valued 

at nearly $ 1 million on a cul-de-sac in northeast San Marino , a city of 13,000

 located eight miles east of downtown Los Angeles . Another victim , an 18-year-

old man , died at a hospital , a Los Angeles County sheriff 's department spokes

man said . Authorities said the wounded were between 17 and 21 . The assailants