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

 it until after Clinton returns from the D-Day trip . ( Optional add end ) In hi

s speech , Clinton referred to two recent controversies that have rocked the Nav

y the Tailhook affair and a cheating scandal that led to the expulsion of 24 aca

demy midshipmen last month . `` These are troubling events , to be sure , becaus

e our military rests on honor and leadership , '' he said . Then he made a comme

nt that echoed an argument put forward by those defending Clinton himself agains

t attacks on his character . `` But , ultimately , the test of leadership is not

 constant flawlessness , '' he said . `` Rather , it is marked by a commitment t

o continue always to strive for the highest standards , to learn honestly when o

ne falls short , and to do the right thing when it happens . ''

 Like someone who 's had too many cups , world coffee markets are wired these da

ys with the price of beans rocketing higher , thanks to worsening shortages in C

olombia , Brazil and the other big coffee producing nations . The commodity pric

e of whole , unroasted beans has roughly doubled since last summer , with the la

test surge occurring in the past week . And coffee experts say prices could doub

le again before it 's over . The dramatic rise which was predicted long ago by c

offee growing nations as the inevitable result of the collapse of an internation

al cartel in 1989 is described as chiefly a cyclical response to the woefully lo

w prices that prevailed just a year ago . When prices tumble , as they did stead

ily from 1989 to 1993 , growers save money by skimping on fertilizers and other 

agricultural practices , opening the door to crop disease and infestations that 

can slash the size of crops for years . Shortages follow , bidding prices back u

p . That and this season 's late Indonesian harvest had more to do with the surg

e in prices than did a recent scheme by 28 coffee-growing nations to withhold be

ans from the market , says Judith Ganes , a coffee analyst at Merrill Lynch in N

ew York . As production fell and consumption remained flat , estimated stockpile

s have tumbled by half , says Ganes , triggering a classic supply-demand reactio

n in prices . As recently as last July , the average world price of a pound of g

reen , or unroasted , coffee beans stood at 52 cents . On Wednesday , the price 

stood at $ 1.28 a pound . Analyst Ganes predicts the price will exceed $ 2 withi

n four months . `` What matters right now is there aren't enough beans , and the

 growers willn't be able to recoup before 1995 or 1996 , '' says Ganes . `` I th

ink the bull market is just starting . '' Though good news for those members of 

the lately toothless coffee growers ' cartel that have beans to sell , it spells

 trouble for coffee 's `` Big Three '' Procter & Gamble , Kraft/General Foods an

d Nestle 's as they struggle to hold the line on retail prices and limit the fur

ther loss of customers to pricey , higher-quality gourmet blends . General Foods

 , which distributed the Folgers brand , has raised its price to grocers by 25 p

ercent , but there has been no ripple effect yet in what consumers pay . Whether

 that occurs will depend partly on the marketing strategies of the coffee roaste

rs and peddlers , says Tom Pirko , president of Santa Barbara , Calif.-based Bev

mark Inc. , an international beverage consulting company . ( Optional add end ) 

Pirko described the high-volume roasters purveyors of such name brands as Folger

 's and Maxwell House as plagued by razor-thin profit margins . They have held t

he line on prices to hang on to customers who might otherwise opt for the gourme

t coffees . If the makers of the cheaper canned coffees decide to raise retail p

rices to avoid losses , Pirko said , the trendy gourmet companies typified by Se

attle-based Starbucks could grab still more market share by keeping current pric

es and foregoing some of the generous profit margins they now enjoy . `` The que

stion is , are they smart enough to know that ? '' Pirko said . `` Their margins

 are enormous . They could absorb much bigger ( green bean price ) increases tha

n we 've seen so far . ''

 WASHINGTON Wall Street 's hottest trading instruments may pose some risks to th

e financial system , but Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other top r

egulators told Congress Wednesday that tougher laws over financial `` derivative

s '' are unnecessary . Their opposition dims chances that Congress will pass a b

ill to stiffen regulation of derivatives this term . The regulators ' reluctance

 comes despite last week 's release of a two-year report on derivatives by the G

eneral Accounting Office that detected `` regulatory gaps '' and called for aggr

essive reforms , some of which would require legislation . While commending the 

GAO for its work , Greenspan and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Art

hur Levitt Jr. played down the report 's warning that recent multimillion-dollar

 losses at U.S. companies and investment firms were signs of more danger ahead .

 Wednesday 's hearing before the House subcommittee on Energy and Commerce chair

ed by Rep. Edward J. Markey , D-Mass. , highlighted Washington 's continuing ina

bility to get its arms around the fast-growing $ 12 trillion derivatives busines

s . Companies and speculators use derivatives both to make money on trading bets

 and to protect the value of their other investments from unexpected changes . U

nlike stocks , derivative contracts do not entitle holders to any stake in a bus

iness or its profits . They instead let holders bet on the movement of stock pri

ces and other securities . When indicators move in expected directions , like in

terest rates did recently , companies holding derivatives contracts can lose mon

ey . Greenspan pooh-poohed fears that the recent corporate losses are the first 

of many to come . `` It would be wrong to draw sweeping conclusions from these e

vents , '' Greenspan said . The `` unintended consequences '' of tougher U.S. re

gulation might be that derivatives would simply be struck overseas where laws we

re more lenient , making efforts by U.S. regulators to supervise derivatives mor

e difficult . Greenspan and Levitt argued against the GAO 's proposal to give th

e SEC power over the securities firms ' affiliates that trade derivatives , whic

h are now unregulated . The GAO recommends SEC regulatory authority akin to what

 the Federal Reserve has over the derivative units of commercial banks . Legisla

ting SEC oversight of derivatives would lessen regulatory `` flexibility , '' ac

cording to the Fed chairman . He said the derivatives market was growing so fast

 that today 's regulation would be outmoded tomorrow . Levitt mainly agreed with

 Greenspan but said he would seek legislation in the fall if his efforts to work

 with Wall Street to lessen the risks of derivatives failed . But he ruled out m

andating procedures for how dealers and companies manage the risks associated wi

th derivatives , a GAO proposal that is hated by Wall Street and business lobbyi

ng groups . Markey , who has announced he plans to introduce derivative-related 

legislation , said he was disappointed by the regulators ' response . He ended t

he hearing by saying he will soon hold hearings on specific cases in which deriv

atives caused large losses . When a derivative contract is struck between two pa

rties like a bank and a corporation each side agrees to make payments to the oth

er for some period of time , say , five years . How much money each side pays de

pends on events in the securities markets . Each side 's payment obligation `` d

erives '' from price changes in such underlying securities as stocks , bonds , f

oreign exchange and commodities .

 WASHINGTON Washington adores a good rumor , and a real humdinger about Barbra S

treisand is virtually consuming Old Town Alexandria , in Northern Virginia . See

ms that residents of the quaint historic locale are totally convinced that the s

uperstar has purchased an extravagant home among them . Well , as exciting as th

is has been for all of us , it appears that Miss Streisand has no plans to disru

pt local traffic patterns , according to local real estate agents and Streisand 

intimates . `` Gee , '' said a very close friend of the diva , `` she did go ant

iquing in Old Town last year . That 's about as close as she 's gotten .. . . ''

 The friend assured us in no uncertain terms that any talk of Streisand leaving 

California was simply `` crazy . '' -0- Warner Bros. might see it as just good f

un and box-office receipts , but the Consumer Product Safety Commission isn't la

ughing . The federal regulatory agency has strongly warned Warner that safety pr

ocedures better be followed in scenes where child star Macaulay Culkin zooms aro

und on a controversial all-terrain vehicle ( ATV ) in the upcoming `` Richie Ric

h . '' And it is the appearance of safety that also has the agency concerned . I

t might not be apparent on screen , for example , that 13-year-old Culkin 's dri

ving is being supervised by adults or that he 's not speeding . `` Kids don't kn

ow the difference between reality and the movies , '' Ann Brown , chairman of th

e CPSC , tells us . `` When they see a role model appearing to drive around unsa

fely , that sets a bad example . '' Added CPSC General Counsel Eric Rubel , `` W

e want to make sure an adult is in the scene otherwise the wrong impression is l

eft . '' The scene was shot recently , and a spokesman for Warner said Wednesday

 night that the company `` did its best to meet the guidelines suggested by the 

commission . '' Although the spokeswoman said Culkin wore a helmet and did not d

rive wildly or on pavement , she would not address the appearance issue . The CP

SC claims the recreational vehicles have been responsible for more than 2,000 de

aths in the past decade , nearly 900 of which were drivers under 16 . The CPSC a

ctually has no enforcement authority over Warner . But , according to Rubel , it

 is studying whether it could expand its jurisdiction on the grounds that films 

are consumer products . We 've heard that .. . First Brother Roger Clinton is no

w a daddy . His bride , Molly Martin Clinton , gave birth to a son , Tyler Cassi

dy , on May 12 in Torrance , Calif. . `` The president is just delighted that he

 's an uncle , '' said a White House spokesman Wednesday . -0- Norman Schwarzkop

f , who headed U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf War , was recovering from surgery

 Wednesday for prostate cancer . A statement from Walter Reed Army Medical Cente

r said , `` All indications are that the cancer was discovered in its early stag

es , and the prospects are for a full recovery . '' -0- Iowa Democrat Neal Smith

 feels wronged . He says his remarks as quoted by the Des Moines Register statin

g that if Bill Clinton did proposition Paula Jones , he 'd be disappointed in th

e president for hitting on `` such a homely woman '' were misinterpreted . Mostl

y , he says , he meant to convey that the Jones charges are politically motivate

d . That makes it a lot clearer . -0- George and Barbara Bush 's Houston neighbo

rs were obviously not totally prepared for all the hubbub that comes with the ar

rival of a former president . Wednesday , the neighborhood got a bit more privac

y when the Houston City Council voted to allow the street to be closed to guard 

against the streams of gawkers who have been parading through .

 WASHINGTON Democratic National Chairman David Wilhelm on Wednesday denounced De

mocratic candidates , including the loser in this week 's special House election

 in Kentucky , for not running on President Clinton 's record . `` The lesson he

re is that Democrats should run as Democrats , '' Wilhelm said , speaking of the

 loss Tuesday of a House seat in Kentucky held by Democrats for 129 years . The 

defeat spurred increased concern among Democrats and enthusiasm in Republican ci

rcles about prospects in the fall elections . The election results and Wilhelm '

s criticism underlined a problem that Democratic congressional candidates will h

ave to face in November as a result of their party 's conquest of the White Hous

e in 1992 . During the 12 years of the Reagan-Bush presidencies Democratic candi

dates could tailor their campaigns to suit local tastes with minimal concern abo

ut the national party . But now they have to answer for Clinton 's policies , to

o , and this could be a heavy burden , especially in the South and other conserv

ative areas where the president and his policies are not popular . In off-year e

lections , the party controlling the White House traditionally loses seats in th

e House , where the Democrats hold a 256-178 majority . But professionals in bot

h parties said circumstances of the Kentucky contest suggested that House Democr

ats this year face a particularly difficult predicament . Adding to their burden

 is the gradual but steady realignment of the South 's congressional districts ,

 which have long been dominated by Democrats . The Kentucky special election to 

replace the late Rep. William H. Natcher was won by Republican Ron Lewis , a min

ister and owner of a fundamentalist book store who received 55 percent of the vo

te to 45 percent for Democrat Joe Prather , a former state legislator . A distan

t underdog at the start of the campaign , Lewis benefited from an infusion of ca

mpaign funds and advice from the national party , and from a zealous organizing 

effort by conservative Christians . He centered his campaign on linking Prather 

to Clinton , even running a television commercial that depicted Clinton 's face 

blending into Prather 's . `` If you like Bill Clinton , you 'll love Joe Prathe

r , '' the announcer declared . In a district former President Bush carried agai

nst Clinton in 1992 , Prather concluded he should keep his distance from Clinton

 and from the national party , refusing financial support or any other type of h

elp . But he was so preoccupied with warding off Lewis 's attack , other Democra

ts charged , he failed to develop a positive message of his own . `` As best I c

an tell , Joe Prather got into a defensive crouch and stayed there , '' Wilhelm 

told a Washington news conference . ( Optional add end ) Wilhelm claimed the sam

e strategy was followed in the last year by unsuccessful Democratic candidates B

ob Kreuger , who ran for U.S. Senate in Texas , and Virginia gubernatorial nomin

ee Mary Sue Terry . Wilhelm said that approach `` is a dead bang loser , '' beca

use `` it allows your opponent to define you and causes Democrats to stay at hom

e in droves . '' Wilhelm contended that Lewis and other Democrats would be bette

r off running on the president 's record . They should be `` proud of deficit re

duction , proud of ( creating ) 3 million jobs , '' and should not `` pretend as

 if you were in a different party or your president was somebody else , '' he sa

id But some independent analysts and Democratic consultants rejected Wilhelm 's 

argument . `` Right now the president is not seen as an asset '' in many Souther

n districts , said Merle Black , Emory University specialist on Southern politic

s . Democratic candidates in those districts `` are stuck with Clinton and he ha

s given them an unpopular agenda . ''

 WASHINGTON The Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed for the first time the exis

tence of a supermassive black hole , ending a decades-long quest for definitive 

proof , astronomers announced Wednesday . The orbiting observatory , with correc

tive lenses installed during a repair mission last December , for the first time

 was able to see clearly into the heart of the giant galaxy M87 , more than 50 m

illion light-years away in the constellation Virgo , where astronomers have long

 suspected a monstrous black hole has lurking . The telescope revealed the detai

ls there so sharply that the observing team was able to `` weigh '' the object a

t the galaxy 's center with unexpected ease , the astronomers said . The key was

 a pancake-shaped disk of hot gas spinning around , and being consumed , by some

thing at the center . Measurements of its velocity showed that the central objec

t has a mass 2 billion to 3 billion times the mass of the sun , compressed into 

an area about the size of our solar system . `` If that isn't a black hole , I d

on't know what it is , '' said Holland Ford of Johns Hopkins University and the 

Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore . He and Richard Harms of Applied

 Research Corp. in Landover , Md. , led the observing team and announced the fin

dings Wednesday at NASA headquarters . The concept of a black hole was built , a

t first , purely on mathematical equations and imaginings of theorists . They en

visioned a massive , collapsing object ( a star or group of stars ) whose gravit

ational pull is so powerful that nothing not even light can come out again after

 it has crossed the hole 's threshold , known as the `` event horizon . '' Withi

n this singular object , normal time and space come to a halt . The known laws o

f physics do not apply . Everything trapped inside that one-way membrane , lost 

forever to the rest of the universe , is by definition invisible detectable only

 by the violent and flamboyant energy of material on the verge of being consumed

 . The immense gravity of the black hole draws all nearby objects and material t

oward it , forming a whirlpool ( called an `` accretion disk '' ) that resembles

 water going down the bathtub drain . In this maelstrom , matter crowds in , col

lides , heats up and forms what Hubble saw as a pancake of gas around the hole ,

 with high-speed jets of gas spewing from the disk near one or both `` poles '' 

of the hole . In recent years , increasingly sophisticated instruments gradually

 have piled up convincing evidence that these objects exist . But , Ford said , 

`` Skeptical colleagues were always clever enough to create computer models show

ing that some other explanation was possible . '' Now , said Bruce Margon of the

 University of Washington , `` We no longer have an alternative theory . '' `` A

ll reasonable astronomers will be convinced '' said NASA astronomer Stephen Mara

n of Goddard Space Flight Center , who is also a spokesman for the American Astr

onomical Society . The `` smoking gun '' proof presented Wednesday was the measu

rement of the astounding velocity in the whirling disk of gas as it was sucked i

nward by the powerful gravity of the hole : At a distance of 60 light years out 

, it was whipping around at 1.2 million miles per hour . ( A light year is about

 5.8 trillion miles ) . `` Once you get that measurement , all you need is strai

ghtforward Newtonian physics to calculate the mass of the central object that 's

 making the disk spin , '' says Harms . In a similar way , astronomers have meas

ured the motions of the planets to determine the sun 's mass . M87 is a giant fo

otball-shaped collection of up to a trillion stars . It has fascinated astronome

rs since early in the century , when they detected a jet of hot ionized gas at l

east 4,000 light years long shooting from its core . Such a jet is now thought t

o be one signature of a black hole . The new observations show that the disk of 

whirling gas is positioned at a right angle to the jet , just as predicted . The

orist Edwin E. Salpeter of Cornell University , after seeing the new Hubble data

 , said , `` A black hole is now the least crazy model for what we 're seeing . 

'' Thirty years ago , Salpeter and a Russian astronomer independently wrote pape

rs essentially predicting Wednesday 's findings . `` It 's good to finally win t

he bet , '' he added . Recent observations indicate that black holes may come in

 a variety of sizes and may live at the cores of many galaxies , including Earth

 's home galaxy , the Milky Way . If Earth itself could collapse into a black ho

le , one astronomer suggested , it would be compressed to the size of a child 's

 marble . It there were material nearby for it to consume , the feeding frenzy w

ould produce as much radiation as the sun . In fact , recent observations indica

te that these powerhouses may be commonplace in the universe , existing in all s

izes and throughout time .

 WASHINGTON The Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed for the first time the exis

tence of a supermassive black hole , ending a decades-long quest for definitive 

proof , astronomers announced Wednesday . The orbiting observatory , with correc

tive lenses installed during a repair mission last December , for the first time

 was able to see clearly into the heart of the giant galaxy M87 , more than 50 m

illion light-years away in the constellation Virgo , where astronomers have long

 suspected a monstrous black hole has lurking . The telescope revealed the detai

ls there so sharply that the observing team was able to `` weigh '' the object a

t the galaxy 's center with unexpected ease , the astronomers said . The key was

 a pancake-shaped disk of hot gas spinning around , and being consumed , by some

thing at the center . Measurements of its velocity showed that the central objec

t has a mass 2 billion to 3 billion times the mass of the sun , compressed into 

an area about the size of our solar system . `` If that isn't a black hole , I d

on't know what it is , '' said Holland Ford of Johns Hopkins University and the 

Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore . He and Richard Harms of Applied

 Research Corp. in Landover , Md. , led the observing team and announced the fin

dings Wednesday at NASA headquarters . The concept of a black hole was built , a

t first , purely on mathematical equations and imaginings of theorists . They en

visioned a massive , collapsing object ( a star or group of stars ) whose gravit

ational pull is so powerful that nothing not even light can come out again after

 it has crossed the hole 's threshold , known as the `` event horizon . '' Withi

n this singular object , normal time and space come to a halt . The known laws o