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

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 Poisoning by chemical-warfare agents is a likely cause of at least s

ome cases of `` Gulf War syndrome , '' the illness that may afflict more than 10

,000 veterans of the Persian Gulf War against Iraq , according to a Senate commi

ttee report released Wednesday . Pentagon officials , testifying before the Sena

te Banking Committee Wednesday , said that even though they have no evidence of 

gas attacks during the Gulf War , as-yet-unproved contact with chemical- or biol

ogical-warfare agents remains on the long list of possible causes of the mysteri

ous malady . The 151-page report , prepared largely by the staff of Sen. Donald 

W. Riegle Jr. , D-Mich , who chairs the committee , builds a case for low-concen

tration exposure to chemical agents at levels below those causing mass death or 

unequivocal detection by mechanical sensors . The cluster of symptoms which incl

ude fatigue , concentration problems , joint pains and skin rashes are `` consis

tent with '' chronic exposure to these agents , particularly nerve gas , Riegle 

argued . `` I think the facts are now inescapable that ( chemical-weapons exposu

re ) is a significant amount of this problem , '' Riegle said during a day-long 

hearing . `` If the defense department is incapable of seeing this .. . the prob

lem is going to get a lot worse . '' Representatives of the Department of Defens

e and the Central Intelligence Agency each testified they had no convincing evid

ence either from physical or intelligence sources that chemical or biological we

apons had been used during the Gulf War . Under confrontational questioning by R

iegle , however , no one was willing to absolutely guarantee that no exposure ha

d occurred . `` The intelligence community has an expression : `` Absence of evi

dence is not evidence of absence ' , '' said John T. Kriese , chief officer for 

ground forces at the Defense Intelligence Agency . `` I cannot say there was no 

CW ( chemical warfare ) use or BW ( biological warfare ) contamination . From ev

erything I know , my judgment is that it was not used . ( But ) I think it 's im

possible to prove a negative . '' The reports of chemical-weapon contact that th

e U.S. military finds most credible were two made by Czech soldiers in mid-Janua

ry 1991 . In the first , a gas alarm near the Port of Jubayl sounded and subsequ

ent chemical testing demonstrated the presence of saran , a nerve gas . Several 

days later , soldiers detected liquid mustard agent in a small patch of desert s

and near King Khalid Military City . American officials reviewed the chemical re

cords , spoke to the soldiers and found these reports credible . But because no 

gas or sand samples were kept , independent confirmation of the Czech findings w

asn't possible . Riegle 's office last September released a preliminary investig

ation of alleged gas attacks during the Gulf War . His staff extensively intervi

ewed soldiers who believed they were gassed . The new report contains narratives

 of 16 of these events , which are often characterized by missile attacks follow

ed by gas alarms , strange smells and various symptoms in the minutes before sol

diers were fully suited in their protective gear . The report , which also carri

es the name of the banking committee 's ranking minority member , Sen. Alfonse M

. D' Amato , R-N.Y. , contains details about chemical agents and sensing devices

 , a list of Iraq 's purchases of bacteria and viruses from American sellers in 

the 1980s ( when Iraq was fighting Iran ) ; other possible causes of Gulf War sy

ndrome ; and theories to explain some of the many unanswered questions about the

 illness . Much of Wednesday 's hearing consisted of speculation by witnesses an

d interrogators about what scenarios in the absence of proof are least likely to

 be true . Riegle theorized that gas was released into the atmosphere after the 

bombing of Iraqi munitions dumps . It then drifted over coalition troops in conc

entrations that were undetectable , or only marginally detectable . Kriese respo

nded : `` The question is where are the very sick people , the people with very 

high exposure ? '' After studying aerial photographs taken after bombing runs , 

`` we found no evidence of the deaths we would expect from local release of larg

e amounts of material . '' There were about 1,400 chemical-sensor alarms among A

merican troops . Gulf War veterans said many of these went off repeatedly and of

ten during reported ( and sometimes disputed ) incoming SCUD missile attacks . V

irtually none of the more sensitive devices used after these alarms sound confir

med the presence of gas . The military has concluded that essentially all the al

arms were false alarms . `` No answers are being found as to where this body of 

sick veterans came from , '' said Sen. Robert Bennett , R-Utah . `` To say all t

he explosions were sonic booms and all the alarms were false alarms and all the 

illness is coming from some other source is just not going to cut it . '' Riegle

 was especially concerned about reports that some spouses of ailing Gulf veteran

s have also developed symptoms , including reproductive problems , and that some

 children may also be affected . No one theorized how transmission of low concen

trations of chemical agents might be possible months after contamination and tho

usands of miles away .

 CULVER CITY , Calif. . Closing a celebrated chapter in aerospace history , the 

aircraft plant where Howard Hughes built the Spruce Goose five decades ago was s

cheduled to shut down Thursday afternoon . McDonnell Douglas Corp. has built hel

icopter parts in the plant 's cavernous centerpiece , Building 15 , since buying

 Hughes Aircraft Co. 's helicopter line in 1984 . But McDonnell has been shiftin

g that work in recent years to its main helicopter site in Mesa , Ariz. , and it

s roughly 50 production workers still in Culver City are calling its quits when 

the final shift ends at 2 p.m. . `` It 's very sad for me , although all of us h

ad known it was coming , '' said Betty Percival , who 's spent 21 years at the p

lant in administrative posts . `` I almost wish I hadn't seen this part . On the

 other hand , I wouldn't have left earlier . '' Hughes began construction of the

 plant in 1941 , and completed Building 15 in 1943 to accommodate construction o

f the Spruce Goose , an enormous wooden craft that was also known as the HK-1 He

rcules Flying Boat and remains the biggest airplane ever built . More than two d

ozen other structures eventually were added to the 260-acre site . Some of the b

uildings including one that served as Howard Hughes ' private apartment already 

are empty and the plant 's 4,500-space parking lot is dotted with weeds . Hughes

 Aircraft 's original headquarters , once famed for its mahogany trimmed walls ,

 also sits vacant and rotting 18 years after the billionaire 's death . McDonnel

l 's main administrative building on the plant is like a ghost town , its dozens

 of drab offices empty of people and telephones . Hundreds of typewriters , pers

onal computers , desk lamps and chairs that once filled those rooms were auction

ed off earlier this week . The factory floor in Building 15 is filled with idle 

metal stamping machines , drills , hydraulic presses and welding bays . Some are

 being put in crates for shipment to Arizona . Above , an enormous American flag

 still hangs from the building 's rafters . The plant , which once employed as m

any as 8,000 people , willn't be entirely vacated until the end of this year . H

ughes Aircraft still inhabits two buildings at the site , where 700 workers make

 high-tech display screens for police cars and other electronic gear . But both 

McDonnell and Hughes are tenants on the property , with leases expiring at end o

f 1994 , and Hughes said its employees will leave by then as well . The property

 is part of a massive development project , that will transform the site into a 

community with housing , offices , stores and hotels . What happens to the plant

 now ? Nelson Rising , a senior partner at Maguire Thomas Partners , the develop

er , said the first phase calls for leaving the buildings there probably for at 

least five years and possibly leasing them to new tenants. . Eventually , `` the

 overall master plan calls for those ( buildings ) to be replaced as the market 

dictates , '' he said . But R.D. `` Rod '' Ayers , a plant manager who arrived t

here in 1969 , said that it would be a shame to tear down Building 15 . It `` is

 a historical site , '' Ayers said . `` The biggest aircraft in the whole world 

was built right in that building over there . '' The plant 's demise does end an

 unique era , because everything about the facility reinforced Howard Hughes ' l

egend as a bigger-than-life innovator . Building 15 , as long as 2 football fiel

ds and its ceiling eight stories high , was thought to be the world 's largest w

ooden structure when it was finished , according to Hal Klopper , a McDonnell pu

blic relations official and the plant 's unofficial historian . The Spruce Goose

 a label Hughes despised , because the plane actually was made mostly of birch w

as 218 feet long and 79 feet high . With Hughes at the controls , the aircraft m

ade its first and only flight over Los Angeles Harbor in late 1947 . The plane l

ater was kept on display in Long Beach , Calif. , then was moved to Oregon last 

year .

 BONN , Germany French President Francois Mitterrand , defending his apparent fa

ilure to investigate concentration camps in Bosnia after a top-level appeal , sa

ys that France did more and acted faster than any other country . In a letter to

 Newsday , presidential spokesman Jean Musitelli Wednesday implicitly acknowledg

ed the charge against Mitterrand of `` silence and inaction '' for at least five

 weeks in the summer of 1992 . But he added more fuel to a politically volatile 

issue by turning the charge around and suggesting that it also applied to the Bo

snian leaders who made it . Newsday reported earlier this month that Mitterrand 

failed to order an investigation or any other follow-up . A two-page statement b

y the French presidency last Friday in response to the Newsday account did not d

ispute the essential points . Indeed , the Elysee Palace acknowledged that Franc

e undertook no action until early August 1992 , when Mitterrand demanded that ev

ery camp be `` visited , monitored and opened . '' In mid-August , it noted , Mi

tterrand sent Humanitarian Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner to inspect camps in

 Bosnia . `` Who did better and who acted quicker ? '' the Elysee statement said

 . In fact , no government , including the United States , took action to uncove

r and halt the atrocities for weeks until a groundswell of public opinion led to

 a series of resolutions at the U.N. . Security Council . Most of these resoluti

ons have not been implemented , however . `` Concerning the Americans , to be ch

aritable , let us not speak of them , '' Musitelli said . France 's European par

tners were reluctant to act , and there was no will at the United Nations , he s

aid . Mitterrand went to Sarajevo to `` bear witness with his solidarity , to sh

ake the world 's consciousness and to permit President ( Alija ) Izetbegovic to 

speak before the world media . '' The controversy emerged after the screening of

 `` Bosna ! '' ( Bosnia ! ) , a documentary film directed by French philospher B

ernard-Henri Levy that is fiercely critical of official French policy favoring p

artition of Bosnia-Herzegovina . Izetbegovic related in the film that in June 19

92 , taking advantage of the French leader 's sudden dramatic trip to Sarajevo ,

 he had personally briefed his visitor about massacres of civilians and deportat

ions to camps . The Bosnian leader appealed to Mitterrand in public to send moni

tors to determine the truth of the allegations . During the five weeks between M

itterrand 's Sarajevo visit on June 28 , 1992 , and Newsday 's publication Aug. 

2 of an account of systematic atrocities , thousands of civilians were massacred

 in camps , according to a new U.N. study . Levy has demanded a change of policy

 and threatened to organize an independent slate of candidates for the European 

parliamentary elections next month . Such a slate , favoring direct aid to the B

osnian government , would split Mitterrand 's socialists and cut into the conser

vative government 's list as well . Mitterrand , forced to defend an unpopular p

olicy , criticized the news media , other Western countries and , as well as the

 Bosnian government . In the film , Izetbegovic expressed `` great surprise '' t

hat , after briefing Mitterrand on the camps , the French president `` remained 

silent '' upon returning to Paris . Mitterrand 's spokesman , in a letter to New

sday Wednesday , accused the Bosnian government of doing the same thing . `` How

 do you explain that the Bosnian leaders , who now reproach Francois Mitterrand 

for his silence and inaction '' in the summer of 1992 , `` remained , it seems t

o me , silent and inactive themselves during this period ? '' Musitelli said . M

usitelli did not indicate any disagreement with his own characterization of Mitt

errand 's response as `` silence and inaction . '' He repeated a suggestion carr

ied five days earlier in the Elysee statement that the news media also failed to

 pursue the same tips Mitterrand had received on the existence of concentration 

camps . `` To say that the president of the republic would have been the only on

e to obtain that exclusive information stated by Mr. Izetbegovic is an absurdity

 , '' the Elysee statement said . It said Izetbegovic mentioned concentration ca

mps during the joint news appearance with Mitterrand June 28 after their private

 meeting . `` If that information was new , how can one explain that it did not 

arouse more interest from the media which were there ? '' ( In fact , internatio

nal news media had little access to most Serb-controlled territory until July 13

 , 1992 , when Newsday became the first foreign publication to reach Banja Luka 

, the main city in the Serb-conquered areas of Bosnia . Newsday published its fi

rst account about purported Serbian death camps July 19 , 1992 , and two weeks l

ater , after locating witnesses , reported on systematic killing in the camps . 

) The Elysee statement alleged that the Bosnian government did not even circulat

e a list of concentration camps until Aug. 5 . In fact , according to a U.N. inv

estigation , the Bosnian government handed a list of more than 100 camps to U.N.

 military officials in Sarajevo July 26 and it was transmitted immediately to th

e Security Council . That was only the latest of many lists that had been issued

 in the form of government bulletins and broadcast on Sarajevo radio since late 

May 1992 . Asked to explain the discrepancy in the dates , Muriel de Pierrebourg

 , Mitterrand 's press attache , told Newsday : `` We have published the communi

que . For us the matter is finished . '' She declined to say whether France had 

been aware of the official Bosnian statements . ( Optional add end ) Musitelli s

aid in his letter to Newsday that the essence of the matter lies `` not in preci

se dates or details . '' The essence was `` the absurdity of the thesis which co

nsists of making Francois Mitterrand responsible , through his silence , for the

 delay in the discovery of the camps . '' Newsday asked the Elysee in early May 

to determine whether Mitterrand , on his return from Sarajevo in 1992 , had orde

red the French government to investigate Izetbegovic 's allegations or had infor

med fellow Western leaders . De Pierrebourg said she had no answer to this quest

ion . `` We have told the truth , everything we know , everything we are able to

 reconstruct , '' she said .

 WASHINGTON Amid an embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee , lawmake

rs who can't get together and an American public still not banging down legislat

ors ' doors for action , President Clinton visited Capitol Hill Wednesday to inj

ect some political muscle into the health care debate . `` I was urging the posi

tion that I strongly feel we must pass health care this year , '' Clinton said a

fter the first of three meetings . `` I think we must find a way to cover all Am

ericans . '' Clinton put on a full-court press Wednesday , bringing key staffers

 and Cabinet members to the hill . While he told reporters he received a `` very

 heartening progress report '' from Democratic leaders , senators at a bipartisa

n session later said he got a frank and candid assessment of the obstacles facin

g reform . `` It 's obvious there remains substantial diagreements over how to b

est proceed , '' Majority Leader George Mitchell , D-Maine , said after the sess

ion . But he said it also was `` obvious there 's a growing desire to get someth

ing done . '' Sen. Bob Packwood , R-Ore. , who has been working closely with Sen

. Daniel Moynihan , D-N.Y. , chairman of the Finance Committee , to get a bipart

isan accord , said after the meeting : `` I said Mr . President , I support mand

ates . I will support mandates . But if this bill had mandates it will lose . ''

 While Democratic leaders and the White House downplayed the meetings as just pr

e-recess updates , administration officials are privately concerned that Congres

s will recess for Memorial Day without meeting the goal of at least one major co

mmittee completing its work on a health care bill . The House Ways and Means Com

mittee whose chairman , Rep. Daniel Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , is embroiled in lega

l troubles that threaten his very tenure in the House is still haggling with the

 Congressional Budget Office over the costs of the various health plan scenarios

 . The House Energy and Commerce Committee is deadlocked and the Senate Finance 

Committee , while apparently approaching agreement , has still not begun to deba

te any specific bill . And while the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee 

is well under way in considering a Clinton-like plan proposed by its chairman , 

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass. , that committee willn't complete its work unti

l sometime in June . At the same time , health care advocates are worried that w

hatever emerges from this process will be a watered-down version of the original

 Clinton proposal . And they realize that they still have some work to do to get

 the average American energized over this issue . `` My own feeling is that the 

American people have to speak up more , '' said John Rother , chief lobbyist for

 the American Association of Retired Persons and head of a broad-based coalition

 in favor of reform . The trouble , Rother said , is that `` people don't know w

hat 's going to happen if we don't have reform . '' ( Optional add end ) Rep. Pe

te Stark , D-Calif. , chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee , agree