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

rty , noting the deep divisions in Israel 's right wing Tsomet Party leader Rafa

el Eitan has also declared his candidacy wondered aloud whether the prime minist

er might not benefit by calling early national elections . An opinion survey las

t week for the newspaper Yediot Aharonot showed Rabin to be Israelis ' preferred

 leader , winning support from 36 percent of those questioned . Netanyahu follow

ed with 19 percent , Sharon with 12 percent and Eitan with 11 percent . ( Option

al add end ) Netanyahu has maintained that if the right unites it could defeat L

abor , oust Rabin and return to the Likud 's concept of Palestinian autonomy on 

the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip under Israeli sovereignty . `` Sharon underm

ined both Begin and Shamir , and now he is undermining me , '' Netanyahu said . 

`` He spreads the seeds of a split . '' Under a change in Israel 's political sy

stem , the next prime minister will be elected directly by popular vote and must

 win 50 percent of the vote , on a second ballot if not the first ; in the past 

, the party that won the most seats in Parliament nominated the prime minister .

 Sharon , 66 , a retired general , is a fierce opponent of the government 's pea

ce talks with the Palestinians and believes that any withdrawal from the West Ba

nk and Gaza Strip will endanger Israel 's security and even its existence .

 BEIJING Chinese officials reacted with restrained satisfaction Friday to Presid

ent Clinton 's announcement that the United States will renew its favorable trad

e terms with China and , more importantly , `` delink '' trade with human rights

 issues . `` This decision will create favorable conditions for the further stre

ngthening and expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the two sides.

 ... '' government spokesman Wu Jianmin announced at a news conference . `` The 

Chinese government and people welcome this decision of President Clinton . '' Ch

ina had sought the removal of human rights conditions during a year of hard lobb

ying and diplomatic efforts . On Thursday , a subdued Clinton granted the Chines

e precisely what they wanted : the restoration of most-favored-nation , or MFN ,

 trade status and the reversal of a U.S. policy linking MFN to human rights a po

licy that has haunted Sino-American relations for the past five years . But the 

Chinese held back from overt celebration over the diplomatic victory because Cli

nton also ordered a ban on the $ 100-million-a-year import of weapons and ammuni

tion , and kept in effect some sanctions established by the Bush administration 

after the army crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 . In what amo

unted to the only joke of the day , spokesman Wu said that he heard about Clinto

n 's decision by listening to the Voice of America . One of the conditions set b

y the Clinton administration was that the Chinese stop jamming VOA broadcasts . 

In Hong Kong , Shanghai and Beijing , American residents and business people , m

any of whom fought strenuously for renewal of MFN , lauded Clinton 's decision .

 Phil Carmichael , president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing , sa

id at a news conference that he was relieved that he would now have more time to

 spend on his business . `` It means I willn't have to spend one-third to one-ha

lf of my time each year trying to get MFN renewed , '' he said . ( Optional add 

end ) Other Asian governments also welcomed Clinton 's action . `` From the star

t , we had maintained that there should be no connection between trade and human

 rights issues , '' Malaysia 's deputy prime minister , Anwar Ibrahim , said Fri

day . Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata said renewal of China 's trading bene

fits was very important for the economic development of the Asia-Pacific region 

. But some observers said Clinton 's about-face could have a severe impact on Am

erican prestige . `` You could call it the Clinton administration 's declaration

 of defeat , '' wrote Koji Igarashi , Washington correspondent for the influenti

al Asahi newspaper , in its evening edition Friday . `` It is a 180-degree chang

e in direction from policy up until now , and leaves the strong impression that 

( Clinton ) gave in completely to China 's demands . ''

 TORONTO The five-year anniversary of China 's Tiananmen Square massacre finds C

anada in a quandary . The federal government is trying to figure out what to do 

with a residue of Tiananmen : 4,500 Chinese who sought asylum here after the upr

ising but were denied status as refugees . They have held on here for nearly fiv

e years , and now the government has said it will decide their fate next month .

 They remain because Ottawa has an official policy of not deporting anyone but c

riminals back to China the only country for which Canada has such a policy . But

 Immigration Minister Sergio Marchi has said that limbo must end . Lin Xiaoping 

awaits the coming decision with trepidation . She left Shanghai in March 1990 , 

after police questioned her for carrying videotapes of the uprising . She arrive

d in Canada via Bolivia . Today , she is the proprietor of a restaurant in one o

f multiethnic Toronto 's five Chinatowns . Lin 's application for refugee status

 was denied , she said , because officials did not believe her . She says her ro

le here as president of the Mainland Chinese Refugees Organization would single 

her out were she forced to return to China . `` I hope the Canadian government w

ill let me stay on compassionate grounds , '' said Lin , 46 . `` I was not direc

tly involved ( in the Tiananmen uprising ) , but I did show my sympathy and agre

ement with the students . Here , I fight for ( the refugees ' ) interests and be

nefits . My activities here might be something the Chinese government would not 

be happy with . '' The debate over the refugees comes at an important time in Ca

nadian-Chinese relations . Prime Minister Jean Chretien is to travel to China th

is fall to promote trade . More than 100,000 Chinese immigrants are admitted to 

Canada every year . Most come from Hong Kong or Taiwan , but some 30,000 mainlan

d Chinese have gained resident status here since January 1990 . Until recently ,

 Canada was known as a relatively easy country in which to gain refugee designat

ion . The first wave of post-Tiananmen refugees some of whom were already here a

s students overwhelmingly had their applications to stay accepted , refugee lawy

ers say . But later arrivals had a harder time persuading adjudicators they were

 not merely seekers of economic opportunity . `` I think they are real refugees 

by ( Geneva ) convention criteria , '' said Schiller Wang , a reporter for the T

oronto-based Chinese-language newspaper World Journal Daily News . `` It 's a bi

g problem from a cultural standpoint . Some Chinese refugee claimants don't unde

rstand the question the judge is asking , and the interpreter is not allowed to 

explain . '' Some of the rejected refugees have held off buying houses or establ

ishing roots , waiting until their status becomes clearer . Although they are co

nsidered legal residents , their conditional status makes it difficult to find l

egitimate jobs or enroll in welfare programs . Even those with capital are reluc

tant to start businesses for fear they may have to sell quickly . `` It 's killi

ng for them because they are go-getters , '' said Montreal refugee lawyer Richar

d Kurland . `` I 've had grown men and women crying in my office because they ar

e so frustrated . They can't go back because they 'd go right to jail , but they

 can't get permanent status here . '' Marchi has ruled out a blanket amnesty for

 the affected Chinese , although he may propose establishing a special process b

y which they could apply for legal-immigrant status . They would have to show , 

for instance , that they can function in Canada 's economy rather than living on

 its broad social assistance . Even within the Chinese community , some admit th

at not all who seek to remain here are true refugees . But there is general agre

ement that their future should be settled one way or another . `` If the governm

ent thinks they are not refugees , send them back . If the government thinks tha

t would be inhuman , let them stay , '' said Tian Guang , general adviser to the

 refugees ' organization . `` You cannot keep people in limbo for four or five y

ears . These people have been exhausted , physically , psychologically and emoti

onally . ''

 VLADIVOSTOK , Russia Solemn and prophetic , Alexander I . Solzhenitsyn ended hi

s 20-year exile Friday with an appeal to people across Russia to seize the initi

ative in directing their troubled country 's post-Communist rebirth . `` I know 

that I am coming to a Russia torn apart , discouraged , stunned , altered beyond

 recognition , convulsively searching for itself , for its true identity , '' th

e country 's greatest living author told an evening homecoming rally in this Pac

ific port city , his starting point for a Trans-Siberian rail journey to redisco

ver his country and compatriots . `` I would like , after these meetings , to he

lp you and search together with you for sure ways to get out of our 75-year quag

mire , '' added Solzhenitsyn , who exposed his Soviet tormentors with powerful w

ritings that earned him the Nobel Prize and expulsion from his homeland on Feb. 

14 , 1974 . About 2,000 people waited three hours on a gray , blustery evening i

n a seaside plaza for his dramatic return on an Air Alaska commercial flight fro

m the United States . They applauded when his brief speech ended with the words 

, `` I bow to you . '' `` We bow to you ! '' someone shouted . Then , answering 

a question from the audience , he said that Russia 's revival after seven decade

s of Soviet rule and two years of tumultuous , divisive and stalled democratic r

eforms would be `` difficult , not soon '' and would ultimately depend on Russia

ns taking responsibility for their own fate . Judging from his remarks and his a

mbitious travel plans , the bearded , craggy-faced author intends , at age 75 , 

to play a guiding role in Russian life , although he has forsworn seeking electi

ve or appointed office . His voice could provide a rallying cry for regional and

 local leaders seeking to wrest more autonomy from the central government of Pre

sident Boris N . Yeltsin . In an interview with Russia 's Itar-Tass news agency 

, Solzhenitsyn was more categorical about his mission and blunter in his critici

sm of Moscow , which he said `` is leading a privileged life compared with the p

rovinces . '' He said he was returning home east to west because `` to begin wit

h Moscow means to lock oneself in a concrete box . '' ( Begin optional trim ) ``

 My literary task is fulfilled , '' he added . `` Now I will have no time to wri

te . It 's time to get down to the hard work of rebuilding and reviving Russia .

 '' Many who turned out to see Solzhenitsyn , like Galina N . Petrovna , said th

ey are ready to follow his prescriptions as those of a sage . Petrovna , a grayi

ng , bright-eyed woman of 69 , came to the square bedecked with Soviet medals ea

rned for underground resistance in a Nazi prison camp . But she was a reluctant 

hero , having lost her father in the Stalin regime 's political executions . `` 

I have been waiting for this moment all my life , '' she said at the rally for S

olzhenitsyn . `` Here is a great man who can show us how to rebuild our country 

. If we had worked like he does , by the call of our souls and hearts , we would

 live now in a different , much happier country . '' ( End optional trim ) The t

rip began Wednesday in an Oldsmobile station wagon , lumbering down the unpaved 

driveway from the hilltop country home in Cavendish , Vt. , where Solzhenitsyn s

pent the past 18 years writing in near-seclusion . With a newly issued Russian p

assport , the author flew to Anchorage , Alaska , with his wife , Natalia , and 

Stephan , 20 , the youngest of their three sons . They left behind the middle so

n , Ignat , 21 , and Natalia 's mother , Yekaterina Svetlova , who will join the

m later . The eldest son , Yermolai , 23 , flew here , 5,700 miles from Moscow ,

 ahead of his parents to help arrange the overland journey to the capital , whic

h he called `` the greatest road trip you could do . '' ( Optional add end ) Air

 Alaska 's first touchdown in Russia came at Magadan , once a main receiving poi

nt for those destined for the Soviet gulag prison camp system . Solzhenitsyn , w

ho spent eight years in the gulag and exposed its evils in his best-known works 

, once described Magadan as the site of the most human bones on earth . Stepping

 off the jet , Solzhenitsyn stooped , touched the tarmac with both hands and cro

ssed himself . `` Today , in the heat of political change , those millions of vi

ctims are too lightly forgotten , both by those who were not touched by that ann

ihilation and even more so by those who were responsible for it , '' he said . `

` Under ancient Christian tradition , land where innocent victims are buried bec

omes holy . We shall consider it so , in the hope that the light of Russia 's co

ming recovery will reach ( this ) region . '' Landing in Vladivostok , he accept

ed an offering of bread and salt a Russian symbol of hospitality and raised the 

loaf to his lips . `` All the best people are leaving Russia , and Solzhenitsyn 

is the one coming back , '' said Antonina N . Detyareva , 39 , who was selling d

ried squid and imported apples just off the puddled airport parking lot . `` May

be that will set a good example . '' The writer returned a controversial figure 

, however , scorned by many who miss the old order and condemn him for helping d

estroy it . `` He 'll get no warm welcome from me , '' said Vladimir A . Gornosl

al , 45 , a taxi driver at the airport . `` I don't like traitors . ''

 JERUSALEM Ariel Sharon , the right-wing former general who led Israel into the 

war with Lebanon in 1982 , announced Friday that he intends to run for prime min

ister in the next election , further dividing the once powerful Likud opposition

 party . Sharon 's announcement was a blow to Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu , 

who was elected head of the party last year and also hopes to run for prime mini

ster . Netanyahu has failed to quell challenges from his rivals , and Friday he 

denounced Sharon , demanding that he be thrown out of the party . The next elect

ion , in two years , is to be the first in Israel 's history in which the prime 

minister will be chosen by direct popular vote . In the past , voters chose part

y lists , and the parties then jockeyed for coalitions and a parliamentary major

ity to control the government . The new system seems certain to reward candidate

s who run outside their parties ' establishment , and there are signs both Likud

 and the ruling Labor Party face the prospect of divisions and possible breakup 

. Another factor fragmenting the old parties is the accord with the Palestine Li

beration Organization on self-rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank . Some analys

ts think if the pact holds and the issue of those territories is removed from at

op the national agenda , new political blocs will spring up , based on issues ot

her than security . For example , Labor recently lost control of the giant Hista

drut labor federation for the first time in its history . In a race for the fede

ration 's leadership , the winner was a youthful Labor politician , Haim Ramon ,

 who broke away from the party establishment and ran against Labor 's candidate 

on a platform of domestic issues , chiefly better health care . Sharon , however

 , remains a stalwart of the old order , and his challenge is clearly based on a

 hawkish , nationalist ideology . He has been among the sharpest critics of the 

Israeli-PLO accord and has gained a following among hard-line Jewish settlers in

 the West Bank . Sharon , 66 , has never concealed his disdain for Netanyahu , a

nd his declaration Friday set off fireworks . `` Arik Sharon is a permanent subv

ersive , '' Netanyahu told Army Radio . `` The time has come for such a man to l

eave Likud . '' `` That Arik Sharon wants to be prime minister at a minimum , pr

ime minister is no surprise , '' said Netanyahu , using Sharon 's nickname . Sha

ron snapped back , `` I hope Mr. Netanyahu will at least permit me to stay in th

e country . '' Polls show that Labor Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin would be the f

irst choice of Israeli Jews if an election were held now . A survey last week pu

blished by the daily Yedioth Aharonoth showed 36 percent of those questioned cho

ose Rabin , followed by 19 percent for Netanyahu , 12 percent for Sharon and 11 

percent for Rafael Eitan , another former general who heads the nationalist Tsom

et Party and has announced plans to run for prime minister . The feuding in the 

opposition has been intense since the 1992 election in which Labor and Rabin def

eated Likud and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir . Binyamin Begin , a supporter of 

Netanyahu , said Friday that the garrulous Sharon had about as much chance of be

coming prime minister as he did of winning a world tennis championship . Moshe K

atsav , leader of the Likud forces in parliament , rejected Netanyahu 's suggest

ion that Sharon be ousted and called instead for a collective leadership . Shami

r urged Sharon to find something else to do . Also , former Foreign Minister Dav

id Levy , angered by what he considered a smear campaign against him by Netanyah

u , has boycotted all Likud Party gatherings in recent months .

 WASHINGTON The House and Senate intelligence committees have been asked by Just

ice Department officials to delay their possible questioning of confessed-spy Al

drich H. Ames until the FBI and CIA have finished debriefing him , according to 

administration and congressional sources . The officials have argued that interr

upting the interrogation of Ames for Capitol Hill appearances could have a harmf

ul effect on what investigators hope to learn from the veteran , 52-year-old for

mer CIA counterintelligence officer . `` In the complex process of establishing 

rapport and a questioning pattern with an individual such as Ames , you don't wa

nt to introduce other influences , '' one source said . The House panel has agre

ed to wait , according to a spokesman for committee chairman Dan Glickman , D-Ka

n . The spokesman added that even before the Justice Department made its appeal 

, the panel had not contemplated asking Ames to appear until after the governmen

t had concluded its questioning and the committee staff reviewed the results . G

lickman wrote to Ames 's lawyer , Plato Cacheris , on May 5 asking that his clie

nt testify in closed session about `` his perspective on counterintelligence iss

ues . '' No date for an appearance was mentioned in the letter . Senate Select C

ommittee on Intelligence Chairman Dennis DeConcini , D-Ariz. , also has informal

ly sounded out Cacheris about an Ames appearance but has yet to raise the matter

 with other committee members . A Senate committee aide said there had been conv

ersations with the Justice Department about Ames but nothing has been decided . 

Meanwhile , he said , committee members were disturbed by reports from televisio

n reporters that Ames has been discussing possibly appearing on television . `` 

Senators have been asking Justice , ` How come you are permitting this and block

ing us ? ' ' ' the aide said . Although representatives from three major televis

ion networks have either called or sent letters to Ames 's attorney asking about

 interviews , Cacheris said yesterday , `` Mr. Ames is not going to do any inter

views until after his wife is sentenced . '' Rosario Ames , who pleaded guilty t

o conspiracy to commit espionage and income tax evasion , is scheduled to be sen

tenced Aug. 26 . The length of her prison term , which could be as short as five

 years or as long as 15 years , is dependent on her husband 's cooperation with 

FBI and CIA interrogators under the guilty plea agreements they both signed in A

pril . Aldrich Ames faces a life term in prison with no provision for parole for

 his nine years of spying for Moscow . In return for $ 2.5 million and the promi

se of at least $ 1.9 million more , Ames delivered highly sensitive intelligence

 information including the names of at least 11 communist intelligence agents wh

o were passing information to the United States or Britain . CIA officials are b

itter at the thought that the congressional committees may turn for advice on ho

w the CIA should be run to a man who betrayed his country and his colleagues . `

` That presses some hot buttons out here , '' a senior CIA official said . Forme

r CIA director Richard M. Helms summed up the view of several other retired agen

cy officials , saying that `` having a traitor on the Hill to vent his spleen is

 a dangerous precedent .. . and I deplore it . '' CIA Director R. James Woolsey 

told an interviewer earlier this month that `` one of the strangest things about

 the Ames case is the fact that some people would take seriously Ames as an auth

ority on the CIA and what its value is . '' Rep. Larry Combest of Texas , the ra

nking Republican on the House intelligence panel , gave the rationale for hearin

g from Ames . It `` would be intriguing to have him and hear how he did it , '' 

Combest said . Ames `` has a perspective of the agency that is rather unique . '

' Ames said recently that he would `` look forward '' to testifying . In a state

ment in court the day he was sentenced , Ames described espionage `` as carried 

out by the CIA and a few other American agencies '' as `` a self-serving sham . 

''

 PARIS When Jacques Chirac led the Gaullist conservatives to an overwhelming vic

tory in national elections last year , he had his eye on a bigger prize the pres

idency . Unfortunately , the sitting president , Francois Mitterrand , planned t

o keep the job until his term expired in 1995 . So the conservatives devised a c

unning , though politically risky strategy . They selected Edouard Balladur , on