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

e banned individual ownership of satellite dishes to prevent direct reception of

 Western programming , which they view as an assault on Asian values . Another i

ssue on which Asia and the West seem likely to collide is labor rights . The Uni

ted States and France have suggested that a worldwide minimum wage be adopted by

 the World Trade Organization to stop the exploitation of workers in poor countr

ies . Malaysia 's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed said the West 's `` professed

 concern about workers ' welfare is motivated by self-interest , '' because , he

 said , low wages are the developing world 's only competitive advantage against

 the industrialized West . `` Washington 's newfound concern for workers ' right

s is downright exploitation of workers in poor countries . ''

 WASHINGTON As the only one of five committee chairmen charged with health care 

reform who is making visible progress , Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was being quizzed

 by reporters last week about President Clinton 's appearance on Capitol Hill to

 rally support for the effort . The Massachusetts Democrat had already begun lum

bering off when he got a final query about whether he was the one who had prompt

ed Clinton 's last-minute decision to meet with Republican critics as well as wi

th his own party leaders . Flattered by the suggestion he had a hand in this int

rigue , Kennedy suddenly whirled around with an impish twinkle in his eye and qu

ipped : `` No , I wish I had . Can we start this over again ? '' Somehow , in th

e flash of that magnificent Kennedy smile , the years just disappeared . These a

re glorious days for America 's aging political prince . After three tumultuous 

decades of high drama and low moments , Kennedy is playing a pivotal role in wha

t could be the crowning achievement of his career : enactment of national health

 care legislation . `` This is the fulfillment of something he 's been working o

n for at least 25 years , '' said Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II , the senator 's nep

hew and another Massachusetts Democrat . `` He 's going to move mountains to get

 it passed . '' At a time when other congressional leaders are weakened or distr

acted , Kennedy has his Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee steadily movi

ng forward . He is seen as certain to be the first full committee chairman in ei

ther the House or Senate to win approval for any version of health care reform l

egislation . And despite his reputation as the poster boy for liberal Democratic

 causes , Kennedy is picking up Republican votes for nearly every section of his

 bill . He has a reliable majority of Democrats , but he urges his committee mem

bers to shape bipartisan compromises every time they hit a snag . To some degree

 , the Republicans are just trying to make the best of what they consider a bad 

bill because it is too generous in its benefits and too burdensome on employers 

. On the final vote for committee approval for the Kennedy proposal , the only R

epublican likely to support it is James M. Jeffords of Vermont , a co-sponsor of

 the original Clinton proposal . Kennedy 's bill is also certain to run into opp

osition from conservative and moderate Democrats when it reaches the Senate floo

r . But Sen. Nancy L. Kassebaum of Kansas , the ranking Republican on the commit

tee , said she believes some of the bipartisan compromises the panel is reaching

 on side issues such as a fail-safe process for controlling benefit costs could 

find their way into law . At a minimum , Kennedy 's committee offers hope for pa

ssing health care reform this year when progress elsewhere is hard to find . `` 

This committee is moving along at a better pace than anyone else on health care 

reform , '' Sen. Barbara A . Mikulski , a Maryland Democrat who serves on the pa

nel , observed with satisfaction during a voting session this week . `` And we '

re doing it with a better tone . '' ( Optional add end ) Kennedy 's delight in h

is progress on the health care legislation was overshadowed by the recent death 

of his sister-in-law , Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis . As patriarch of the Kennedy 

clan , it fell to him to comfort his huge family through yet another tragedy . T

here are also signs of trouble at home in Massachusetts , where surveys suggest 

that Kennedy may be vulnerable to a re-election challenge for the first time sin

ce he arrived in Washington 32 years ago . A majority of those questioned in a r

ecent Boston Globe poll indicated they thought it might be time for the 62-year-

old Kennedy to retire . Reminders during the Onassis funeral of the rakishly han

dsome youth who was first elected to the Senate when his brother was president h

ave been a mixed blessing for the `` Teddy '' of today . The ruddy-faced veteran

 of what Kennedy acknowledges as too many long nights on the town has seen his p

oll ratings sink at a time when he 's getting around the state more than he has 

in years . `` To see him is not to love him , '' said Ronald Kaufman , a Republi

can political operative from Massachusetts who served in the Bush White House . 

`` He doesn't look good . '' By all accounts , Kennedy 's remarriage two years a

go to Victoria Reggie has brought stability to his personal life . The two joine

d in a Christmas party skit last year that poked fun at his licentious bachelor 

behavior . `` He 's changed a great deal , '' said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch , a Utah 

Republican and close friend of Kennedy . `` I 've been there throughout the proc

ess , and I have to say his marriage to Vicki has been a wonderful thing for him

 . '' Kennedy turned to Hatch for counsel and help after the 1991 incident durin

g which his nephew , William Kennedy Smith , was charged with rape , Hatch said 

. The incident reflected badly on Kennedy because he had awakened the younger ma

n to go out drinking with him earlier that evening . The physical effects of tho

se years of hard living are not easy to reverse . But Kennedy advisers say they 

aren't worried . His campaign has a huge war chest of $ 8 million to spend on ge

tting out the message of how effective Kennedy is on the job . Most gratifying f

or Kennedy is that he has upended the predictions of those who had written him o

ff as too liberal to be a major player in the health care debate . Said White Ho

use lobbyist Steven J. Ricchetti : `` He 's staying in the game . ''

 BEDFORD , Va. . Long gone are the boys of Bedford , gone these 50 years , lost 

in the roiling English Channel and on the sands of Omaha , cut down by German pi

llboxes and artillery shells that blew men and machines and whole boats out of t

he water . Gone a half century now , these were the Gold Stars of Bedford , the 

young men who would never marry their sweethearts or raise families , who would 

not return to the farm , who would never gather Saturdays at Green 's Drug Store

 and dazzle the younger boys with stories of heroism on D-day , June 6 , 1944 . 

These men 19 sons of Bedford killed on D-day alone , the largest proportion of c

asualties for any community in the nation lie under great oak trees at the town 

cemetery and under white crosses on the fields of Normandy . For one of them , R

aymond Hoback , all that was found was his Bible , tossing in the surf , scooped

 up by another soldier trudging onward into France . John Wilkes would never aga

in drive down Main Street in his tan station wagon with the wood siding , ferryi

ng his buddies and their dates to picnics out on Smith Mountain Lake . Elaine Co

ffey and Bedford Hoback , engaged to be married after the war , would never move

 into their little farm home . Ray Stevens would not shake his brother 's hand i

n France , and Earl Parker would never ever see his baby daughter . Such a high 

price for one small town . In 1944 , Bedford had just 3,400 residents , and only

 one taxi driver , one undertaker and one sheriff . It fell to them to deliver t

he telegrams , driving past the farm fields rich in summer grain , the hillsides

 covered with loblolly and hardwoods , the clay foothills at the break of the Bl

ue Ridge Mountains . They went to the Deane home and the Schenk home and the Rey

nolds home , and stopped twice at the Hobacks ; they lost two sons . Today , the

ir names are engraved in granite on a memorial on the lawn of the Bedford County

 Courthouse . The granite was carved out of a Vierville-sur-Mer cave where the m

en of Company A , 116th Infantry , the `` blue and grey '' 29th Division , lande

d on Normandy . There will be a modest courthouse ceremony to mark the 50th anni

versary , as there have been at other times , because even after all these years

 , the grief is still borne by their loved ones in this still small town of wido

ws and children . Saddest among them , perhaps , was Frank P. Draper Sr. , so ov

ercome with sorrow that he built a large stone monument atop his son 's grave in

 Bedford . For Frank Jr. , `` Juney '' as he called him , the father poured out 

his broken heart on that marble sarcophagus : `` We loved you Juney , dearly lov

ed you , but God loved you best . '' But even that did not cool the grief . One 

cold January day 20 years ago , Frank Sr. shot himself to death . He now lies bu

ried next to the son he gave to France . There had been happier times . Bedford 

back then was known by its motto , the `` World 's Best Little Town . '' Then ca

me the day when Elizabeth Teass , working the Western Union machine at Green 's 

Drug Store , was suddenly inundated with wires that began `` The Secretary of Wa

r regrets to inform you. ... '' This was on a Sunday morning in July , six weeks

 after Bedford families were not only not getting any more letters from their so

ldiers fighting in Europe , but their own letters to the men were being sent bac

k unopened . Something was wrong . `` Green 's used to be a happy drugstore , ''

 Teass said about the local hangout , a combination drugstore-diner . `` It was 

a lively affair . Everybody was happy there . `` But on this particular morning 

, Roanoke wired that they had casualties to give us and then they started coming

 . There was a crowd gathering around , and after the wires had been delivered i

t was affecting everybody . `` Everybody now was coming down to the drugstore an

d when it was over , this was a calm , blue Bedford . This was a blue town . So 

many young men killed . '' At the Hoback home , where the family was dressing fo

r Sunday services at the Center Point Methodist Church , the news came that Bedf

ord Hoback was dead . Soon their home was filled with parishioners from the chur

ch across the road , offering comfort . The next morning , while the Hoback chil

dren were cranking homemade ice cream in the cellar for their grieving parents ,

 they learned that another brother , Raymond , had also been killed . Some time 

later , Raymond 's family Bible arrived in the mail , with a letter from Pvt. H.

W. Crayton addressed from `` Somewhere in France . '' Crayton had plucked the Bi

ble out of the water , convinced that Raymond was alive and probably had just dr

opped it in the surf . `` You have by now received a letter from your son saying

 he is well , '' Crayton wrote . `` I sincerely hope so . '' So sure was he that

 Raymond was safe , Crayton went on to describe the success of the invasion and 

the `` peaceful and quiet '' Normandy beachfront now that the German guns had be

en silenced . `` The birds have begun their daily practice , '' he wrote , `` al

l the flowers and trees are in bloom , and especially the poppies and tulips whi

ch are very beautiful at this time of the year . '' Unlike the Bible , Raymond '

s body was never recovered . ( Begin optional trim ) `` It was just too much for

 us , '' recalled Lucille Hoback Boggess , a sister who was just 15 at the time 

. `` My mother was never the same . She later suffered a stroke and lived anothe

r 10 years but she couldn't speak or remember anything . `` It took all of the j

oy out of our family . No more family picnics . No more family get-togethers . A

nd my mother never forgave the Germans . Once a German missionary came to our ch

urch , and she wouldn't go see him . It was the first time she ever refused to g

o to church . '' ( End optional trim ) The Bedford casualties were among 197 men

 in the company assault group on D-day . In all , 30 of them were from Bedford .

 They were assigned to several landing craft and then launched across the Englis

h Channel . Roy Stevens , now 74 , remembers speaking with his twin brother , Ra

y , before splitting up on the landing boats . They talked about home and Ray wa

s shaking and he seemed convinced he wouldn't make it . Ray suggested they shake

 hands goodbye . `` No , '' Roy told him . `` We 'll shake hands in France . '' 

Some days later , Roy was walking through a makeshift graveyard near the beach w

hen he stumbled across his brother 's dog tags nailed to one of the crosses . ``

 I saw several Bedford boys buried up there , '' he said . `` None of them made 

it . '' He also remembers Earl Parker staring at his little girl 's photograph t

he night before D-day , and his misgivings about the invasion . `` If I could on

ly see my baby daughter , I wouldn't mind dying , '' Parker told his buddies . H

e too perished on Normandy . ( Begin optional trim ) Captain Taylor N . Fellers 

, before the war a state highway foreman in Bedford , skipped out of an Army hos

pital to make the landing . He had earlier written home about his men : `` I 'm 

beginning to think it 's hard to beat a Bedford boy as a soldier . '' At the bea

ch , Fellers and his boat crew were hit by an artillery shell that , to Bob Slau

ghter , a soldier from nearby Roanoke , `` looked like it made Capt. Fellers jus

t evaporate into thin air . '' ( End optional trim ) Ray Nance , one of the few 

who did return to Bedford , can still see John Reynolds running ahead of him up 

the beach . `` He went down on his knees , and he brought his rifle up as if he 

were searching for something , and then he fell forward . He was dead . '' He ca

n still hear J.D. Clifton screaming into his pack radio near the cliffs . `` Sud

denly he yelled that he 'd been hit and he died . '' And he can see John Wilkes 

and John Schenk taking heavy sniper fire near their boats , cut down at the wate

rline . `` You know , '' Nance said , `` us Bedford boys , we competed to be in 

the first wave . We wanted to be there . We wanted to be the first on the beach 

. `` We got our wish . ''

 LOS ANGELES The latest cause gaining appeal in Los Angeles is not AIDS or the h

omeless or even the rain forest . It 's the Los Angeles Police Department . With

 such recent offerings as cash , computers , cameras , furniture even a motor ho

me donations to the LAPD in the past five months have surpassed the tally for al

l of 1993 . The increase in donations , from private citizens , businesses and o

ther government agencies , has been attributed partly to city officials ' effort

 to prod the private sector into helping the city during its fiscal crisis . But

 some police officials speculate that residents and businesses are chipping in b

ecause they feel helpless in the war against crime and want to do their part to 

assist the department . `` I think it 's kind of an outpouring of support predic

ated on the fact that we have just been through some tumultuous experiences , ''

 said Al Beuerlein , who heads the department 's financial support bureau . ( Be

gin optional trim ) Police in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown have

 fared particularly well at drawing donations over the past year , receiving tho

usands of dollars worth of computers , bicycles , automobiles and high-tech came

ras used to produce extra-sharp photographs of evidence . For example , 13 perso

nal computers donated by Great Western Bank are being used to help officers writ

e crime reports . Because reports can be written faster , police are including m

ore details , which they believe improves the chances of a suspect being convict

ed if the case goes to trial . `` I can't even guess at the number of hours this

 has saved us , '' said West Valley Detective Dave Navarro . ( End optional trim

 ) According to city records , 16 donations have been accepted for the departmen

t so far this year , four more than all of last year . Because most donations to

 the LAPD are goods such as used computers and cars , police officials could not

 provide a cash total for offerings or a precise breakdown of how much each stat

ion has received . This year , the department has taken in $ 22,000 in cash , 41

 computers , 100 cellular phones , a 1972 motor home , a 1993 Ford wagon , offic

e furniture and a facsimile machine , among other donations . Leading the city '

s campaign to draw donations to the police are Mayor Richard Riordan and Council

woman Laura Chick , both of whom came into office last July and immediately bega

n tapping community groups and private firms to beef up a department so fiscally

 strapped that officers have not had a raise in two years and use dilapidated eq

uipment such as cars with more than 100,000 miles on them . As part of Riordan '

s efforts to increase donations , next month the City Council is expected to app

rove a special trust fund for the Police Department to cut down on the red tape 

that delays the acceptance of donations for at least two weeks until the council

 can consider them . The trust fund would eliminate the requirement of council a

pproval for donations valued under $ 10,000 . ( Begin optional trim ) West Valle

y Sgt. Walt Kainz attributes most of the increase in donations his division has 

garnered to Chick 's efforts . They have included turning over more than $ 80,00

0 from her office budget to the division and giving the department three of the 

seven city cars assigned to her staff . She has also encouraged residents to mak

e donations through the West Valley Police Athletic League Supporters , a nonpro

fit booster organization that uses cash donations to purchase equipment for the 

division , Kainz said . Contributors to such organizations can get a tax write-o

ff . Money donated through West Valley PALS was used to purchase a sophisticated

 $ 700 camera that police use to photograph needle marks on the arms of suspecte

d drug users for use as evidence in court , Kainz said . The camera originally u

sed by the department was damaged during the Northridge earthquake and the Polic

e Department lacked the cash to replace it , he said . ( End optional trim ) The

 motivations behind the donations vary . A spokesman for Duskin Co. Ltd. , a cle

aning-equipment rental firm based in Osaka , Japan , said the firm donated $ 20,

000 the biggest cash donation in recent months to the Police Department 's Asian

 Crime Investigation unit because an executive vice president was acquainted wit

h a sergeant and wanted to help . Last year , Rice Honda Co. loaned the LAPD two

 Sea-Doo watercraft , similar to oversize jet skis , for a year to be used , in 

part , to make rescues when the Los Angeles River overflows . Tim Rice , vice pr

esident of the firm , said American Honda offers the use of its products not onl

y to assist police but for the publicity . `` We want the Sea-Doos to be seen ou

t there , '' he said . ( Optional add end ) In the past , the LAPD has received 

such unusual offerings as a 4-year-old gelding Thoroughbred named Mesa Blaze in 

1992 to be used in the department 's mounted police unit . In 1982 , Jack LaLann

e donated physical fitness equipment and the use of his Pasadena gym . In 1988 ,

 American Honda donated three all-terrain vehicles . The staff of the television

 show `` Hunter '' got into the act in 1990 by donating a cellular phone .

 BEIJING In his plaid pants , golf shirt and sun hat , the Japanese businessman 

slowly squeezed the trigger of a rocket launcher sending off a sudden burst of s

moke , a concussive boom and a sizable shell into a barren mountainside a half m

ile away . `` Aaaaah , '' came the deep growl of satisfaction from the middle-ag

ed tourist as he staggered back from the weapon . `` Fantastic . '' Such thrills

 meant it was business as usual Friday at the China North International Shooting

 Range , about an hour 's drive north of Beijing near the Great Wall . The range

 is located within a weapons research center affiliated with China North Industr

ies Co. or Norinco , the Chinese military conglomerate that has been making and 

sending to the U.S. hundreds of thousands of weapons a year . For those with eno

ugh money , the shooting range offers the chance to fire anything from a small p

istol to an anti-aircraft machine gun . These arms include the Chinese-made assa

ult rifles and handguns that President Clinton announced Thursday he wants to ba

n from entry into the United States . Such ranges using military weaponry were o

rdered closed by China 's central government last year . But this one is special

 . While tourists are no longer brought out here by the busload , the range has 

quietly remained open for business . This is because this range also functions a

s a showcase of Norinco 's smaller arms to potential bulk buyers from abroad . A

n attached exhibition hall shows off the company 's export line : from `` Saturd

ay night specials '' to the cheap SKS semi-automatic rifle so popular in the Uni

ted States these days . Exports of these and other firearms to the United States

 may bring $ 100 million to $ 200 million in annual sales to Norinco and other C

hinese military firms . But those running Norinco 's range claimed Friday to kno

w nothing of Clinton 's decision to ban their products . `` This gun is not for 

sale here , but you might be able to get it in America , '' the range 's manager

 explained coyly as he pointed to an SKS . Hundreds of thousands of these Chines

e-made assault rifles were imported by the United States last year . China 's Fo

reign Ministry was hardly so indirect in issuing a statement Friday welcoming Cl

inton 's decision to renew China 's most-favored-nation trade status , but decry

ing the president 's parallel move to ban U.S. imports of the Chinese-made weapo