Gathering

The first gathering of Democrats seeking Rep. Kweisi Mfume's 7th Congressional District seat was held yesterday -- but not all the candidates were invited, the session was closed to the public, and the meeting might have been an effort to pare the number of aspirants.The hastily called meeting with some of the candidates in the 28-person Democratic primary was sponsored by Marylanders Organized for Responsibility and Equity (MORE), an organization with roots deep in the city's black power structure.

The Pentagon is creating a new intelligence service aimed at gathering information on terrorist networks, weapons of mass destruction and other emerging concerns, a senior defense official said Monday. The new Defense Clandestine Service will draw several hundred officers from the existing Defense Intelligence Agency, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the classified program. The officers - some military, some civilian - will work alongside CIA counterparts in places such as Africa, whereal-Qaida has grown more active, and Asia, where Chinese military expansion and North Korean and Iranian weapons ambitions are drawing increasing U.S. concern.

Boeing Co. said yesterday that it would acquire Conquest Inc., an intelligence-gathering company in Annapolis Junction, as it works to better integrate the diverse functions of its business. Boeing did not disclose financial details of the deal, but said it expects the transaction to be completed by the end of this quarter. Under the agreement, Conquest will become a part of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. Conquest will be renamed Boeing Advanced Information Systems -Maryland Operations.

ROME - In the largest youth gathering ever held in the West, more than 2 million young people prayed, sang, swayed and got sprayed with water hoses yesterday at a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II on a hot, dusty, trash-strewn field in a suburb of Rome. The youth Mass closed a six-day World Youth Festival timed to coincide with a Roman Catholic Holy Year. The Italian media dubbed the gathering "The Catholic Woodstock" - a teeming love-in without the sex, drugs or rock 'n' roll, but with much of the same enthusiasm and abandon.

Evan and Heather of Rochester, N.Y., both 11 years old, have been friends throughout childhood. They are also fellow nudists and some of the youngest competitors in the second annual Nude Olym-picks.The mock-athletic event for nudists, or "naturists," as some prefer to be called, got under way in earnest today at a private campground near the tiny Harford County village of Darlington. Organizers of the four-day gathering of nudists from the mid-Atlantic region and elsewhere played host to dozens of journalists, and Evan and Heather were comfortable despite the attention.

Iran's supreme leader was speaking to a gathering of air force commanders, warning of the consequences should the United States attack his country. ?The enemy knows well that any invasion would be followed by a comprehensive reaction to the invaders and their interests all over the world.? Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Jim Foster, 55, a founder of the gay movement in the United States, died Wednesday in San Francisco of complications from AIDS. A longtime Democratic Party organizer, he became the first openly gay person to address a national political gathering at the party's 1972 national convention in Miami.

Hinder Hinder, whose album Extreme Behavior is gathering strength on the popularity of the single "Lips of an Angel," hits Washington's 9:30 Club tonight at 7:30. Eighteen Visions and Lynam are also billed. Tickets are $20; ticket availability may be limited. The club is at 815 V St. N.W., Washington. Visit 930.com or tickets.com.

On the steamy second floor of Adrian's Book Cafe, strangers fan themselves and talk aimlessly about the unexpected burst of summer heat. It's all small talk, subterfuge really, for what's truly on their minds. Those gathered here - from the clean-cut Catonsville couple to the ribald divorcee - harbor one unyielding thought: Sex.Before the night ends, they will speak of it. The secret urgencies and cries of love, rain-swept sheets and ripening fruit. The great beast within? It will come out, in conversation at least, and the unleashing will make them laugh and fidget, stare dreamily at the ceiling tile and applaud - out of relief and satisfaction - when it's over.

THE Los Angeles riots earlier this year underlined the %J smoldering tensions between blacks and Korean merchants. Suspicion and mistrust on both sides were a warning to communities everywhere that unless black and Korean leaders come together to talk over their problems, the threat of renewed interethnic conflict would continue to hang over troubled inner-city neighborhoods.That is why a recent gathering of some 400 members of Baltimore's black and Korean communities at Douglas Memorial Community Church in Bolton Hill was so heartening.