What was going on when I was born?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15--Prices that retailers pay for finished goods rose by 1.7 percent in July, the largest monthly increase in nearly six years, the Labor Department reported today.

CAIRO, Aug. 15--President Anwar elSadat proposed to Prime Minister Menachem Begin today a meeting with the United States after the American elec tions in November to overcome the differences that have produced a breakdown in negotiations on Palestinian autonomy.

A videotape depicting what the prosecutor called a bungled attempt by the Mayor of Camden, N.J., and a lawyer from Philadelphia to dupe supposed representatives of Arab sheiks--actually Federal undercover agents--was shown yesterday, amid laughter in the court-room, ...

On his first day as the Democratic nominee for a second four-year term, President Carter continued his assault on the Republicans as a party that would hinder the causes of civil rights and economic opportunity while enhancing the risks of war.

WARSAW, Aug. 15--Bus drivers in the city of Gdansk today joined a walkout by shipyard workers, raising the number of strikers in the Baltic port to more than 50,000 and bringing municipal transportation there to a halt. Edward Gierek, the Polish leader, returned from the Soviet Union to deal with the growing unrest.

SEOUL, South Korea, Saturday, Aug. 16--President Choi Kyu Hah resigned today, paving the way for Gen. Chon Too Hwan, the army strongman, to replace him, probably next week.

An expedition probing the North Atlantic with sonar may have located the hulk of the Titanic, the opulent and "unsinkable" luxury liner that hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage 68 years ago, leaders of the search reported yesterday.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's cool and awkward encounter with President Carter on the podium at Madison Square Garden Thursday night took the gloss off the finale of the Democratic National Convention and left dangling questions about how vigorously Kennedy Democrats will push the Carter cause this fall after their champion looked so reluctant.

CARTER PURI, India, Aug. 12--Here, in the only part of the planet named for James Earl Carter Jr., the villagers are hoping for the re-election of the Presi dent, whom they credit with bringing them good luck, a new road, a school and a pond for breeding fish.

NEW DELHI, Aug. 15--Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, speaking on the 33d an niversary of India's independence, warned today that "violence and anarchy and indiscipline" were spreading throughout the country.

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic--The northwestern region of the Dominican Republic is known for its beautiful and joyful women, for its merengues and its baseball players, for its cactuses and its goats.

SAN SALVADOR, Aug. 15 (AP)-- Guerrillas burned four city buses, killed a bus driver and fought gun battles with army and police patrols today, but Salvadorans largely continued to ignore a nationwide strike called by Marxists and their allies.