What was going on when I was born?

Confusion prevailed among banks and thrift institutions after an I.R.S. warning that it might not permit tax-free incentives for the new ''All Savers'' certificates. Many of the institutions, pending a final decision, suspended the packages, which are sold through a high-interest-bearing repurchase agreement. Those that did not require an automatic rollover into a savings certificate dropped their advertising but continued to sell the packages. (Page A1.) Six-month money market certificates may be converted into the new ''All Savers'' certificates Oct. 1 without any early withdrawal penalty, Federal banking regulators ruled. The decision opens the way for the potential conversion of nearly $500 billion of the popular money market certificates. (D19.)

One man was killed and at least four persons were hurt yesterday morning when two adjoining four-story brick tenements collapsed in a racket of falling debris and clouds of dust behind the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Both of the buildings, on the west side of Ninth Avenue just north of 41st Street, were more than a century old. One of them, No. 571, apparently collapsed first and pulled down the second one, immediately to the south, at No. 569. A two-block section of the avenue was sealed off as a result of the collapse, causing extensive traffic jams through the afternoon on the West Side of Manhattan.

After years of ambitious spending and aggressive acquisition, Tiger International has closed in on its goal of providing a complete door-to-door cargo transportation service using truck, rail and aircraft. But there are a couple of big hurdles yet to clear. One of the problems is Purolator Inc., which is resisting Tiger's attempts to acquire its courier service. Another is Reliance Group Inc., which has 19.5 percent of Tiger's stock.

The Customs Service is testing its ability to prosecute those who import antiques and artifacts that are claimed by other nations as part of their cultural heritage. The service is seeking indictments in a case involving more than $1 million worth of gold, silver, pottery and other pre-Columbian artifacts from Peru. If successfully prosecuted, the case could set a legal precedent empowering the Customs Service to interdict shipments of cultural materials as ''stolen property,'' on the basis of foreign laws declaring that the materials belong to foreign governments. A Federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., is investigating the case, which involves a New York art dealer and others, according to persons familiar with the details. The case raises a thicket of complex issues involving international relations and international law, scholarship and business.

Banks and savings and loan associations across the country reacted in confusion yesterday to an Internal Revenue Service warning about their high-interest ''bonus'' programs aimed at lining up deposits for the new ''All Savers'' certificates. In a survey, many savings and loan associations said they were shelving the packages while they awaited a final I.R.S. ruling, expected this week. Other savings institutions and commercial banks said they were revising their pro- Chase Manhattan and First National of Chicago cut their prime rates half a point, to 20 percent. Page D1. grams in an attempt to meet what they believed were the IRS objections.

M INNEAPOLIS STUDIES of physical attractiveness show that people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover, often with dramatic effects on those being judged. The findings suggest that expectations based on physical attractiveness can become self-fulfilling prophecies that may strongly influence the course of a person's life. The studies show that people known (or supposed) to be physically attractive are invested by others with a host of desirable characteristics, such as warmth, poise, sensitivity, kindness, sincerity and the potential for social, marital and occupational success. And according to Dr. Ellen Berscheid, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, these beliefs about physically attractive people, and the preferential treatment that grows out of them, can have lasting effects on an individual's personality, social life, and educational and career opportunities. Dr. Berscheid said the importance of physical attractiveness is growing and will continue to grow as increases in geographic mobility, frequent job changes and divorce subject more people to ''onetime'' or ''few-time'' interactions with others, in which they are judged on the basis of first impressions.

Uranus. Scientists know so little about Uranus that they have few preconceptions of what Voyager may find there. To get to Uranus, in January 1986, the 1,800-pound craft must cruise another one billion miles over the next 4 1/2 years. It got an indispensable boost in momentum and shift in trajectory from Saturn's gravity as it passed that planet last week. A rare alignment of the planets in recent years makes possible such gravity-assist, multiplanet missions.

Fears of continued high interest rates and a heavy supply of new financing sent bond prices tumbling yesterday as numerous yields rose to record levels. The Government's newest 30-year bond plunged 3 points, or $30 for each $1,000 bond, to 93, while its yield rose to 14.80 percent. It had closed on Friday with a yield under 14.50 percent. The main depressant in the fixed-income market, traders said, was the declaration of Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, on Sunday that the Fed has to ''keep restraining the growth of money and credit'' to combat inflation.

Iran buried its slain President and Prime Minister today, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini vowed that their deaths would not change the course of the Islamic revolution. Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Speaker of Parliament, and Ayatollah Moussavi Ardabeli, the Chief Justice of Iran, were named as members of a presidential committee to run the country until a new presidential election could be held, and the Speaker called for the death of ''all counterrevolutionaries.'' The Teheran radio said that the Iranian Army and Air Force had pledged loyalty to Ayatollah Khomeini anew. As hundreds of thousands of wailing and chanting demonstrators massed in the streets of Teheran for the funeral procession of President Mohammed Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammed Javad Bahonar, Ayatollah Khomeini said in a broadcast from his home, ''The nation is calm and assured that those who have been martyred would be replaced by volunteers ready to be martyred.''

The United States, in a break with its allies, tonight vetoed a Security Council resolution strongly criticizing South Africa for its raid into Angola. France voted with 12 other Council members to rebuke the South Africans while Britain abstained. The 13-to-1 result with the single abstention was said by diplomats here to Text of vetoed resolution, page A4. have underscored the growing split between the United States and its four Western partners on issues in southern Africa.

A lifeline of ships streamed out of United States ports last year with more than half of the grain in international trade, carrying wheat to the Soviet Union and China, animal feed to South Korea and corn to Mexico. More than ever before, the world depends upon American exports for its basic food needs. This country now exports more grain than Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa together produce. Thanks in part to aggressive promotional efforts, the United States has become the No.1 supplier of ducks to Singapore, nudging out China. And in Peking itself, a model $1.5 million bakery will soon be demonstrating the latest techniques in baking Western-style bread. Surge in Shipments In the last 10 years, American farm exports have almost tripled in volume, surging 25 percent in the last two years alone. In this bumper crop year, the United States will be shipping 163 million metric tons abroad - almost 40 percent of its harvest - and earning a record $44.7 billion for its hard-pressed balance of payments. Two-fifths of the acres harvested in the United States now produce for export. Indeed, roughly five million acres produce for China alone.

President Reagan recommended today that white-collar Federal employees receive a 4.8 percent pay increase Oct. 1. This is less than one-third the amount authorized by a 1970 salary law. Under a formula contained in the Pay Comparability Act, a raise of 15.1 percent would be necessary for Federal salaries to keep pace with pay in the private sector for the same levels of work. In his message to Congress, the President said that he believed in the ''comparability principle,'' but added that the lower figure reflected his belief ''that significant changes are required in the way that principle is currently defined and implemented.''