What was going on when I was born?

Most of the two million square feet of unused air rights that remain over Grand Central Terminal are being acquired by a real-estate partnership that plans to use them for development near, but not above, the landmark depot. The partnership, First Boston Real Estate, a subsidiary of First Boston Inc., is studying five sites, one of which it owns, for the transfer of at least 1.5 million square feet of air rights. Frederick W. Rovet, vice president of the Penn Central Corporation, which owns the air rights, said the agreement with the partnership ''eliminates forever the threat of building over Grand Central Terminal, the tabernacle of transportation.'' Site Occupies Entire Block That threat seemed largely removed in 1978 when the United States Supreme Court sustained a refusal by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to allow a proposed tower to be built over the terminal. The ruling, however, focused on the specific Penn Central proposal but did not preclude the development of other plans. Neither Mr. Rovet nor G. Ware Travelstead, chairman of the partnership, would discuss the value of the air-rights transfer.

The Foreign Ministers of Syria and Saudi Arabia announced today that rival Palestinian factions had agreed to stop fighting here and withdraw from the area within two weeks. But the Palestinians later cast doubt on whether the agreement would be put into effect. At a news conference here, Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the forces opposing him had sent in reinforcements overnight and that ''we expect tomorrow they will try another big attempt.'' Saturday is the day that rebels in the P.L.O. have threatened to begin fighting Mr. Arafat in the streets of Tripoli. In Damascus, the Syrian capital, Col. Abu Khaled al-Omlah, the chief of staff of the rebels, indicated that his faction was unwilling to comply with a provision of the agreement that requires the withdrawal of all Palestinian guerrillas from Tripoli and its environs. 'We Will Never Leave' ''We will never leave these camps,'' Colonel Omlah said of the Beddawi and Nahr al Bared refugee settlements near Tripoli. ''They are our camps. We are the only ones who can insure the protection of our people in these camps.'' At his news conference, Mr. Arafat seemed not to have seen the full text of the agreement, which was announced in Damascus, and possibly had not given his final endorsement.

News Analysis MOSCOW, Nov. 25 - In the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from the Geneva talks on medium-range missiles, Western diplomats here say they believe that whatever chance there was of a settlement may have fallen victim to the leadership uncertainties in the Kremlin. Principal among the uncertainties is that Yuri V. Andropov appears to be slipping in authority because of illness. As a result, diplomats say they doubt there has been any voice in the Politburo strong enough to argue for more flexibility in Geneva. Developments in the missile talks this week have followed a script set out months ago by Moscow. Mr. Andropov and other leaders had long warned that once deployments of new American missiles in Europe began, there would be no ground for continuing the Geneva negotiations.

The Reagan Administration took a cautious stance today toward reports that Nicaragua had been making conciliatory gestures toward domestic opponents and reducing political support for the guerrilla movement in El Salvador. Both White House and State Department officials questioned whether the Nicaraguan leaders were seriously seeking a political settlement of the conflict in Central America or undertaking token gestures intended to ease pressures on the Sandinista regime. Senior officials acknowledged interest in what the State Department characterized as ''the current relaxation of restrictions'' against internal political critics in Nicaragua, as well as other moves by the Sandinista leadership in Managua. 'Feeling the Heat' ''I think they're feeling the heat,'' said one senior official. ''The $64,000 question is: Are they just sending signals or are they serious?''

Poland is so eager to earn hard currency to prop up its battered economy that the Government is taking a loss of as much as $9 million by reselling Libyan oil on the open market, according to industry sources. The decision dramatically illustrates the plight of the Polish economy, which is heavily dependent on Western raw materials and spare parts and has been deeply affected by a cutoff of credit from Western nations. In effect, Poland is increasing its overall debt to obtain dollars needed to buy Western materials. But viewed another way, Poland is converting a credit granted by Libya into hard currency at relatively low cost.

Prosecutors and criminal defendants are increasingly demanding the names of confidential informants who lead journalists to news stories. Lawyers who represent the press say trial court judges have acceded to those demands despite state laws enacted specifically over the last decade to shield reporters and their confidential sources. Newspapers and television stations have been fined and reporters have received jail sentences for defying the court orders. Decisions against the press in recent months include these: - A New York State appellate court ordered a Schenectady television reporter to tell a grand jury who had disclosed to him that a grand jury had recommended ousting a sheriff. A second grand jury is investigating whether the disclosure to the reporter was itself a crime.

Brazil is the country that might have become another Japan. Instead, it is flat broke, with a broken spirit and an empty treasury. The Brazilian ''miracle'' - the spurt of growth from the late 1960's to the late 1970's - became the economist's model of the way to manage expansion from agrarian stagnation to the newly industrialized stage. Now, however, Brazil is in its third year of recession, and the country that once was the world banking system's ideal borrower pleads for loans just to pay the interest on its debts. How Brazil fell to a position where it is known best today for the weight of its $92 billion foreign debt, larger than that of any other country, is a matter that absorbs all those who have a stake in the country - Brazilians themselves and the industrial world, which relies for much of its own prosperity on the health of developing countries such as Brazil.

A Pan American Airways transcontinental flight made an unscheduled stop here today after one passenger, a diplomatic courier for China, asked for political asylum. The incident also reportedly involved a dispute on board the aircraft between the would-be defector and another Chinese courier over possession of diplomatic pouches they had brought aboard the plane in San Francisco. After what airline officials described as a loud dispute, which occurred when the 747 jet was about an hour west of Chicago, Capt. Gerald Dion, the pilot of Pan Am flight 72A, decided to land at O'Hare International. He radioed ahead for assistance, and State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service officials, as well as the Federal and local law-enforcement authorities, rushed to O'Hare through heavy holiday traffic. Defector Leaves Plane The plane was parked in an isolated area of the 10-square-mile airport near runway 14R and surrounded by the police. After a three-hour stop at O'Hare, the Chinese defector, whose name was reported to be Gogiang Yang, left the aircraft and the plane continued on its way toward New York's Kennedy International Airport. There were no reports of injuries among the 88 passengers, 11 flight attendants and three cockpit crewmen.

Marching soldiers, enthusiastic models waving from colorful floats and bands belting out the show tune ''There's Nothing Like a Dame'' led a parade past half a million onlookers earlier this month. The occasion was London's official welcome for its first female Lord Mayor. Dame Dorothy Mary Donaldson's inauguration Nov. 12 ended more than eight centuries of male tenure in the largely ceremonial position, but the event received little attention in British newspapers. Living in a nation whose chief leadership figures are Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britons did not seem surprised that Lady Donaldson is now Lord Mayor.

A reconciliation meeting among all factions in Chad's civil war will soon take place in Ethiopia, the Government of Chad announced today. A communique from President Hissen Habre's Government said Mr. Habre had agreed to the meeting without preconditions. No date for the meeting was given.

Printers at Britain's national newspapers walked off the job tonight in a labor dispute, forcing the cancellation of the Saturday editions. The dispute, in which the union involved, the National Graphical Association, has ignored court orders to end picketing and to pay fines, marks the first direct refusal to comply with labor laws passed by the Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to restrict the power of British labor unions. The dispute began five months ago when a regional publisher hired nonunion labor for a print shop. The union began picketing and he fired six of his employees from another shop and has since refused to rehire them. The plants produce newspapers that are distributed free of charge.

Canadian postal workers offered the public a protest Christmas present today - letters sent for 10 cents, not the usual 32 cents.