February 14, 1985

The State Department, in an annual review, has found continuing deprivation and abuses of human rights in most countries around the world. But a senior department official asserted that the most important trend consisted of improvements in Latin America. Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, said at a news conference today, ''Worldwide, I think I would say that the only significant overall trend is the trend toward improvement in the Western Hemisphere.'' ''In the last five years, I think, we are now up to nine countries that have gone from military dictatorship to democracy,'' he said. ''Zero countries have gone from democracy to dictatorship.''

Forty years after it was devastated by an Anglo-American bombing raid, Dresden's legendary Semper Opera reopened tonight with a lively performance attended by this country's leaders and foreign dignitaries. The centerpiece of an ambitious reconstruction program that aims to give the Communist regime a firm claim on the German past, the Semper resonated tonight to the strains of Carl Maria von Weber's romantic ''Freisch"utz'' - the last opera performed before the Nazis closed the theater in 1944 as they declared a total war effort. As the opera unfolded tonight the church bells of Dresden rang out, recalling the onset of the bombing of one of Europe's loveliest cities on Feb. 13, 1945. Over three days, successive waves of British and American bombers set Dresden's old Baroque center ablaze and killed at least 35,000 people.

Since the first of the year, dozens of the largest American corporations have raised a record amount of capital overseas in the Eurodollar bond market. But in their eagerness to win the business of these companies, international commercial and investment banks have been so aggressive in setting low yields that the bankers have been left with billions of dollars of unsold bonds. ''It's a mess,'' said Hans Rudloff, deputy chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston, the leading underwriter in the Eurodollar bond market. He said supply outstrips demand by 5 to 1. With most recent deals now trading well below their original offering prices not only are underwriters taking losses, but the future of global financing itself has also suffered a setback, he said. Indeed, this is the first time since the Eurodollar new issue market began heating up four years ago that international investors have so firmly turned their backs on the bonds of so many of America's blue chip corporations.

Obesity is a killing disease that should receive the same medical attention as high blood pressure, smoking and other factors that cause serious illness and premature death, a Federal panel concluded here today. Any level of obesity increases health risks, the panel noted, but it singled out a level of 20 percent or more above ''desirable'' body weight as the point at which doctors should treat an otherwise healthy adult. For those who have other health problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, or a family history of such problems, treatment of overweight should start sooner, the panel said. The 14-member panel, composed of health officials from a variety of disciplines, was convened by the National Institutes of Health to try to arrive at a consensus on current knowledge about the dangers to health of various levels of obesity. Treatment of overweight was not considered, although the panel urged that this question be the focus of a future panel.

The Bank of Boston for years accepted paper bags filled with cash from a family identified by Federal authorities as leaders of organized crime without reporting the transactions, according to the former head teller of a branch bank. The deals went unreported because the bank had placed two businesses owned by the family, the Angiulos, on a list of customers whose large cash deposits were exempt from Federal reporting requirements, according to the retired employee, Howard K. Matheson. Some Can Be Exempted Normally all cash transactions over $10,000 must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, but certain retail businesses, such as supermarkets and restaurants, that generate large amounts of cash can be exempted. A Bank of Boston spokesman said he would not confirm whether the Angiulo companies were customers of the bank or, if they were, whether the bank exempted their cash transactions.