July 6, 1985

The national unemployment rate held steady in June for the fifth straight month, the Government reported today. It was the latest of several recent signs that declining interest rates have yet to reinvigorate the economy. The overall jobless rate, including military personnel, stood at 7.2 percent, with the number of unemployed at 8,413,000, the same number as in May. The civilian unemployment rate, which excludes the military, was also unchanged last month at 7.3 percent. Total employment in June was 108,072,000, with 106,370,000 civilians and 1,702,000 in the armed forces.

Seven hours, 46 hits, 29 runs and 19 innings after the first pitch was thrown Thursdaynight, the Mets finally beat the Atlanta Braves this morning, 16-13. No game had gone so many innings this season; no game in history had ended at such a late - or was it early? - hour. At the end, at 3:55 A.M., the game seemed like a blur filled with emotional highs and lows, including the decisive five-run rally in the 19th by the Mets. The game took 6 hours 10 minutes to complete, plus a 41-minute rain delay. It finally ended with a Fourth of July fireworks show for the estimated 8,000 fans who withstood the rain and the drama and remained at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. And when the long night's journey into day was over - when Rick Camp, the pitcher who had delivered an unlikely home run in the 18th inning, finally struck out with two men on base to send everyone wearily home - all that remained were superlatives.

A medical panel ruled today that two white physicians who examined the black activist Steve Biko before his death in detention in 1977 were guilty of improper conduct and that one of them displayed ''disgraceful behavior.'' Mr. Biko, leader of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, was the most prominent black activist to die in police custody in recent years, and he is viewed by many blacks as a martyr in the fight against white minority rule. The finding by a panel made up of a Supreme Court judge and five doctors of South Africa's Medical and Dental Council, the body that oversees the country's medical and dental practices, came after a long series of hearings. Driven Manacled 800 Miles Its conclusion seemed to confirm the accusations of black activists and other physicians that Mr. Biko was suffering from brain damage when the two doctors allowed him to be taken 800 miles, naked and manacled in the back of a Land-Rover, from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria. He died the next day.

Several pieces of the Air-India Boeing 747 that crashed off Ireland June 23, including a panel believed to contain two recording devices, were located on the ocean floor today by an unmanned, remote-controlled submarine. Those investigating the crash say they believe the two recording devices, which monitored the airliner's operating systems and recorded the voices of its crew, may hold vital clues as to whether the plane was destroyed by a bomb, or whether the crash was caused by some structural failure or human error. The finds included portions of the cabin, galley and tail and what appear to be bodies of some of the 329 victims. One of the pieces found, a panel bearing the slogan ''Your Palace in the Sky,'' is thought to hold the flight recorders.

The United States has failed to win any firm backing so far in its effort to enlist international support for closing down Beirut International Airport on the ground that it is a safe haven for terrorists, Reagan Administration officials said today. The American plan has provoked a wave of protest among Arab nations, and today a delegation said to represent all Arab countries asked the State Department to reconsider the action. The Lebanese Government, in a letter to the United Nations Secretary General, said the plan was ''out of proportion'' to the harm done by the hijacking. Some State Department officials said the plan to ''isolate'' the airport, announced last Monday afternoon, had been pushed through by the White House to show that the United States was going to take some action in retaliation for the hijacking of Trans World Airlines Flight 847. The 39 remaining passengers and crew from that plane were freed on Sunday.