August 6, 1985

Forty years after World War II, strong majorities of both Americans and Japanese regard their countries as friends, with old hostilities apparently receding into the background, according to a New York Times/CBS News/Tokyo Broadcasting System Poll. But the poll found that war memories can still stir powerful emotions on both sides, with 44 percent of Japanese saying they held the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki against the United States and 27 percent of Americans saying they held the attack on Pearl Harbor against Japan. Current trade frictions have not altered their basic attitudes, most people in both countries said. But the corrosive potential of the trade issue was evident anyway. Those who reported that trade had changed their opinions were three times more likely to say that they now felt less friendly about the other country than more friendly.

MANY years ago, scientists deduced that the primary energy source of the Sun and other stars is the fusion of hydrogen nucleii. Experiments intended to verify this fundamental presumption, however, have indicated that something is seriously amiss. In theory, such a fusion reaction would bombard Earth with a stream of ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos, yet this rich flow of neutrinos has not been observed. A consortium of European institutions has now embarked on the most ambitious effort yet to track the elusive particles, deep in a vast cavern near Rome. If the effort is successful, scientists will be a step closer to answering one of their most puzzling questions: What makes the Sun shine?

Companies BankAmerica cut its dividend nearly in half, to 20 cents a share from 38 cents. The decision will save the company, which posted a $338 million loss in the second quarter, more than $109 million a year. Directors made the decision at a lengthy meeting attended by Federal regulators. [Page D1.] MGM/UA said it was discussing a sale to Turner Broadcasting for $29 a share in cash, or a total of $1.5 billion. The complex agreement would initially give Turner control of the entire company, but MGM/UA would immediately sell off parts for about $500 million, leaving Turner with control of the MGM film library. But Wall Street was skeptical about the deal's prospects. [D1.]

A Boston-based utility holding company is seeking to place a big bet on the troubled Seabrook nuclear project. The company, Eastern Utilities Associates, has offered to buy the shares of four other utilities, which are being urged to sell by regulators. If the unusual bid succeeds, it would increase Eastern's share of Seabrook to 14.2 percent from 2.9 percent, and could put the company in a position to resell extra power to other utilities at a sizable profit. The uncertainty of Seabrook's future, however, makes Eastern's bid risky. The company wants to raise its stake in a project whose value would be reduced to near zero, if it were abandoned, and it has been near that stage several times. In addition, Eastern is making an open-ended commitment to pay another 11.3 percent of the completion costs, no matter how high those rise, in a business that is notoriously unstable.

Two prominent investors, Laurence A. Tisch and Warren E. Buffett, are considering joining with Richard Ravitch, the former chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and other investors in a move to own the ailing Bowery savings Bank, sources close to the negotiations said yesterday. The bailout of the Bowery, which has been losing money for years, is contingent on an agreement the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is expected to reach this week with Mr. Ravitch and the Bowery. Under the agreement the agency would inject an estimated $255 million to $265 million into the Bowery over the next 15 years, sources close to the talks said. The F.D.I.C. agreement calls for a $100 million infusion by an investor group led by Mr. Ravitch. This private investor group would then own the Bowery, which would be converted from a mutual savings institution that is owned by its depositors.