LEAD: In the wake of large-scale corruption charges against restaurant inspectors, the Koch administration will reorganize the way more than 3,000 New York City employees inspect and license many commercial activities, a senior official said yesterday.

NEW YORK REVISING INSPECTION SYSTEM TO PREVENT GRAFT

LEAD: A measure that authorizes the President to block foreign takeovers of American companies if the deals are believed to endanger national security was approved Thursday evening by Administration officials and House and Senate negotiators.

BILL WOULD CURB FOREIGN COMPANIES IN U.S TAKEOVERS

LEAD: On a rutted back road of this Russian town, two building supply companies have coexisted for years. Both offered prices fixed by the state, limited selection, indifferent service. Who cared? The state made sure everyone was paid.

Going Co-op: At the Soviet Economic Frontier

LEAD: When the Nicaraguan guerrillas announced one of their first directorates five years ago, the Sandinista newspaper Barricada ran photos of each contra leader beneath a huge headline that declared, ''These Beasts Will Never Return.''

For Managua, Economic Woe

LEAD: Robert Joffrey, the founder and artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet, a company renowned for its wide-ranging repertory and exuberant young performers, died yesterday morning at the New York University Medical Center University Hospital in New York City. He was 57 years old.

Robert Joffrey, 57, Founder Of the Ballet Troupe, Is Dead

INSIDE

LEAD: Robert E. Chambers Jr., who insisted through 13 weeks of an agonized murder trial that Jennifer Levin had died accidentally, yesterday reluctantly said he had lied, that he had meant to hurt her, and he abruptly pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

Chambers, With Jury at Impasse, Admits 1st-Degree Manslaughter

LEAD: The International Business Machines Corporation has offered to supply vital computer chip technology to its arch-rival, the Digital Equipment Corporation, rather than see Digital become increasingly dependent on Japanese suppliers, according to a new book and sources in the industry.

I.B.M. SAID TO OFFER CHIP DATA TO RIVAL TO THWART JAPANESE

LEAD: Senior contra officials say that they felt they had no choice but to try to reach a preliminary accord with Sandinista representatives and that they believe they signed the best agreement they could get.

For Contras, 'No Help Left'

LEAD: A top Palestinian official loyal to Yasir Arafat was killed in clashes between Palestinians at a refugee center near this southern Lebanese town today, Palestinians said.

Arafat Aide Dies in Lebanon

LEAD:  INTERNATIONAL 2-5, 32  News analysis: The Sandinistas have made dramatic reversals about the contras for varied reasons. The country faces an economic crisis and an insurgency that saps its resources so that social progress is impossible.  Page 1  News analysis: Contra officials say they felt they had no choice but to try to reach a preliminary accord with the Sandinistas and that they believe they signed the best agreement they could get.

NEWS SUMMARY

LEAD: ''I just have to believe that they're going to be found innocent because I don't think they were guilty of any lawbreaking or any crime.'' - President Reagan, referring to Lieut. Col.

Quotation of the Day

LEAD: Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar agreed this evening to an Iranian demand that he send a team of experts to investigate accusations that Iraq used chemical weapons against civilians, the United Nations said.

U.N. to Study Poison-Gas Charge

LEAD: Because of an editing error, an article yesterday about Gov. Michael S. Dukakis's campaign organization in Michigan included a scrambled sentence. Referring to Representative Richard A. Gephardt, a Presidential rival, and Curtis Van Meter, a Dukakis worker, it should have read, ''Mr. Gephardt, as it happens, looks like Mr.

Correction

LEAD: A picture caption in some copies yesterday, with an article about an Indian petroglyph found at the New York Botanical Garden, misidentified the woman at the center. She was Beth M. Henriques of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

CORRECTION

LEAD: China's acting Prime Minister, Li Peng, opened the annual session of parliament today with a call to continue the economic and political initiatives that have dramatically affected the lives of the nation's one billion people.

CHINESE OFFICIAL URGES MODERATION

LEAD: Because of an editing error, a front-page article Thursday about Chinese plans to cut back on foreign study misidentified the source of reports that only 3,000 students a year would be allowed to go abroad. That number was cited by Chinese students who had spoken with Chinese consular officials in the United States; it was not based on official Chinese or American figures.

LEAD: The Reagan Administration today publicly urged Israel to refrain from any military action against the medium-range ballistic missiles that Saudi Arabia recently purchased from China.

Reagan Urges Israeli Restraint on Saudi Missiles

LEAD: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir sharply objected today to a plan by Secretary of State George P. Shultz to meet with two Palestinian-Americans as part of his Middle East peace effort.

Shamir Assails Shultz Plan to Meet 2 U.S. Palestinians

LEAD: A man suspected of organizing a bombing campaign in Paris that killed 13 people and wounded more than 200 others in 1986 was released from detention today.

France Frees Bomb Suspect, But Denies Deal for Hostages

LEAD: Joe Bossano, leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labor Party and an advocate of independence for this British colony, was declared the victor today in local elections.

Advocate of Independence Wins in Gibraltar

LEAD: More than a quarter century ago, they followed a traveling preacher from Germany to a place of sunny skies and crisp air in the foothills of the Andes.

Santiago Journal; At a Chilean 'Utopia,' Dark Tales of Dread Doings

LEAD: Two men have been charged with murder in the mob killing of two British soldiers during an Irish Republican Army funeral in Belfast, the police said today.

Two Charged With Murdering British Soldiers at I.R.A. Rite

LEAD: With the Government strapped for cash because of economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the distribution of checks to the 15,000-member armed forces was put off today for a week.

PANAMA'S MILITARY GOES WITHOUT PAY

LEAD: Soviet citizens engaged in private business will face a progressive income tax beginning April 1, with rates ranging up to 90 percent, according to an official of the Soviet Finance Ministry.

March 26, 1988

Headlines from March 26, 1988

NEW YORK REVISING INSPECTION SYSTEM TO PREVENT GRAFT

BILL WOULD CURB FOREIGN COMPANIES IN U.S TAKEOVERS

Going Co-op: At the Soviet Economic Frontier

For Managua, Economic Woe

Robert Joffrey, 57, Founder Of the Ballet Troupe, Is Dead

Billboard 200

Dirty Dancing

Faith

Bad

Kick

Tiffany

Historical Context for March 26, 1988