LEAD: Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, offered today to place a disputed radar installation in Siberia under international control for use in the peaceful exploration of space.

Gorbachev Offers Disputed Radar For Peaceful Exploration of Space

LEAD: Hurricane Gilbert finished its 2,400-mile odyssey from the Caribbean across the Gulf of Mexico by slamming into the Mexican coast about 120 miles south of here. It vented most of its fury in lightly populated areas.

HURRICANE ROARS INTO MEXICO AGAIN WITH LESS FORCE

LEAD: An advisory committee of the National Institutes of Health concluded today that it is morally acceptable to use human fetal tissue obtained from legal abortions for research and therapy.

U.S. Panel Backs Research Use Of Fetal Tissue From Abortions

LEAD: Starting on Monday, the suggested newsstand price of The Times on weekdays within 75 miles of New York City, and on all of Long Island, will be increased to 35 cents. The change is prompted by rising production costs, including an increase in the price of paper. The newspaper's Sunday price will not change, nor will its weekday price outside the 75-mile area.

To Our Readers

INSIDE

LEAD: The New York City Police Department reported yesterday that murder and manslaughter rose to a near-record level in the first six months of the year.

CRIME RATES RISE IN NEW YORK CITY

LEAD: The United States Navy plans to relax the protection it provides to merchant ships in the Persian Gulf, Reagan Administration officials said. It would be the first major reduction of American operations there since a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq war went into effect on Aug. 20.

U.S. Plans Cuts In Persian Gulf

NEWS SUMMARY

LEAD: In a response to the reduction of tensions brought about by the Iran-Iraq cease-fire, the United States Navy plans to relax the protection it provides to merchant ships in the Persian Gulf, Reagan Administration officials said today.

Navy to End Convoys in Gulf But It Will Still Protect Ships

LEAD: ''It is better than I had expected, but it is difficult to say anything while the cake is still being baked.''  - Andrzej Stelmachowski,  adviser to Lech Walesa,  on talks with the Government.  [ 4:6. ]

Quotation of the Day

LEAD: Secretary of State George P. Shultz said tonight that the United States would oppose any ''declaration of independent Palestinian statehood or government in exile'' that might be established for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Shultz Says U.S. Opposes P.L.O. Statehood Plans

LEAD: An article in some copies on Thursday about campaign appearances by Vice President Bush, in which he suggested that his campaign was ''on the American side,'' rendered a word incorrectly in his comment about economic recovery. He said: ''We go about it with the three lows - low taxes, low regulation and low spending.

Correction

LEAD: On the face of things, the Social Democrats who have run Sweden for all but six of the last 56 years should have little to worry about in Sunday's national elections: Unemployment among the country's 8.4 million people is less than 2 percent, industrial output has risen by 20 percent since they came back into power after a six-year hiatus in 1982, and the standard of living is about the highest in

Environment Seen as Key Issue in Swedish Vote

LEAD: In an appeal to a one-time foe, Pope John Paul II today urged the Marxist Government here to join forces with the Roman Catholic Church so Mozambique could be saved from the ravages of war and poverty.

Pope Asks Mozambique To Work With Church

LEAD: A brief article yesterday about the winners of the Joseph Kesselring Awards for Playwrights gave an incorrect title for a work by Frank Hogan, who received an honorable mention. It is ''Koozy's Piece.''

Iraq Rejects Attempt by the U.N. To See if Gas Was Used on Kurds

LEAD: An article on Sept. 9 about a strike by clerical employees of New York University described the strikers' salary figures incompletely. The figure given by the union is $17,400, but the university says the average salary is $19,763.

LEAD: A review of the artist Clemens Weiss in Weekend yesterday mistated his birthplace. It was Germany, not Austria.

LEAD: Several dozen European and American labor leaders tasted daily life in Santiago this week when the police attacked them with tear gas, water cannon and riot sticks as they marched to the Supreme Court in support of Chilean labor.

Americans Get a Taste of Labor Protests in Chile

LEAD: The Burmese ruling party, which has controlled most aspects of public life for a quarter of a century, announced today that those serving in the armed forces, civil servants and government employees would no longer be party members.

Burmese Ruling Party Ends Forced Membership Policy

LEAD: A picture caption yesterday about faculty members at New York University supporting a strike by clerical workers misstated the location. It was the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library; Low Library is at Columbia University.

LEAD: President Reagan said today that the United States was reducing its diplomatic presence in Panama because of concern for personnel stationed there. He said the move was ''probably temporary'' but officials of the State Department disagreed.

Reagan Planning a Cut In Envoys to Panama

LEAD: The White House said today that the Soviet Union must tear down the Krasnoyarsk radar and that turning it into an international center on space research would not be good enough.

U.S. Rejects Soviet Offer on Disputed Complex

LEAD: In dark hotel bars along China's coast, young women in tight dresses and carefully coiffed hair wiggle their ankles as they linger for hours over a single Coke. Nearby, young men in ostentatious jewelry look for clients to whom they can offer the women's services.

Fuzhou Journal; Newest Economics Revives the Oldest Profession

LEAD: A Soviet newspaper accused the Polish leadership today of mismanaging the economy and said the Government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski might be forced to resign.

September 17, 1988

Headlines from September 17, 1988

Gorbachev Offers Disputed Radar For Peaceful Exploration of Space

HURRICANE ROARS INTO MEXICO AGAIN WITH LESS FORCE

U.S. Panel Backs Research Use Of Fetal Tissue From Abortions

To Our Readers

INSIDE

Billboard 200

Hysteria

Appetite For Destruction

Tracy Chapman

Roll With It

He's The D.J.; I'm The Rapper

Historical Context for September 17, 1988