LEAD: Mayor Edward I. Koch's former personnel chief has been indicted on charges of lying to a commission investigating allegations that City Hall's scandal-scarred Talent Bank was used for political patronage, the Manhattan District Attorney announced yesterday.

Ex-Aide to Koch Indicted by Jury In Perjury Case

LEAD:  Making Oil Companies Pay  After years of unsuccessful efforts, the Senate approved oil spill legislation that would increase the liability of companies for cleanup and environmental damages. Page 6.  Soviet Drug Crackdown  Soviet officials say a crackdown on illicit drug production in Turkmenia is one of the first concrete successes of the policy of openness.

INSIDE

LEAD: The number of obscene or harassing telephone calls has fallen sharply in the first test of a system that allows people to see the number of the phone the call was dialed on before they answer.

Harassing Calls Show Decline When Phones Identify Callers

LEAD: Documents from the files of Samuel R. Pierce Jr., the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, show that housing officials hid from Congress the extent of political favoritism in subsidy programs.

Aides to Pierce Hid Much Data, Papers Indicate

LEAD: The peculiar thing about Beijing, two months after troops and tanks crushed the democracy movement, is how normal life at first seems to be.

In Beijing, Humdrum Masks the Scars of June

LEAD: A mentally retarded man who died last month in a struggle with the police suffocated when the officers lay on him and cut off his breathing, the New York City Medical Examiner's office said yesterday.

Officers Implicated In Report on Death Of a Retarded Man

LEAD: An Air Force captain assigned to the electronics-security unit of an airfield in West Berlin, an important military intelligence-gathering and communications post, is suspected of spying, Pentagon officials said today.

AIR FORCE OFFICER SUSPECTED AS SPY AT BASE IN BERLIN

LEAD: Iran's new President, Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani, offered today to help end the hostage crisis in Lebanon, a move that President Bush said would be explored ''to the fullest.''

IRAN'S PRESIDENT OFFERS U.S. HELP IN HOSTAGE CRISIS

LEAD: Wrapping up an intensive six-month effort, the House gave final approval early this morning to a monumental plan to rescue the savings and loan industry, two hours after approval by the Senate.

House and Senate Pass Plan To Rescue Savings and Loans

LEAD: Harried members churned through last-minute business, poised for the dash to the airport and the long August recess. Page 9.

Congress Agrees: Time to Go

LEAD: Two speeding passenger trains collided head-on about 100 miles east of Havana early today, killing at least 25 people and injuring 100, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported. It said many passengers were trapped inside the wreckage. The Havana radio said that the accident occurred in the city of Colon and that an army helicopter was helping to transport the injured.

25 Killed in Cuba Train Wreck

LEAD: ''I wish to say - I address the White House - that Lebanon has a solution; the freedom of the hostages is solvable.''  - President Hojatolislam Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran.

Quotations of the Day

LEAD:  INTERNATIONAL 2-5  Iran's new President offered his help in trying to end the hostage crisis in Lebanon. President Bush said the offer would be explored ''to the fullest.'' Page 1

NEWS SUMMARY

LEAD: President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and leaders of Nicaragua's internal opposition signed an accord today urging that the contras be disbanded. Mr. Ortega said he would press for the breakup at a meeting of Central American leaders that begins Saturday.

Nicaraguans Reach Pact on Contras

LEAD: An article on Tuesday about the resignation of an Indian legislator misidentified the nationality of an arms manufacturer in some copies.

Correction

LEAD: India and Sri Lanka ended negotiations today on arranging the withdrawal of Indian troops from Sri Lanka, and both sides were deadlocked on the timing of the pullout and on a package of security and political measures for the Tamil minority there, diplomats said.

India-Sri Lanka Talks End in Deadlock

LEAD: A judge leading the investigation into the disaster at an English soccer stadium last April blamed senior police officers today for the events, in which 95 people died.

Police Blamed in Deaths of British Soccer Fans

LEAD: Word had reached the special anti-drug force here in the capital of Soviet Turkmenia that poppy was being grown and harvested for opium on the Kalinin collective farm.

Soviets Confront Drug Growers in the Central Asian Heartland

LEAD: For more than seven months, the Japanese have been watching carefully but patiently for clues to the kind of reign to be established by the unassuming 55-year-old marine-life specialist who became their Emperor after the death of his father, Hirohito.

Akihito's Tone: A Bit Less Imperial

LEAD: Herman J. Cohen, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, arrived today for talks with the Ethiopian Government, the first by a high American official since 1978.

U.S.-Ethiopia Talks to Begin

LEAD: Following are excerpts from remarks today by President Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran and President Bush on the issue of hostages in Lebanon. The Iranian leader's statement, in a sermon in Teheran, was translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a Federal agency. Mr. Bush's remarks, in answer to questions from reporters at a White House photo session, were transcribed by the Federal News Service.

Excerpts From Remarks by Iranian and Bush

LEAD: A highly explosive Syrian shell pierced a bomb shelter in Beirut today, killing 5 people and wounding 30 others taking cover from artillery bombardment.

5 in Bomb Shelter Are Killed By Syrian Shelling in Beirut

LEAD: The Israeli Government was of two minds today about the latest turn in the hostage crisis, delighted that the American hostage Joseph James Cicippio had been spared for now but dubious that the group holding him is genuinely serious about negotiating an end to his captivity.

ISRAEL IS PLEASED HOSTAGE IS SPARED

LEAD: As President Bush tries to resolve the hostage crisis, he is dealing with a new Iranian Government headed by a leader regarded here as more moderate and pragmatic than Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But the new leader is being challenged by militant hard-liners in Teheran.

Iranian Leader's Limits Are a Problem for Bush

LEAD: Racial segregation in 10 of the nation's largest cities is more deeply entrenched and takes more forms than social scientists previously thought, a study by the University of Chicago has found.

Study Finds Segregation in Cities Worse Than Scientists Imagined

Ryan Dominic Bertrand is an English entrepreneur and former professional footballer who played as a left-back.

Ryan Bertrand, English footballer

Ryan_Bertrand

Mathieu Manset is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for 18 clubs in 8 countries during his career.

August 5, 1989

Headlines from August 5, 1989

Ex-Aide to Koch Indicted by Jury In Perjury Case

INSIDE

Harassing Calls Show Decline When Phones Identify Callers

Aides to Pierce Hid Much Data, Papers Indicate

In Beijing, Humdrum Masks the Scars of June

Billboard 200

Batman (Soundtrack)

The Raw & The Cooked

Hangin' Tough

Repeat Offender

Full Moon Fever

Notable Births

Historical Context for August 5, 1989