September 27, 1989

LEAD: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and the rest of Israel's right wing are pleading, threatening and fighting to kill a peace plan offered by Egypt that every other interested party has enthusiastically embraced.

LEAD: Toys ''R'' Us, the nation's largest chain of specialty toy stores, said yesterday that within two years it would open several stores in Japan, one of the most difficult markets for American companies to enter.

LEAD: SUNDOWN on Friday marks the beginning of Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, when Jewish families across the nation will sit down, as Jewish families have for centuries, to traditional meals of roast chicken, tsimmes, beef flanken and kreplach soup.

LEAD: On Feb. 3, 1937, Lon Whitney began a letter to his family in Clear Lake, Iowa, thusly:

LEAD: Three men and a Los Angeles-based military contractor pleaded guilty today to bribery or conspiracy charges stemming from a six-year scheme to win contracts from the Marine Corps.

LEAD: Arthur Andersen & Company and Price Waterhouse said yesterday that they had abandoned their efforts to create the world's largest accounting firm. The firms would not comment on why they had ended their discussions beyond saying that their ''differences could not be resolved within a realistic time frame.

LEAD: Soviet Press Freedoms Soviet legislators are quietly pushing through a draft press law to allow private publishing and forbid Government censorship. Page A8. Cubs Clinch Division Title The Chicago Cubs, who have not won a pennant in 44 years or a World Series in 81 years, won their second division title in five years.

LEAD: Only today did Debra Deas stop and think about what comes next. After the worst week of her life, the future is the most frightening part of all.

LEAD: COMPANIES B.A.T. said it would sell its vast retailing empire, including the Saks and Marshall Field chains, as part of a revamping aimed at thwarting Sir James Goldsmith's $21 billion hostile takeover bid. [ Page A1. ] The Saks and Marshall Field stores are expected to draw substantial interest.

LEAD: The Senate voted tonight to reduce President Bush's budget for the ''Star Wars'' anti-missile program by $800 million, reversing a practice of protecting the program from deep cuts sought by the House and opening the way for the first annual budget reduction in its five years of existence.

LEAD: New Jerseyans were confronted with a burst of political imagery Monday in the first debate in the race for governor as Representative Jim Courter and Representative James J. Florio painted portraits of each other with pointed quips and dabs of dirt.

LEAD: Business leaders, politicians and poll-takers say that across this state both Republicans and Democrats, employees and employers, are unhappy with what happened under the Capitol dome in the spring when Connecticut confronted its budget deficit.