LEAD: President Mikhail S. Gorbachev appealed today for restraint in response to the tumultuous changes in Eastern Europe, warning the West against gloating about the defeat of Communism or trying to ''export capitalism.''

GORBACHEV URGES RESTRAINT BY WEST ON TURMOIL IN EAST

LEAD: Delta Air Lines, announcing plans to expand what is already one of the most modern fleets in the industry, said yesterday that it was ordering or placing options on 260 aircraft worth about $10 billion with the Boeing Company and the McDonnell Douglas Corporation. The total is one of the largest orders in the history of the industry.

Delta Order For Boeing, McDonnell

LEAD: In Congress's rush to adjourn before Thanksgiving, the list of important legislative initiatives that will be postponed until 1990 is growing fast. But little on Capitol Hill stands in the way of a popular tax break, especially one that taxpayers already enjoy, and lawmakers in both parties were scrambling today to save nine that have already expired or are due to expire at the end of the year.

With a Recess Near, Congress Scrambles To Save Tax Breaks

LEAD: After a succession of accidents around the world, the Navy announced today that it was suspending routine operations for 48 hours to review safety procedures with each sailor and aviator.

48-HOUR STOPPAGE PLANNED BY NAVY

LEAD: Program trading, for all the controversy it has generated among investors and politicians, contributes much less to Wall Street's profits now than before the market crash of October 1987.

Market Place; Program Trades' Effect On Brokers' Net Is Slight

LEAD: Several senators and members of the House of Represenatatives said today that professional baseball and football risked losing their exemptions from antitrust laws if teams and leagues continued to reduce the number of games available on over-the-air network and local broadcasts in favor of lucrative contracts with cable networks.

Leagues Get Warning on Cable Deals

LEAD: The South-West Africa People's Organization, which waged a long guerrilla war against South African rule, was declared the winner today in the first elections in Namibia's transition to independence, but failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to impose its own constitution and policies.

Namibia Rebel Group Wins Vote, But It Falls Short of Full Control

LEAD: A defective combination lock and a ''horrible series of little errors'' led to the slayings of two Queens detectives, police officials said yesterday.

'Horrible Series' of Errors Blamed In Slayings of 2 Queens Detectives

LEAD: rrTomorrow morning a group of 500 people have a special invitation to the Big Apple Circus, now playing at Lincoln Center. They will be entertained by death-defying aerialists, stampeding Pekingese dogs, a dancing elephant and much, much more. Most won't see a thing. They're blind.  But they will taste the cotton candy, bounce to the rollicking circus music, smell the pachyderms, read a Braille program and feel wind from galloping horses.

About New York; Using the Big Top To Put Normalcy In the Lives of 500

LEAD: Under a law that is to go into effect Saturday, alcoholic beverages produced after that date will have to have warning labels alerting consumers to the dangers of drunken driving and drinking during pregnancy.

Alcohol Warning: Impact Is Debated

LEAD: A GROUP of grinches initiated a campaign several years ago to undermine turkey. In full hearing of well-known taste makers, they whispered that the Thanksgiving bird of choice was, in fact, overbred, overrated and dry. Glossy food magazines began proposing capon and pheasant, duck and squab as tasteful alternatives.

Stuffing As You Like It: Tried or Trendy

LEAD: The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission told Congress today that both the S.E.C.'s investigation into the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association and its ability to prosecute the collapsed savings institution had been significantly hindered by Lincoln's primary auditor, Arthur Young & Company, and by the Federal Home Loan Bank

Savings Agency and Auditor Of Lincoln Blamed by S.E.C.

LEAD: The army stepped up its rocketing and strafing of rebel strongholds in residential areas around the capital today and imposed a 24-hour curfew on six heavily populated towns and communities on the outskirts of the city.

Salvador Army Steps Up Raids On Strongholds of Rebel Forces

LEAD: Early November sales of domestically produced cars plunged 23.1 percent, prompting gloomy predictions from industry analysts of more plant shutdowns and layoffs in the near future.

U.S. Auto Sales Drop By 23.1%

LEAD:  Bush Discusses Abortion  The President met with four Republican Congresswomen, and they said he did not rule out financing abortion in cases of rape and incest. Page A18.  Tracing of AIDS Contacts  The New York City Board of Health will ask the state to require doctors to report the names of AIDS patients so their contacts can be traced.

INSIDE

LEAD: Czechoslovakia's hard-line Government outlined measures that would significantly ease restrictions on travel abroad next year. Page A13.

Freer Travel for Czechoslovaks

LEAD: At 8:30 A.M., Janet Short plants her feet on the uneven asphalt, scans the playground and rings an old-fashioned brass school bell. She is beginning another day as principal of the Maurice J. Tobin School - and as surrogate parent, social worker and psychiatrist to children from one of Boston's toughest and most drug-infested housing projects.

When Drugs and Despair Vie With 3 R's

LEAD: The New York City Board of Health reached a consensus yesterday to ask the state to require that the names of people infected with the AIDS virus be reported to the health authorities. The purpose would be to trace the people they have had sex with or shared needles with.

Health Board Backs Move To Trace AIDS

Business Digest

LEAD: The jogger who was raped and nearly beaten to death in Central Park last April 19 was released yesterday from Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn., after making what doctors said was a ''miraculous'' recovery.

Jogger in Rape In Central Park Leaves Hospital

LEAD: In the quest for clean air, the utility industry today introduced a high-technology entry to curb pollution from autos: an electric van that speeds along at up to 72 miles an hour, and can run for more than 100 miles without having to be recharged.

At Last, a Practical Electric Vehicle?

LEAD: AS a jewelry designer who sells privately through friends, Elizabeth Locke goes to parties all over the country. But in places like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, the parties are not what they used to be. ''You stand around eating broccoli and swilling water,'' she said. Mostly, people talk about their work.

At Today's Parties, Food Is Decadence

LEAD: With its handsomely restored brownstones, well-organized block clubs and political activism, the southern part of Bedford-Stuyvesant contradicts the popular view of it as a crumbling and dangerous ghetto.

Community Shrinks From Crack's Embrace

LEAD: West Germany made public the outlines of a possible economic aid program to East Germany today, but repeated a warning that the proposal would be adopted only if East Germany carried out a ''thorough change'' of its centralized economy and spelled out the changes it plans.

BONN OUTLINES AID FOR EAST GERMANY

LEAD: Strange political twists seldom surprise anyone in this gritty city on Long Island Sound. After all, P.T. Barnum, the showman and circus master, was once mayor here. So was Jasper McLevy, a Scrooge-like Socialist who reigned for 24 years until 1957. So was John C. Mandanici, a target of death threats and car firebombings, who, during a failed 1981 re-election bid, often wore a bulletproof vest while campaigning.

A Novice Reigns as Bridgeport Mayor

Jonalyn Roxas Viray, known mononymously as Jona, is a Filipino singer and songwriter. She was catapulted to mainstream prominence after she emerged as the first grand champion of Pinoy Pop Superstar.

November 15, 1989

Headlines from November 15, 1989

GORBACHEV URGES RESTRAINT BY WEST ON TURMOIL IN EAST

Delta Order For Boeing, McDonnell

With a Recess Near, Congress Scrambles To Save Tax Breaks

48-HOUR STOPPAGE PLANNED BY NAVY

Market Place; Program Trades' Effect On Brokers' Net Is Slight

Billboard 200

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

Girl You Know It's True

Steel Wheels

Forever Your Girl

Pump

Notable Births

Historical Context for November 15, 1989