LEAD: When there is an accident involving the mass transit system here, people for miles around start limping, holding their necks and calling lawyers who advertise ''no win, no fee'' for personal injury suits.

Philadelphia Transit Wincing Over Faked Injuries

LEAD:    In the first serious break in Congressional support for the Administration's Lithuania policies, nine Republican senators announced that in view of Kremlin embargoes on Lithuania they would oppose ratification of a new Soviet-American trade agreement. Page 4.

Dissension in Senate Over U.S.-Soviet Pact

LEAD: The political impasse over Lithuania's independence appears to be moving closer to a resolution after the intervention of the French and German leaders and backstage contacts between Moscow and the rebellious republic, officials here said today.

Evolution in Europe;   LITHUANIA REPORTS PROMISING CONTACT WITH SOVIET AIDES

LEAD: Four years after the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Soviet Union is acknowledging that the medical, environmental and political consequences of the disaster have been much greater than the Kremlin has ever frankly discussed.

Evolution in Europe;   Four Years Later, Soviets Reveal Wider Scope to Chernobyl Horror

LEAD: Since Covenant House was shaken by allegations of sexual and financial impropriety four months ago, the charity has been cutting back some programs and reassessing its system of crisis shelters that serve 25,000 runaway and homeless young people across the country.

After the Scandal: Revisiting Covenant House - A Special Report:   Reeling From Its Own Crisis, Covenant House Scales Back

LEAD: Rhoda Banda, a thin 20-year-old woman with an occasional broad smile and lively laugh, is one of only two people in her village who made it to secondary school.

AIDS Virus and Its Stigma Plaguing Women in Zambia

Inside

LEAD: In a decision that could spell enormous trouble for the fledgling agricultural biotechnology industry, Gov. Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin yesterday approved legislation that temporarily bars the sale or use of a genetically engineered drug for use in dairy cows.

Wisconsin Temporarily Banning Gene-Engineered Drug for Cows

LEAD: ''Everyone you talk to is telling you that every time they look the situation is worse than before. I don't think anyone there is saying they've seen the full extent of the problem.''     - Dr. Anthony Robbins of Boston University, on the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. [1:5.]

Quotation of the Day

LEAD:    International    3-6       The political impasse in Lithuania appeared to be moving closer to compromise after the intervention of the French and German leaders and a wave of backstage contacts between Moscow and the rebellious republic, officials in Vilnius said.    Page 1       President Bush's Lithuanian policy was attacked by nine Republican Senators, the first serious break in Congressional support for the Administration's handling of the Baltic situation.

News Summary

LEAD: An article in Business Day yesterday about the first-quarter earnings of the Xerox Corporation referred incorrectly to the discontinued operations of the company's Crum & Forster subsidiary. It has stopped selling personal auto insurance and homeowner's insurance, but it continues to sell life insurance.

Corrections

LEAD: Because of a calculation error in editing, a chart in Business Day on Thursday headed ''Credit Tightens in New England'' plotted quarter-to-quarter percent changes incorrectly for the value of business and real estate loans at large commercial banks in the last two years. A corrected chart appears today on page 39.

LEAD: The British press reported today that the Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was considering major changes in an unpopular new Government tax.

Thatcher Said to Weigh Changes in Disputed Tax

LEAD: An appeals court today set aside the convictions of three Irish citizens serving 25-year sentences for conspiring to kill Britain's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in 1987.

Convictions Set Aside For 3 in an Ulster Case

LEAD: Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about the art collection of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg referred incorrectly to his position with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He is a trustee emeritus, not an active trustee.

LEAD: An article on Thursday about Harvard Law School students' views of faculty diversity misattributed two statements. The assertions that Prof.

LEAD: Acting Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir accepted an official mandate to form a new Likud government today, and he quickly dismissed the Labor Party's suggestion that a new short-term ''national unity'' government be formed to revise the nation's electoral system.

Shamir Accepts Mandate to Form a New Government

LEAD: A review on April 20 about a concert version of Jerome Kern's ''Cat and the Fiddle'' at Weill Recital Hall misidentified the show's orchestrator. He was Robert Russell Bennett, not Richard Rodney Bennett.

LEAD: President Bush's policy of seeking not to damage relations with the Soviet Union during the Lithuanian crisis came under sharp attack today by nine Republican senators, marking the first serious break in Congressional support for the Administration's handling of the Baltic situation.

Evolution in Europe;   9 G.O.P. Senators Attack Bush on Lithuania

LEAD: While 10,000 applications to open private businesses in Bohemia and Moravia have poured into Prague since the year began and the new non-Communist Government proclaimed its intention to convert to a market economy, Miroslav Ruzicka is smiling even more broadly at his head start.

Evolution in Europe: Prague Journal;   The Restaurant That Beat the Revolt

LEAD: An increasingly divisive election campaign split Bucharest into two camps today, as vociferous groups gathered separately to demonstrate for and against the ruling National Salvation Front.

Evolution in Europe;   ROMANIANS SPLIT INTO RIVAL CAMPS

LEAD: With France and West Germany leading the way, the European Community is about to set off down the road toward political union, but its 12 member nations are still far from agreement over how much sovereignty they are willing to surrender.      The very concept of

Evolution in Europe;   Europe United?

LEAD: The military commander of the contras has taken a tough new line, saying his rebel army will keep its guns until the Nicaraguan Government dismantles the entire ''repressive structure'' set up by the Sandinistas.

Contras in the Field Vow Again to Keep Weapons

LEAD: President Alan Garcia has declared that he will not sign an agreement with the United States to combat the cocaine trade if the accord does not include economic compensation for losses from growing coca leaf.

Peruvian Bars Drug Accord Unless U.S. Helps on Crops

LEAD: More than 10,000 riot police stormed South Korea's largest shipyard early today to break up a three-day wildcat strike.

April 28, 1990

Headlines from April 28, 1990

Philadelphia Transit Wincing Over Faked Injuries

Dissension in Senate Over U.S.-Soviet Pact

Evolution in Europe; LITHUANIA REPORTS PROMISING CONTACT WITH SOVIET AIDES

Evolution in Europe; Four Years Later, Soviets Reveal Wider Scope to Chernobyl Horror

After the Scandal: Revisiting Covenant House - A Special Report: Reeling From Its Own Crisis, Covenant House Scales Back

Billboard 200

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

Soul Provider

Nick Of Time

Forever Your Girl

Historical Context for April 28, 1990