September 14, 1990

LEAD: The Navy Department said in a report released today that it had found no evidence that the International Business Machines Corporation violated Federal contracting laws in procuring Navy contracts.

LEAD: Warning Congress to move cautiously in trying to cure the ailing banking system, Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, said today that increasing the premiums that institutions pay to the declining fund that insures bank deposits could be more harmful than helpful, threatening some banks with insolvency.

LEAD: Man Ray came out of an era when photographers painted with light. There is a stillness about his fashion photography: stark, static studio images of models in black lace, organdy silk and embroidered crepe, their arms stretched skyward, their faces lighted from above. His women never look into the camera.

LEAD: Even as he refused to give his views on the Supreme Court's abortion precedents, David H. Souter used the opening day of his confirmation hearing to assure senators that they could trust him as a judge of moderate instincts, able to understand and sympathize with the dilemmas of modern life and ordinary people.

Story of John Huston making ``African Queen.'' Sometimes stilted, always heartfelt.