September 24, 1990

LEAD: Most of the world's industrial and developing nations decided this weekend not to try to shield consumers from higher energy prices, endorsing a strategy of tight monetary policies that increases the risk of a recession.

LEAD: It is 2 P.M. on the Cross-Bronx Expressway, and for thousands of cars inching toward the George Washington Bridge, the air is heavy with exhaust. Half a mile ahead, where the highway and the Henry Hudson Parkway feed into the bridge's seven westbound lanes, traffic is stopped.

LEAD: After four decades of silence, Japan's military has openly split with some of the country's political leaders in a bitter debate over whether and how Japan should contribute forces to the Persian Gulf in what may become the military's first excursion abroad since World War II.

LEAD: Like an earthquake that rattles windows and breaks china but leaves the roof intact, the decision last week by the International Business Machines Corporation and the Microsoft Corporation to pursue separate paths in developing software has filled many people in the computer industry with anxiety about the next tremor.

LEAD: After 15 months of gradually lowering interest rates to avoid a recession, the Federal Reserve has shifted strategy and is trying to freeze rates at their present levels, having concluded that inflation is now the greatest threat to the American economy.