June 5, 1991

The industrial world's finance and trade ministers have resolved to give stalled trade talks a big push forward this summer as they agreed today to try to complete the four-and-a-half-year round of negotiations late this year. At the annual meeting of ministers of the 24-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, American, European and Japanese officials said they would seek to make substantial progress this summer in narrowing differences in numerous trade areas, including financial services and subsidies to farmers.

The Box is back. Pale green with brown crosshatching, the Ebinger's cake box is stacked on the shelves of New York City supermarkets. Shoppers have gasped and paled at its resurrection. For them, after nearly two decades in an Ebingerless desert, The Box is manna. The good old days are back! Maybe. . . .

Thinking Machines Inc. said today that it was reclaiming its title as maker of the world's fastest supercomputer by introducing a machine that as many as 100 scientists or engineers could use simultaneously. The Thinking Machines CM-200 supercomputer is almost twice as fast as the company's previous model, the CM-2, which once held the speed record. And the new machine is slightly faster than an Intel Corporation supercomputer that was installed last week at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The Food and Drug Administration Commissioner says he intends to ban the use of what he considers misleading fat percentage claims on food packages. The move is part of an effort to strengthen the agency's regulatory role. The commissioner, David A. Kessler, plans to make the announcement Thursday in a speech before the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, at the group's 20th anniversary conference in Washington. Targets: Ice Cream and Yogurt "A product that says it is 97 percent fat free but has 50 percent of its calories from fat is misleading," Dr. Kessler said in an interview Monday. "The ones that are the most misleading are the ones with the highest liquid content. This is a marketing gimmick and I'd like to see all of them gone."

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said today that the budget passed by the Legislature early this morning was not balanced and that he would trim spending by vetoing parts of it by Friday. Mr. Cuomo's announcement, delivered at an Albany news conference full of strong oratory, suggested a new phase in the long and tortuous process of producing this year's budget.