  Top-secret documents released by the K.G.B. assert that the sensational flight of Hitler's former deputy, Rudolf Hess, to Scotland 50 years ago was no surprise at all to British intelligence, which might have lured him with false promises of a peace settlement.    The documents seem to buttress the case that Hess was convinced that Britain could be persuaded to make peace with Germany on the eve of its attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and undertook his 900-mile solo flight to achieve it.

Rudolf Hess's Daring Flight: K.G.B. Files Tell New Tales

  Execution Telecast Barred    A Federal judge said San Quentin Prison could not bar all reporters from witnessing executions but could exclude television cameras. Page 9.

INSIDE

  After a year of racial strife, the Newton County High School class of 1991 marched into history tonight under a Federal judge's ruling to have co-valedictorians -- one black, one white.    The banner hanging outside reads: "Welcome to America's Best. Newton High. A National School of Excellence." But after a school year that played out like the nation's worsening race relations in microcosm -- part Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever," about interracial dating, part the quota debate in Congress -- many of Newton High's 331 weary graduates felt the school had become a different sort of symbol for Graduation Day 1991.

In High School Riven by Race, Even an Honor Brings a Split

  Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has rejected President Bush's call for compromises that would enable the United States to convene a Middle East regional peace conference, senior Israeli officials said today.    The unyielding position, reflected in a letter delivered to Washington overnight, raises serious questions about the future of the Bush Administration's Mideast peace initiative, which was launched in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war.

SHAMIR, IN LETTER, REJECTS BUSH PLEA

  In New York City, the consumers' paradise, a mark-up is the amount added to something before it is offered for sale; in Washington, it's legislators' wrangling over a bill.    In New York, where bicoastal is a measure of status, L.A. is instantly recognized as Los Angeles; in Washington, it's a legislative assistant.

After the War, a New Battle (May the Best Parade Win)

  Foreign Minister Aleksandr A. Bessmertnykh and Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d failed today to resolve Soviet-American differences over a new nuclear arms treaty. Both officials cautioned that the remaining problems might not be solved in time for a planned superpower summit meeting in Moscow in June or July.    At a hastily arranged meeting at the Soviet mission in Geneva, Mr. Baker presented Mr. Bessmertnykh with a letter from President Bush containing what he said were new American proposals and Mr. Bessmertnykh reciprocated with "fresh" ideas from his Government. But afterward the two men sounded more cautious than ever about the prospects for completing the nuclear arms reduction treaty in the next few weeks.

U.S. AND KREMLIN FAIL TO CLOSE GAP ON NUCLEAR ARMS

  In a report supporting the growing view that the economy has already begun to pull out of the recession, Government figures showed today that corporate payrolls edged up in May after seven straight substantial declines.   At the same time, the nation's unemployment rate climbed three-tenths of a point, to 6.9 percent last month, offsetting an April decline that was viewed as a likely aberration when it was released. As in March, the jobless rate is the highest in four and a half years.   But economists and the securities markets were largely unimpressed by the unemployment rate, which historically has tended to keep rising for some time after a recovery has taken hold, and focused instead on a new-found, broad stability in payroll jobs, which rose by 59,000.

Corporation Payrolls Inched Up In May, After Seven Big Declines

  Connecticut officials vowed today to block the state's largest city from becoming the first in the nation to escape the recession's pressures by seeking protection in Federal bankruptcy court.    After the city filed for bankruptcy suddenly Thursday night, state officials, who have overseen the city's troubled finances for three years, resolved to do everything in their power to have the bankruptcy papers thrown out. They then imposed their own municipal budget today, one that would close a $12 million gap by sharply cutting services and raising property taxes by 18 percent.

Anguished Plea From Bridgeport For Fiscal Relief

  After months of struggling to close Massachusetts's yawning budget deficit, Governor William F. Weld announced this week that the problem has been almost magically solved.   Not by the state's 200 legislators. Not by his budget planners. But by a part-time state employee who earns $22,000 a year.

State Worker's Budget Coup: A Windfall for Massachusetts

  International 2-6    Obstacles to a nuclear arms treaty remain unresolved. Foreign Minister Bessmertnykh and Secretary of State Baker warned they might not be resolved in time for a June or July summit meeting. Page 1

News Summary

  "I'm not a brilliant person. I do produce some good legislation. But I've never been accused of being a genius. But I feel that being there and making the vote is my duty and responsibility. This 40-year thing for me is kind of a big victory." -- Representative Charles E. Bennett, who has not missed a House vote in 40 years.  [ 7:5. ]

Quotation of the Day

  When Violeta Barrios de Chamorro took over the presidential office suite a little over a year ago from her defeated Sandinista rival, Daniel Ortega Saavedra, she found on hand four rocking chairs painted violet.   And little else in the way of office furnishings, she says.

Managua Journal; Victor's Lament: To the Losers Belong the Spoils

  Pope John Paul II urged his fellow Poles today to reject the sensual, secular culture of a Western Europe that he contended had betrayed the roots of Christendom.   "Do not let yourself get caught up by this civilization of desire and consumption," the Pope said, his voice filled with emotion. He offered his vision of a post-Communist Poland that could stand as a spiritual exemplar for the continent. "Is it civilization or an anti-civilization, a culture, or an anti-culture?"

Pope Calls on Poland to Reject Western Europe's Secular Ways

  A chart in Business Day on April 6 titled "Consumer Borrowing," about changes in outstanding consumer credit, misstated the annual rate of change for two months. It was down 3.5 percent in January and down 0.3 in February, according to the most recent revision. The error was disclosed last month when revised Government figures were issued, Because other discrepancies between Government figures and those in The Times's data bases were suspected, this correction was delayed so that the data could be reviewed. The latest version of the chart, with corrected data for the two affected months, appears today on page 36.

Corrections

  Articles in Business Day on Tuesday and Wednesday about an agreement between the United States and Japan to extend regulations covering trade in computer chips referred incorrectly to a provision. Only Japanese companies will be required to keep detailed records of prices and volumes of semiconductors shipped; United States companies are not subject to the requirement.

  An obituary yesterday about Larry Kert, singer and actor, referred incorrectly in some copies to his role in "West Side Story." He played a romantic lead, not the leader of the Jets gang.

  A picture on May 30 with an article about economic aspects of unification of North and South Korea was published in error. The picture, at the right in a pair, showed Lee Joung Binn, South Korea's Assistant Minister for Political Affairs, not Lee Dong Bok, a special assistant to the Prime Minister.

  Within months of assuming the presidency of Argentina in mid-1989, Carlos Saul Menem began surprising Western officials with proclamations that he planned to reorient his country away from the inward-looking, protective policies of its former leader, Juan Domingo Peron, and open its doors to the first world.   Mr. Menem, who visited Washington soon after taking office, began referring to President Bush as his "good friend." Plans to privatize sacred Government-owned companies were announced. Relations with Britain, severed as a result of the 1982 Falklands war, were restored. Two Argentine supply ships were sent to the Persian Gulf to join the coalition against Iraq. Argentina, at least in the President's opinion, was on its way to regaining its status among the dominant countries of the world.

Argentina's President, Praised Abroad, Finds Himself in Trouble at Home

  An article in the Science Watch column of Science Times on Tuesday about efforts to devise treatments or vaccines for cholera referred incorrectly to Vibrio cholerae, the microorganism that causes the disease. It is a bacterium.

  President Mikhail S. Gorbachev today denounced an effort to restore the name St. Petersburg to the city of Leningrad, saying such a change had no moral or political basis. A proposal to restore the city's old name is supported by the local government and is on the ballot as part of the June 12 elections for mayor and Russian Federation president.

Leningrad or St. Petersburg?

  An article on Thursday about the beating of a Long Island teen-ager misstated the address of James Peralta, a Queens man charged in the attack. He lives at 209-37 41st Avenue in Bayside.

  A theater review on Wednesday about "Troubadour," a play at the Ubu Repertory Theater, included an incorrect production credit supplied by the play's press agent. The repertory company has leased its theater to the show's producers, Beech Knight Productions, for the run of "Troubadour," but has no other association with Beech Knight or the show.

  The leaders of Algeria's Islamic fundamentalist political movement agreed today to stop their widespread protests in return for a pledge by President Chadli Benjedid to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within six months.   Abdelhamid Mehri, the ruling party's president, was quoted by the national press agency as confirming that contacts between the Government and opposition leaders did take place, but denying that specific pledges were made.

Protesters in Algeria Are Promised Earlier Elections

  The principal leader of Iraq's Kurdish minority predicted today that he and other Kurdish leaders would reach an agreement with Baghdad by mid-June, granting autonomy to his region and removing the need for American and allied forces to remain in northern Iraq.    The upbeat assessment by the Kurd, Massoud Barzani, echoed similiar statements by Government officials. But another important Kurdish figure, Jalal Talabani, told a French reporter in northern Iraq on Thursday that "serious difficulties" remained in the discussions with Iraqi leaders.

Kurd Sees Early Pact With Baghdad

  India today rejected Pakistan's request for international talks on creating a zone free of nuclear weapons in South Asia.    Reiterating India's position that regional nonproliferation pacts are meaningless, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs said India stood behind its call for a "nuclear-free world."

June 8, 1991

Headlines from June 8, 1991

Rudolf Hess's Daring Flight: K.G.B. Files Tell New Tales

INSIDE

In High School Riven by Race, Even an Honor Brings a Split

SHAMIR, IN LETTER, REJECTS BUSH PLEA

After the War, a New Battle (May the Best Parade Win)

Billboard 200

Spellbound

Time; Love And Tenderness

Out Of Time

Mariah Carey

Gonna Make You Sweat

Historical Context for June 8, 1991