September 16, 1991

Frankfurt's biennial International Automobile Exhibition has traditionally been a 10-day glitz blitz, where the world's car makers flaunt speed, styling and technical wizardry. This year, however, the preening has taken a new hue. Color it green. Environmental consciousness and safety have been the dominant themes at the trade fair, which opened Thursday. Auto makers from the United States, Europe and Asia are spotlighting their efforts to improve the passenger car's somewhat problematic relationship with planet Earth through improved manufacturing processes, better emissions control and whole-car recycling.

When the Rev. Billy Graham preached his first sermon in New York, at Madison Square Garden in 1957, it was to a mostly white middle-class Protestant audience. He read the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah from the Bible, substituting "New York" for the names of the cities of sin. When Mr. Graham returns to New York next Sunday, preaching in Central Park, his audience and his message will be different. The people behind the event are from 900 New York churches that are dominated by black, Hispanic and Asian members. And Mr. Graham said last week that he wanted to tell them "some of the good things about New York."

If geologists were to devise a hypothetical worst state in which to build a nuclear waste dump, it would probably be very much like Connecticut. This state has steep, rocky granite hills and high water tables, which are unsuitable for placing such a dump, and it is one of the most crowded states in the nation. But with four commercial nuclear reactors, a reactor owned by the Navy, a nuclear fuel manufacturer and a base where nuclear submarines are built, this 4,844-square-mile state is one of the major producers of radioactive waste.

Israel's bitter confrontation with the White House over United States loan guarantees turned nastier today when a Cabinet minister called President Bush an anti-Semite and a liar and the Government vowed that there would be no retreat on its request for American aid. The Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Arens, later repudiated the attack on Mr. Bush by his fellow Cabinet member, Rehavam Zeevi, a minister without portfolio from a far-right party. Mr. Arens said that Mr. Zeevi's remarks did not reflect the Government's view or Israeli public opinion.

Except for a few slip-ups, the Giants dominated the Bears today. But those slip-ups were costly. One allowed the Bears to score on a 75-yard pass play; another let them score on a cleverly conceived 42-yard fake bootleg, and another spoiled a 35-yard Giants field-goal attempt with 15 seconds left that would have tied the score.