March 7, 1992

The nation's unemployment rate climbed two-tenths of a point in February to 7.3 percent, the highest since mid-1985, the Labor Department reported today. But other job data, notably a gain of 164,000 payroll jobs, pointed to a slight upturn in the economy. Most private economists said they were encouraged by the sizable payroll jump, as well as by a lengthening of the average workweek and a sharp rebound in total production hours. Some contended that the recession -- by technical rather than popular definition -- probably ended last month if it had not done so previously.

Theo Huxtable graduated from N.Y.U. yesterday, albeit on videotape, and like a lot of graduations it was a bittersweet occasion. His father, Cliff, a doctor with a pride in his family that even his family finds a little excessive at times, was particularly miffed at the impersonal nature of the ceremony, in which 8,000 graduates merely stood up, flipped their tassels and sat down. "A hundred thousand dollars to practice the Wave?" Dr. Huxtable complained to the horde of relatives he had armed with binoculars and cameras and shepherded to the event.

President of Azerbaijan Quits The President of Azerbaijan resigned in the face of popular fury over his Government's failure to control an Armenian-populated enclave. Page 3. Roundup of Recording Stars For nearly $1 billion, Thorn EMI is buying Virgin Records, adding the Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson to its roster of recording stars. Page 39. Yankee Pitcher Banned Pascual Perez was suspended from baseball for a year after failing a random drug test and will not receive his salary of $1.9 million. Page 33.

The Supreme Court issued its final schedule of arguments for the current term the other day, and while the choice of April 22 for the Pennsylvania abortion case made news, the real story was the April calendar itself. Bearing only 8 cases for a schedule designed to accommodate 24, the calendar is the most compelling evidence yet of the extent to which the Justices, for reasons known only to themselves, are shrinking the Court's docket. The new calendar made it clear that the Court was headed for its lightest term in 21 years. The term will produce, at most, 109 decisions, matching the 109 issued in the 1970-71 term. This is a decline of nearly one-third from the peak workloads of the 1980's, when two consecutive terms produced 151 decisions each, and most terms yielded in the 140's or the high 130's.

As cornstalks lie withered on baked soil and dams show perilously low levels of water, southern Africa is in the grip of its worst drought this century, and meteorologists warn that it is spreading north to engulf the entire eastern side of the continent. While drought is commonplace in certain regions of Africa, weather and food experts say this year's dry spell is extraordinary for its sweep through food-exporting countries, which normally escape severe drought. Kenya Needs Imports "There is now a major drought from the Cape to Cairo that is really a serious, serious matter," said Harold Norton, the representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Kenya, who has worked in Africa for the last 25 years. "All the countries from South Africa to East Africa, all the way to Cairo, will be importing grains this year."