March 18, 1992

President Bush told key Congressional leaders that he could not accept their proposal for providing loan guarantees to Israel because it included too many loopholes that would enable Israel to continue building settlements in the occupied territories. The President said he was ready to grant up to $10 billion in guarantees on the condition that Israel freeze all new settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip -- something the Congressional proposal would not immediately mandate.

In a big stride toward the Democratic nomination, Gov. Bill Clinton won commanding victories in the Illinois and Michigan primaries today and dealt a serious blow to former Senator Paul E. Tsongas. The gains of Mr. Clinton edge him toward the halfway mark in the number of delegates needed to wrap up the nomination. The losses of Mr. Tsongas were heightened by his placing a weak third in Michigan, behind both Mr. Clinton and former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California. Big Leads in Delegates

Baseball and other trading cards are taking on a striking new look, thanks to upstart companies that have jazzed up designs long considered by many fans to be about as exciting as a routine ground ball. Gone are dull-colored cards with lackluster photographs that seemed straight out of a high school yearbook -- the smiling rookie or grim slugger, each with a bat glued to the shoulder. In their place are bright colors, action shots, multiple images, even cards with photos on both sides. Bewildering Variety Brash new card makers like the Upper Deck Company have been so successful that they have forced the giants dominating trading cards -- Topps and Fleer -- to change their look as well.

Before Harvard and Yale, long before Army and Notre Dame, before even the Red Sox and the Yankees, there were Oxford and Cambridge. Friendly rivals since the Middle Ages, they continue to compete in every field of scholarly endeavor. And some not so scholarly. Like wine tasting. For almost 40 years, the best palates and noses of the two great universities have battled with tasting glass and spittoon to capture what must be the academic world's most prestigious wine title. Of course, it's probably the academic world's only wine title.

HEMINGWAY may have called Paris a movable feast, but as far as Ed Levine is concerned, New York will do just fine. He has a roving palate and is ready at the drop of a hat to follow up reports of the perfect bagel on the Upper East Side, the ultimate fried chicken in west Harlem or superb Italian sausage in Corona, Queens. The other day he was waiting for a slice of pizza at Rizzo's in Astoria. He was not alone in appreciating the shop's unusual thin-crust Sicilian pie covered with vibrant homemade tomato sauce, creamy top-quality mozzarella and a touch of Romano cheese. James Marciano, an ice cream distributor from Canarsie, Brooklyn, was buying four slices.