October 23, 1992

Three months after the world turned its attention to this epicenter of starvation, a battered red truck and a bus with peeling blue paint made the rounds of this town today, picking up shrouded bodies left by the road in the early-morning ritual of corpse collection. The day's tally was 65. Almost anywhere else, 65 people killed by hunger overnight, their bodies so flimsy they could be lifted easily onto makeshift stretchers fashioned out of food bags, would be shocking. But here it was a cause for hope, for it was by far the lowest number of daily deaths in Baidoa since statistics started to be kept in August.

Companies A statement by a G.M. director has added to speculation that the auto maker's chairman, Robert C. Stempel, may be asked to step aside. The statement said the board "has taken no action regarding any management changes at G.M," but it offered no support for Mr. Stempel. [ Page D1. ]

New York City hospitals are trying hard to respond to a resurgence of tuberculosis, but they are not doing well enough, a report by the State Health Department has found. The report on a survey of 216 suspected cases at 20 hospitals found that more than 20 percent of the patients who have TB do not have their cases diagnosed until they have been in the hospital, and have been able to mingle with other patients, for more than 24 hours.

"Daddy, now that vodka is so expensive, will you drink less?" "No, my son. You'll eat less." -- Russian joke According to the Kievan Chronicles, Vladimir I, who converted Russia to Greek Orthodoxy at the end of the 10th century, rejected Islam on the grounds that he would never get Russians to stop drinking alcohol.

John G. Smale, the leader of a group of General Motors Corporation directors pushing for rapid change, fueled speculation today that the chairman of G.M. is about to lose his job. Mr. Smale issued a brief statement that said the board "has taken no action regarding any management changes at G.M," but he offered no support for Robert C. Stempel, the chairman and chief executive officer.

Bill Clinton poked fun at the Administration over a report that officials had searched not only his passport files but also his mother's. Page A21.

WHEN the first International Antique Dealers Show opened four years ago, New York City had never seen anything like it. Rivaling the extravagant European shows, like the Biennale Internationale des Antiquaires in Paris or the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair in London, this was an exhibition that epitomized glamour and quality. It was also the first truly international antiques show ever to come to New York. The timing was right: in 1989 the art market was still strong. Sophisticated collectors who thought nothing of hopping a plane to Paris or London to search for the best antiques now needed to go only as far as the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue to see offerings from the top European and American dealers.

In the last 17 years, Alfred Spremo Jr. has sued his neighbor, a mattress maker, a child-care agency, the company that repossessed his car, the shop that repaired his videocassette recorder, at least a dozen lawyers including his own and more than 30 state and Federal judges. In 1986, he sued his mother.

In an announcement that caught Wall Street by surprise, Salomon Inc. said yesterday that its third-quarter earnings took a nose dive in the third quarter. Salomon said its earnings plunged 93 percent to $6 million, from $85 million, or 60 cents a share, in the corresponding period of 1991. Earnings per share were less than zero for the most recent quarter, after preferred dividends were paid. Revenues, after interest expenses, totaled $636 million, down from $880 million in the third quarter last year.

President Bush worked New Jersey bottom to top today, straining to erase Bill Clinton's lead in a vital state with more roundhouse attacks on the Governor's record and tax proposals. But the President aimed equally harsh invective at the rival he had treated, until now, almost gently: Ross Perot. In a television interview in Raleigh, N.C., before flying north, Mr. Bush said Mr. Perot had "some nutty ideas" about the economy and had made "crazy statements" about supposed White House dealings with President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

It could be a muckraking Thomas Nast cartoon come to life. An extravagant millionaire, obviously a scion of old-line Republican wealth, sends his trusted butler off with bags of money to do whatever it takes to buy his favorite candidate and win the election. But wait, stop the frame. What's wrong with this picture?

Three teen-agers were shot and wounded just outside their Brooklyn junior high school yesterday, when another student opened fire on a schoolmate who had bumped into him earlier in the day, the police said. It was the second time in four days that students were hit by gunfire outside city schools. On Monday, two 14-year-old girls and a 16-year-old boy were shot outside a Bronx high school.