November 25, 1992

The General Assembly delivered an unexpected rebuke to the United States today, overwhelmingly passing a resolution that calls for an end to Washington's 30-year embargo against Cuba. Dozens of nations that usually back the United States either voted for the resolution, which Cuba sponsored, or abstained. Most of the allies declining to come to Washington's support made it clear that they were using the nonbinding vote to signal their anger at a new American law that tightens the longstanding embargo. The law extends American jurisdiction beyond the boundaries of the United States to cover foreign subsidiaries of American companies. A Post-Cold-War Vote The law, called the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, received final passage by the House on Sept. 24, and was signed by President Bush on Oct. 23. It was enthusiastically supported by Gov. Bill Clinton in his Presidential campaign.

A basic measure of the General Motors Corporation's financial health fell today, as Moody's Investors Service Inc. lowered its ratings on an array of G.M. debt securities, worth about $70 billion. The downgrading was the latest in a string of unfavorable developments for G.M. The company has reported gargantuan losses in recent quarters, and a recent shake-up of top management has focused attention on years of indecisive leadership.

Ruling on a case that halted virtually all development in Long Island's environmentally sensitive Pine Barrens for three years, New York State's highest court declared today that scores of separate building projects could proceed there without a study of their cumulative impact on the environment. The unanimous decision by the Court of Appeals clears the main legal obstacle to more than 200 private construction projects in Suffolk County's Central Pine Barrens, a 100,000-acre area of scrubby pine trees and porous soil that sits atop Long Island's largest aquifer. But the decision does not assure that they will go forward.

HE annual job of roasting a turkey sends tens of thousands of people racing to the phone for hot-line help. But when it comes to the inevitable pies that end the meal, no such safety net is needed. Thanksgiving pies are very often bought, not made. The frenzied pre-Thanksgiving pie makers are the dedicated professionals in bakeries who mix, roll, cut, fill, flute and bake nonstop as the countdown leads to Thursday. The North Pole on Christmas Eve has nothing on a bakery just before Thanksgiving.

NEIL YOUNG and the Carnegie Deli are two things that probably haven't changed much since the 60's. The deli still has framed 8-by-10 celebrity glossies, tables full of tourists and a pastrami sandwich taller than the span of the average human mouth. Mr. Young still has hair the consistency and manageability of reddish-brown straw, and a face that seems carved out of a mountainside. He still dresses in flannel shirts and denim jeans, and he still flashes a peace sign every now and then. On an autumn evening, Mr. Young is sitting at a back corner table in the Carnegie Deli, on Seventh Avenue at 55th Street. He's in town on business -- a new album, "Harvest Moon," has just been released by Reprise -- but in the manner of a genial tourist, he's just ordered an egg cream.