September 4, 1993

The decision to delay the opening of New York City's schools while they are inspected for asbestos was based more on a need to reassure fearful parents than on any estimate of health risk in this situation, health experts and school officials say. There is no question that asbestos inhaled over a long period in significant quantities can cause cancer or lung disease. But the health risks posed by a few days, or even months, of attendance in schools with asbestos where the exposure could be limited are negligible, they said -- less than the statistical likelihood of developing AIDS or being killed by a mugger, a drunken driver or a bolt of lightning. Indeed, the dangers to children while playing in the streets while out of school are probably greater than the risks of spending a few days in a school while officials establish whether asbestos is present.

Faced with a deepening economic crisis and a heavy debt to Russia for oil and gas, President Leonid M. Kravchuk of Ukraine agreed today to let Russia buy Ukraine's share of the disputed Black Sea Fleet, and to dismantle the nuclear weapons remaining on Ukrainian territory, in return for the uranium extracted from their warheads. Mr. Kravchuk's agreement with President Boris N. Yeltsin marked a sharp rollback in Ukraine's ambitions for equal status with its giant and powerful neighbor. But the accords need to be approved by both the Russian and Ukrainian Parliaments, and such action is not necessarily preordained.

For two months the mighty barges waited, marooned in their places or chased to quieter channels while enough grain to feed a continent sat sodden in silos and farmers and shippers could do little but count their losses. Now life is returning to normal on the Mississippi as the barges carrying grain from the upper Corn Belt to the Gulf of Mexico make their first tentative trips down a river that barge hands say they barely recognize.

Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, struggled today to rally his mainstream Fatah movement behind proposals for peace with Israel, a first step to gaining the support of a sharply divided P.L.O. Palestinian officials said several members of the Fatah Central Council had expressed vehement criticism of the content of the peace proposals and of the secretive manner in which they had been drafted. But they added that Mr. Arafat expected to secure the backing of Al Fatah, the most moderate group in the organization.

In reports raising fresh doubts about the durability of the economic recovery, the Government said today that the number of payroll jobs fell in August for the first time in more than a year and that its chief forecasting index turned down in July. These and other sobering results more than offset improvements elsewhere among figures released today, including a slight decline in the August unemployment rate, to 6.7 percent from 6.8 percent in July.