September 7, 1994

Calming fears on Wall Street that weak July results signaled an end to the economic recovery, sales of cars and light trucks in the United States resumed their vigorous pace in August, rising 10.3 percent over the comparable month a year ago. The results released today suggested that the auto makers were correct in attributing the July slowdown to production shortfalls, rather than to a drop in demand. As investors hurriedly bid up auto stocks late in the day, auto executives clearly felt vindicated.

A brash young Mexican bank director who confounded the international business community with deals to acquire well-known food companies in the United States is believed by officials to have fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of fraudulently lending himself as much as $700 million. The banker, Carlos Cabal Peniche, who has been variously reported to be in his late 30's, is accused of using a complicated shell game to hide a money trail that enabled him to buy several large companies, including the Del Monte Fresh Produce Company of Coral Gables, Fla. This year he had made a deal to buy Del Monte Foods of San Francisco, but the outlook for completing that transaction is now uncertain.

PEPPER SPRAY GOES TO COLLEGE The hottest must-have item among female students at Rutgers University this fall is neither baggy pants nor book bags nor electronic games. It is pepper spray. Crime and the fear of crime has come to college, from big city universities to tiny rural schools. Although some still cling to the image of college as a sacred haven of higher purpose, increasingly, experts say, parents and students are realizing that few campuses are as idyllic as they look. A1. NEW YORK CITY

In the early 1980's, when Roger B. Smith, then chairman of the General Motors Corporation, described his vision for the auto industry's future, he imagined factory floors where, one by one, workers would be replaced by robots. "Every time the cost of labor goes up a dollar an hour," Mr. Smith said, "a thousand more robots become economical."

A Meeting of Irishmen Gerry Adams, the I.R.A.'s political leader, held his first talks with the Prime Minister of Ireland on ending "the troubles" in Ulster. Page A11. Promise From Rwanda Rwanda's new Government pledged to build a multiparty democracy in which ethnic origin, the root of much strife, was not an issue. Page A10. Police Suicide Count Rises Two New York City police officers killed themselves, matching a grim record set in 1987: 10 suicides by city officers in a year. Page B1. Sampras Eliminated at Open Pete Sampras, the defending champion and top-seeded player, was beaten in five sets by Jaime Yzaga of Peru. Page B15.