US, USSR EDGE CLOSER TO ACCORD ON ARMS TESTS

US and Soviet officials on Aug. 8 ended six weeks of talks on limiting the size of nuclear tests. Chief US negotiator Paul Robinson said that good progress had been made, and he hoped the two-year talks were ``entering the home stretch.'' The talks on how to verify compliance with two unratified test-ban treaties call for fewer controversial political decisions than the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), which adjourned Aug. 7 without any progress on major issues. The two sides are split on how best to measure the size of underground nuclear tests.