December 25, 1980

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29--In a decision that President Carter today called "profoundly significant," a Federal appeals court has cast doubt on the constitutionality of hundreds of laws providing for Congressional vetoes of executive branch actions.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 24--Presidentelect Ronald Reagan, breaking his silence on the most recent negotiations with Iran, said today that he had been angered at the new demands from those holding the American hostages in Iran and called the Iranian captors "nothing better than criminals and kidnappers."

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24--Arthur F. Burns, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and an adviser to President-elect Ronald Reagan, said today that it would be "unwise" for Mr. Reagan to declare an economic emergency, as some of the incoming President's aides have urged him to do.

TEHERAN, Iran, Dec. 24--The 52 American hostages prepared tonight to spend their second Christmas in captivity here as Iran's leaders appeared undecided on how to respond to Washington's rebuff of their proposal that the hostages be exchanged for $24 billion in "guarantees."

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved a long-sought $20.45 million grant to New York City that clears the way for a complex of new shops and pedestrian malls to be built at the South Street Seaport.