February 24, 1983

Saudi Arabia said today that it and five other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had agreed to a reduction in the price of Saudi Light crude, which determines the price that other OPEC members charge for their oil. The Saudi Arabian oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, warned the other seven members of OPEC that if they did not accept the planned price cut -believed to be $4 a barrel - the six stood ready to slash prices further. If the OPEC nations, which produce about a third of the world's oil, fail to coordinate their prices, recent reductions by Britain, Norway and Nigeria could set off a price war, aggravating economic uncertainty and jeopardizing bank loans to the poorer oil exporters. There were indications that those risks could lead non-OPEC members to join any move by the 13 nations to stabilize world oil prices. Although Sheik Yamani refused to put a figure on the price cut, it was reported in industry circles here that the major Persian Gulf producers would agree on a new basic price of about $30 a barrel for Saudi Light, down from the current $34.

After several years on his own, Louis Florio, a 26-year-old supermarket produce man, is back home, living in his childhood bedroom in Selden, L.I. - with his wife, Maria, and their infant daughter, Tresa. Mr. Florio's 22-year-old sister, Phyllis, has returned to her old room, which she shares with her husband, Bill, a cook, and their daughter, Carla. The children and their children have come home to Frank Florio and his wife, Terry. The elder Florios still have the master bedroom and Louis's other daughter, Maria, 7, has the spare room.

The inspector general and chief administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency submitted their resignations today. The actions were taken at the request of the White House, according to a senior Reagan Administration official. The inspector general, Matthew N. Novick, wrote a report critical of the agency's program for cleaning up toxic waste dumps that buttressed the position of its critics in Congress. But before that, the same critics accused him of not properly investigating charges of misconduct by a fellow agency official. The other aide who resigned was John P. Horton, the agency's assistant administrator for administration, who was responsible for making the agency function. Many critics in Congress say the agency is ill managed. Mr. Horton is under investigation because of reports that he conducted his private business from his agency office. He has denied the charges.

The banking industry's drive to repeal a key element in last year's tax bill that subjects interest and dividends to 10 percent withholding has produced one of the hottest and, some say, nastiest debates in recent years. The pro-repeal forces have charged, among other things, that savings accounts will be ''looted'' and that investors' earnings will ''disappear'' should the deductions, which are to begin July 1, take effect. President Reagan said today that he thought the effort for repeal was ''entirely wrong.'' He added, ''I think that a great lobbying effort has resulted in much distortion.'' Senator Bob Dole, the Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a main defender of withholding as a way to catch tax cheats, complains that the bankers' ''unscrupulous'' war of words represents a ''historic low'' in lobbying tactics. Both he and Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan have implied that should the banks succeed, the Government would retaliate by seeking to increase their taxes.

President Reagan, advocating an Arab-Israeli resolution of the Palestinian issue as ''the greatest security for Israel,'' said today that this would require ''providing something in the nature of a homeland'' for the Palestinians. The President, who said he was not suggesting ''creating a nation,'' strongly emphasized his fears that delay in the withdrawal of outside military forces from Lebanon was jeopardizing the wider process of Middle East peace diplomacy. ''Time is not on our side in this,'' he told a breakfast gathering of about 50 reporters, editors and columnists. ''The longer we delay in this, the more we endanger the possibility of moving on into the general peace discussions.'' Envoy Notes 'Sense of Urgency' Moshe Arens, who made a farewell call on Mr. Reagan as Israeli Ambassador to the United States before taking over as Israel's Defense Minister on Friday, said afterward that the President had also conveyed to him ''a sense of urgency'' on the withrawal issue after repeating an offer to guarantee Israel's northern border with Lebanon.