April 16, 1984

An American professor who was kidnapped more than two months ago was rescued today by Shiite Moslem militiamen who stormed a West Beirut house in which he was being held. A French construction engineer who was abducted five days after the American and held along with him was also freed by the militiamen, members of the Amal Shiite militia. Both the American, Prof. Frank Regier of the American University here, and the Frenchman, Christian Joubert, appeared dazed and were unshaven, but otherwise seemed physically sound. Kidnappers' Indentities Unknown The identities of the kidnappers, who were being interrogated this evening, were not immediately clear. Security officials close to the investigation said they appeared to be ''Moslem extremists'' who had been holding the two men for still undetermined reasons.

The issue of whether Congress was adequately informed about the covert mining of Nicaraguan harbors has figured centrally in the debate that erupted this month. Following are some questions and answers about the dispute, the mandate and organization of the Senate and House intelligence committees and their relationship in this case and in general with the Central Intelligence Agency. Q. When did Congress first learn about the mining of Nicaraguan harbors, particularly about the direct involvement of the C.I.A.? A. The first public report about the mining was made on Jan. 3, when the Managua radio, the Nicaraguan Government station, broadcast a report that United States-supported rebels had begun placing mines in Nicaraguan territorial waters under the direct supervision of the C.I.A. On Jan. 8 rebel leaders announced at a news conference in Honduras that they would mine Nicaraguan harbors. These developments received little publicity in the United States, and it is not clear how many members of Congress were aware of them.

''I would ask that they recognize that it was not an easy thing for Barry Goldwater to write that letter and it was not an easy thing for me to resign the vice chairmanship.

-SALEM, N.C., April 15 - An all-white jury acquitted six Ku Klux Klansmen and three American Nazi Party members today of civil rights violations in the killing of five members of the Communist Workers Party and the wounding of seven others in 1979. Five of the defendants were among six men acquitted in 1980 of murder and rioting charges stemming from the deaths at a ''Death to the Klan'' rally in Greensboro. ''Praise the Lord,'' said Jack W. Fowler Jr., an ex-Nazi Party member from Winston-Salem who hugged his wife after the verdict was announced in Federal court about 5:10 P.M. Other defendants wept, and one, Roland Wayne Wood, also an ex-party member, knelt on the courtroom carpet. Dale Sampson, 35 years old, the widow of William Sampson, who was shot to death at the Nov. 3, 1979, rally, also wept. ''This is a real go-ahead for the Klan and Nazis to kill people,'' she said.

MICHAEL BLUMSTEIN The Charter Company, reporting new financial difficulties, said last night that it was suffering a ''severe loss of trade credit'' in its oil operation and would put its insurance business up for sale. ''If the company is unsuccessful in replacing the lost trade credit, it could have a serious impact on its oil operations,'' said a statement from Charter, which is based in Jacksonville, Fla. A company spokesman said she could not elaborate. Charter said its policyholders would be unaffected by a sale of the insurance business, which last year accounted for 70.1 percent of the company's operating profits of $164.9 million.