April 12, 1985

As spring reaches north into Newfoundland this month, the peak of the iceberg season is under way. And the job of tracking the icebergs in the North Atlantic's busiest shipping lanes falls to a little- known Coast Guard unit based here, the International Ice Patrol. The patrol was created after the luxury liner Titanic rammed a small iceberg 73 years ago this month, punching a hole in her reinforced steel hull. More than 1,500 lives were lost when the liner sank.

In a new effort to improve taxi service in New York City, Mayor Koch has proposed increasing the number of yellow medallion cabs by 1,200, or 10 percent of the existing number. Under the plan, which the Mayor has offered to the City Council, the added medallions would be made available through an auction. Later, the city would consider whether to auction more medallions, in increments of 1,200. The plan, many of whose details remain to be worked out, blends two earlier Koch proposals that have found little support. It was outlined in a letter to the head of the City Council's Transportation Committee.

President Reagan today announced a major reorganization of the White House that, while affirming Donald T. Regan's primacy as White House chief of staff, also grants powerful roles to two key advisers from Mr. Reagan's first term. Under the arrangement, Mr. Regan, James A. Baker 3d and Edwin Meese 3d will supervise virtually all aspects of domestic and economic policy through two new councils. The move would eliminate seven current Cabinet councils, each headed by a different Secretary. In its place, policy matters involving those officials and other White House aides will flow through the new councils to Mr. Regan.

The White House announced today that President Reagan planned to lay a wreath next month at a cemetery for German soldiers who fought Americans and other Allied troops in World War II. Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said the visit by Mr. Reagan to the Bitburg German military cemetery was in line with the theme of reconciliation Mr. Reagan plans to seek during his European trip from April 30 to May 10. A part of the trip coincides with the 40th anniversary of the German surrender to the Allies. Mr. Reagan has already drawn criticism from Jewish groups for his decision not to visit the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. The disclosure today of the cemetery visit stirred a new burst of critical remarks.

The scientists said they believed the measurements, across perhaps 230,000 miles of space, were accurate to within an inch, 10 times more accurate than any made in the past. The astronomers used a special 80- lens telescope at the Mount Haleakala Observatory of the University of Hawaii to receive the new short-pulse laser beams. The new measurements, combined with those being made with increasing accuracy from Texas and France, are providing detailed records of day-to- day changes in the rotation of the Earth and the slight wobbles it makes as it spins on its axis. They are also recording lunar motions caused by subtle gravitational effects arising from the influences of relativity.