July 20, 1985

A Federal appeals court panel today struck down Government regulations that require cable systems to carry without charge all television stations that are watched by a significant number of people in their communities. The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals here said that in their present form the Federal regulations ''are fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment.'' The regulations, imposed in the mid-1960's by the Federal Communications Commission, were designed to protect independent local broadcasters against competition from cable operators. The court's decision was a setback for local broadcasters generally and especially for independent broadcasters that are not affiliated with major networks and that appeal to relatively narrow audiences, such as UHF stations broadcasting educational or religious material. They would lose the right to demand transmission through cable systems.

An earthen dam in the northern Italian mountains burst today, sending forth what one survivor called ''a wall of mud and water'' and killing at least 80 people. Officials said they expected the death toll to rise to 200 or more. The dam collapsed at about 12:20 P.M. (6:20 A.M., New York time) and sent water sweeping through the mountain village of Stava, washing away everything in its path. The 150-foot-wide wave of mud and water destroyed three hotels, part of a fourth and two dozen houses in one of Italy's greenest and most popular mountain resort areas.

President Reagan is to return to the White House from the Bethesda Naval Medical Center on Saturday, one week after undergoing surgery in which a cancerous growth was removed from his colon. ''The news today is the President of the United States will sleep in the White House tomorrow night,'' an elated Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said today. ''Doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital today gave the President the green light to go home.'' Mr. Reagan is scheduled to leave his third-floor hospital suite in early afternoon, shortly after making his weekly Saturday radio speech. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy, Mr. Reagan is to be driven to the White House where Administration officials and staff aides plan to welcome him on the South Lawn.

David Bathurst, the chairman of Christie's New York and London operations, who has admitted that he falsely reported the number of paintings sold in a New York auction in 1981, resigned yesterday. The resignation, believed to be the first by a major New York auction house official accused of making a false public statement, immediately followed an announcement that Christie's had reached a settlement in the case with the city's Department of Consumer Affairs involving an $80,000 fine and the suspension of auctioneer licenses. Surrender of Licenses The settlement with the Consumer Affairs Department, which licenses both auction houses and auctioneers, had required Mr. Bathurst voluntarily to surrender his license to conduct auctions in New York for two years. He will also resign from the board of directors of Christie's parent company, Christie's International P.L.C., but will remain a director of Christie's in London.

President Reagan, moving quickly to fill the post, today appointed James C. Miller 3d, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, to succeed David A. Stockman as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The appointment will give Mr. Miller, a conservative economist, responsibility for the preparation of the budgets that the President sends to Congress each winter. The appointment, which is subject to Senate confirmation, had been a topic of speculation since Mr. Stockman announced last week that he would leave the Administration Aug. 1 for a senior position in the Wall Street investment firm of Salomon Brothers. Speculation intensified in recent days as several others under consideration removed themselves from the running.