October 9, 1985

The Sports World Specials column on Monday incorrectly reported Benson Huggard's accomplishment last month. Mr. Huggard, who had set out to swim once around Manhattan on each of eight consecutive days with his legs tied, completed the act on only four of those days. On the other occasions, the swims were completed by other members of his team.

International Cruise ship hijackers reiterated their vow to kill the passengers and crew of the Italian vessel unless Israel freed 50 Palestinian prisoners. The standoff came amid unconfirmed reports that the terrorists may have slain some of the more than 400 hostages. The cruise liner, the Achille Lauro, continued to steam through the eastern Mediterranean with no apparent destination. [Page A1, Columns 5-6.] The U.S. seeks to deny the hijackers of the Italian cruise liner a sanctuary in any port, according to senior Reagan Administration officials. As part of the effort, they said, Washington, in diplomatic messages, has urged Syria and other Mediterranean countries not to allow the Achille Lauro to dock. [A1:5.]

The Reagan Administration will nominate James L. Buckley to the United States Court of Appeals, but officials have changed their minds about which circuit court the former New York Senator would sit on, Administration officials said today. Mr. Buckley, a conservative Republican, will not be nominated to the Court of Appeals in New York, as had been planned, the officials said. Instead, he will be nominated to the appeals court for the District of Columbia circuit. Word from the Administration a few weeks ago that Mr. Buckley might be nominated to the New York court had stirred opposition from the New York City Bar Association, which said he had failed to prove his qualifications, and from Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Republican of Connecticut, who had told the Administration privately of his opposition.

As Treasury Secretary James A. Baker 3d returned to Washington, bankers reacted cautiously today to his third world lending plan. The Baker plan is aimed at pumping an additional $29 billion into debtor countries over the next three years. Mr. Baker outlined the plan in a speech today before the joint annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. It calls for an additional $20 billion in lending by commercial banks, an annual increase of 2 1/2 percent, and a $9 billion increase in lending by the World Bank and other multilateral institutions to the largest debtor nations over the next three years. The conference hall was packed as Mr. Baker introduced the plan in a speech that had the title of ''Program for Sustained Growth.'' He received polite, tepid applause at the end of the address. Nearly 10,000 government financial officials and bankers from 149 member countries of the two institutions are attending the meeting in the South Korean capital.

''Please, please, please, don't try anything.'' - Gerardo de Rosa, captain of the Achille Lauro. [A1:6.]