April 12, 1986

The Italian wine scandal is a disaster for that country's wine industry whose effects may be felt for many years to come. What is more, its impact may cast a shadow over all European wines. For American consumers, it is a confusing situation. On Thursday the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal agency responsible for wine imports, initially directed importers to tell their retailers to remove all Italian wines from the shelves.

The White House chief of staff said today that the Administration was ''coming close'' to a ''final conclusion'' on whether Libya was responsible for the bombing last week of a West Berlin discotheque frequented by American soldiers. The comments by the White House chief of staff, Donald T. Regan, and by other officials fortified the impression conveyed by the Administration for the last three days that the United States is moving toward a military strike against Libya in retaliation for anti-American terrorist actions such as the discotheque attack. President Reagan said this week that the United States was prepared to strike militarily at Libya if evidence pointed directly to Libyan support for terrorists. War Powers Resolution There was concern in Congress, meanwhile, about compliance with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires the President to consult with Congress before sending military forces into actual or imminent hostilities.

The owner of a midtown jewelry concern, who had survived Nazi labor camps, was killed in a robbery yesterday by thugs who wounded a bystander and narrowly missed a police officer in a running gun battle on the crowded streets of the diamond district. Though his uniform sleeve was torn by bullets fired from close range, the officer withheld his own fire to avoid striking bystanders, chased the suspects two blocks and, joined by other officers, subdued them in hand-to-hand fighting, the police said. #2 Shots Fired Late last night, after questioning numerous witnesses, the police said they did not know why the gunmen had slain the jeweler, Moshe Ashkenazy, 57 years old, of 1523 49th Street in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn. After the killing in a fourth-floor suite at 33 West 46th Street at 10:45 A.M., the gunmen fled and three officers chased them west on 46th Street. A half-block away, one gunman whirled and fired two shots at Officer Robert Gianetta.

The Soviet Union renounced its moratorium on underground nuclear testing today, saying continued American tests threatened Soviet security. An American test, the second of the year and the ninth since the Soviet moratorium began last Aug. 6, was conducted Thursday in Nevada. There was no immediate indication of when Moscow would resume underground testing, but Western diplomats said they thought it would be soon. Offer to Revive Ban Moscow said it was prepared to revive the moratorium any time ''the United States declares that it will refrain from conducting such explosions.'' [ The United States said it was not surprised by the Soviet announcement. ''They had indicated that they would do this,'' said the White House spokesman, Larry Speakes, adding that ''we will have to wait and see'' when the next test occurs. He did not elaborate. ] The Reagan Administration has said it regards the Soviet moratorium as a propaganda gesture and has offered instead to improve verification provisions in existing treaties that limit underground tests to 150 kilotons, the force of 150,000 tons of TNT.

Since the most recent terrorist acts against American targets, the information about possible Libyan involvement and American strategy provided by Administration officials has often been either sketchy and cryptic or bold but undocumented. Sometimes, information comes from officials who are not fully informed but who talk anyway; sometimes, from officials who know what is happening but are holding back. Sorting this out is further complicated by competition among reporters to be first with the inside story and by what appears to be manipulation of the press by the White House to suit its political tactics. But from this welter, three points are emerging.