LEAD: The people of this single-belfry village, about a 90-minute drive from Paris, say that from time to time they saw Nathalie Menigon doing her shopping in town. But as the local butcher put it, nobody could have been expected to recognize her.

LOIRE VILLAGERS' QUIET NEIGHBORS: 2 FUGITIVES

LEAD: IN the United States, it seems, people are infatuated with nuts - all kinds of them: almonds, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pine nuts and more. According to Richard Sullivan, a spokesman for the Association of Food Industries, a trade organization, Americans consume more than 500 million pounds of nuts each year.

IN A NUTSHELL OR OUT, ADVICE ON SELECTING ALMONDS AND SUCH

LEAD: Michael K. Deaver, the former White House deputy chief of staff and a close friend of President Reagan, has been warned that he must plead guilty to criminal charges or face indictment by a Federal grand jury, people with knowledge of the investigation said today.

DEAVER REPORTED TO GET A WARNING ABOUT INDICTMENT

LEAD: For years, many individuals have looked to the tax code for help in subsidizing some of their more costly personal possessions, such as luxury cars and home computers.

SOME WRITE-OFFS NOW HARDER

LEAD: The Security Pacific Corporation won the bidding to acquire the Rainier Bancorporation of Seattle in one of the biggest mergers in banking history, the banks announced today.

Article 560087 -- No Title

LEAD: Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North filed suit today against the special prosecutor in the Iran-contra affair and Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, challenging the constitutionality of the Federal law permitting appointment of a special prosecutor.

NORTH FILES SUIT THAT CHALLENGES IRAN PROSECUTOR

LEAD: THE Mesabi iron range of northeast Minnesota has its fair share of fast-food restaurants and streamlined supermarkets, but it also has a mother lode of ethnic-food traditions from at least 40 countries. At Mary's Cafe in Hibbing, a luncheonette with oilcloth on the tables and an old-fashioned counter, the Irish cook makes chicken soup with German dumplings, Yugoslav sarma (stuffed cabbage) and Cornish pasties.

SARMA AND STRUDEL

LEAD: Regional bankers and others familiar with the Brazilian debt crisis said yesterday that they expected a compromise to emerge under which Brazil would agree to a package of reforms similar to an International Monetary Fund economic program. In return, the banks would issue new loans and restructure old ones.

I.M.F.-LIKE PACT SEEN FOR BRAZIL

LEAD: WHEN Jonathan Waxman, the celebrated young California chef, came to New York in 1983 to open what is now Jams restaurant, the first person he went to see for advice on staffing was a rubicund and genial former butcher named Marc Sarrazin. When Daniel Boulud and Patrice Boely, who are today the chefs at Le Cirque and the Polo, respectively, arrived in Manhattan four years ago, their first business lunch was with Marc Sarrazin.

HIS STOCK IN TRADE IS COOKS AND CLOUT

LEAD: Mayor Harold Washington, this city's first black Mayor, became the first mayoral incumbent Tuesday to win renomination in Chicago in the last decade.

WASHINGTON IS VICTOR IN CHICAGO MAYORAL PRIMARY

LEAD: A San Juan lawyer has told investigators that he funneled more than $4,000 a month in bribes to the wife of Representative Robert Garcia on behalf of a South Bronx military contractor, according to officials familiar with the inquiry.

LAWYER IS SAID TO TIE GARCIA TO BRIBE CASE

LEAD: A consensus appeared to be emerging today against widespread mandatory testing for infection with the AIDS virus as public health officials began an extraordinary two-day meeting to discuss ways to curb the spread of the deadly viral disease.

MANDATORY TESTS FOR AIDS OPPOSED AT HEALTH PARLEY

LEAD: AS a visitor pushed buttons to start the video cassette recorder in her room at a nursing home here, Dora Florio watched with anticipation. When the image of her daughter popped onto the screen, Mrs. Florio smiled and said softly, ''They love me so.''

'VIDEO VISITS' HELP ELDERLY AND KIN

LEAD: Sales of new domestically assembled cars fell 25.8 percent in the middle 10 days of February despite rebates, subsidized financing and other incentives, the nation's eight major manufacturers reported today.

MID-FEBRUARY AUTO SALES FELL 25.8%

LEAD: Scarred by scandal and barely functioning a year ago, the Parking Violations Bureau lay at the heart of New York City's biggest corruption inquiry in a generation.

PARKING BUREAU: STRIDES AFTER TURMOIL

LEAD: A man wanted in the bombings of several New York City abortion clinics surrendered quietly to Federal agents in lower Manhattan yesterday, less than 24 hours after John Cardinal O'Connor delivered a televised plea for him to turn himself in.

A DAY AFTER CARDINAL'S APPEAL, BOMBING SUSPECT SURRENDERS

LEAD: Astronomers reported yesterday that the gigantic explosion of a massive star has occurred much closer to the Earth than any observed since 1604. Because such nearby supernovas are so rare, this event is likely to have a dramatic effect on scientific understanding of how stars, galaxies and the entire universe have evolved through the ages.

HUGE STELLAR EXPLOSION DETECTED CLOSE ENOUGH FOR CAREFUL STUDY

LEAD: Across the harbor's choppy, cobalt waters, the old United States Immigration Station at Ellis Island is beginning to gleam again, beginning to glisten.

AT ELLIS ISLAND, GLOOMY RUIN STARTS TO SHINE

LEAD: ''So,'' one customer lacing up a pair of Cushionaire-soled Step-Flex shoes said to another, ''how long have you been walking?'' And the second one replied, ''Oh, about a month.''

About New York; A New Approach To Fitness Chic: Learning to Walk

LEAD: The Tower Commission has concluded that President Reagan, far from being remote from the Administration's Iran arms dealings, was briefed on them regularly as they took place, according to officials familiar with the commission's report.

PANEL SAID TO FIND REAGAN WAS TOLD OF IRAN DEALINGS

LEAD: At a time when many thrift institutions are scrambling to make themselves less vulnerable to the vagaries of the interest rate cycle, the Brooklyn-based Crossland Savings Bank still wants to gamble.

CROSSLAND GAMBLING ON RATES

LEAD: A city that started the week with one afternoon newspaper had three today. As a result, it found itself witnessing an old-fashioned circulation war complete with fireworks along the Thames, dancing publishers and exchanges of insults that were wickedly inventive even by British standards.

NEW PAPERS IN LONDON STIR AN OLD-SYLE WAR

LEAD: Law Vague on Birth Pacts  In the absence of laws, surrogate motherhood arrangements are being improvised with no supervision by doctors or lawyers. Page B2.  Welfare Plan Backed  The nation's governors overwhelmingly approved a plan to require every able-bodied welfare recipient to work or get training.

INSIDE

LEAD: Pierre Des Marais 2d has been a mayor, president of an aircraft company and, since last October, chairman of Carling O'Keefe Ltd. But his position at Canada's third-largest brewery has now become uncertain.

TAKEOVER CLOUDS FUTURE FOR CARLING CHAIRMAN

LEAD: A mental-health expert retained by Baby M's legal guardian changed his mind and recommended today ending the legal parental rights of Mary Beth Whitehead, a key issue in the custody hearing.

EXPERT ENDORSES VISITATION BAN FOR WHITEHEAD

Justin Abdelkader is an American former professional ice hockey winger. He played for the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as EV Zug and HC Lugano of the National League (NL). He was drafted 42nd overall by the Red Wings in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

February 25, 1987

Headlines from February 25, 1987

LOIRE VILLAGERS' QUIET NEIGHBORS: 2 FUGITIVES

IN A NUTSHELL OR OUT, ADVICE ON SELECTING ALMONDS AND SUCH

DEAVER REPORTED TO GET A WARNING ABOUT INDICTMENT

SOME WRITE-OFFS NOW HARDER

Article 560087 -- No Title

Billboard 200

Slippery When Wet

Licensed To Ill

Night Songs

The Way It Is

Georgia Satellites

Notable Births

Historical Context for February 25, 1987