LEAD: Two Soviet Navy vessels deliberately bumped two United States warships in the Black Sea today as the American vessels sailed through waters claimed by the Soviet Union, the Pentagon said.

2 SOVIET WARSHIPS REPORTEDLY BUMP U.S. NAVY VESSELS

LEAD: The financier Victor Posner avoided a jail sentence today on Federal tax evasion charges when he agreed to spend $3 million to help homeless men, women and children in south Florida and to devote 20 hours a week for five years to working with them.

Financier Avoids Jail in Deal to Aid Homeless

INSIDE

LEAD: A Brooklyn landlord began serving a court-ordered stay in one of his neglected apartment buildings yesterday, a sentence imposed to give him a dose of his tenants' drab reality: leaky pipes, cold rooms, bold mice, falling plaster.

Found in Contempt, Landlord Begins a Term in His Building

LEAD: Members of Congress and Justice Department officials say the Drug Enforcement Administration appears to have overlooked strong evidence of drug trafficking by the Panamanian military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, while seeking Panama's help in investigating other narcotics cases.

Drug Unit Said to Have Neglected Evidence of Noriega Trafficking

LEAD: Cocaine abuse and AIDS are taking the lives of children born in the most devastated neighborhoods of New York City, nudging up the city's infant mortality rate after more than a decade of decline and sowing fears of steeper increases to come.

COCAINE AND AIDS IN NEW YORK ADD TO INFANT DEATHS

LEAD: In the days since Pat Robertson finished second in the Iowa caucuses Monday night, ahead of Vice President Bush, his once invisible army is now out in the field, well drilled and intensely committed.

Robertson Backers Eager for Southern Test

LEAD: As violence flared again in the occupied territories, a rift in Israel's governing coalition widened today as Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir angrily accused Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of trying to ''sabotage'' his attempts at peace.

New Squabbling In Israel Widens 2 Leaders' Split

LEAD: The nation's trade deficit narrowed by $1 billion in December, to $12.2 billion, the lowest level in 11 months, the Commerce Department reported today.

U.S. TRADE DEFICIT NARROWS FURTHER AS EXPORTS GROW

LEAD: ''People get turned on by an emotional campaign. Robertson's campaign is emotional.

Quotation of the Day

LEAD:  INTERNATIONAL 2-6, 28  Two Soviet Navy vessels bumped two United States warships in the Black Sea as the American vessels sailed through waters claimed by the Soviet Union, prompting a diplomatic protest from the Reagan Administration. Page 1  Evidence of drug trafficking by the Panamanian leader appears to have been overlooked by the Drug Enforcement Administration in exchange for Panama's help in investigating other drug cases, officials said.

NEWS SUMMARY: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1988

LEAD: The Government said today that a report that troops killed at least 20 civilians at a drought relief camp was an ''outright lie,'' and it accused foreign news organizations of a disinformation campaign.

Ethiopia Rebuts Atrocity Report

LEAD: Eight members of the terrorist group Direct Action were sentenced today to 10 years each in prison, the maximum term, on charges of criminal conspiracy.

8 in French Terror Group Get 10-Year Terms

LEAD: An article on Thursday about police theories concerning a $6 million theft at a Manhattan art gallery incorrectly described the Art Theft Archives, a list of 28,000 stolen art works compiled under the auspices of the International Foundation for Art Research. The list is not computerized.

CORRECTION

LEAD: A confessed Palestinian gunman was convicted and sentenced to a 30-year prison term today for his part in the Rome airport attack in 1985 in which 16 people died. Two other defendants, including the Palestinian guerrilla leader known as Abu Nidal, were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for organizing the attack.

Palestinian Gets 30 Years for Rome Airport Attack

LEAD: An emergency meeting of the leaders of the 12-nation European Community reached a laboriously negotiated agreement early today that will permit an overhaul of its finances and ease the transition to a barrier-free market by 1992.

Europeans Agree on a Budget Overhaul

LEAD: Because of an editing error, an article yesterday from Athens on Palestinian plans to organize a sea voyage to Israel misstated the circumstances of the 1947 voyage of the Exodus. The passengers were put on a British vessel and taken to France, where they refused to disembark, and then to the British zone of

LEAD: An article on Wednesday about the investigation into an attack on a Dutchess County teen-ager incorrectly described the role of an assistant attorney general in a previous case. The official, John M. Ryan, aided in the investigation of a 1975 bombing at LaGuardia Airport, but no one has been prosecuted.

LEAD: Japan's Inland Sea is sometimes called the Aegean of the East. On calm days, it is an emerald mirror, embossed with many hundreds of dark, thickly wooded islands across its 300-mile length.

Sakaide Journal; In the Other Japan, a Bridge Is a Two-Way Street

LEAD: An Iranian helicopter firing rockets and machine guns attacked a Danish supertanker in the Persian Gulf today, shipping executives said. They said a Danish seaman was killed and three others wounded. A spokesman for the owner, A. P. Moller of Copenhagen, said the attack crippled the 390,000-ton Kate Maersk.

Iran Gulf Raid Kills a Dane

LEAD: A senior Panamanian diplomat resigned today, saying he could no longer work in good conscience for a government ''characterized by corruption, illegitimacy and dishonesty.''

Panama Envoy Quits, Assailing Military Rule

LEAD: President Reagan and President Miguel de la Madrid are to meet here Saturday with relations between the United States and Mexico smoother than at any time since they took office at the start of the decade.

Better Ties Brighten U.S.-Mexican Summit Today

LEAD: A South African court today struck down Government curbs on universities that linked the granting of state subsidies to strictures against political activities.

Cape Town Lifts Curb on Politics at Schools

LEAD: Far from Flatbush, where her marriage proposal was conditional on the great adventure of migration to biblical Judea, Pauline Moskowitz said her husband is recovering now, his skull but not his spirit fractured by Palestinian stone throwers.

UNREST STIFFENS RESOLVE OF JEW AND ARAB ALIKE

LEAD: The Soviet Union's proposal for a 10-month withdrawal of its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan has plunged the United States, Pakistan and the Afghan guerrillas into intensive negotiations with one another over the wisdom of demanding that a coalition government be established in Kabul before an agreement is signed.

The Afghan Future: With Soviet Pullout Offer, the Talks Build Momentum

Ryan Matthew Goins is an American former professional baseball second baseman and shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago White Sox. Since 2024, he has served as the infield coach for the Los Angeles Angels.

Ryan Goins, American baseball player

Ryan_Goins

Dave Rudden is an Irish writer of young adult fiction, juvenile fantasy and science fiction, best known for his Knights of the Borrowed Dark trilogy and stories from the Doctor Who universe. He is based in Dublin.

February 13, 1988

Headlines from February 13, 1988

2 SOVIET WARSHIPS REPORTEDLY BUMP U.S. NAVY VESSELS

Financier Avoids Jail in Deal to Aid Homeless

INSIDE

Found in Contempt, Landlord Begins a Term in His Building

Drug Unit Said to Have Neglected Evidence of Noriega Trafficking

Billboard 200

Faith

Tiffany

Dirty Dancing

Kick

Bad

Notable Births

Historical Context for February 13, 1988