LEAD: At least 51 people drowned and another 30 to 40 were believed to be missing when a boat carrying party-goers to watch a New Year's fireworks display along Copacabana Beach sank at the entrance to the bay of Rio de Janeiro a few minutes before midnight Saturday.

At Least 51 Die As Party Vessel Capsizes Off Rio

LEAD: Publishers have already spent more than a million dollars on advances to authors writing about Manhattan's two most talked-about current courtroom dramas: the murder trial of Joel B. Steinberg and the corruption trial that ended in the acquittal of Bess Myerson, a former Miss America and New York cultural commissioner.

Steinberg and Myerson Trials: 2 Cases Provoke Many Books

LEAD: Five months after Iran embraced a cease-fire in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, the regime is struggling over how to rebuild its economy and recast its goal of ''war until victory'' to an ideology suited to peace.

Teheran Finds War Was Easier to Make Than a Stable Peace

LEAD: Patent battles now beginning could determine which organizations and even which nations control the rights to new high-temperature superconductors, materials that could revolutionize fields like computers and electricity generation.

BATTLES BEGINNING IN RACE TO PATENT SUPERCONDUCTORS

LEAD:  49ers and Bills Win  The San Francisco 49ers routed Minnesota, 34-9, and advanced to the National Football Conference final.

INSIDE

LEAD: George Bush has taken some time out since the election for sedentary activities like picking a Cabinet and preparing a plan to govern. But mostly he has kept up a grueling schedule of shooting, casting, jogging, putting, pitching, lobbing, boating, diving and body surfing.

It's a Rare Sport That Bush Doesn't Like

LEAD: When President Reagan took office, environmentalists feared the worst from the man who once said trees cause pollution. They expected him to dismantle environmental regulation and give away public lands and resources.

Reagan and Environment: To Many, a Stalemate

LEAD: Finance Minister Shimon Peres unveiled a stringent austerity plan today to rescue Israel's troubled economy.

ISRAEL PUTS FORTH AN AUSTERITY PLAN TO REVIVE ECONOMY

LEAD: Santiago and Gloria Rodriguez have been married for eight years, but neither has ever met the other's parents, his in Mexico, hers in Guatemala. As immigrants living illegally in California, the couple dared not, until now, leave the United States for fear they might not ever be able to slip back across the border.

Legalized Migrants Flock Home for Holidays

LEAD:  International 2-8  An Israeli austerity plan to rescue the troubled economy was unveiled by Finance Minister Shimon Peres. It includes major budget reductions and would call for the layoff of thousands of Government employees. Page 1

NEWS SUMMARY

LEAD: Thirty years ago today Cubans poured into the streets of Havana, cheering and honking car horns, to celebrate the collapse of a brutal dictatorship and the promise of a better way of life.

Cuba's 30 Castro Years: Pluses, Minus the Gaiety

LEAD: ''I do not think an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth is ever valid. I can understand the anger. We feel the anger very deeply. The most important thing to do is to try to get the cooperation of all nations to track down these people so that they are brought to justice.''  - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, on the crash of Pan Am Flight 103.

Quotation of the Day

LEAD: A 13-ship aircraft carrier battle group that left Norfolk, Va., on Friday for the Mediterranean was sent on a ''routine deployment,'' a Navy spokesman said today.

Navy Calls the Deployment Of a Carrier Group 'Routine'

LEAD: Because of a production error, headlines on the Outdoors and About Cars articles were transposed yesterday in some copies of the Sports section. Readers wishing copies of the corrected page may write to Production Quality Control, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036.

Corrections

LEAD: An Armenian Communist Party newspaper has published what purports to be an anonymous ultimatum to the K.G.B., threatening to use American-made Stinger missiles in a campaign of ''mass terror'' if jailed Armenian nationalist leaders are not set free.

Armenia Prints Warning to K.G.B.; Called Fake

LEAD: A listing in the Company News column in Business Day on Friday about Tiffany & Company misstated when the company most recently sold shares to the public. Tiffany, which was taken private in a leveraged buyout in October 1984, made a public offering of shares in May 1987.

Correction

LEAD: In the midst of the worst shortage of consumer goods in recent memory, the Soviet Government announced today that foreigners would soon be prevented from taking such scarce locally produced items as caviar, coffee, television sets, children's clothing, refrigerators or washing machines out of the country.

Moscow Curbs Exports of Scarce Goods

LEAD: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said today that no revenge should be taken for the bombing that destroyed a Pan Am jumbo jet over Scotland with 259 people aboard.

Thatcher Opposes Revenge for Bomb

LEAD: When Jean-Claude Killy thinks about the year 1992, he doesn't have in mind the European Community's ambitious deadline for creating a frontier-free market of 320 million consumers.

Val d'Isere Journal; On to Olympian Glory, but at Too Steep a Price?

LEAD: India announced today that it would withdraw about 2,000 troops from Sri Lanka in the next few days, and officials said further troop reductions would follow.

India Says 2,000 Troops Will Leave Sri Lanka

LEAD: President Kim Il Sung of North Korea invited his South Korean counterpart, Roh Tae Woo, and six other political and religious leaders to a political conference, the official North Korean press agency reported today.

North Korean Invites South to Get Together

LEAD: Pope John Paul II today called on ''all men of good will'' to help build a world of peace and justice in 1989, and the Pope emphasized the need to defend the rights of members of minority groups.

John Paul Issues a Plea for Minority Rights

LEAD: Thirteen Palestinians accused of leading the uprising in the occupied territories were deported to Lebanon today, and residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip celebrated the 23d anniversary of the first attack against Israel by Yasir Arafat's Fatah guerrilla group.

Israel Expels 13 Palestinians Accused of Aiding Uprising

LEAD: Gerry Adams, leader of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, has criticized the I.R.A. for killing civilians in a string of botched attacks in 1988.

Sinn Fein's Leader Criticizes I.R.A. on Killing of Civilians

LEAD: Rival Shiite Muslim militiamen today fought running street gun battles in southern Beirut for the second straight day, defying appeals from Shiite leaders to end months of violent confrontation.

Shiite Rivals in Beirut Battle for Second Day

Safdar Hashmi was an Indian communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian political theatre. He was an activist of the Students' Federation of India (SFI).

January 2, 1989

Headlines from January 2, 1989

At Least 51 Die As Party Vessel Capsizes Off Rio

Steinberg and Myerson Trials: 2 Cases Provoke Many Books

Teheran Finds War Was Easier to Make Than a Stable Peace

BATTLES BEGINNING IN RACE TO PATENT SUPERCONDUCTORS

INSIDE

Billboard 200

Giving You The Best That I Got

Rattle And Hum (Soundtrack)

Cocktail

Appetite For Destruction

New Jersey

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for January 2, 1989