January 29, 1991

Police scuba divers inspecting the hull of an oil tanker in New York Harbor made an unusual discovery Thursday, and it was not only 366 pounds of cocaine hidden under water in the rudder compartment, but the people who were guarding it: two shivering and louse-infested Colombians who had survived five stormy days in a 10-foot air pocket, virtual prisoners of the sea, authorities said. Customs officials said the tanker crew knew nothing of the stowaways, who had smuggled themselves into the rudder compartment by raft in Cartagena, Colombia, when the compartment was above water. This was before the tanker, the Bright Eagle, loaded oil.

The New York City Council, known for decades as a place to win new names for streets but not much else, moved forcefully yesterday to assert its new role as a counterweight to mayoral power, threatening subpoenas against two city agencies by Friday and for the first time forcing a city official to testify under oath at a hearing. The challenge to the prerogatives of the administration followed a year of turf battles between the Council and Mayor David N. Dinkins, stemming from the provisions in the new City Charter that abolished the city's Board of Estimate and created a more powerful City Council.

More than 80 Iraqi warplanes have been flown to Iran by their pilots in recent days, including more than 60 fighters and bombers, the United States reported today. American officials suggested but said they were unable to confirm that the exodus of Iraqi planes had been coordinated between Baghdad and Teheran and was not the result of individual defections by pilots. The exodus amounts to 10 percent of the Iraqi Air Force and includes some of Iraq's most advanced French and Soviet-made planes.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo will propose raising New York State's gasoline tax by 10 cents a gallon -- the first increase in nearly two decades -- as part of a plan to close the $6 billion deficit in New York State's next budget, Cuomo administration officials said today. The increase would more than double the current 8-cent tax. The gas tax has long been considered one of the few untouchable revenue sources in the Capitol, and Mr. Cuomo fiercely opposed an increase until recently. The increase will be part of the Governor's plan to close roughly $1.5 billion of the budget gap withtaxes and other revenues, the officials said. Mr. Cuomo is to unveil his full budget proposal on Thursday.

Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. said today that he was prepared to cut the preliminary state budget for the next fiscal year by 10 percent but that Connecticut's shortfall in tax revenues was so large that residents faced $1 billion or more in new or higher taxes. "Let's not tiptoe around on this -- that's the dimensions of the problem," he said at a news conference in his office.