April 10, 1991

An Anti-Weicker Coalition Connecticut Republicans say they will cross the aisle to seek a pact with Democrats to kill Gov. Lowell P. Weicker's income-tax plan. Page B1. Max Factor Sale Near Revlon is expected to announce that it plans to sell Max Factor and a German beauty company to Procter & Gamble for about $1 billion. Page D1. What Makes Tsongas Run?

A group of physicians is asking the Federal Department of Agriculture to abandon the traditional four food groups -- meat, fish and poultry; grains; dairy products; and fruits and vegetables -- and to substitute what many will consider a radical new grouping of foods. The four new groups, proposed at a news conference here on Monday, are fruits; grains; vegetables; and legumes, which includes beans, peanut butter and soybeans. Meat and dairy products are options, and minor ones at that. "The typical Western diet, high in animal fat and protein and lacking in fiber, is associated with increased risk of cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis," said a report prepared by the group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a Washington-based nonprofit organization active in health and research policy. Most health professionals would agree with the evaluation. What most would do about it, however, is quite different from what the committee is recommending.

Warning that the Soviet Union faced economic collapse and a paralysis of power, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev presented a crisis program today that combined calls for strict discipline with a stepped-up transition to a market economy. Speaking sternly and sometimes angrily to leaders of all Soviet republics except Georgia and the three Baltic states, Mr. Gorbachev demanded a moratorium on strikes and demonstrations for the duration of the one-year program. He also called for restoring the chain of authority, arguing that the squabbling republics were threatening to bankrupt the central Government.

With less than a week to go until April 15, the Internal Revenue Service is finding far less than the usual tax-season grumbling aimed its way this year. To be sure, there are still shortcomings, such as the trouble taxpayers have in making telephone connections for assistance, and new worries are being heard about the new electronic filing system that is intended to speed up refunds. But even some of the agency's most persistent critics say that day-to-day operations are generally the smoothest in a long time. The contrast to the experience of the mid-1980's, particularly to 1985, when computer problems caused extensive and costly delays, is especially sharp. 'Proceeding Successfully' "This year's filing season is proceeding successfully," Jennie S. Stathis, director of tax policy and administration issues at the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, told a House oversight panel late last month.

Israel said today for the first time that it was willing in principle to attend a regional peace meeting co-sponsored by Washington and Moscow. But American officials here accompanying Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d said there was still no agreement between Washington and Israel or between Israel and the Arabs on how such talks would be structured, what the agenda and timing would be and who would represent the Palestinians.