January 18, 1992

Taking their cue from the successful scripts of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the Democratic candidates for President this year offer voters mostly painless solutions to the nation's economic problems. Day after day in their campaigns, the candidates say the economy is the pivotal issue, and they repeat a common theme about ending a recession caused by the Bush Administration and launching a period of sustained economic growth.

A Slump in Production The nation's industrial output sagged two-tenths of 1 percent in December, the third modest decline in a row. This pushed production to its lowest level since June. Page 37. 7 Killed in Blast in Ulster A roadside bomb blew apart a van in rural Northern Ireland, killing seven men. The toll in the blast was the province's highest since 1988. Page 3. Goodbye to 2 Army Divisions As flags came down and a band played, the Third Armored and Eighth Infantry divisions ended their cold-war mission in Europe. Page 3. Escaped Killer Hunted A quiet Rockland County town was turned upside down by a search for a murderer who escaped from a Connecticut prison. Page 25. Hertz Sued on Surcharge New York City and State filed suit against the rental company for the charges it is levying against residents of four boroughs. Page 27. New Sphere of Influence With the Cold War over, the number of former Soviet hockey players being embraced by N.H.L. teams is rising steadily. Page 31.

Spurred by a foreign clientele willing to pay up to double the value of a luxury automobile, armed thieves have been hijacking cars on highways, in parking lots and on the streets of New York City and its suburbs, the police say. In one case, the thieves, dubbed "car pirates" by the police, cut off a man driving along Grand Central Parkway in Queens, pulled a gun on him and ordered the man and his passengers out of the car. In another, three young men accosted a woman at a Long Island shopping center, dragged her out of her car by the hair and drove off.

Unsure whom they serve or for how much longer, some 5,000 officers of the former Soviet military gathered in the Kremlin today to angrily demand that the armed forces remain intact and that troops not be abandoned. The assembly in the Palace of Congresses was the first such officers' gathering since the Soviet era began. All through the day and late into the evening, one officer after another rose from the sea of olive-drab uniforms dotted with black-and-gold naval dress to fume at hostile civilians in the Baltic states, murderous weapons raids by armed Georgian bands, a loyalty oath demanded by Ukraine, attempts by various republics to claim portions of the military, shortages of housing, low pay, and the dubious prospects for the future.

President Bush came to the resting place of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, locked arms with his widow and sang "We Shall Overcome" in a trip clearly aimed at smoothing the edges of the Presidential image on race. But before Mr. Bush left the stage of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, he heard an angry benediction from one of Dr. King's daughters, the Rev. Bernice King. In her prayer, she said the problems of racism, poverty and violence that her father had fought against remained a blight on the land, although she did not link their persistence directly to Mr. Bush.