Nation : North’s Trial Set to Begin Jan. 31

U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell today set Jan. 31 as the starting date for the trial of former National Security Council aide Oliver L. North in the Iran-Contra affair.

Gesell’s decision came at the end of an hourlong hearing in which one of North’s lawyers, Barry Simon, pressed the judge to set a trial date. Simon said the defense “would like to get subpoenas out” to a number of people, including some in the Reagan Administration who will be leaving government next month “for the four corners of the earth.”