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

WASHINGTON — 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.”