News In Brief

Westmoreland takes stand in CBS trial

Retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland took the witness stand Tuesday in his $ 120 million libel suit against CBS. When asked if he had ever been reprimanded, General Westmoreland said he twice had minor military discipline during his Army career.

''On one occasion, I failed to pay my commissary bill on time and I received a letter of reprimand'' while a young officer at Fort Sill, Okla. A few years later, he said, his car was taken away for 30 days after he was caught three times speeding at 20 m.p.h. in a 10 m.p.h. zone at a base in Hawaii.

He is suing CBS for saying in its 1982 documentary ''The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception'' that he purposely understated the size of the communist force that US troops were fighting.