October 7, 1984

The Reagan Administration says the Salvadoran military has broken a long stalemate with guerrilla forces and is capable of neutralizing the insurgents by the end of 1986 if current military and political trends continue. ''There has been a recent convergence of developments that, if continued, will promote eventual success in getting the insurgents under control,'' the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Fred C. Ikle, said in an interview on Friday. Another senior Pentagon official at the interview said, ''The Salvadoran Army has turned the corner.'' Independent military experts questioned the optimistic assessment, saying that the war remains a stalemate and that the Salvadoran Army, while improved, cannot defeat the guerrillas.

At long last, Fordham Plaza, the mixed-use office and retail complex, planned more than a decade ago for a 5.5-acre urban renewal site on Fordham Road in the Bronx, appears to be a reality. On Tuesday Mayor Koch will put shovel to earth at Third Avenue and Fordham Road, symbolizing the start of construction at the $60 million private and public development project.

A SWEEPING bill to discourage movies, magazines and books that depict sexual violence against women has set off a constitutional furor in Suffolk County. The measure, which was proposed by Republican County Legislator Michael D'Andre of Smithtown, would allow any member of the Suffolk public to sue the makers and purveyors of what it defines as ''objectionable pornography'' that presents ''sexually explicit subordination of women.'' While it would not apply to nonviolent pornography, the bill brings within its scope a wide range of general distribution movies and books, including the Bible, according to one critic. Others, including County Attorney Martin B. Ashare, said the bill is patently unconstitutional and an ill-considered threat to the full array of free speech rights. There are also hints that County Executive Peter F. Cohalan will veto the measure if it is approved by the County Legislature. A vote could come as early as this month.

The seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger solved one annoying problem today and worked on another as they struggled to carry out one of the most ambitious programs of Earth observation ever. The astronauts were preparing to fire the spaceship's jet thrusters to bring it into a lower orbit for a fast- paced program of experiments when they encountered two vexing problems. First, a communications antenna on the shuttle began to wobble. A plan was quickly developed to switch off the antenna's steering motor and instead turn the entire spacecraft to point it at a satellite so that precious scientific data could be relayed to earth. Then, a radar panel would not stow properly, frustrating plans for the shuttle to change its orbit. The unfolded panel, 35 feet long and 7 feet wide, was one inch short of its latch.

THE young woman, a student at Douglass College who had always lived in the New Brunswick area, stared at the fountains where water cascaded over brick semicircular steps at Monument Square here. ''I remember what this city used to look like,'' she told a passer-by who had paused to share the view, ''and I think I'm in Paris.'' Above the fountains, a bronze Civil War soldier - the monument for which the square was named - seems to gaze beyond shrubbery and beds of geraniums to shoppers strolling along George Street, repaved in red brick and enlivened with stylish boutiques. Eventually, George Street will be closed to vehicular traffic, except for buses to shuttle students between the sprawling campus of Rutgers, the State University, to the west, and Douglass, to the east. Across the street from the square, a white Gothic church stands beside a modern brick-and-glass office building, further evidence of a new city rising among the symbols of the past. And where Livingston Avenue meets George Street, four buildings have been converted into a cultural center.