February 24, 1988

LEAD: Six years ago this month, a 25-year-old Tel Aviv University law school dropout named Moishe Mana was living in an abandoned building in Brooklyn and selling gloves, scarves, socks and sneakers on the sidewalks of Manhattan. Next month he is moving from a Chelsea studio to a $650,000, two-bedroom condominium on the Upper East Side, surroundings that better befit a man who founded a company that grosses $12 million a year.

LEAD: Penalty on Panama Urged

LEAD: Orders to United States factories for ''big ticket'' durable goods fell 2.8 percent in January, the biggest decline in a year, reflecting sharp drops in demand for aircraft and primary metals, the Government reported today.

LEAD: A printing machine operator at the New York State Attorney General's office was arrested yesterday and charged with stealing a copy of a 200-page transcript of grand jury testimony in the Tawana Brawley case.

LEAD: The Justice Department failed to provide a memo to the Congressional Iran-contra committees that said Israel felt it was owed American help on a Middle East pipeline project because it had helped free an American hostage in Lebanon.