February 4, 1989

LEAD: Some 140 House Democrats left Washington this morning for a long-planned weekend conference at the Greenbrier, an opulent old resort in the mountains here, but the furor over the proposed 50 percent Congressional pay increase dogged them all day.

LEAD: The average temperature around the world in 1988 was the highest since reliable records began nearly a century ago, British scientists reported today.

LEAD: An examination of the finances of the White House counsel, C. Boyden Gray, chosen by President Bush to enforce his call for the highest possible ethical standards, shows that he has been chairman of a $500 million communications company for the last six years while working for Mr. Bush and lacks familiarity with Government ethics procedures.

LEAD: A Soviet weekly newspaper today published the most detailed accounting of Stalin's victims yet presented to a mass audience here, indicating that about 20 million died in labor camps, forced collectivization, famine and executions.

LEAD: Burt Chosen for Arms Talks

LEAD: New York State's method of awarding merit scholarships to high school students on the basis of their scores on Scholastic Aptitude Tests discriminates against girls, a Federal judge in Manhattan ruled yesterday. He ordered the state to change its selection process.

LEAD: A persistently vigorous economy and exceptionally mild weather caused employment to surge last month, creating a record in the proportion of people of working age who have jobs, the Labor Department said today.

LEAD: The Treasury plans to submit proposals to President Bush on Saturday that will place much of the burden for dealing with the savings and loan crisis on private industry, Congressional aides and industry experts said today.

LEAD: The Philippine Vice President returned to Manila today after publicly urging that his onetime rival, Ferdinand E. Marcos, be treated with ''compassion and forgiveness.''

LEAD: Looking out at a wrecked Argentine ship, an American biologist in Antarctica yesterday reported the ''depressing'' toll of the leaking oil on the fragile and once unspoiled environment. He described spreading oil slicks, dying sea life, penguins in peril, and adult birds disappearing and leaving their chicks to predators.

LEAD: A close aide to President Roh Tae Woo met in Singapore last week with a North Korean official to discuss a possible summit meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, South Korean press reports said tonight.

LEAD: ''General Stroessner has surrendered and finds himself in perfect health, deprived of liberty, being shown all human rights, at a residence within the First Army Corps.'' - Gen. Andres Rodriguez, the new president of Paraguay. [ 5:3. ]