February 3, 1998

NASA still dreams of manned outpost on Mars, and its scientists and engineers are putting together plans and technology to make such dreams a reality; small-scale studies are under way on differing bits of technology that could come together to send first human crew to Mars early in next century; drawing shows design of possible space station for use on Mars (M)

Sustained market rallies raise hopes that Asian financial crisis may have reached end of its panic-stricken beginnings; stock markets in Hong Kong, Jakarta and Singapore all rise by 14 percent, Thailand gains 12 percent and Philippines, 10 percent; stocks in Tokyo are up just under 1 percent; in Malaysia, stocks rise 22 percent; South Korean stocks defy trend, falling more than 4 percent; markets are bolstered by strength in local currencies; shares in many Asian companies are trading at fraction of their levels year ago, and are attractive to foreign investors; broad advance in Asian markets contributes to global rally that pushes stocks to record highs in Frankfurt and London and helps Dow Jones industrial average gain 201.28 points; photos; graphs (M)

American stock market soars past milestone as Standard & Poor's index of 500 stocks rises above 1,000 points for first time; S&P 500 has more than doubled in last three years, and has been Wall Street's star performer in last year, drastically outpacing Dow Jones industrial average; Dow also soars on Feb 2, rising 201.28 points, to 8,107.78; it is still 1.8 percent below high it set on Aug 6, '97, while S&P 500 is up 4.3 percent since Aug 6; this diversity of performance emphasizes way different types of stocks have reacted to worries coming out of Asia; charts (M)

Monica S Lewinsky visited White House about three dozen times after leaving her low-level job there to work at Pentagon in 1996, and she was usually cleared for entry by Pres Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, according to officials familiar with White House logs; frequency of Lewinsky's visits have not been previously disclosed; Pentagon officials say trips were not related to her job at press office there; officials say logs do not describe purpose of Lewinsky's visits or whether she saw Clinton (M)

First Pacific Co, Hong Kong-based conglomerate, will go against trend and make huge investments in countries of Far East that are suffering economic difficulties; Manuel V Pangilinan, managing director of First Pacific, says he has confidence in Asia and wants to restructure his portfolio to take advantage of region's eventual recovery; company will sell its stake in Dutch trading concern and reinvest proceeds in Pacific region; despite Pangilinan's boosterish talk, analysts say there may be another motive; they note that First Pacific has $900 million in debt owing to regional crises, and selling its valuable European asset may be necessity for company; photos; map (M)