Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • 19

Santa Maria Timet Saturday, Jan. 17, 1998 B-9 Technology TRADE ASIA I BUSINESS ROUNDUP SMfirm on screen in new film by Times Staff, Wire Reports Banks, automakers feeling the pinch Countries facing '301 enforcemerft action 3 laws and enforcement. ends could result in the imposition By Dave Skidmore Associated Press Writer anta Maria's own Computer Cafe, which has nothing to do with 3 0 1 U.S. loans to Asia U.S. banks had more than $56 billion in loan exposure to eight Asian countries as of Sept.

30. Most of the money was concentrated among six big banking companies. A country-by-country breakdown: In billions of U.S. dollars South Korea $19,895 Hong Kong 9.436 Indonesia 6.850 Singapore 6.804 Thailand 6.162 Taiwan 4.417 Malaysia 3.681 China 3.251 Philippines 2.762 At the same time, the administration said it was pleased that Turkey had equalized its tax on foreign and domestic films. Brazil and Hong Kong will keep their place on a lower-priority watch list.

Brazil has not yet fully implemented modern patent legislation, the administration said. It said it was encouraged by Hong Kong's more frequent raids on CD pirates but that production of pirated CDs continues to rise. Barshefsky also said she had masked the World Trade Organization to establish a panel to hear the U.S. complaint that Ireland has not implemented copyright legislation as it agreed to do two years ago. U.S.

copyright industries voiced support for Barshefsky's decision on Paraguay and Bulgaria. Paraguay's copyright pirates sell more cassettes in Brazil each year than the legitimate industry ever has, he said. of U.S. trade penalties. "Piracy and counterfeiting have reached alarming levels in Paraguay," her office said in a statement.

"Enforcement actions taken to date have been insufficient to halt rampant production and export (to Brazil and Argentina) of pirate and counterfeit goods." Bulgaria was placed on a "priority watch list," an action that could lead to trade penalties down the road. It could be named a "priority foreign country" the action taken against Paraguay as soon as April. The trade office said Bulgaria has failed to make substantial progress in combating piracy of CDs and software on CD-ROMs. The administration said it was 'maintaining Turkey on the "priority watch list" and that it would not consider that country's request for more favorable treatment of its exports to the United States until it improves its intellectual property WASHINGTON The Clinton administration indicated Friday that Paraguay and Bulgaria will be subject to trade sanctions unless they do more to protect U.S. films, books and computer software from copyright pirates.

The administration also singled out Turkey, Brazil and Hong Kong for complaint under "Special 301," the section of the trade law governing enforcement of copyrights and patents. The announcement, from U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, was made in advance of a broader annual review, expected in April, of U.S. trading partners' protection of U.S. intellectual property.

Barshefsky identified Paraguay as a "priority foreign country." Her office will start investigating Paraguay's practices within 30 days. Failure to conclude negotiations successfully before the probe NEW YORK (AP) U.S. banks are owed some $46 billion by Asia's most troubled economies, and some powerful institutions already are reporting losses from the swoon of currencies and companies in Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. While the figures are staggering to average bank depositors, the U.S. loans at risk are much smaller than those held by banks in Japan, Germany or Britain.

The riskiest Asian loans also represent less than 1 percent of the total $4.86 trillion in American bank assets, according to the latest government figures. Economists say the biggest worry is not losses to U.S. banks from loans or securities trading, but the effect the crisis could have on the world economy. The Asian economic crisis closed a tumultuous week with shaken stock markets rebounding, partly on hopes that Japanese officials are finally getting serious about restarting their stalled economy. Top officials of the International Monetary Fund and the Clinton administration made the final stops Friday on a confidence-boosting tour designed to shore up support for the tough austerity programs being required of South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand as a condition for receiving $100 billion in bailout support.

Meanwhile, the Big Three Source: AP research AP LABOR Teacher Web fiction nets firing automakers are rethinking their expansion plans for Asia, turning their efforts more toward buying into local factories that have suddenly become cheap since the region's currencies plummeted. Sales in Asia are falling, leaving less need to build new factories. At the same time, the dropping value of the baht, rupiah and won have made it cheaper for U.S. companies to invest in Asia. food and everything to do with special effects is keeping moving with computer animation Tor Trimark's "Star Kid," a sci-fi film released on Friday.

The film stars Joseph Mazzelo as a character named Spencer, who wears a "Trelkin" cyber suit. The viewscreen of Spencer's cyber suit was created using a mix of two-dimensional and three-dimensional animations. Artists and animators Ron Honn, Kama Moiha and David Ebner used Photoshop and other software programs to create the effects. Another special effect is the a six-legged, crablike creature used by the villainous alien Brood Warrior. A full 3-D model was built and textured from the actual creature by animator and effects supervisor Tom Williamson.

ODD Setting up education and training networks for distance learning is the goal of a merger of Durand Communications with the Electronic University Network, a 14-year veteran of distance learning for government, education and business. The World Know ledge Network will be wholly devoted to education and training online. The World Knowledge Network will run on Durand's hew CommunityWare platform, making it accessible to Internet web users everywhere. The Electronic University Network gets its profits through services on AOL and ancillary products. Durand will manage EUN's technical operations, making the former's software development and support accessible to EUN and its clients.

Dr. Steve Eskow, formerly president of Rockland Community College in New York and now CEO of EUN, will head WKN and also be senior vice president of strate-J gic planning for Durand. He will consult with the state, higher institutions of learning of companies on distance learning matters and represent Durand International in its work abroad with ministries of education. Sarah Haviland Blackmun will continue as CEO of EULN and be executive vice president of publishing and chief operating officer for Durand. rlv Parry: State is pliable By Karyn Hunt AP Business Writer tent of their personal Web pages.

Lizz Sommerfield, 23, said she quit her job at a small Virginia publisher after being ordered to remove any reference to the company on her Web page, where she calls herself "SexyChyck" and poses in leopard print underwear. And the Navy has moved to discharge a sailor after 17 years of service when it learned through America Online that he is gay. Some experts argue that Web pages should be considered private, like the books and magazines read at home. But a lot may depend on whether the employee erases the line between personal and professional. In the Michigan case, Barrett "essentially invited people to look at a Web page," University of Michigan law professor Deborah Malamud said.

"There's a real difference between that and being held liable for having a copy of Playboy in your home." Barrett, 24, said he thinks it was unfair he was fired hy Knorr Marketing in Traverse City because two members of the all-female staff he was teaching "were uncomfortable working with me after seeing my By John Flesher Associated Press Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. Hired to teach computer technology at a marketing company, Cameron Barrett suggested his trainees check out his Web page, where he published his own fiction. Some women staff members did, and were shocked by the violent and sexually explicit passages. They complained to their boss, and Barrett was fired. "I said, 'If you're interested, you may go read But at no time did I make it part of their training, and I only said it once," Barrett said, complaining his stories were just that, stories.

"Do you think Stephen King is going around his neighborhood killing people because that's what he writes about?" The lesson? "Just as people need to watch what they say in real life, what you put on your Web page is going to be visible to everyone, including future employers," said Esther Dyson, a director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. Although the First Amendment prevents the government from stifling speech. legal services, he said. "California is more vulnerable to the slowdown in East Asia than the rest of the country," Parry told a meeting of the Bay Area Council. "So there's no doubt that the East Asian slowdown will be felt here in California." But, he added, "I don't expect it to knock our expansion off the rails.

We're in remarkably good shape right now, with strong growth, low unemployment and very well-behaved inflation." Most estimates suggest the Asia turmoil is likely to reduce growth by between 0.5 percent and 1 percent. Mathematics would suggest that the impact on California would be three times that, but Parry doesn't see the effect being that SAN FRANCISCO California's close ties to Asia will make it more vulnerable to the economic crisis there, but the state will not feel a heavy impact, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said Friday. California ships nearly three times as much of its goods to East Asia as the rest of the United States the bulk of it being electrical, computer and transportation equipment, said Robert Parry, whose federal reserve district oversees nine western states. In addition, it exports a significant number of services such as movie distribution rights, computer software and engineering, management and AP Cameron Barrett of Traverse City, Mich, lost his job after he suggested to his students they check out Web page containing sexually explicit fiction. private employers are under no such constraints.

Companies can fire people for comments deemed inappropriate, and experts warn that personal Web sites, even if done at home, are public venues that employers can use to determine who is suitable for the company. A few other people around the country have said they have been disciplined or fired over the con THE MARKET IN REVIEW Stock Market Indexes Stocks of Local Interest Stock Exchange Highlights A NYSE A Amex A Nasdaq 503.67" 5.72 If "663.99 8.45 1 1,562.88 15.82 Daily YTD Yld PE Ust ChgChg Div Nam 1 08 "8 '4 70" 15 iT' 21 82 24 21 15 1 5 1 1 1.7 NY NY NY NY 90 36 52-Week Net YTD 12-mt High Low Nam Laat Chg SChg Chg Chj 8 299 49 6.356 78 Dow Industrials 7.753 55 61 78 80 -1 96 13 47j 3.372 42 2.248 89 Dow Transportation 3.289 56 60 61 1 88 102 4227 273 44 208 98 Dow Utilities 264 58 11 04 -311 10 59 515 28 387 12 NYSE Composite 503 67 5 72 1 15 -1 47 23 05 723 03 541 02 Amex Market Value 663 99 8 45 1 29 -3 01 12 55 1.748 78 1.194 16 Nasdaq Composite 1.56288 15 82 1 02 48 15 85 986 25 733 54 SAP500 961 51 10 78 1 13 23 88 340 40 24727 SAPMidCap 322 07 3 33 1 04 -3 39 21 66 46621 24865 Russell2000 426 25 4 50 1 07 -2 46 15 8 7, 9.486 69 7,059 97 WiWwe 5000 3.18238 102 63 1 13 22 401. Gainers ($2 on mott; AINERS fS2 on ot) Name Lal Chg SChg Nam Last Chg VChg Na-xl Nasd Nasd .08 21 18 1V 2Vb 1 1 Va Jiw CeierSysn NYHtmC CESoft Entractv Tetpartwl 4KidsEnt RoomPI Won un HipHmen Krsrtor 3 2V 2 27 2te 4V 4' 6 2 2V 36 3 29 1 182 175 156 14 7 13 12 9 12 8 11 8 56 8 50 0 41 39 3: 36 8 1 36 01 32 0 I 31 7 30 29 12' -S 1 1 1 1r 2 StatCas pi Afosy IndoTel indoSatel Atar Jakarta Trump NwrjkRss HarrahE 1 S3 4V 9'm 7K 4'1 8 21" Money Rates 13 Lat Pva Week NY Amex NY 1 10 NY 122 NY NY 56 Nasd Nasd NY 2 32 Nasd 14 NY 210 NY 56 850 850 Pnme Rate Discount Rate "5 00 5 00 T4375 5 375 Feoefai Funos Rate Currencies Day Ago Pva Day Bmai 1J335 16X3 Canada 3 4352 Francs UM 6 1355 Ggrmany 18336 1 83 8 rta 1803 50 1802 75 Japan 12930 S' Mexico 8'900 8 Boh ptwxl vintM illS. do4v. Al oewn mom tyoum ictmy curancy.

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