13 THE NEWS in brief WASHINGTON China's nuclear tests could put Most Favored Nation status in jeopardy China is preparing for another nuclear test, and it could take place about the time President Clinton must decide whether to renew the nation's favored trade status, a senior administration official said yesterday. China broke an international moratorium last October when it detonated a nuclear device underground. President Clinton immediately directed the Department of Energy to prepare for possible resumption of U.S. underground tests. Additional tests by China were widely expected and the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preparations are under way at its Lon Nor testing site. The U.S. official would not speculate on the timing of the next Chinese test. However, Ambassador Miguel Marin-Bosch of Mexico, chairman of the committee on disarmament at the international negotiations on a test ban treaty, said he expects the test to take place next month. He said the Chinese "set out a plan (for testing) from which I would doubt they would deviate at this point." When China conducted its test in October, the White House issued a statement saying, "The United States deeply regrets this action. We urge China to refrain from further nuclear tests and to join the other nuclear powers in a global moratorium." If that timing holds, the test could take place within days of when Clinton must decide whether to renew Most Favored Nation trade status for China. The Chinese responded with a statement saying they had "always exercised the utmost restraint on nuclear testing." The Beijing government said it would support the idea of achieving a ban treaty no later than 1996, but would go ahead with its testing until then. Clinton has made China's performance on human rights the main criterion for determining whether he will recommend that China continue to be subject to the lowest available tariffs for its exports to the United States. So far, administration officials have made clear that China must do much more in that area to obtain renewal of MFN, the standing given most U.S. trading partners. A presidential decision to renew all or part of China's MFN status could be challenged in Congress and, in that case, the nuclear testing could become a factor in the debate. The Cabinet of Singapore is expected to meet today and reject a plea to spare a U.S. teen-ager from a flagging for spray painting cars and other acts of vandalism. Singapore Cabinet to hear caning case Michael Fay — who maintains his confession was coerced — was convicted of vandalizing cars with other youthful expatriates in October and sentenced to six skin-splitting lashes of a rattan cane. President Clinton has described the punishment as excessive and asked that Fay, 18, of Kettering, Ohio, be spared. Fay's lawyers submitted a formal plea for clemency to President Ong Teng Cheong last week. Fay, who also is serving a four-month prison term and was fined $1,500, would be lashed with a 4-foot-long, half-inch-thick bamboo rod, probably within a day or two of a cabinet decision. George Yeo, Singapore's minister of health, information and arts, was quoted as saying it was "politically untenable" for the Cabinet to grant clemency to Fay. *If we are seen buckling in to media pressure or to political pressure from America, then it is no longer possible for us to govern Singapore. We become a joke," Yeo was quoted as saying in an interview Monday with the Baltimore Sun. "It is not possible. We lose all moral authority," he was quoted as saying in the interview, which was reprinted in part in the government-controlled the Stratis Times. Sympathetic lawyers point out that Fay's punishment turns in large degree on the judge's interpretation of whether the spray paint was indelible or not. Fay's lawyers argued that the paint he used was easily removed. In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Fay's mother, Randy Chan, described her son as an "all-American teen-ager" who had never been in trouble. Singapore's 1966 vandalism law stipulates mandator3 caning for those who use "paint, tar or another indelible substance or thing." Those who are charged with marring private or public property with "delible substances" are caned only on the second offense. Thursday, April 28, 1994 MANHATTAN ACLU leader speaks at K-State Hate-speech codes on college campuses stifled free speech and failed to address larger problems, said Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union. "These codes apply a Band-Aid to a problem that needs major surgery," said Strossen, who spoke Tuesday to about 200 people at Kansas State University. The ACLU has fought hate-speech codes, which prohibit the use of terms offensive to minorities and punish violators. Strossen said the codes violated basic rights of free speech and didn't address the larger problems of racism and homophobia. More effective measures would be prompt response to reports of bigotry on campus, attracting more minority faculty and introducing classes on the history of prejudice in the United States, she said. Kansas State's code, which is being revised, contains three crucial components: that racial remarks are addressed to an individual or small group, that the remarks are racial or ethnic in content and that their purpose is to intentionally demean, threaten, stigmatize or intimidate The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that hate speech is protected. What isn't protected is harassment. It didn't matter what a speaker was saying if it could be shown that he was harassing another, Strossen said. His speech would not be protected in such a case, she said. JUNEAU, Alaska Artificial apes direct traffic State transportation officials have gone ape over traffic. State transportation officials have gone ape over traffic. Two mechanical black gorillas, flashing teeth through a no-nonsense grin, will be put to work directing cars around road work. Each gorilla sits atop a barrel and wears a yellow hard hat, orange-striped vest and yellow gloves. They hold a rotating, flashing sign that says "Stop" or "Slow." "Research showed people didn't get as irritated at being made to wait by an automatic flagger when it looks like this," said Jim Merrill, a chief of maintenance with the Alaska Department of Transportation. "They can laugh while they wait." Ed Flanagan, who represents the flaggers' union, wasn't laughing. "It's not April 1, is it?" Flanagan asked. "I've got my doubts that it's going to be as effective or react as quickly as a human." It is cheaper. Merrill said the gorillas cost a total of $3,100 and could pay for themselves in a couple of weeks. Human flaggers cost up to $35 an hour, he said. Officials plan to test the gorillas this week on a little-used stretch of Glacier Highway north of Juneau as a machine clears underbrush along the shoulders. Merrill said the department may buy more gorillas if the public likes them — and they don't monkey around. Compiled from The Associated Press. Get Out Of Town! Don't worry about your bike,books clothes,computer,furniture,etc. We Will: *Pick Them Up, *Carefully Pack Them,& *SHIP THEM HOME. THE MAIL BOX PACKAGING • PRINTING • SHIPPING SERVICES Authorized U.P.S. Shipping Outlet. M-F 9 to 6 Sat 9-12:30 Call Us Now! 3115 W. 6th Sunset West Center 749-4304 The Etc. Shop • 928 Mass. 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