August 26, 1993

International The U.S. will ban exports to China of almost $1 billion in high-technology goods to punish it for selling sensitive missile technology to Pakistan. The ban will not apply to China's exports to the U.S. or affect its preferred trading status. But one official said the U.S. export restrictions could be widened to $4 billion. [ Page A1. ] A paperback book by Ross Perot criticizing the North American Free Trade Agreement provoked a flurry of meetings in the Clinton Administration. Officials and other supporters of the accord began drafting responses after having seen advance copies. [ D2. ]

In this stop-and-go economy, as soon as one engine starts to rev up, another seems to sputter. That was borne out in new data released today: Sales of existing homes spurted 5.4 percent in July to the highest level since December, the National Association of Realtors said, but the Commerce Department reported that factory orders for big-ticket items like cars and planes fell an unexpectedly hard 3.98 percent last month. The drop was the sharpest in 19 months and indicated that manufacturing, stuck in a rut for months, was not near a rebound.

Quietly scattered across this majestic, 47,000-acre public park are 35 summer camps that cannot really afford to be here. That they are bustling with activity is a tribute to a longtime program in which nonprofit organizations, unable to purchase campsites of their own, are allowed to lease prime lakefront property at bargain-basement prices.

In a striking demonstration of how the balance of power in television has shifted from the broadcasters to the cable industry, CBS has joined the other networks in abandoning demands that cable systems make large payments in order to carry the programs of network-owned stations. Federal legislation that was passed last year allowed the networks and other broadcasters to demand cash from cable operators for their broadcast signals. The cable industry refused, threatening to drop the broadcast stations.

The sound of gunfire is so frequent in one Tbilisi neighborhood that its residents now call it Chicago. Mindful of an audience that long ago stopped going out after dark, the city's theaters and concert halls schedule performances only in the afternoon. The Metekhi Palace, Georgia's sole luxury hotel, has a sign that politely asks guests to check their firearms before entering -- a request that did nothing to stop a recent visitor from firing off a few rounds as he tried to barge past armed security guards.