May 29, 1995

Japanese trade officials have spread through Asia in recent days, warning government officials that their booming economies will be the next targets if Japan is forced by the United States to set aside a certain portion of its market for American goods. The message is sinking in. Nearly two weeks after declaring that it would impose harsh trade sanctions on Japan, the Clinton Administration is finding itself isolated and outmaneuvered around the world, with Asian governments joining their counterparts in Europe in condemning Washington's move to impose $6 billion in punitive tariffs against Japanese-made luxury cars.

Twelve hours before this year's bistros-of-the-moment served their first calamari appetizers, in fact well before many of their clients had even lifted an eyelid, Danny King was on the bay, straining under nets laden with just plain squid. Even as he lifted, Mr. King, his face framed by a white-flecked, rounded beard of the type his ancestors might have worn 200 years ago, kept watch for the cigarette boats stinging across Gardiners Bay.

Officer Shoots Teen-Ager A police officer in Paterson, N.J., shot and critically wounded a 19-year-old man who was armed with only an air pistol. Page 23. Ousting Troops With H.I.V. The proposal in Congress to discharge H.I.V.-infected members of the military has split lawmakers and raised the fears of some people in the services. Page 10. Pomp and Celebrity With politicians, lawyers and chief executives all out of vogue this year, celebrities, especially musicians, have become the commencement speakers of choice. Page 8. Devils Take Another Step New Jersey defeated Pittsburgh, 4-1, to win their hockey series and advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia. Page 29.

Business Day's new Monday report on the information industries focuses today on Direct Boradcast Satellite, a technology that is taking rural habits of satellite television to urban America. The section also reports on the digital special effects featured in the new movie "Casper." PAGE 37

Tran Ba Thai sits among tangles of computer wire in his dingy Hanoi office, hoping that he can continue to connect this long-isolated nation to the distant reaches of cyberspace. So far, the aging Communists who run Vietnam have gone along with Mr. Thai's plans for Net Nam, the first commercial service plugging Vietnam into the global web of computer networks known as the Internet. But Mr. Thai, a 44-year-old computer scientist with Vietnam's Institute of Information Technology, worries that as Vietnam's electronic postmaster, he may be walking a line as thin as a strand of computer wire.