By Peter S. Goodman and Philip P. Pan

Page A01

SHENZHEN, China -- Inside the factory, amid clattering machinery and clouds of sawdust, men without earplugs or protective goggles feed wood into screaming electric saws, making cabinets for stereo speakers. Women hunch over worktables, many hands bandaged and few covered by gloves, pressing transistors into circuit boards.

By Celia Dugger



FORTALEZA, Brazil — Vandelson Andrade, 13, often used to skip school to work 12-hour days on the small, graceful fishing boats that sail from the picturesque harbor here. His meager earnings helped pay for rice and beans for his desperately poor family.

But this year he qualified for a small monthly cash payment from the government that his mother receives on the condition that he shows up in the classroom.

By Joseph Kahn

SHENZHEN, China — The hall had all the trappings of a solemn political ceremony in Communist China, a dais with officials and executives in the seats of honor, ballot collectors and ballot counters, and a big red banner that announced a "democratic union election."

By VANESSA ARRINGTON Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Reviving a case that strained relations with the United States, Colombia's attorney general has charged the crew of a military helicopter with involuntary manslaughter for killing 17 civilians with a bomb during a 1998 clash with rebels.

The crew members - Capt. Cesar Romero, 1st Lt. Johan Jimenez and Hector Mario Hernandez, a technician - will be tried in civilian court for the bombing near the northeastern village of Santo Domingo, the attorney general's office said.