Bangladesh garment workers will stage a series of mass protests this week to demand a 30 percent salary hike amid continuing unrest, officials said Monday.

The planned demonstrations follow rioting last month in which 16 factories were torched and hundreds ransacked by employees. At least two people were killed and scores injured after security officers shot at workers.

The HOPE Act would create tens of thousands of jobs, proponents say.

By Carol J. Williams

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Vladimir Fabre had what passes here for a

decent-paying job: work as a fabric roller at a factory making T-shirts

for U.S. discount stores.

But three years ago, Fabre, his mother and four of his siblings lost

their employment, thanks to rising political violence here and fierce

competition from Asia. The Fabres now eke out an existence by boiling a

By Evan Clark

WASHINGTON -THE MANUFACTURING OF BLUE jeans, a quintessential partof the American clothing culture since the Fifties, has gone global along with the rest of apparel production.

Domestic producers in the last decade or so have focused on the high end, as production of basic, volume-oriented styles migrated primarily south of the border to Mexico and Latin America.

By Chris Kraul



SANTA MARTA, Colombia: This historic port city was once touted by the Colombian government as the next Acapulco, with its scenic bay, white sand beaches, colonial history and the eco-tourism potential of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, home to one of the largest and oldest pre-Columbian settlements in the Americas.

Then came the coal dust.