October 2, 2000

Thousands of old Chinese men who served as forced laborers for Japanese companies during World War II have filed landmark lawsuit in California asking for apology and compensation; are hoping US court system will provide millions of Chinese enslaved by Japan with sense of justice and international and historical recognition, Asian politics and regional judicial systems have so far failed to provide; are suing under 1999 California law that allows victims unable to pursue claims elsewhere to sue in California state courts against companies that may have benefitted from slave labor years ago and now have subsidiaries in US; cases of Wen Jinhan and Wang Songlin, who worked as wartime slaves for Japanese companies in Shenyang, discussed; map; photo (M)

O: The Oprah Magazine, bouyed by Oprah Winfrey's pop-cultural omnipresence, ample opportunity for promotion and Winfrey's soothing message, seems to be most successful new magazine in decades; Hearst Magazines says newsstand sales of first two issues averaged 1.5 million copies and there are already more than a million subscribers; graphs; photos (M)

Law goes into effect that grants signatures that can be electronically created and stored same legal standing as traditional 'wet' ones; is expected to lead to new world of e-commerce that is faster, cheaper and less vulnerable to fraud; consumers can expect proliferation of competing mechanisms for bringing signatures into digital age; photo (M)

Copies of editorial columns published by Joseph Lieberman between October 1962 and January 1964 while he was chairman and chief editorial writer of student-run Yale Daily News are made public; Democratic Vice Presidential candidate lauded President Kennedy and excoriated Southern segregationists, urged Congress to tackle New Frontier legislation and lectured Yale University's president on First Amendment; he also called for national no-smoking campaign and a ban on boxing; photo (M)

Al Gore, who has appeared in 43 televised debates in his political career, has a reputation as a combative opponent. His style might be summed up by this advice from his mother: ''Smile, relax, attack.'' Article, Page A23.