1995 bombing victims honored

April 20, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahomans paused yesterday at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to remember the 168 people who died 13 years ago in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The attack on April 19, 1995, remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history. The anniversary service held at the memorial was both simple and poignant. At 9:02 a.m., the exact moment of the bombing, those attending the service observed 168 seconds of silence, one for each of the bombing's victims. (AP)

NEW YORK - Twice-divorced former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani took Communion at a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict yesterday, breaching rules that bar those who remarry outside the Church from doing so. As he left New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral with third wife, Judith, he confirmed he took Communion from a priest. Asked if he was uncomfortable with having broken the ban, he said, "No." (Reuters)

President Bush, ahead of his trip next week to a summit with North American leaders, said yesterday the House's decision to block a vote on a Colombia free trade agreement was a "serious error" and urged Congress to reconsider. Most Colombian products enter the United States duty-free under existing trade preference laws. "The situation is completely one-sided," Bush said in his weekly radio address. (AP)

ANN ARBOR - The Dalai Lama yesterday encouraged people gathered at the University of Michigan to preserve their own religious traditions while respecting others with differing beliefs. "As you know, I always believed since all different traditions have the same potential to bring inner peace, inner value . . . it is important to keep one's own tradition," he told about 8,000 at Crisler Arena. (AP)

LEXINGTON - An eighth-grader in Kentucky is accused of putting peanut butter cookie crumbs in the lunchbox of a classmate with a severe peanut allergy. The allergic student did not eat the cookies Thursday at Morton Middle School. A spokeswoman says the accused student was arrested on a felony wanton endangerment charge. (AP)