Nation briefs 10A

Hundreds gather for bombing memorial

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Families of the 168 people killed in the bombing of the Murrah federal building carried flowers and mementoes Saturday to the spot where their loved ones died eight years earlier and gave a standing ovation for the men and women fighting the war on terrorism.

The explosion on April 19, 1995, tore the front off the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and gutted what remained, killing 149 adults and 19 children.

Several hundred people packed the First United Methodist Church for the ceremony, which included 168 seconds of silence at 9:02 a.m. -- the time Timothy McVeigh's truck bomb exploded outside the building's daycare center. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for the crime; codefendant Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

The crowd gave a standing ovation for the men and women fighting the war on terrorism.

Afterward, the families rose one at a time, carrying bouquets of purple irises, sunflowers and roses to the symbolic chairs marking the spot where the federal building stood.

Justice: Force disclosure of Internet users's names

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is siding with the recording industry in its court fight to force Internet providers to disclose the identities of people who are illegally trading songs over the Web.

A Justice Department brief, filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, supports the effort by the Recording Industry Association of America to force Verizon Internet Services Inc. to identify a subscriber suspected of offering more than 600 songs from well-known artists.

Verizon has asked a federal judge to halt a subpoena for the subscriber's identity, arguing that it violates the First Amendment because it does not provide "protection of the expressive and associational interests of Internet users."

The subpoena was sought by the music industry under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which allows companies to force disclosure of Internet users' names without a judge's order.

The Justice Department filing said the subpoena was legal and no First Amendment protection would be violated through disclosure of the name. The Justice Department brief contends that upholding copyright law itself would "promote First Amendment ideals."

The subpoena, the brief adds, "targets the identity of alleged copyright infringers, not spoken words or conduct commonly associated with expression."

First pilots graduate from training to carry guns

GLYNCO, Ga. -- Beginning today, there is a minuscule chance that a pilot on any commercial flight may be carrying a gun.

Saturday was graduation day for the first 44 pilots in a course at a federal law enforcement training center. They went through a week of classes, tests, drills and target practice required before they could be sworn in as federal flight deck officers.

Polls last year showed more than 70 percent of pilots favored the right to be armed. After the hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, pilots' unions lobbied for permission to carry guns in the cockpit. Opposing the idea were the White House and the airlines.

Participants in the course were not allowed to give their names or airlines.

Pilots who want to carry guns have to volunteer for the program, pass background checks and psychological tests and make it through a week of rigorous drills.

-- From wire reports

One week later, still no answer to Ohio arson fire

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It was a warm Saturday night in a neighborhood just off the Ohio State University campus. Students wandered from party to party, some climbing the steps to the three-story yellow house where as many as 80 people were celebrating Alan Schlessman's 21st birthday.

By dawn, Schlessman and four others were dead, killed by smoke and carbon monoxide as fire raced through the house.

Investigators say the April 13 blaze was arson, and the deaths are being treated as homicides. But a week later, they still had no motive in the blaze and had made no arrests.

The reward for information, unclaimed, was up to $23,500 Saturday.

Some people in the house say that just before the fire started they heard a popping sound out front and glass breaking.

Detectives will only say the fire started in the front-porch area.

-- From wire reports