This is AS IT IS.
Hello, I’m Caty Weaver.
A memorial service was held in Massachusetts Thursday for the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. President Obama, his wife Michelle and other officials attended the event. Investigators and security officials continue to gather and examine evidence from the attack and question witnesses.
The bombings in Boston is our subject today on AS IT IS.
Thursday morning, Hundreds of people gathered inside and outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the south end of Boston. Avi Arditti tells about the memorial service.
President Obama and his wife Michelle were seated in the front row of the Cathedral for the service. Religious leaders remembered those killed, the injured, the emergency workers and the spirit of Bostonians.
Reverend Liz Walker of Roxbury Presbyterian Church spoke of the strength of the community when faced with evil.
“We are members of one another, a community of resilience, hard-pressed but not defeated, confounded but not consumed.”
There were words of praise from other Christian clergy, and from Jewish and Islamic religious leaders.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino also spoke at the service. He remembered the three victims of the attack: eight-year-old Martin Richard, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell and 23-year-old-Chinese student Lu Lingzi.
Mayor Menino said nothing can “tear down” the spirit of Boston. He said the city and its famous marathon will come back even stronger next year.
“It will push us forward, push us, thousands and thousands and thousands of people, across the finish line next year. Because this is Boston, a city with courage, compassion and strength that knows no bounds.”
The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, told the crowd that Boston will move forward.
“We will have accountability without vengeance, vigilance without fear and we will remember, I hope and pray, long after the buzz of Boylston Street is back and the media has turned its attention elsewhere, that the grace this tragedy exposed is the best of who we are.”
The famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma filled the building with beautiful music. The Boston’s Children’s Choir and the cathedral’s choir sang.
President Obama called the resolve of the people of Boston, “the greatest rebuke ” to those who carried out the bombings.
“If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorize us, to shake us from those values that Deval described, the values that make is who we are as Americans, well it should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it. Not here in Boston.”
The president said Bostonians “will run again” and the country will be with them on their long journey of recovery.
To those who carried out the attacks and to anyone who would harm America, he said, “yes, we will find you, and yes you will face justice.”
White House officials said Mr. and Mrs. Obama visited with the family of Krystle Campbell, one of those killed in the bombings. The president also stopped at Massachusetts General Hospital, which is treating many of the wounded.
I’m Avi Arditti.
You are listening to AS IT IS from VOA Learning English.
American officials are claiming they have made “significant progress” in their investigation of the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. Investigators are studying a video made near the finish line of the race. The video came from a department store security camera. It captured images of a man carrying a large backpack. The video shows the person dropping the bag and leaving the area before the bomb exploded.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released photographs showing what are said to be parts of the two bombs. The photos show pieces of a metal container, wires and batteries. Investigators say the bombs were carried in dark-colored bags. They say the bombs may have been made from pressure cookers filled with metal objects such as nails and ball bearings.
Pressure cookers are common household devices and found in many kitchens around the world. They generally cook food faster than other cooking methods.
Pressure cookers can be used for a number of purposes, from cooking rice to protecting food in cans. But it is possible to make a bomb from one by adding explosives, pieces of metal and a triggering device to activate the explosion.
American officials have long warned that pressure cookers can be used in terrorist attacks. In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security said the idea of using pressure cookers as explosive devices was taught at terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
A magazine tied to al-Qaida once published guidance on how would-be bombers could use a pressure cooker in an attack. The story was called “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.” Other extremist groups have discussed the use of pressure-cooker bombs.
Two years ago, an American Army private was charged with plotting to blow up other American troops. Officials found pressure cookers and smokeless gun-power in his motel room. In 2010, a pressure-cooking device containing fireworks were used in a failed vehicle bombing in New York City.
American officials say this kind of bomb does not require much money or special training to make. And they say the device can look innocent to the untrained eye.
One problem for attackers is that a large amount of energy is necessary to break through the thick steel walls of the pressure cooker. This limits the power of such a bomb. But those steel walls can fly through the air, making the devices more deadly.
Late Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released photographs and videotape of two suspects. The FBI hopes the public will help identify them. One suspect was said to have placed a backpack in front of a restaurant near the second explosion.
And that’s AS IT IS for today. I’m Caty Weaver.
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2013-04-18 Memorial service held for the victims of the bombing at the Boston
