Around the world
SRI LANKA: Explosions tore through Sri Lanka's two main oil depots Friday, sending clouds of smoke billowing through Colombo and causing thousands of people to flee. At least 25 people were killed in fighting at the two sites. The government blamed the bombing on Tamil rebels, who may have been trying to disrupt a 3-day-old military offensive against the rebel stronghold of Jaffna in the north. But Anuruddha Ratwatte, the deputy defense minister, claimed in a radio interview that the destruction of the oil depots would not halt the offensive.FRANCE: Rejecting demands from Algerian insurgents, French officials said they will never negotiate an end to the deadly bombing wave in France. Sweden's Supreme Court, meanwhile, Friday rejected France's request for the extradition of an Algerian immigrant suspected in the first bombing. The final ruling will come from the Swedish government. Islamic insurgents in Algeria have claimed responsibility for some of the eight bombings or bombing attempts in France that have killed seven people and injured 160 since late July.
Across the nation
RENO REPORT: Attorney General Janet Reno has given formal approval to seek the death penalty against the two men charged in the federal building bombing, The Daily Oklahoman reported Friday. The newspaper quoted Patrick Ryan, the U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City, as saying Reno told him of the decision Thursday and that he informed attorneys for suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern declined to comment on the report.
EXECUTED: A man who killed his wife and two stepdaughters with a crowbar went quietly to his death in Virginia, staring at the ceiling as he was executed by injection. "I'll say my last words to the Lord. I guess that's all that really needs to be said," Mickey Wayne Davidson said after he was strapped to a gurney Thursday night at Greensville Correctional Center. Davidson, 38, pleaded guilty to the 1990 crowbar slayings of his 36-year-old wife, Doris Jane Davidson, and stepdaughters. He said he killed them because his wife had decided to return to her former husband with the girls, Mamie Darnell Clatterbuck, 14, and Tammy Lynn Clatterbuck, 13.
LUCKY DINNER: Hungry for prime rib, a history student went to a hotel for dinner and emerged $10.9 million richer after winning the largest ever slot-machine jackpot. The 29-year-old University of Nevada-Las Vegas student, who hit the Megabucks jackpot at the Gold Coast Hotel, refused to give his name and declined to show up at a news conference. Michael Gaughan, president of the Gold Coast, said the winner was "very shaken and scared." The student told Gaughan he had gone to the hotel for prime rib. He spent $15 playing the machine for about five minutes Wednesday night while waiting for a table.