Around the world
QUEEN VISITS BELFAST: On her first visit to Northern Ireland since an IRA cease-fire, Queen Elizabeth II praised its divided people for their courage and compassion. Crowds cheered the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, on their arrival in Belfast and during a visit to Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of the republic of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland 25 miles southwest. While members of the royal family usually venture into Northern Ireland with no advance notice, the royal couple's one-day visit was well-publicized. That reflects a more relaxed attitude toward security since the Irish Republican Army began a cease-fire on Sept. 1.SMOKE PACT: A mother in Abbotsford, British Columbia, has agreed not to smoke in front of her three children after her estranged husband sought custody to protect them from secondhand smoke. Todd McLeod went to family court, saying smoking by his wife Yvette is putting his children's lives at risk. His wife agreed Tuesday not to smoke in front of the children. McLeod said he will abandon his application for custody.
Across the nation
T-SHIRTS: The Stars and Stripes may continue to wave on the T-shirt of a junior high school student in California after officials agreed to modify an anti-gang dress code. The Simi Valley school district agreed Wednesday to allow students to wear shirts conveying "an expression of thoughts or ideas." Slogans and pictures that are vulgar, racist, sexual or otherwise inappropriate are still banned. "I'm glad I can wear my shirt," 14-year-old John Spindler said.
GRAND PLUGS: Lodge operators have literally pulled the plug in the face of a water shortage at Grand Canyon National Park - all the bathtub plugs in nearly 900 rooms. Two days of rain and 2 inches of rain, nearly double the normal amount for all of March, caused rockslides that ripped away segments of the 29-year-old trans-canyon waterline supplying the main visitor and employee housing facilities on the South Rim. Repairs were expected to take several weeks. And with only two weeks' worth of water on hand, park authorities decreed rationing while working toward bringing in an auxiliary supply.