Los Angeles: Slain reporter remembered

Family and friends gathered Sunday to remember slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

More than 150 people attended the public memorial service at Birmingham High School, where Pearl graduated with honors in 1981.

Pearl’s father, Judea Pearl, said that he feels as if his son is still alive.

“He whose legacy keeps growing is not exactly dead. He who keeps on making a difference in the world is not exactly dead,” Judea Pearl said.

Pearl, 38, South Asia bureau chief for the Journal, was kidnapped Jan. 23 in Pakistan. A grisly videotape received Feb. 22 by U.S. diplomats in Karachi showed Pearl dead. His body has not been found.

California: Gas prices edge lower

Gasoline prices edged down more than half a cent in the past two weeks despite tensions in oil-producing regions in the Middle East and South America.

Friday’s weighted price per gallon for all grades and taxes was about $1.46, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 gas stations nationwide.

The decrease the first since Feb. 8 could be a sign that gasoline prices may have peaked, said analyst Trilby Lundberg in Camarillo.

From Feb. 8 to April 7, gasoline prices jumped 32 cents.

The national weighted average price of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps Friday was about $1.42 per gallon for regular, $1.52 for mid-grade and $1.61 for premium.

Boston: Trial has terror overtone

A man arrested during the nationwide crackdown on financial networks suspected of funneling money to terrorists is going on trial but on charges that have nothing to do with terrorism.

Instead, Mohamed Hussein is charged with two counts of operating a money transfer business without a state license, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

No terror-related charges have been filed, and Hussein and his brother, who ran the business with him, maintain there are no grounds for any.

The brothers, natives of Somalia with Canadian citizenship, have said through attorneys that their company simply helped Somalis in North America send money home to loved ones.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin today.

Spain: Car bomb explodes in Madrid

A car bomb exploded early today in a shopping district on the northern edge of the Spanish capital.

Three people were treated at the scene of the explosion for shock and one was hospitalized, also for shock, officials said.

Interior Ministry delegate for Madrid, Francisco Javier Ansuategui, said the blast damaged 17 cars and smashed windows in several buildings nearby.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the armed Basque separatist group ETA has regularly used car bombs in its 34-year campaign for Basque independence.

ETA, classified as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people in car bombs and shootings since taking up arms in 1968.