Top Stories Of 1995 p.27

By: Editorial Staff Include Oklahoma City bombing, war-torn Bosnia, O.J. Simpson
TERRORISM IN OKLAHOMA City, blood-soaked Bosnia, and a not-guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial are among 1995's biggest news stories, according to a year-end poll of executives and subscribers to Reuters, United Press International and the Associated Press.
At final count, 169 bodies were found inside the twisted wreckage of the bombed-out Alfred P. Murrah federal building. More than 500 people were injured on April 19 when the fertilizer bomb exploded.
Wrenching photos of a limp and bloody Baylee Almon, sobbing rescue workers, and disbelieving victims splashed across front pages of newspapers nationwide.
AP voted the bombing the biggest story of the year, UPI had it second, and Reuters, fourth.
After years of standing on the sidelines, the United States has committed itself to peace keeping in Bosnia, the second-biggest story of the year according to the AP. Bosnia was number one for UPI, as well as for Reuters.
In October, O.J. Simpson walked and the country convulsed. Reaction to the not-guilty verdict was largely split along racial lines, with many blacks cheering as many whites watched in stunned disbelief. AP voted the trial and acquittal the third-biggest story of the year, as did UPI. Reuters placed it number two.
This fall, as the peace process began to spread in the Mideast, violence took the life of one of its chief architects. On Nov. 5, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot at point-blank range by an Israeli law student. Rabin's murder was the fourth-biggest story of 1995 for AP and UPI, and the third-biggest for Reuters.
On Jan. 16, an earthquake rocked the city of Kobe, Japan. Some 16,000 people were killed and more than 26,000 injured. The 7.2-magnitude quake ? the worst in Japan since 1923 ? left Kobe in shambles.
The disaster was voted AP and Reuters' fifth-most important story, and UPI's seventh.
The Republican control over Congress and the Contract with America still make headlines. AP voted it the sixth-biggest story of the year, UPI placed it at number five.
A March nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway by a cult left 12 people dead and more than 5,000 injured. AP voted the attack the seventh-biggest story, UPI placed it at number ten.
Air Force Capt. Scott O'Grady won over the county with his big smile and humble account of his six-day ordeal after being shot down over Serb-held territory in the former Yugoslavia.
O'Grady was voted the eighth-biggest story of 1995 by AP.
UPI voted France's underground South Pacific nuclear testing number eight.
AP voted the killer heat spree in Chicago the ninth most prominent story of the year. UPI selected the Russian war against separatist republic of Chechnya.
The outcome of confessed killer Susan Smith ? life in prison rather than the death penalty ? was AP's tenth most prominent story of the year.
AP and UPI selected the top 10 biggest stories, while Reuters named the top 5.