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Wounded veterans, Boston Marathon bombing victims to meet, share stories and inspiration
• BOSTON (AP) -- Days after the Boston Marathon bombings, B.J. Ganem was one of the wounded veterans who met with survivors who had lost a limb or limbs in the April 15 attack.
• He thought he'd do a lot of hand holding and hearing crying, but the 36-year-old Marine Corps veteran instead saw resilience.
• The new amputees asked a lot of questions about his prosthetic leg, which replaced the left leg he lost below his knee after an improvised explosive device blast in Iraq in 2004. He even took off the artificial limb and let them hold it.
• Now, as marathon amputees walk on their own prosthetic limbs, Ganem is looking forward to catching up with them in Boston on Thursday. A dozen military veterans who have undergone an amputation will meet with 11 marathon amputees as part of an effort by a Chicago area nonprofit called Operation Warrior Wishes.
• "It's going to be good to see how far they've come," said Ganem, who lives in Reedsburg, Wis.
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EU lawmakers set to vote for centralized bank oversight authority in step toward banking union
• BRUSSELS (AP) -- European lawmakers are expected to back legislation establishing a new, centralized oversight for Europe's largest banks Thursday, marking what is considered a key step toward stabilizing the bloc's financial system.
• The centralized bank supervision authority, which will be anchored by the European Central bank, is due to be up and running late next year following a thorough stress-test of the banks' balance sheets.
• The so-called single supervisory mechanism is the first of three pillars of the bloc's planned banking union, which is a cornerstone of the policies to turn the tide on the 17-nation eurozone's three-year-old debt crisis.
• Its goal is to make supervision and rescue of banks the job of European institutions rather than leaving weaker member states to fend for themselves. Failing banks in the past have dragged down government finances and forced European Union countries such as Ireland or Cyprus into seeking bailouts.
• However, the establishment of the banking union's remaining pillars -- setting up (Continued on page 32)
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