Echoing over the crowd of some 50,000 gathered here from around the world, the bell rang eight times. The clock read 8:15 a.m. -sixty-six years to the minute from the world’s first dropping of the atomic bomb. (Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter)

Commemorating the event with a solemn dedication of the names of the over 200,000 who are counted among those killed in the Aug. 6, 1945, bombing, and from the effects of radiation afterward, (the) annual ceremony (held on Aug 6) also saw speakers and attendees raise questions about Japan’s nuclear future nearly five months since the ongoing nuclear meltdown at the Fukushimi Daiichi power plant.

In his remarks on the occasion, Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the crowd, many of whom wore buttons reading “Change to natural energy,” that the country would “deeply reflect over the conventional belief that nuclear energy is safe.”

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Hiroshima marks 66th anniversary of bombing (National Catholic Reporter)

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