B-25&767 Hit WTC,3 Planes Hit Pentagon, Bomb Near WhiteHouse,PittsBHit,Who Coordinated?,10000Die

Markets slump after Trade Center blast Aircraft crash into World Trade Center, Pentagon

LONDON (FTMW) -Markets slumped to fresh year lows in the wake of what President Bush called "apparent terrorist" attacks.

Two planes crashed into the world Trade Center in New York causing the collapse of both towers of the building. Three planes are reported to have crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, causing part of the building to collapse.

The director of the World Trade Center said that up to 10,000 people could have been in each tower.

The White House, Pentagon and other key government buildings were evacuated, all flights in the U.S. have been grounded, and all incoming flights have been diverted to Canada.

The FTSE 100 [UK:1805550] slumped 5.7 percent to 4,746 and the FTSE TechMARK index [UK:1859502] finished 4.6 percent lower at 1,278.9. See pan-European markets report See London's volume movers at a glance <

Crude oil prices surged in the wake of the disaster, with October Brent Crude prices trading at $30.69 a barrel, up more than $3 a barrel. Oil majors were among the FTSE gainers, with BP [UK:BPA] up 4.9 percent and Shell [UK:SHEL] up 2.2 percent.

The only other FTSE gainer was aerospace and defence firm BAe Systems [UK:BA] which gained 4.7 percent.

Insurers plunged on the London market. CGNU [UK:CGNU] fell 9.9 percent, Royal Sun Alliance [UK:RSA] dropped 15.2 percent and Prudential [UK:PRU] slid 12.4 percent.

British Airways [UK:BAY] was another sharp decliner off 21 percent, with news of the grounding of all flights in the U.S. Airports operator BAA [UK:BAA] lost 16.4 percent.

Currency markets also saw wild swings in the wake of the U.S. attacks. Sterling reached a 6-month high against the dollar around 1.4690, and recently traded at 1.4630. The dollar spiked sharply against the euro, reaching a high around 0.9090, up from 0.8975 before the blast.

Gold surged in the wake of the news, rising $16 an ounce to $287 an ounce in London.

The New York stock exchange delayed the market open indefinitely. Sky News reported that Canary Wharf in London was also being evacuated, but Canary Wharf Group [UK:CWG] told FTMarketWatch the building was not being evacuated, but remained on standby. Canary Wharf shares fell 8 percent.

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Apparent terrorist attacks leveled the World Trade Center in New York and rocked the Pentagon building in Washington, D.C., Tuesday morning, causing pandemonium and terror in the nation's political and financial centers.

Both towers at the World Trade Center collapsed after two hijacked commercial jets crashed into the upper stories. In addition, part of the Pentagon building was said to have collapsed. The Associated Press reported there was a car bombing at the State Department in Washington.

President George W. Bush called the attack on the World Trade Center an "apparent" act of terrorism.

"Today, we've had a national tragedy," Bush said, addressing the nation from Sarasota, Fla., where he had been scheduled to deliver a speech about education.

A catastrophic series of events unfolded at about 8:45 a.m., Eastern. First, two airplanes struck Tower One of the World Trade Center and smoke billowed out of the top floors of the building, a business center and popular tourist attraction.

Then, approximately an hour later, Washington, D.C., was under attack in what was feared to be another act of terrorism.

Reports circulated at about 9:43 a.m. that the White House was evacuated. Fires broke out at the Pentagon and on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

The apparently well-coordinated attack on the World Trade Center occurred at rush hour as New Yorkers made their way to work in the Wall Street financial district in lower Manhattan.

In Brooklyn Heights, Dena Driver, an eyewitness to the collapse, held the hand of her 16-month-old son Liam and told CBS.MarketWatch.com: "I heard a loud crash, and you could see the building sinking, and everyone started crying.

"People were running in all directions. People with family in the buildings were there and crying," Driver said, speaking from a location just across the East River.

"In five minutes, you couldn't even see Manhattan," Driver said. "Smoke and ash were everywhere in Brooklyn Heights."

All airports around the U.S. were ordered closed by federal authorities and airline flights were halted nationwide. Further, international flights scheduled to land in New York and Washington were diverted to Canadian cities.

"Everybody's panicking," an eyewitness in New York shouted on a CNN broadcast not long after the tragedy occurred, underscoring the terror and confusion throughout the morning.

There were unconfirmed media reports that there were 1,000 injuries caused by the World Trade Center event.

The media reported that one of the airplanes was an American Airlines aircraft, a Boeing 767, whose flight originated from Boston.

The tragedy shattered a typically busy day in New York, which was gearing up for a mayoral primary election between Republican and Democratic candidates. The primaries were called off in the wake of the crisis

The FBI is reportedly investigating one or more possible hijacking cases Speculation was rampant that the New York Stock Exchange had been evacuated, potentially throwing into jeopardy the status of trading for the session. Calls placed to the main telephone number of the World Trade Center were not answered immediately after the news broke.

"Terrorism against our nation will not stand," President Bush said, calling for a moment of silence. He said he would call on the "full resources" of the U.S.

The disasters were the most devastating in the U.S. since a federal building was exploded in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people. On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the basement garage of the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring 1,000 more.

In what President George W. Bush called an "apparent terrorist attack," two airplanes flew into the twin towers of New York City's World Trade Center just before 9 a.m.

today, leading to loss of life, paralyzing city ground and air traffic and halting trading on stock exchanges. The attack led the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to close all U.S. airports.

"Today we've had a national tragedy; two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country," Bush said in remarks broadcast after the incident.

Immediately after the explosions, officials at the Nasdaq Stock Market and New York Stock Exchange said they would suspend trading. By about 10:30 a.m., both of the twin towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed.

In addition, an explosion -- another apparent plane attack, according to media reports -- occurred at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, right after the World Trade Center incidents. Both the Pentagon and the White House were evacuated, as were buildings throughout major cities in the U.S.

No reports of the number of deaths or injuries were announced within the first hour of the attacks, though local eyewitnesses speaking on radio and television said they had seen bodies on the ground in the World Trade Center area.

One of the planes that flew into the World Trade Center was a Boeing 767 that had taken off from Boston and then was hijacked, according to media reports. Reports also said the plane was an American Airlines flight headed to Los Angeles.

"I've ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who have committed this act. Terrorism against this nation will not stand," Bush said in his remarks.

Major Internet news sites slowed to a crawl or became inaccessible. Telephone communication also became sluggish.

KABUL, Afghanistan (September 10, 2001 10:01 a.m. EDT) - The military chief of forces fighting Afghanistan's ruling Taliban was unconscious and in serious condition with head injuries Monday after a suicide bombing attack, his brother said.

Ahmed Shah Massood, 48, underwent emergency surgery at a hospital in Tajikistan after two men posing as journalists detonated a bomb that may have been hidden in a television camera. The blast Sunday in northern Afghanistan killed both bombers and one of Massood's spokesmen, said Bismillah Khan, another Massood spokesman.

The loss of Massood would devastate the opposition, already a fractured collection of groups who fought each other when they ruled much of Afghanistan for four years until the Taliban took control in September 1996. Their deposed government still holds Afghanistan's seat in the United Nations and operates embassies in several capitals of the world.

The Taliban, a hard-line Islamic militia, currently rules roughly 95 percent of the country, with Massood's alliance in control of the remaining 5 percent, mostly in the north.

Kahn accused the Taliban of sending the suicide bombers into Massood's territory. Taliban officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The opposition originally had said Massood only suffered leg wounds; however, Ahmed Wali, Massood's brother and the opposition's ambassador in Britain, said the injuries were more serious.

"The doctor says it will be 10 or 12 hours before we know" whether he will survive, Wali told The Associated Press by telephone. "His condition is stabilizing, but he is still unconscious. All we can do is rely on the doctors."

Wali said the veteran Afghan commander was flown immediately to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, following the explosion. Massood met briefly with several of his commanders before being operated upon, Wali said. He has been unconscious since the surgery.

The most serious injuries were head wounds caused by shrapnel. Massood also suffered wounds to his leg and hands.

Since the suicide bombing Sunday afternoon, there have been conflicting reports about the extent of Massood's injuries, with the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reporting his death.

According to Wali, the suicide bombers were traveling on Belgian passports, with a multiple Pakistani visa issued by the Pakistan embassy in London.

"The whole thing was organized by Pakistanis and some Arab circles, that was for sure," Wali said.

According Khan, the explosion happened soon after the interview began on Sunday around 4 p.m. at Massood's base in Khodja Bahauddin in northern Afghanistan's Takhar province.

In addition to both bombers, the blast killed spokesman Azim Suhail, Khan said. Khan was reached by satellite telephone from Kabul, the Afghan capital, which is ruled by the Taliban.

The two bombers were welcomed into opposition territory as journalists. They first conducted interviews with opposition soldiers in Shomali, about 30 miles north of Kabul, then were taken to meet Massood, Khan said.

The bomb was either hidden in the camera or concealed around the waist of one of the bombers, said Mehrab Mastan, the opposition's ambassador in Paris, who spoke to AP by telephone.

Mastan said the interview was conducted in the office of Suhail, the spokesman. The two journalists and Suhail were sitting at one end of the room, with Massood several feet away.

Massood is the military head of the anti-Taliban alliance, whose political leader is ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani. He was Rabbani's defense chief during his rule of most of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996, when the Taliban took power.

He has repeatedly accused the Taliban of sending foreign fighters to the front line, particularly guerrillas from Arab countries and neighboring Pakistan. The Taliban have denied the accusation.

Timeline of attacks on U.S.

By CBS.MarketWatch.com 6:39:00 PM BST Sep 11, 2001

NEW YORK (FTMW) - Here is a timeline of the events in what President Bush called an apparent terrorist attack on the United States in which hijacked jets were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

8.45am - First plane crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center

9.03am - Second plane crashes into the south tower of the WTC

American Airlines [US:AMR] later confirms that one plane involved in the crash was flight 11 from Boston to LA carrying 92 passengers, while the other was flight 77 from Washington to LA with 64 people on board - flight 11 is believed to be one of the planes that crashed into the WTC

9.21am - New York City Port Authority orders all bridges and tunnels in New York City closed

9.43am - First reports of a commercial airliner crashing into the Pentagon, completely destroying one side of the building

9.45am - White House evacuated

9.50am - All airports across the U.S. are shut down

10.07am - First tower of the WTC collapses

10.13am - The United Nations building is being evacuated

10.22am - State and Justice departments in Washington, World Bank are being evacuated

10.27am - North tower of the WTC collapses

10.30am - Reports emerge about a plane crash near Pittsburgh

United Airlines later confirms that flight 93, a Boeing 747 with 45 people on board crashed 80 miles outside of Pittsburgh, and that a second plane was involved in today's attacks

10.45am - All federal office buildings in Washington are being evacuated

10.54am - Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions

For more coverage see CBSMarketWatch.com

For Global markets reaction see FTMarketWatch.com

The challenges ahead for Bush

Attacks take what was left of our innocence

"Freedom itself was attacked this morning and I assure you freedom will be defended," President Bush said in an address to the nation shortly after Tuesday's attacks.

By Howard Fineman

SPECIAL TO MSNBC.COM

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 — Today, a crisp, gloriously clear fall day in the East, is the Pearl Harbor Day of the 21st Century. It is too dangerous for the president to return to Washington.

REMEMBER THIS day, for on this day life in America changed forever, not for better. We are at war, and the war may never end. The death toll is unimaginable, the worst (and almost the only) domestic war casualties in our history. But we’ve lost more than lives. We’ve lost what’s left of our innocence. Remember what life was like before today: freedom to travel, the right to privacy, a sense of ease and security in our homes and in our cities and towns.

All these freedoms are diminished now. We can and will get them back. We will win this war as we have won the others, including World War II. But victory will not be easy, and we may have to give up some measure of freedom to preserve what’s best of the rest.

THE IMPORTANCE OF POLITICS
We are lucky beyond imagining in America. In most of the rest of the world, you ignore politics at your peril, often literally at the risk of your life. But here, for most of our history, our citizens have had the luxury as citizens to ignore politics. No one can ignore it anymore.

We are lucky to have democratically elected leaders and institutions that are trusted by the people. Now they will be tested as they have not been since the early days of the last World War.

There are justifiably angry questions about the quality of counterintelligence, the skill of our diplomacy, the weaknesses of what was supposed to be a hijack-proof air transport system. As was the case 60 years ago, the question is: How Could We Have Been So Catastrophically Unprepared?

On Tuesday, Washington was a world capital under siege. At my son’s elementary school, children on the playground hid under trees and behind bushes when they heard the news of the attack on the Pentagon. For kids, all terror is local. They had no reason to think that what happened down the Potomac could not happen closer to home.

At the Capitol, people exchanged rumors, none of them verified. It was said that a bomb had been found in the Rotunda, that there was an explosion in the vicinity, that the plane that hit the Pentagon had originally been circling Capitol Hill.

Incredibly, sources told me, police continued to allow people into the Capitol until about 9:45 a.m. I was told there was no evacuation or protection plan in place for members of Congress, even those, such as the Speaker of the House, who are constitutionally in line to run the government should catastrophe strike the president and the cabinet. “It was every man for himself,” one top Hill aide told me. One by one, leaders on the Hill decided to get out.

WANTED: LEADERS

The non-fiction bestseller lists have been heavy with books about great leaders and great days: the Founding Fathers, the Greatest Generation, the world-beating CEOs of business.

It’s almost as if we were unconsciously aware of the fact that we would need real leadership again.

And now we do. President George Walker Bush won a disputed election by the narrowest of constitutional margins. He got fewer popular votes than his foe. I know the man. He has more skill and savvy than most observers give him credit for. What we don’t know is whether he has the guts and determination — and the vision — to lead us in this war.

Now we will find out.

Howard Fineman is Newsweek’s chief political correspondent and an NBC News analyst.

(Synthesis through terror)

-------------------------------------

America Will Never Be the Same

Michael Elliott on the hard war against terrorism BY MICHAEL ELLIOTT

Time Magazine

Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2001

For Americans, September 11, 2001, will go down in history as a day the world changed. Like December 7, 1941 — the day that will live in infamy — the attacks on targets in New York and Washington will resonate throughout the nation. If anything, today’s events may prove to be even more shocking than that on Pearl Harbor. In 1941, the Japanese air force launched itself against military targets on an island — not yet a state — in the middle of the Pacific. This morning’s terrorism was directed at civilians, in perhaps the most densely inhabited chunk of real state in the nation’s largest city.

By 11:00 the scene in mid-town Manhattan was other-worldly: "Like living through a disaster movie," said one New Yorker. To look south down 6th Avenue, one of those great Manhattan canyons, was to enter the realm of unreality. Great clouds of smoke, in a palette running from white, through gray, to black, billowed where the twin towers of the World Trade Center had stood. New Yorkers stood around, some weeping, others holding a hand over their mouth in the universal signal of shock. People pressed mobile phones to their ears, calling loved ones (though many of the mobile networks were overloaded.) For a while, all bridges and tunnels off the island were closed, turning Manhattan into the world’s richest prison. And everyone went through a awful mental checklist; which friend, neighbor, or relative, worked in the Trade Center?

At around 12:30, I did a radio interview with the BBC, whose anchor suggested that Americans had traditionally had a sense of "invulnerability." Not so; in the last decade, whether because of the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, the threat to blow up trans-Pacific flights, the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, or the attack on the Cole in Aden harbor this year, Americans have understood that they could be a target. The degree of security in government offices and at airports is of a degree unimaginable only 20 years ago, when you could wander around federal government buildings almost at will. But no amount of understanding could suffice to prepare Americans for the horror they have had to cope with today.

I heard the first demand for retaliation before I had even got into New York — on the train into work, when the first reports of the initial attack on the Trade Center were coming through on passengers’ mobile phones. Such demand will doubtless increase in volume and intensity. Yet the war against terrorism, Americans will learn, is not like World War II, the "good war," the war of "greatest generation." Ending terrorism is necessarily a messy, uncertain, forensic business, and one where the desire for clean military conclusions is mixed up with the contingencies of international politics. It is a war with villains, but one where the space for heroes is limited.

Heroes, that is, of the military kind. Yet as Manhattan stood still this morning, the everyday heroes where already about the work — sirens wailing, the police, fire services and ambulances headed downtown, and the hospitals readied themselves for putting into real-life practice the emergency drills for which they had long prepared. For the doctors and nurses, the fire crews and the police, this is a day that will lodge in the memory for ever. So it will for all of us in New York with less demanding and vital responsibilities, as we think of and pray for those charged with recovering the dead, rescuing the injured, and comforting a city in shock.

Disaster At The Pentagon

Aircraft Crashes Into Defense Headquarters In Washington

100 People Feared Killed Or Wounded In Attack

Government Buildings Evacuated Throughout Nation's Capital

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2001

CBS

[Fire burning at the Pentagon.]pictured on website

(CBS) A hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon on Tuesday, setting off a massive fire and sending the nation's capital into shock. About 100 people are believed to have been killed or injured in the attack.

President Bush ordered the military to "high-alert status," and vowed to "hunt down and punish those responsible" for the attacks in Washington and New York, where the World Trade Center was devastated with a heavy loss of life.

The top leaders of Congress were led to the safety of an undisclosed location, and military aircraft were reported patrolling the skies above Washington.

The nerve center of the U.S. military burst into flames and a portion of one side of the five-sided structure collapsed when the plane struck in midmorning. Secondary explosions were reported in the aftermath of the attack and great billows of smoke drifted skyward toward the Potomac River and the city beyond.

Rep. Ike Skelton, briefed by Pentagon officials, said, "There appear to be about 100 casualties" in the building. The plane was believed to be an American Airlines 757 en route from Dulles Airport near Washington to Los Angeles.

"The fire was intense," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters in a makeshift briefing at a gasoline station across the street.

"The whole building shook" with the impact, said Terry Yonkers, an Air Force civilian employee at work inside the Pentagon at the time of the attack. "There was screaming and pandemonium," he said, but the evacuation ordered shortly afterward was carried out smoothly.

"I saw a big jet flying close to the building coming at full speed. There was a big noise when it hit the building," said Oscar Martinez, who witnessed the attack.

Vice President Dick Cheney was in Washington and he and first lady Laura Bush were taken to an undisclosed secure location, officials said. Congressional leaders were hustled away from the Capitol to safety.

The departments of Justice, State, Treasury and Defense were among those ordered evacuated, as were the Capitol and the White House. In a remarkable scene, security guards brandishing automatic weapons could be seen outside the White House.

The FAA ordered the entire nationwide air traffic system shut down.

The Pentagon was hit a short while after the World Trade Center was struck. a plane, described by witnesses as a jetliner, made impact in the portion of the building on side opposite from where Rumsfeld's office are located.

Paul Begala, a Democratic consultant, said he witnessed an explosion near the Pentagon, saying it sent a huge, orange fireball skyward.

AP reporter Dave Winslow also saw the crash. He said, "I saw the tail of a large airliner. ... It plowed right into the Pentagon." Gen. Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that prior to the crash into the Pentagon, military officials had been notified that another hijacked plane had been heading from the New York area to Washington. He said he assumed that hijacked plane was the one that hit the Pentagon, though he couldn't be sure.

12:21 EDT Tuesday

Baltimore finance executive recalls moments of terror

Michele Berk

Rick Faby, of the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter branch in Baltimore County, was talking on the phone Tuesday morning with top executives in the company's World Trade Center office in New York, when a hijacked plane crashed into one of the two 110-story towers.

Moments later, he received a call from four trainees -- new hires who were sent to New York for three weeks of training. They and 300 other trainees were on the 60th floor of the World Trade Center II building, the second one hit by an aircraft.

The second tower was quickly evacuated and Faby received a call from his trainees when they reached the ground. He also got a call from them once they had gotten further away.

"So we know people got out," Faby said.

But, he also said, the trainees shared stories of people having heart attacks on the steps while trying to escape and other horrible sites.

The incident hits close to home for Faby and others in his Lutherville office. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is the largest tenant in the World Trade Center, Faby said, and there are many family and friends working in that building.

"We have a lot of other relatives we haven't heard from," Faby said.

However, he said, they do know that people have gotten out safely from the floors 60, 61, 62, 63, 66 and 69.

Quotes from a day of terror

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 11 2001

London Times

President George Bush: "There will be a fullscale investigation to hunt down and find those folks who committed this act. Terrorism against our nation will not stand."

Yassir Arafat: "We are completely shocked. It's unbelievable. We completely condemn this very dangerous attack, and I convey my condolences to the American people, to the American president and to the American administration, not only in my name but on behalf of the Palestinian people."

Shimon Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister: "We feel that we have to handle every source of terror, to identify countries that support terror or terrorism and declare them. We have to denouce terrorists.

"Our heart is with the US. Our hearts are with their families. America has paid a very high price, but America remains the only country that can save the world from this."

"We don't have definite information and we are not going to blame anyone"

"With terror nothing can be achieved. Let us come back to the table of negotiations. Everybody who is engaged in terror is endangering humanity. We have to really combine forces. We have to get ourselves organised globally because terror is global."

Tony Blair: "This mass terrorism is the new evil in our world today. It is perpetrated by fanatics who are utterly indifferent to the sanctity of life and we, the democracies of this world, are going to have to come together and fight it together and eradicate this evil completely from our world."

George Robertson, Nato Secretary General: "The US is dealing with a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. This (Nato) is an alliance, an alliance that defends values, an alliance that defends freedom. We met this evening to express solidarity with America."

The Queen: "It is with growing disbelief and total shock that I am learning of the terrorist outrages in New York and Washington today."

William Hague, Conservative Party Leader: "It is an act of war against civilisation and it will feel in the United States and to people across the world very similar to a declaration of a war as Pearl Harbor was."

World Trade Center eye witness: "Everybody was screaming, everybody was running, the cops were trying to maintain calm. People were stampeding, they started screaming that there was another plane coming. The second building just exploded, all the debris was flying towards us."

Bertie Ahern, the Irish Premier: "This is a terrible day. This is a terrible and horrendous atrocity, which every right-thinking person in the world will condemn."

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary: "What we have all witnessed on our television screens from America are acts of evil and horror beyond the imagination of any of us."

Mary McAleese, the Irish President: "It's not just a crime against the American people, it's not just a crime against the American civilisation. It's a crime against the very foundations of all our humanity."

Virginia company tracks terror flights

15:26 EDT Tuesday Taylor Lincoln

Potomac Tech Journal

A Fairfax, Va., company that tracks and records the flight paths of airplanes has released dramatic animated illustrations of the flight path of the Boston-Los Angeles American Airlines flight that is believed to be the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center Tuesday morning.

The recording by Flight Explorer, a Fairfax-based subsidiary of Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Dimensions International Inc., shows the path of American Airlines Flight 11 heading west from Boston, then making an abrupt left turn in the vicinity of Albany, N.Y., and heading due south to New York City.

The plane crashed into the World Trade Center at about 8:45 a.m., about 15 minutes before a separate commercial plane crashed into the other World Trade Center tower.

The illustrations were depicted through a series of digital radar images that play back in a computer browser. Flight Explorer planned later Tuesday to distribute animated illustrations of the three other commercial flights that crashed Tuesday morning, said Jeff Krawczyk, chief operating officer of Flight Explorer.

Flight Explorer, which received requests for the illustrations from about 12 news agencies including all the major networks, also has learned that a United Airlines plane bound from Newark to San Francisco that crashed near Pittsburgh, Pa., at 10:10 a.m. had its flight path diverted. The flight was changed to arrive at Reagan National Airport, in Northern Virginia, Krawczyk said.

"When it got outside of Pittsburgh, it actually had a flight plan change to DCA," said Krawczyk said. "We hardly ever get a flight plan change. Very unusual."

Until the past few years, Flight Explorer was the only company that recorded flight paths and received frequent requests from the Federal Aviation Administration for recordings of flights, Krawczyk said.

After the death of golfer Payne Stewart in 1999, the FAA began recording flight paths, Krwczyk said. The company had not heard from the FAA by Tuesday afternoon.

New York Primary Election Called Off

September 11, 2001 12:31 pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York City primary election was called off on Tuesday after an attack that collapsed both massive towers of the city's World Trade Center. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told local broadcaster NY1 that he called off the election after consulting with the governor of New York, and they will decide later when it will be rescheduled.

The mayor said that all available police and fire personnel have been deployed to Lower Manhattan to aid in rescue operations and it would be impossible to go ahead with the election in the immediate wake of the attack.

Among the key races in the poll where Democratic and Republican party primaries to elect candidates to replace Giuliani, who cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

Five candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination in a closely watched race that is likely to produce the next mayor in the predominantly Democratic city of 8 million people.

Two candidates, including media mogul Michael Bloomberg, are competing for the Republican nomination. Polls during the summer showed nearly all of the Democrats defeating either of the Republicans in a face-to-face contest.

After months of tepid campaigning among the candidates, who are promoting similar agendas to keep down crime rates and boost public education, both races heated up on Sunday during a final round of public debates.

HHS Orders Medical Emergency Plan

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 11, 2001

Filed at 1:21 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Health and Human Services Department has activated a national medical emergency system in an unprecedented move that would dispatch roughly 7,000 volunteer doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical staff to areas affected by Tuesday's attacks.

HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said all of the agency's 80 disaster teams, based at various locales nationwide, are ready to go where needed.

HHS, the '911' for all national disasters -- natural or manmade -- was awaiting specific orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, which coordinates national responses to disasters, has opened its operations center to respond to the attacks.

``This is the biggest deployment,'' said HHS spokesman Campbell Gardett, adding this was the first time all 80 teams have been put on alert.

HHS is the primary agency for sending medical help in a federal crisis. It is responsible for treating victims directly, evacuating patients in immediate danger and helping hospital staffs overwhelmed by events.

It coordinates more than 7,000 preselected private doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other medical staff who are organized into the 80 teams.

``They have been picked strategically according to their skills. They make themselves available to go at a moment's notice,'' Gardett said.

The agency also provides other medical services, including the handling of mortuary services for casualties and veterinary care for service animals.

In recent years, HHS has dispatched some of its staff to floods, earthquakes and ice storms. It has specifically helped in events like the TWA Flight 800 crash and the Oklahoma City bombing.

HHS also sends medical teams to help the FBI, the Secret Service and the State Department.

The agency also coordinates four teams around the country to handle emergencies involving bioterrorism. Acts involving explosions usually raise fears of potential use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

------

On the Net:

HHS Office of Emergency Preparedness:

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/01fsemergencyresponse.html

Military on Alert Against Possible Terrorist Attack (In Korea

09/12(Wed) 8:05

President Kim Dae-jung ordered an emergency alert to military and police and called a National Security meeting following the series of terrorists' attacks on New York and Washington D.C. Wednesday. The President sent a condolence cable to President George Bush condemning any kind of terrorists' activity.

The US Forces Command in Korea also ordered "Force Protection Condition D", the highest level of alert and carried out extensive check into their facilities in the country. The National Police announced it had deployed police forces around US bases and facilities to protect them from any possible attack against them. Ministry of Justice issued an order to strengthen immigration control check at all of airports and harbors against entry of possible terrorists.

Koreans were shocked by the tragic news late at night and stayed overnight to watch developments of the incidents on live-casting TVs. The Chosun Ilbo carried the story in its city edition with the banner headline of "US Under Attack" using full 11 pages of of 39-page news section.

Details of situation in Korea are as follows;

► US armed force in Korea ordered highest level of terrorism alert on its bases and 37,000 American soldiers and their family, and tightened its security. Currently, some 100,000 American soldiers and their family and civilians are estimated to reside in Korea.

Except for commander of US Force in Korea Thomas Schartz, all high ranking generals of US army and their counterparts of Korean army, including Lee Jong-ok, Deputy Commander of joint force, discussed multilateral measures at emergency meeting held in 8th US base in Yongsan. US army raised its "Threatcon", a alert against terrorism, to "Force Protection Condition D", the highest level of alert. Also, the inspections around the army bases have been reinforced with added forces deployed around the area.

A source from the US army said that there has been no attack case reported outside of the US, including dispatched army bases. However, they are in full alert to prepare for possible attack and the accident is treated very seriously, added the source. Especially, US army is conducting through inspection on some 90 bases all over Korea to search for possible explosives. US Armed force has been threatened for bombing of school in Yongsan 8th Base.

► Minister of National Defense Kim Dong-sin and chairman of Joint Chief of Staff reported to the government complex and JCS commander's control to examine alert status against North Korea around 1:20 am Wednesday.

Some 50 officials in defense ministry and JCS formed emergency task force around 11:30 Tuesday and the emergency team was also called in all units around 0:40am Wednesday.

Military authorities are checking possible break-away of airplane from their routes and reinforced information gathering related to North Korea. An official at the ministry of National Defense commented that Korean army is considering aiding their force to US army bases.

► National Police Agency is also strengthening the security forces near American facilities including embassy, consuls and US army bases. Also, police agency called all the chiefs of district police agencies and stations to return to work immediately. In addition, police has installed barricades around major US military facility to prevent the possibility of terrorist acts using automobiles at late hour. Seoul District Police dispatched one additional unit each to around the US Embassy in Sejong-ro, Jongno-gu, US base in Youngsan and their construction battalion base Tuesday night.

In addition, Ministry of Justice ordered airports and harbor port authorities to reinforce the immigration to prevent possible entry of terrorists to the country based on the intelligence record.

(Yu-yong-won, kysu@chosun.com; Choi Yu-sik finder@chosun.com)

http://www.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200109/200109120002.html

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

Crude, gold prices shoot up

London, Sept 11: World gold and crude oil prices rose sharply in response to the two plane crashes at the New York World Trade Centre and explosions at the Pentagon.

All the US financial and commodity markets including the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq were closed.

While gold prices in London rose sharply by $20 to $290 an ounce, oil jumped up by over $3 to breach the $31 a barrel mark amidst apprehensions that the crude price could escalate up to $40 a barrel.

The upsurge in prices of yellow metal and black gold could severely impact India which imports about 600 tonne gold annually and over 70 million tonne crude a year.

Gold is expected to open in Indian markets at around Rs 5,000 per 10 gram as against the Tuesday closing of Rs 4,400 per 10 gram, market analysts said.

Yellow metal commenced the day around $271 an ounce, a little lower from the previous mark shortly before the crash.

The impact was also witnessed in Paris where the share prices of Echo Bay, a Canadian gold mining company shot up by 29.31 per cent and Barrick gold, a US gold mining company by 7.59 per cent on hectic buying.

In London, the price of oil moved up by nearly $3. A barrel of Brent quality North Sea oil was being quoted $30.01 from $27.26.

Every dollar increase in crude oil prices results in Rs 250 crore additional burden on the oil pool account, which is now expected to touch Rs 14,500 crore by the end of current fiscal. (PTI)

Tuesday, 11 September, 2001, 21:54 GMT 22:54 UK <> US rocked by terror attacks

New York is paralysed and in a state of confusion

The United States has been rocked by devastating attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and seriously damaged the Pentagon in Washington.

The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts

President Bush

Thousands are feared to have died inside the buildings when hijacked airliners slammed into them. About 260 more are presumed to have perished on board the planes.

Another building close to the World Trade Center, Salomon Brothers 7, collapsed several hours after the original catastrophe.

New York remains in a state of intense fear and confusion, made worse by a thick fog of ash, fumes and debris from the ruins of the Trade Center.

No-one has said they were responsible for the attack, but US officials have pointed the finger at Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, an Islamic militant.

In a series of spectacular blows:

Two hijacked passenger airliners plunge into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the subsequent explosions and fires causing the buildings to collapse

People fled screaming from the World Trade Center

The Pentagon is partly destroyed by another hijacked plane which crashes into it shortly after the New York attacks, setting it ablaze

Unexplained explosions are reported near the State Department and Congress buildings in Washington Another passenger jet - a United Airlines 757 - has crashed in Pennsylvania, south-east of Pittsburgh, with all 45 people on board feared dead.

The explosions caused the twin towers to collapse

The plane's intended target was believed to be the Maryland presidential retreat, Camp David.

President Bush, who cut short a visit to Florida on hearing the news, said the US would hunt down and punish those responsible.

Click here to see graphic of New York attacks

Mr Bush is now returning to Washington, where he is expected to address the nation on Tuesday evening.

The following security measures have been taken:

All government buildings in the country were evacuated, including the White House and Congress

Lower Manhattan was evacuated and the National Guard brought in

All commercial flights to and from the US were suspended until noon on Wednesday (1600 GMT)

Air force fighters were ordered to attack any suspicious aircraft flying in US airspace

Seven US warships sailed towards New York, two aircraft-carriers to help in rescue efforts The attacks have caused chaos on world stock markets. Trading has been suspended in New York and markets will remain closed on Wednesday. Share prices on European exchanges plummeted.

New York panic

Huge explosions rocked the World Trade Center after horrified onlookers watched two passenger jets plunge into its towers.

Panicking office workers jumped from windows in the Center as it collapsed during attempts to evacuate the building.

New York's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, said a "tremendous" number of lives had been lost in the city.

He gave no specific figure, but said 1,500 walking wounded had been evacuated to a nearby park, and another 600 were being treated in local hospitals.

Dr Steven Stern at St Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village area of lower Manhattan said: "Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe."

Appeals have been issued for supplies of blood to help treat the injured.

Pentagon collapse

In Washington, the Pentagon - the heart of the US military establishment - suffered a direct hit from another hijacked passenger jet.

The Pentagon is the heart of America's defence machine

Part of the five-sided structure collapsed and secondary explosions were reported as huge clouds of smoke rose from the wreckage.

Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said there were "extensive casualties and an unknown number of fatalities".

United Airlines confirmed that two of its planes had crashed with a total of 110 people on board - one in Pennsylvania and the other in New York.

American Airlines said it owned the other two planes lost, which were carrying 156 passengers altogether.

World leaders have reacted with shock and outrage to news of the devastating attacks.

Among those sending messages of condolence were President Vladimir Putin of Russia, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

However, some Palestinians and other Arabs have been celebrating the attack on the United States - seen by them as Israel's main sponsor.

People screaming

One of the eyewitnesses who e-mailed BBC News Online said: "I came out of the subway, just after the first plane hit to scenes of absolute chaos. People were running away screaming.

I heard the bomb and saw both buildings crumble like biscuits

Eyewitness

"The sight of a hole in the side of the building was completely shocking. The neighbourhood is covered in a thick pall of smoke now the second tower has collapsed."

The initial impact of the collapse on the ground was devastating.

"It was like the scene out of a movie as the huge ball of rubble grew behind a terrorised crowd, running for cover," said BBC News Online's David Schepp.

Associated Press reporter Dunstan Prial said he heard a sucking sound just before the first building collapsed.

"Windows shattered. People were screaming and diving for cover. People walked around like ghosts, covered in dirt, weeping and wandering dazed," he said.

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