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.

Man Called From Plane Before It Crashed in Pennsylvania

A clergy member reacts after viewing the scene of the United crash in Shanksville, Pa.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — A United Airlines jetliner crashed Tuesday morning in western Pennsylvania, the airline said. Minutes earlier, a man who said he was a passenger on the plane told an emergency dispatcher in a cell phone call: "We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!"

United said 45 people were aboard Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco. The fate of the passengers was not immediately announced. The Boeing 757 crashed north of Somerset County airport, about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, following terrorism attacks in New York City and in Washington, D.C.

The crash was one of four reported Tuesday by United and American Airlines. Two crashed into the World Trade Center and one hit the Pentagon in Washington.

In Pennsylvania, an emergency dispatcher received a cell phone call at 9:58 a.m. from a man who said he was a passenger locked in a bathroom aboard United Flight 93, said dispatch supervisor Glenn Cramer in neighboring Westmoreland County. The man repeatedly told officials the call was not a hoax.

"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" Cramer quoted the man from a transcript of the call.

The man told dispatchers the plane "was going down. He heard some sort of explosion and saw white smoke coming from the plane and we lost contact with him," Cramer said.

Flight 93 crashed about 10 a.m. about 8 miles east of Jennerstown, according to officials at the scene.

"There's a crater gorged in the earth, the plane is pretty much disintegrated. There's nothing left but scorched trees," said Mark Stahl of Somerset who went to the scene.

He described the area as a former strip mine that is now a grassy field edged by woods. The plane came down near the tree line, he said.

Michael R. Merringer was out on a mountain bike ride with his wife, Amy, about two miles away from the crash site.

"I heard the engine gun two different times and then I heard a loud bang and the windows of the houses all around rattled," Merringer said. "I looked up and I saw the smoke coming up."

The couple rushed home and drove near the scene.

"Everything was on fire and there was trees knocked down and there was a big hole in the ground," he said.

United said Flight 93 left Newark at 8:01 a.m. with 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants.

In Chicago, United CEO James Goodwin said the airline is working with authorities including the FBI. United said it was sending a team to Pennsylvania to assist in the investigation and to provide assistance to family members.

"Today's events are a tragedy and our prayers are with everyone at this time," Goodwin said.

In Pennsylvania's Richland Township, police Chief Jim Mock said air traffic control coordinators reported Tuesday morning that a large aircraft was heading toward John Murtha Johnstown Cambria County Municipal Airport in the township, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The air traffic controllers said the aircraft would not identify itself, according to Mock, who is also the airport's emergency coordinator. Shortly after talking to the controllers, Mock said, a plane crashed north of the Somerset County airport about 20 miles away.

"It shook the whole station," said Bruce Grine, owner of Grine's Service Center in Shanksville, about 2 miles from the crash. "Everybody ran outside, and by that time the fire whistle was blowing."

Because of the attacks in New York, the Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all departing flights canceled nationwide, and any planes already in the air were to land a the nearest airport. The Pennsylvania crash came after the order was issued.

After the crashes the three passenger terminals at Newark International Airport were evacuated. At 11:30 a.m., several hundred people were still clustered at the Terminal A baggage carousel, while shotgun-toting officers patrolled. Ticket counters were deserted.

At San Francisco International Airport, an evacuation was ordered. Bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the emptying hallways and a counseling center was set up for relatives of the people aboard Flight 93.

"This is a time for compassion. It's not a time for long sermons," said the Rev. John Delariva, a Catholic priest who is part of the airport's counseling team.

Flight 93 also operated as a code-share flight with Air Canada as Flight AC4085.

All flights stopped nationwide September 11, 2001 Posted: 6:05 PM EDT (2205 GMT)

The FAA halted all U.S. flights after the attacks on the World Trade Center.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The first-ever grounding of all flights in the United States will remain in effect until at least noon EDT Wednesday due to security concerns following Tuesday's hijackings of airliners that were then crashed into buildings, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The groundstop affects 36,000 to 40,000 flights that take off in the United States daily, as well as general aviation flights. Also, no flights will be allowed to come into the United States from other countries.

"The earliest the national groundstop will be lifted is noon tomorrow. And that's at the very earliest," FAA spokesman Les Dorr said Tuesday.

CONTACT NUMBERS

Friends or family members who want more information on the crashes should contact:

American Airlines 1-800-245-0999

United Airlines

1-800-932-8555

He said 1.6 million people fly daily in the United States. Dorr said he didn't think passengers would feel inconvenienced by the stoppage because of the nature of the tragedy.

"Obviously, this is an unprecedented set of events," he said. "I think most people will understand what is going on."

As of 1:30 p.m. EDT, Dorr said, all 40 to 50 domestic airliners that had remained in the air had landed. By about 5 p.m. EDT, the FAA said all international flights that were in the air had landed at West Coast airports.

In what appeared to be coordinated acts of terrorism, two jets crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, collapsing them in clouds of smoke, while another aircraft crashed into the Pentagon.

A fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.

Senior FBI sources said they are working on the assumption that all four planes were hijacked as part of a terrorist attack.

American Airlines and United Airlines both reported losing two jetliners.

United Airlines has grounded all of its flights worldwide.

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was evacuated after the attacks. San Francisco's International Airport was also shut down and evacuated. Boston's Logan International Airport was closed indefinitely, an official said.

Other forms of transportation were affected as well.

Amtrak canceled all train service in the northeast corridor from Boston to Washington, and Greyhound bus company also canceled operations in the northeast and in "select locations" around the country.

Bin Laden Warned of 'Unprecedented Attack'

By Karen Matusic

Reuters

Tuesday, September 11, 2001; 11:15 AM

LONDON, Sept 11—Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he and his followers would carry out an unprecedented attack on U.S. interests for its support of Israel, an Arab journalist with access to him said on Tuesday.

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi, an Arabic-language weekly news magazine, said Islamic fundamentalists led by bin Laden were "almost certainly" behind the attack of the World Trade Center in New York.

"It is most likely the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Osama bin Laden warned three weeks ago that he would attack American interests in an unprecedented attack, a very big one," Atwan told Reuters.

"Personally we received information that he planned very, very big attacks against American interests. We received several warnings like this. We did not take it so seriously, preferring to see what would happen before reporting it."

Atwan has interviewed bin Laden and maintains close contacts with his followers.

Bin Laden is wanted in the United States for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people and injured more than 4,000.

Two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning as office workers began work, setting them on fire and causing both to collapse, live television coverage showed.

Another plane crashed next to the Pentagon in Washington, a U.S. official said. Eyewitnesses said the building was being evacuated. The White House and State Department were also evacuated.

An anonymous caller told Abu Dhabi television in the Gulf that the radical Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was responsible for the two New York crashes, but a senior DFLP official in the Palestinian territories denied any involvement.

"I emphasise that the story released on Abu Dhabi TV by an anonymous person is totally incorrect," Tayseer Khaled, a senior official of the DFLP politburo in the Palestinian territories, told Reuters.

"The DFLP is against hijacking planes and against endangering the lives of civilians who are not connected with the struggle of this region," he said.

President George W. Bush called the crashes an "apparent terrorist attack," and pledged the U.S. government would "hunt down" those responsible.

Atwan said anti-American sentiment in the Middle East was at its peak and moderate Arab governments had been "embarrassed" by what they saw as Bush's reluctance to lead peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The more moderate Arab governments were pleading with the American administration to intervene and to resume its sponsorship to the peace talks and put an end to the Israeli agression. The Bush administration let them down," Atwan said.

He said the United States, if convinced that bin Laden was behind the attacks, would probably retaliate in Afghanistan where bin Laden is thought to be in hiding.

"I will not surprised that the Americans will send their cruise missiles to Afghanistan. There is no other country because bin Laden is in Afghanistan."

Attacks-Victims-Capsules

The Associated Press

9/11/01 7:32 PM

Some of those killed on flights commandeered by terrorists Tuesday:

BARBARA OLSON, 45, was the wife of U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson. She was aboard American Flight 77 from Dulles International Airport when it crashed into the Pentagon. She twice called her husband as the plane was being hijacked and described some details, including that the attackers were using knife-like instruments. Barbara Olson was a chief investigator for the House Government Reform Committee in the mid-1990s. She later became a lawyer on the staff of Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles, before branching out on her own as a TV commentator and private lawyer. She was a frequent critic of the Clinton administration and wrote a book about Hillary Rodham Clinton.

DAVID ANGELL, 54, was executive producer of the NBC television show "Frasier." He was flying on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles with his wife Lynn, according to Angell's brother, The Most Rev. Kenneth Angell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, Vt. The Angells were returning from their summer home in Chatham, Mass., where Bishop Angell and other relatives had just spent a joyful family wedding weekend.

DANIEL C. LEWIN, 31, co-founder of Akamai Technologies in Cambridge, Mass., was aboard American Flight 11. He also was the company's chief technology officer and a board member. Lewin is survived by his wife and two sons. Lewin, who attended graduate school at MIT, became an instant billionaire -- at least on paper -- in October 1999 when Akamai made its Wall Street debut.

JOHN OGONOWSKI, 52, of Dracut, Mass., was the captain on American Flight 11. A former Air Force pilot, Ogonowski had just celebrated his birthday. He left a wife and three daughters -- Laura, 16; Caroline, 14; Mary Catherine, 11. He was also a farmer who loved the land. His brother Jim Ogonowski said his 150-acre property would be preserved as open space, as his brother would have wanted.

EDMUND GLAZER: 41, Chatsworth, Calif., was chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration of MRV Communications, a manufacturer of optical network components and systems. He is survived by his wife, Candy, and son, Nathan.

TOM MCGUINNESS, of Portsmouth, N.H., was co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, an official at his church confirmed. Rick DeKoven, administrator at the church, said McGuinness was married with two teen-age children, a boy and girl. He said church pastors were with his wife when she was notified Tuesday morning. A prayer service was being held for him Tuesday night. DeKoven called him "a devoted family man," who was active in his community and church.

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

Partial list of victims aboard four hijacked airliners

The Associated Press

9/11/01 9:44 PM

Partial lists of the people aboard four airplanes hijacked by terrorists Tuesday.

American Airlines Flight 11: A Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles. The plane, carrying 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots, crashed into a tower of New York's World Trade Center about 8:45 a.m. EDT.

CREW:

-- John Ogonowski, 52, Dracut, Mass., pilot.

-- Tom McGuiness, Portsmouth, N.H., co-pilot.

-- Sara Low, Batesville, Ark., flight attendant.

PASSENGERS:

-- David Angell, 54, Pasadena, Calif., executive producer, NBC's "Frasier."

-- Lynn Angell, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Edmund Glazer, 41, Chatsworth, Calif., chief financial officer, MRV Communications Inc.

-- Daniel C. Lewin, 31, co-founder, Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai Technologies.

-- Tara Kreamer, 30, Worcester, Mass., works at T.J.X.

-- Ted Hennessey, Belmont, Mass.

United Airlines Flight 175: A Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles. The plane was carrying 56 passengers, two pilots and seven flight attendants. It crashed into the other tower of the World Trade Center shortly after 9 a.m.

CREW:

-- Victor Saracini, Lower Makefield Township, Penn., pilot.

-- Al Marchand, Alamogordo, N.M., flight attendant.

PASSENGERS:

-- Brian Sweeney, 38, Barnstable, Mass.

-- Garnet "Ace" Bailey, 53, Lynnfield, Mass., director of pro scouting, Los Angeles Kings.

-- Mark Bavis, scout, Los Angeles Kings.

American Airlines Flight 77: A Boeing 757 en route from Dulles Airport near Washington to Los Angeles. The plane was carrying 58 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots. It crashed into the Pentagon about 9:40 a.m.

PASSENGERS:

-- Barbara Olson, 45, TV commentator and lawyer.

-- Karen A. Kincaid, Washington, D.C., lawyer, Wiley Rein & Fielding.

United Airlines Flight 93: A Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco. The plane was carrying 38 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants. It crashed southeast of Pittsburgh around 10 a.m.

CREW:

-- Cee Cee Lyles, Fort Myers, Fla., flight attendant.

Death Count

The Associated Press

Establishing the U.S. death toll could take weeks, but it was expected casualties would be in the thousands. The four airliners alone had 266 people aboard and there were no known survivors.

In addition, a firefighters union official said he feared an estimated 200 firefighters had died in rescue efforts. Dozens of police officers were believed missing.

U.S. virtually shuts down after attack

Japan Daily

Greg McCune

Wednesday, September 12, 2001 at 09:30 JST

A car navigates an abandoned downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. Most offices in downtown Los Angeles and other U.S. cities were closed. REUTERS NEWS PHOTO

CHICAGO — Americans fled office towers, jammed public transport, fetched their children from schools and shuttered themselves in their homes on Tuesday as the country virtually closed down after the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor.

All commercial air traffic was halted. Some ports were on high alert. Commuter trains and traffic were snarled in major cities.

Security at borders with Canada and Mexico was tightened. And President George W Bush landed at a military base in Nebraska, about as close to the center of the country as he could get. The White House said Bush would return to Washington later on Tuesday to address the nation on television.

Landmarks from the U.N. headquarters in New York, to the Sears Tower in Chicago, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Disney theme parks in Florida were temporarily closed.

Federal buildings throughout Washington, including the Treasury Department, Congress and the Supreme Court were closed and the government gave the green light for its facilities around the country to shut down temporarily.

Schools, federal courthouses and office buildings in many parts of the country were ordered closed and hundreds of trials and grand jury hearings were halted, at least until Wednesday.

Financial trading in New York on Wall Street, and major financial exchanges in Chicago closed and business virtually ground to a halt at many major corporations. Airports were eerily quiet as commercial planes were grounded nationwide and buildings evacuated.

Americans were shocked and angered by the horrible scenes unfolding on television as hijacked planes smashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York. A fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh.

"This is war," said Jeff Axt, the 39-year old president of the Biz-R chain of retail and shoe stores in Royal Oak, Michigan. "I'm enraged as if it were my own immediate family."

President Bush delivered a statement saying the United States had taken all appropriate steps to protect the American people and would hunt down and punish those responsible for the attacks.

In Chicago, office buildings and businesses and stock and commodity exchanges were ordered evacuated soon after the attacks. One of the first to be emptied out was the Sears Tower looming over Chicago's downtown financial district, the tallest U.S. building. People rushed out of the building into the street even though no official order to evacuate had been given.

Major downtown offices in Los Angeles were also evacuated including the Citibank Tower, the Arco Tower and the Bank of America building.

In the Florida capital, Tallahassee, state officials said the state university system and community colleges had closed. Some public schools also closed.

Even the theme parks operated by Walt Disney Co in the Orlando area, attractions that draw millions of tourists a year to central Florida, were shut down for the day as a veil of heightened security fell over the country.

Major businesses in the Atlanta area, including Coca-Cola Co, CNN Center and BellSouth Corp, were closed to all but essential personnel.

The Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, headquarters of General Motors Corp, the world's largest automaker, was voluntarily evacuated.

The largest shopping mall in the United States, Mall of America near Minneapolis, Minnesota was emptied.

"The safety of our guests, tenants and employees is our top priority," said Maureen Bausch, vice president of marketing and business development for Mall of America. "While we have not received any threats, we believe this is a prudent precaution."

Greyhound lines, the largest U.S. bus line, suspended operations in large parts of the country.

Longshoremen at the Los Angeles port did not report for their early work shift and that port and one at nearby Long Beach, California were operating on heightened security.

Bomb threats were received at sites around the country. Chicago emergency officials said threats had been received by telephone at the Sears Tower and the John Hancock building but nothing came of them.

Florida law enforcement officials said there had been two bomb threats reported in the state earlier in the day. They were received at Florida Atlantic University near Boca Raton and at a state office building in Orlando, but officials said there was no indication they were related to the attacks in New York and in Washington.

A Delta airlines plane was diverted to Cleveland and searched because FBI officials said it fit the profile of the planes which had been hijacked earlier. No bomb was found.

A U.S. Customs official in Detroit said the city's Ambassador Bridge, a major border crossing to Canada, was temporarily closed after the morning attacks as was a tunnel connecting Detroit with the Canadian city of Windsor.

Gov Jeb Bush of Florida, the president's brother, urged Americans to fly their U.S. flags, donate blood and pray.

"The aim of a terrorist is clear — to hurt and humble America," the president's younger brother said in a speech broadcast live statewide. "They may have indeed hurt us but they will never humble us." (Reuters News)

Search warrants and rescue efforts in terrorist attacks

September 11, 2001

Posted: 11:19 PM EDT (0319 GMT)

CNN

These images taken from amateur video show the second airliner crashing into the World Trade Center

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As law enforcement are executing search warrants in Florida late Tuesday based on passenger lists from the hijacked planes that were used in terrorist attacks, New York rescue crews are searching for survivors in buildings near the destroyed towers of the World Trade Center.

"We do know that there are people in the building that are alive, and we are making every effort to get to them," New York Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik said late Tuesday night.

An inferno errupted when two jetliners crashed into the Trade Center's twin towers and the buildings, where up to 40,000 people may have been working, soon collapsed.

Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, where up to 800 personnel remain missing.

Information gleaned from the hijacked planes' passenger lists have led to search warrants that the FBI is in the process of or will soon be executing search warrants in more than one location in South Florida, including homes and post office boxes, a law enforcement source told CNN.

"We're looking at South Florida ties to some of the people we're looking at," the source said.

Also, in northern Florida, a search will be done on a location in Daytona.

The White House announced late Tuesday that the nation's first-ever groundstop would be lifted Wednesday and planes should be flying by noon.

Recovery efforts

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said bulldozers have been brought in to help clear the rubble away to make rescue efforts easier.

"Ongoing fires and damaged buildings could hamper rescue efforts, but those efforts were continuing overnight," said the mayor.

Almost 300 emergency personnel in New York -- 78 missing police officers and 200 firefighters -- are presumed dead along with the 266 people on the four hijacked airplanes.

Presumed dead are the New York Fire Department's deputy chief and first deputy commissioner -- and Ray Downey, who led NYFD team that helped out after the bombing in Oklahoma City.

President Bush suggested late Tuesday how high the death toll may rise when he said "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror."

He also issued a warning to any nation that may be giving refuge to those responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States.

"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them," the president said from the Oval Office of the White House as he promised retaliation.

U.S. intelligence officials told CNN, "There are good indications that persons linked to Osama bin Laden may be responsible for these attacks."

Afghanistan, believed to be the home of bin Laden, denied he was connected to the attacks.

Asked if bin Laden was a suspect, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "It's not the time for discussions like that."

Other U.S. officials said that while the focus is on bin Laden, they have not ruled out other suspects.

They also said they believe more threats exist. Pentagon sources told CNN that all U.S. military sites around the world have gone to ThreatCon Delta, which means that a terrorist attack has occurred or an attack at a specific location is likely.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said there were "no specific warnings" before the attacks.

Knives and box cutters

Although officials said the attacks appeared to have been well planned and executed, a passenger on the plane that hit the Pentagon said in cell phone call to her husband that the terrorists were armed with knives and box cutters.

The passenger was Barbara Olson, a CNN commentator and wife of Solicitor General Theodore Olson.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has briefed members of Congress, telling them that the hijackers on the planes were working in groups of three to five members.

"We will expend every effort and devote all the necessary resources to bring the people responsible for these acts -- these crimes -- to justice," Ashcroft said.

American Airlines Flight 11, carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members en route from Boston to Los Angeles, slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m.

About 15 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, also en route from Boston to Los Angeles, with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard, crashed into the south tower. The building exploded into flames and collapsed.

Hours later, fire caused another building, 7 World Trade Center, to collapse. It had been burning since shortly after the planes stuck the Twin Towers. Other nearby buildings are ablaze in the area.

A Boeing 757 jet plowed into the Pentagon at 9:45 a.m. Witnesses said the plane hit what is known as the "Army Corridor."

FBI sources said the aircraft was an American Airlines flight that had been hijacked after taking off from Washington Dulles International Airport bound for Los Angeles.

A fourth aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark, New Jersey, headed for San Francisco, crashed in a wooded area near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Police said there were no survivors. There were 38 passengers, five flight attendants and two pilots.

"The plane is thoroughly disintegrated," Jim Marker of Somerset County's 911 Emergency Management Center told CNN. "There are no remains, no survivors.

Senior FBI sources said, "There is no doubt the planes [all four] were hijacked."

Intelligence sources told CNN there were indications of attempts to divert the United flight from Newark to crash at Camp David, Maryland, the presidential retreat. It is unclear how that plan may have been thwarted.

U.S. military officials said none of the planes were shot down by U.S. aircraft.

They did not know that specific plane was involved. Callers from two of the other hijack planes called on cell phones to say their planes had been hijacked. Hijackers may have flown planes

James Kallstrom, the retired FBI agent who led the investigation into the explosive crash of TWA 800 in July 1996 that killed 230 people, said he believed the hijackers must have flown the planes into the buildings themselves.

"I can't imagine any American pilot crashing an airplane into one of these buildings, even with a gun to the head. They wouldn't do that," said Kallstrom.

"You've got people that not only are willing to give up their lives for a horrendously, in my view, stupid, cowardly act, but they are sophisticated enough to fly a modern jet plane."

The U.S. military went on full alert. Two aircraft carriers left the Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, in response to the attacks to provide upgraded air defense for New York and Washington.

Officials in Washington said a "Continuation of Government" plan had been activated. The activation involves a fortified facility at Mount Weather, Virginia. There was no word whether any of the U.S. leadership or ranking military officers had been taken to the facility.

The city of Washington declared a state of emergency.

"The Pentagon is functioning. It will be in business tomorrow," Rumsfeld said.

Members of Congress were quick to blame bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire blamed for bombings at two U.S. embassies in Africa. He is believed to be based in Afghanistan.

"This looks like the signature of Osama bin Laden," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said he had been briefed by officials at the highest levels of government.

Hatch added: "We're going to find out who did this and we're going after the bastards."

"This is obviously an act of war that has been committed on the United States," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.

In Kabul, Afghanistan Foreign Minister Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakkel said, "We in Afghanistan do not allow Osama bin Laden to use Afghan territory to launch any attack on any government around the world."

He said the Afghan government had taken away bin Laden's communication devices, "and he has not been in touch with anyone outside Afghanistan."

Mutawakkel said the Taliban will conduct its own investigation. "We will determine what really happened. We denounce this terrorist attack, whoever is behind it."

Fed seeks limited trading

Requests overseas central banks limit dollar trading; money available after attacks

September 12, 2001: 6:50 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Federal Reserve requested Wednesday that central banks overseas limit the trading of dollars. The move comes as Chairman Alan Greenspan returns to the United States to help the central bank cope with money supply issues in the wake of terrorist attacks on major targets in New York and Washington, D.C.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan

Greenspan had been out of the country attending a previously scheduled meeting of the Bank for International Settlements, but CNN has confirmed his planned return.

The Federal Reserve is making money available to banks following the Tuesday attacks. A statement on the Federal Reserve Web site said: "The Federal Reserve System is open and operating. The discount window is available to meet liquidity needs."

The Bank of England acknowledged Wednesday that the Fed has asked all central banks to minimize trading in dollars. A spokeswoman said this is normal procedure in emergency situations to prevent shocks to the currency trading system.

The Fed is worried that a large dollar transaction might be put into the system that one or several banks couldn't complete because of problems resulting from the World Trade Center disaster. Dozens of banks and traders had operations in the trade center's two towers.

Because transactions are often back-to-back with other institutions, a major trade overseas could cause liquidity problems further down the line as the ripple effects are felt. It is safer to ask banks not to trade rather than sort out the problems of liquidity later, according to investment sources in London.

Sources say currency trading is very quiet in London and that people "are just shell shocked" and that they think that it is inappropriate to be trading at this time.

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, the No. 2 official at the Fed, was monitoring banking and financial market developments along with a team of top Fed officials.

Federal buildings in Washington -- including the White House -- were evacuated in the wake of attacks in Washington that destroyed part of the Pentagon and caused damage at the State Department.

In a separate attack, two apparently hijacked airliners were crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying both, and causing death and injury likely numbered in the thousands.

The promise to supply additional money to the banking system was similar to a pledge the Fed issued on the morning after the October 1987 stock market crash, when the market plunged more than 500 points in one day of trading.

That statement in 1987 was given a large amount of credit for helping to restore calm to badly shaken financial markets.

http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/09/12/economy/fed/

Dulles passengers kept in the dark as flights were cancelled

Herdon Times By Marcia McAllister September 11, 2001

Just after Jeff Crosby boarded his China-bound flight at Washington Dulles International Airport early yesterday, the pilot told passengers aboard the United Airlines jet that there were problems at New York's World Trade Center and asked passengers to get their bags and return to the gate.

Crosby, 22, said he had no idea what was going on.

The flight was quickly canceled around 9:30 a.m.

He said he was worried. "Nobody had any idea what was going on."

He said he thinks the United flight that left just before his was scheduled to depart was the plane that eventually crashed into the Pentagon.

He added that there was "chaos in the A terminal" with few airport workers telling passengers what to do.

He and other passengers scrambled to find a way to leave the airport.

"They (airline security officials) weren't letting traffic into the airport," Crosby, who called his father on a pay phone to tell him the flight was canceled, said.

Passengers who had cars parked at the airport were allowed to use them, he said.

Only cabs were allowed to pick up passengers. In addition, the lines and the waits for the cabs were long, Crosby said.

Crosby befriended two passengers stranded in the main terminal and invited them to share his cab to his house in the Wolf Den area off Route 7.

One was from Ottawa and another from Connecticut. One left later that afternoon. Another, Crosby said, would stay until alternate travel arrangements could be made.

Crosby, who was making a return trip to China to study the language, said he has no idea when he will try to reschedule his visit.

Arcom Publishing Inc. - Reston/Herndon 2001

FEMA deploys hundreds

Federal emergency workers search for survivors, recover remains

Web posted Wednesday, September 12, 2001

By Sharon Theimer

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- After the first of four planes crashed in three U.S. cities in a morning of chaos and terror Tuesday, federal emergency officials acted according to plan.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency carried out President Bush's orders to implement a national emergency response plan after the first of two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York.

By afternoon, hundreds of rescue workers were sent to search for survivors and recover remains. Meanwhile, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and congressional leaders were moved to secure locations before returning to the capital Tuesday evening.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta ordered commercial air traffic grounded until at least this afternoon.

"These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans," Mineta said. "We will restore that confidence."

FEMA notified government agencies to react to the highest-level emergency, a "level one" like those declared after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, hurricanes and severe flooding.

FEMA and roughly two dozen other federal and volunteer agencies will back up the states involved however necessary, including search and rescue, transportation, medical and mortuary support, said Steven Presgraves, FEMA's emergency teams unit leader.

The agencies also evaluate damage, cope with hazardous materials and provide food, water, shelter and electricity.

At least eight urban search-and-rescue task forces were dispatched to New York City, which Bush declared a disaster area, and four to the Pentagon. That building, the world's largest office building, was hit by a plane within an hour of the Trade Center crashes.

"They can locate, identify and rescue people in confined spaces," Presgraves said. "Recovery of victims, finding remains is also very important to family members. To do that safely, these search-and-rescue teams have the ability to shore up weak buildings."

The searchers include teams from Massachusetts, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana, California, Virginia, Maryland and Tennessee. A search was also under way for victims of a fourth crash in rural Pennsylvania.

The emergency plan was developed in the late 1980s and was improved after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Presgraves said.

After that attack, FEMA learned to stage resources to avoid bottlenecks rather than bring everything in at once, he said.

"We talk about right resource, right time, right place," Presgraves said.

"We will be here for quite a while."

http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/091201/LOCemergencyplans.shtml

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