Never forget: US remembers 9/11 on 20th anniversary

A couple views the Tribute in Light beams and the One World Trade Center tower from Little Island park on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in Manhattan, New York City, U.S. on Friday. America is set to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with ceremonies given added poignancy by the recent chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and return to power of the Taliban.

-reuters

WATCH | At least 19 killed in blast at Ariana Grande concert in UK arena

A blast on Monday night at a concert in the English city of Manchester where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing left at least 19 people dead and about 50 injured in what British police said was being treated as a terrorist incident.

Police said they were responding to reports of an explosion and that there were a number of confirmed fatalities and others injured at the arena, which has a capacity for 21,000 people.

A witness who attended the concert said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush as thousands of people trying to escape.

WATCH REUTERS TV REPORT ON THE INCIDENT:


“We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming,” concert-goer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.

“It was a huge explosion — you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out.”

Witnesses reported that many children were at the concert.

Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and has a capacity for 21,000 people, according to its website. It is a popular concert and sporting venue.

A spokesman for Ariana Grande’s record label said that the singer was “okay”. A video posted on Twitter showed fans screaming and running out of the venue.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of “severe” meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.

Following is a Reuters summary of what is known and not about the incident.

* Death toll: British police said 19 people were killed and 59 people had been treated in hospital. A total of 60 ambulances attended the incident.

Many of the fans at the concert were young people. The blast sparked panic as thousands of people rushed for the exits, witnesses told Reuters.

* US singer Ariana Grande had just finished a concert at the Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe that can hold 21,000 people, when the blast occurred.

Grande, 23, later said on Twitter: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

* Parents hunted for missing children after the blast. Many turned to social media to seek loved ones.

“Everyone pls share this, my little sister Emma was at the Ari concert tonight in #Manchester and she isn’t answering her phone, pls help me,” said one message posted alongside a picture of a blonde-haired girl with flowers in her hair.

* Police said they were called at 10:33 pm (2133 GMT) after reports of an explosion.

Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said police were treating the blast as a terrorist incident and were working with counter-terrorism police and intelligence agencies. They gave no further details on their investigation.

* It is unclear where exactly the blast occurred, but initial reports indicated it happened either just outside the Manchester Arena or near a foyer.

It is also unclear whether it was a bomb. Police have so far not said what caused the blast.

* US officials told Reuters that the timing and venue suggested a terror attack, possibly by a suicide bomber.

“This does not appear to have been a carefully planned attack involving multiple actors, extensive surveillance of the target or exotic materials,” said another US official.

“That is what is so worrisome about this kind of thing – how simple it is to indiscriminately kill, wound and terrorize innocent people. With our partners, the US has begun the process of combing through the available intelligence to see if anything was missed.”

* Prime Minister Theresa May said authorities were working to establish the full details of what police were treating as “an appalling terrorist attack.” She said her thoughts were with the victims and the families of those who have been affected.

* What about the June 8 election? PM May’s ruling Conservative Party, which has a big lead in opinion polls, is preparing to suspend election campaigning due to the blast.

* No militant group has claimed responsibility so far but Islamic State supporters celebrated on social media. Twitter accounts affiliated to the militant Islamist group have used hashtags referring to the blast to post celebratory messages, with some users encouraging similar attacks elsewhere.

* The blast occurred on the anniversary of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby, who was hacked to death on a London street on May 22, 2013.

Rigby’s gruesome murder gained international notoriety when Michael Adebolajo was filmed by passers-by standing in the street with blood-soaked hands trying to justify the attack.

source: interaksyon.com

Suicide bomber kills four, wounds 36 in Istanbul shopping district

ISTANBUL - A suicide bomber killed four people on Saturday in a busy shopping district in the heart of Istanbul, pushing the death toll from four separate suicide attacks in Turkey this year to more than 80.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the blast was "inhumane" and would not stop Turkey, which has been targeted by Kurdish and Islamic State militants, from fighting "centers of terrorism".

Israel said two of its citizens died in the attack, Washington said two Americans had been killed and a Turkish official said one victim was Iranian, suggesting that some of the dead may have had dual nationality.

The blast, which also wounded at least 36 people, was a few hundred meters from an area where police buses are often stationed. It sent panicked shoppers scurrying into alleys off Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian avenue lined with international stores and foreign consulates.

"There is information that it is an attack carried out by an ISIS member, but this is preliminary information, we are still checking it," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters, using another name for Islamic State.

He said a third Israeli may have died. Israel also said 11 of its citizens had been wounded while Ireland said "a number" of Irish were hurt.

The attack will raise further questions about the ability of NATO member Turkey to protect itself against a spillover of violence from the war in neighboring Syria.

Turkey is battling a widening Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, which it sees as fueled by the territorial gains of Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria, and has also blamed some of the recent bombings on Islamic State militants who crossed from its southern neighbor.

"No center of terrorism will reach its aim with such monstrous attacks," Davutoglu said in a written statement. "Our struggle will continue with the same resolution and determination until terrorism ends completely."

Three suspects

Germany had shut its diplomatic missions and schools on Thursday, citing a specific threat. US and other European embassies had warned their citizens to be vigilant ahead of Newroz celebrations this weekend, a spring festival largely marked by Kurds that has turned violent in the past.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Two senior officials said the attack could have been carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fighting for Kurdish autonomy in the southeast, or by an Islamic State militant.

A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in the capital Ankara over the past month which killed 66 people. Islamic State was blamed for a suicide bombing in Istanbul in January which killed at least 12 German tourists.

One of the officials said Saturday's bomber, who also died in the blast, had planned to hit a more crowded location but was deterred by the police presence.

"The attacker detonated the bomb before reaching the target point because they were scared of the police," the official said, declining to be named as the investigation is ongoing.

Another official said investigations were focusing on three possible suspects, all of them male and two of them from the southern city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. There was no further confirmation of this.

Armed police sealed off the shopping street where half a dozen ambulances gathered. Forensic teams in white suits searched for evidence as police helicopters buzzed overhead.

"I saw a body on the street. No one was treating him but then I saw someone who appeared to be a regular citizen trying to do something to the body. That was enough for me and I turned and went back," one resident told Reuters.

Istiklal Street, usually thronged with shoppers at weekends, was quieter than normal as more people are staying home after a series of deadly bombings.

Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 36 people had been wounded, seven of them in serious condition. At least 24 of the wounded were foreigners, according to Istanbul's governor.

International condemnation

Turkey is still in shock from a suicide car bombing last Sunday at a crowded transport hub in the capital Ankara which killed 37 people and a similar bombing in Ankara last month in which 29 died. A PKK offshoot claimed responsibility for both.

The latest attack brought widespread condemnation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on an official visit to Istanbul, said it showed "the ugly face of terrorism". France condemned it as "despicable and cowardly".

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg described it as "another terrorist outrage against innocent civilians", while the U.S. State Department said it was the latest "indefensible violence targeting innocent people throughout Turkey".

The Kurdish-rooted opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the bombing. The PKK's umbrella group said it opposed targeting civilians and condemned attacks on them.

A 2-1/2-year PKK ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence in the southeast since the 1990s. Hundreds have since died.

Separately, a police officer and a soldier died in clashes with militants in the southeastern city of Nusaybin, security sources said.

In its armed campaign in Turkey, the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces but recent bombings suggest it could be shifting tactics.

At the height of the PKK insurgency in the 1990s, the Newroz festival often saw clashes between Kurdish protesters and security forces. (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun, Asli Kandemir, Humeyra Pamuk, Daren Butler, Parisa Hafezi in Turkey, John Irish in Paris, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Idrees Ali in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com

'Facebook DISABLED my account,' says woman named ISIS

MANILA - There's a woman from San Francisco who recently reported that the social media network Facebook disabled – but later reinstated – her account because of her name: Isis.

The name happens to be the same as the popular moniker of ISIS – The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), that is currently hogging the news headlines in the wake of its waves of terror attacks in Paris.

In the Tech News section of the British-published Express (http://www.express.co.uk), Aaron Brown wrote on Wednesday (November 18): "Isis Anchalee claims her profile was removed by Facebook because of her name."

Brown observed that the news comes days after Facebook rolled out the ability to overlay the French flag on users' profile pictures, to show solidarity with France.

 

ISIS is also known as The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), described by various sources as a Wahhabi/Salafi jihadist extremist militant group, self-proclaimed to be a caliphate and Islamic state, led by and mainly composed of Sunni Arabs from Iraq and Syria.

"Isis Anchalee – an engineer based in San Francisco, California – claims Facebook disabled her account because she shares her name with a popular abbreviation for Islamic State," Brown added in his report.

Read it here.

In the wake of the terror implications, Brown noted that Facebook had been "hard at work trying to eradicate the presence of Islamic State, dubbed ISIS, on the hugely popular US social network.

"Unfortunately the San Francisco engineer appears to have been mixed up in its efforts."

Anchalee was reportedly asked to prove her identity three times to Facebook.

"As a result, Facebook has since reinstated Isis Anchalee's profile on the hugely successful social network."

source: interaksyon.com

At least 30 dead in 'terrorist' attack on Ankara peace rally

ANKARA - At least 30 people were killed Saturday in twin explosions in Turkey's capital Ankara, targeting activists gathering for a peace rally organized by leftist and pro-Kurdish opposition groups.

Corpses of activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with the banners they had been holding lying next to them.

At least 30 people were killed and 126 wounded, the interior ministry said in a statement giving the first official toll.

"We curse and condemn this atrocious attack taking aim at our democracy and our country's peace," the statement said.

A Turkish government official told AFP that the authorities "suspect that there is a terrorist connection," without giving further details.

There were scenes of chaos after the blast, as ambulances searched for the wounded and police cordoned off the area.

"We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station," said Ahmet Onen, 52.

"A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don’t understand this," he said, in floods of tears.

Turkish police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators angered by the deaths of their fellow activists from the scene, an AFP correspondent said.

Amateur footage broadcast by NTV television showed smiling activists holding hands and dancing and then falling to the ground as the huge explosion went off behind them.

Initial reports spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.

The authorities were exploring the possibility that the blasts could have been caused by a suicide bomber, the official Anatolia news agency said.

'Barbaric attack'

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had been briefed over the blast by Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Anatolia said.

"We are investigating the explosion and will share our findings with the public as soon as possible," a Turkish official told AFP, without giving further details.

The area was to have hosted an anti-government peace rally organized by several leftist groups later in the day, including the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed," said the HDP's leader Selahattin Demirtas.

The attack comes with Turkey on edge ahead of November 1 polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.

An attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on July 20 targeting pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists killed 32 people and wounded a hundred others.

The militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with IS and resumed attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year ceasefire.

Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1,700 Kurdish militants in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.

There had been suggestions that the PKK was about to announce a new ceasefire to help the HDP boost its score in the upcoming election.

The HDP performed strongly in the last vote on June 7, winning 80 seats to deprive President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of an outright majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.

The AKP then failed to form a coalition in months of talks, prompting Erdogan -- who had been hoping for a large majority to push through reforms to boost his powers -- to call another election on November 1.

The office of Davutoglu said that he had cancelled election campaigning for the next three days.

He was to host a meeting of top officials, including powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan, in the early afternoon to discuss the attack.

source: interaksyon.com

9, including 7 kids, killed in attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan

Suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday, detonating an explosives-packed car and killing nine civilians, including seven children in a nearby mosque.

A spokesman for the Taliban militant group immediately denied responsibility for the blast that erupted outside the Indian mission and left the mosque, private houses, tailors and other shops in ruins.

"A car containing explosives hit a barrier near the consulate and detonated," Ahmadzia Abdulzai, spokesman for Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital, told AFP. "There were three suicide bombers in the car."

Nangarhar police chief Sharif Amin confirmed that the consulate was the intended target of the attack, which created a large crater in the road as survivors wearing bloodstained clothing ran for cover.

"Among the civilians killed were seven children inside the mosque," Amin said.

The interior ministry condemned the bombing as "heinous" and said nine people had died in total, with 21 other civilians wounded.

Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry in New Delhi, said that no officials were injured in the attack -- the first major strike in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan that started on July 10.

India, which has spent more than two billion dollars of aid in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime fell in 2001, has previously been targeted in the war-torn country.

In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

In 2010, two guesthouses in Kabul used by Indians were attacked.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and its archrival Pakistan.

India reacted to the consulate attack with thinly veiled criticism of neighboring Pakistan for failing to crack down on Pakistan-based militants and their safe havens.

"This attack has once again highlighted the main threat to Afghanistan's security and stability stems from terrorism and the terror machine that continues to operate from beyond its borders," the Delhi government said.

Pakistan, which is widely seen as covertly supporting the Taliban, denies supporting militants active in Afghanistan and points to its own bloody fight against Islamist extremists.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that their fighters were not involved in Saturday's strike.

"We do not claim the responsibility for this attack," he said.

The hardline Taliban have led a 12-year insurgency against the Afghan government since being overthrown in a US-led invasion for harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2001.

But Afghanistan is beset by a myriad of armed groups ranging from Islamist rebels to criminal gangs and militias formed during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and the 1992-1996 civil war.

The Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based group allied with the Taliban and closely associated with the Pakistani intelligence service, was blamed for earlier attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

Jalalabad city is situated on the key route from the Pakistani border region -- where many militants are based -- to Kabul, and it has been the location of repeated assaults in recent years.

The International Committee of the Red Cross compound in the city was hit on May 29, with the Taliban rebels also denying any involvement.

One Afghan guard died in that attack, which triggered widespread outrage as the ICRC is one of the most respected aid groups in Afghanistan and has remained strictly neutral during the war.

In March, seven suicide bombers attacked a police base in Jalalabad, killing five officers.

The previous month, a bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gates of the National Directorate of Security spy agency and detonated bombs, killing two intelligence workers.

Nangarhar province has seen heavy fighting over recent days with more than 20 Afghan policemen and dozens of Taliban insurgents killed when hundreds of fighters ambushed a police and military convoy on Friday.

The US State Department said it was closing at least 22 US embassies or consulates on Sunday, a workday in many Islamic countries, due to security threats.

source: interaksyon.com

London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier

London (CNN) -- The attack on a soldier hacked to death on a London street has echoes of other plots on British soil in recent years.

The victim of Wednesday's attack in Woolwich was a serving soldier based at a nearby barracks, London police say, and the UK government is treating it as a suspected terrorist attack.

In 2007 four men were imprisoned over a plot to kidnap and kill a British Muslim soldier on leave and behead him in a Birmingham garage. The group's ringleader Parviz Khan intended to behead the soldier "like a pig" and release footage of the killing on the internet.

Khan was later imprisoned for life and must serve a minimum of 14 years before he will be considered for release. Three other men, Basiru Gassama, Mohammed Irfan, and Hamid Elasmar, were handed down sentences of between two and seven years for their roles in the plot.

High Court judge Mr Justice Henriques said Khan's aim was to deter any Muslim from joining the British army.

"So rampant are your views, so excitable your temperament, so persuasive your tongue and so imbued with energy are you, it's quite impossible to predict when, if ever, it will be safe for you to be released into the public," the Guardian quoted the judge as saying.

"It was a plot whose purpose was to undermine democratic government, to demoralize the British army and to destabilize recruitment, and to cause anguish to the then prime minister of the day and the loyal citizens of the country," the judge said.

Prosecutors said Khan hoped to kidnap the Muslim soldier in Birmingham's Broad Street entertainment quarter with the help of drug dealers.

This is not the only recent example of serving soldiers being the targets of terrorist attacks. Last month three British-born men were imprisoned for between four and nine years for preparing acts of terrorism. The men, who pleaded guilty had discussed targeting Royal Wootton Bassett, a town that became a focal point for parades by UK troops returning from service in Afghanistan.

The judge, Mr. Justice Simon, said they had shown themselves to be "committed fundamentalists" ready to kill. Muslim convert Richard Dart, a former BBC security guard, and co-defandant Imran Mahmood had discussed how to make explosives, with the western English town as a potential bombing target.

source: CNN

Boston Marathon bomb used pressure cooker, gunpowder, shrapnel

BOSTON - A pressure cooker stuffed with gunpowder and shrapnel caused at least one of the blasts at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured 176 others in the worst attack on US soil since September 11, 2001, law enforcement sources said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama called the two bombings on the marathon finish line an "act of terror" and police said parts of the center of Boston could be closed for days as they investigated the blasts that caused several people to lose limbs.

"When these kids came in ... they were just so badly hurt, just covered with singed hair and in so much pain, it was just gut-wrenching," said David Mooney, the director of the trauma program at Boston Children's Hospital. "Pulling nails out of a little girl's flesh is just awful."

At least 10 people had limbs amputated as a result of their injuries, officials at hospitals said.

The youngest to die in the attacks was an 8-year-old boy. His family identified him in a statement as Martin Richard, who lived in the city's Dorchester neighborhood. Outside the family's home, sympathizers created a makeshift memorial of flowers and "Peace" was written in chalk on the sidewalk.

Officials identified a second person killed as Krystle Campbell, 29, of Medford, Massachusetts. The third person killed in the attack has not yet been identified.

An early lead in the investigation and an apartment search ended with law enforcement sources saying that a Saudi Arabian student injured in the blast was likely to be cleared of suspicion. No one has been arrested, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told reporters on Tuesday morning.

Later on Tuesday in Washington, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was no indication that the bomb blasts were part of a broader plot.

Pressure cooker bomb

At least one bomb, and possibly both, were built using pressure cookers as the superstructure, black powder or gunpowder as the explosive and ball bearings as additional shrapnel, according to current and former counter-terrorism officials briefed on the matter.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, said instructions on how to design such bombs are available on the Internet.

"Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror," Obama said in the White House briefing room. "What we don't yet know, however, is who carried out this attack or why, whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization - foreign or domestic - or was the act of a malevolent individual."

Dispelling earlier reports of as many as seven devices being found around Boston, Gene Marquez, assistant special agent in charge for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said authorities had determined that the only bombs deployed in the attack were the two that detonated shortly before 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Monday.

Any unexploded device might have provided a clearer picture of what materials were used and how the bomb was assembled, furnishing leads in the case.

Officials in cities across the United States were watchful and several had security scares on Tuesday, although no injuries were reported.

At Boston Logan International Airport, two passengers and their bags were removed from a United Airlines flight before departure on Tuesday morning, a source with direct knowledge of the action said.

In New York, the central terminal of La Guardia International Airport was briefly evacuated after authorities discovered a suspicious package at around 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) in the terminal, authorities said.

A nearly mile-long stretch of Boylston Street, near the marathon finish and Boston's two tallest buildings remained cordoned off on Tuesday and portions of that street could remain closed for several days, police said.

Davis, the police commissioner, called it "the most complex crime scene that we have dealt with in the history of our department."

Lower-body injuries

Trauma surgeons at several Boston hospitals said at press briefings that a number of victims had a range of metallic shrapnel material removed during surgery, including pellets and what appeared to be carpenter nails.

"The vast majority of the injuries were to lower extremities," said Dr. Tracey Dechert, a trauma surgeon at Boston Medical Center, which treated 23 people and performed amputations on five of them.

The inclusion of material such as nails in the device would be reminiscent of the 1996 bombing at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which killed two people and injured about 150 others. Anti-abortion activist Eric Rudolph, who eluded capture for years, pleaded guilty to the attack and is currently serving consecutive life sentences.

Officials in Britain and Spain said the London and Madrid marathons would go ahead on Sunday, but security plans for both races were under review.

Runners who had traveled to Boston for the annual marathon, which has been held since 1897 and attracts an estimated half-million spectators and some 20,000 participants, remained in shock on Tuesday morning.

Pat Monroe-DuPrey, of Winter Haven, Florida, ran with his wife, Laura, in a trip to mark their 10th anniversary after being married during the race.

He said he did not know what to make of the blast, which came as he was finishing the race in a state of exhaustion.

"You don't have a brain at 26 miles," Monroe-DuPrey said. "They got us off the course, and then I was panicking." (Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin and Stephaine Simon in Boston and Mark Hosenball and Mark Felsenthal in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com

Obama praises US unity on low-key 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama lauded American unity Tuesday as the country marked a somber but low-key anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks under crisp blue skies poignantly reminiscent of 11 years ago.

"The true legacy of 9/11 will not be one of fear or hate or division," Obama said at the Pentagon near Washington. "It will be a safer world, a stronger nation, and a people more united than ever before."

Highlighting what he said were the "crippling" blows dealt against Al-Qaeda and the killing last year of Osama bin Laden, Obama said the United States is "even stronger."

As every year, relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed when al-Qaeda hijackers slammed airliners into New York's World Trade Center gathered at Ground Zero to read out the names of the dead.

The flawless blue sky was identical to the one 11 years ago when millions of people watched from the streets and live on television as the planes flew straight into the upper floors of the Twin Towers, causing them to collapse.

However, emotions are distinctly cooler as America finally tries to draw a line under an event that sparked the decade of Washington's controversial and expensive war on terror.

No politicians joined in the reading at Ground Zero and security was less intense, in contrast to the 10th anniversary last year when Obama headed a long list of VIPs at the ceremony.

June Pollicino, who lost her husband on 9/11, told AFP: "I feel much more relaxed. After the ninth anniversary, those next days it started building up to the 10th anniversary. This year it's different in that regard. It's another anniversary we can celebrate in a discreet way."

Although most New York area newspapers featured front page stories or other mentions about the anniversary on Tuesday, The New York Times and the tabloid Post were conspicuous in deciding to keep coverage inside.

In total, 2,983 names were read out at Ground Zero, including the 9/11 victims and those killed in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

The reading paused for silence at the exact time each of the four planes turned into fireballs -- two smashing into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and one into a Pennsylvania field.

Another two moments of silence were observed at the times the two main towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, accounting for the vast majority of 9/11's dead.

Obama, who earlier stood for a moment's silence on the White House South Lawn, had no planned political events planned Tuesday and his reelection campaign planned to halt television advertising for the day, a campaign official said.

However, there was no formal pause similar to that in the presidential campaign of four years ago, when both Obama and his then Republican rival John McCain joined to lay a wreath at Ground Zero in New York.

Former president Bill Clinton was campaigning for his fellow Democrat Obama and speaking out against Republican Mitt Romney in Miami. Romney issued a statement thanking US troops and saying "those who would attack us should know that we are united."

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, was traveling to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 crashed after passengers attacked the hijackers and prevented them from hitting another presumed high-profile target, such as the US Capitol building.

The passage of time and more pressing worries about the moribund US economy have distracted public attention from the tragedy of 9/11, particularly compared to the huge media coverage of the 10th anniversary last year.

Helping to heal the wounds are the new memorial at Ground Zero and the near completion of main skyscraper at the World Trade Center, now officially the tallest building in New York.

The memorial's long delayed museum now also appears set to be opened after Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reached an accord late Monday over funding.

Underlining US successes in targeting al-Qaeda leaders, bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video on the eve of this year's anniversary in which he confirmed that his deputy, Abu Yayha al-Libi, had been killed in a drone strike in Pakistan in June.

Libi was considered Al-Qaeda's global propaganda mastermind and his death dealt the biggest blow to the group since the killing of bin Laden in May 2011.

However, the Taliban scorned the idea that they are defeated, saying in Afghanistan that they had nothing to do with 9/11 and that the United States faces "utter defeat in Afghanistan militarily, politically, economically and in all other facets."

Most foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for combat to Western-backed Afghan government forces.

source: interaksyon.com

21 Pinoys remembered with nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 attacks in US

The names of 21 Filipinos will be among those cited during the solemn reading of the names of nearly 3,000 World Trade Center victims on the 11th anniversary of the "9/11 attacks" on Tuesday.

According to a report of the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency, the main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York's Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people killed both on 9/11 and in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

AFP said the relatives of the victims will take turns in reading the names.

The website of the 9/11 Memorial said 9/11 "is shorthand for four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,977 people."

On that day, "19 terrorists from the Islamist extremist group, al-Qaeda, hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia," the site said.

The Twin Towers collapsed from the impacts of the plane and the resulting fires.

"After learning about the other attacks, passengers on the fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, fought back, and the plane was crashed into an empty field in western Pennsylvania about 20 minutes by air from Washington, DC.," the 9/11 Memorial website said.

The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people from 93 nations. 2,753 people were killed in New

York, 184 people were killed at the Pentagon and 40 people were killed on Flight 93.

Filipino victims

A report of the Filipino Reporter in July this year said the Filipino victims of the 9/11 attacks are:

Twin Tower victims

• Grace Alegre Cua
• Cesar A. Alviar
• Marlyn C. Bautista
• Cecile M. Caguicla
• Jayceryll M. de Chavez
• Benilda Pascua Domingo
• Judy Hazel Fernandez
• Ramon Grijalvo
• Frederick Kuo Jr.
• Arnold A. Lim
• Manuel L. Lopez
• Carl Allen Peralta
• Maria Theresa Santillan
• Rufino Conrado (Roy) F. Santos
• David Marc Sullins
• Hilario (Larry) S. Sumaya
• Hector Tamayo, and
• Cynthia Betita Motus Wilson.

Fil-Ams killed in planes hijacked and crashed by terrorists

• Ronald Gamboa
• Ruben Ornedo, and
• Manolito Kaur.

The Filipino Reporter said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last year that the scrapping of the name-reading was under discussion by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Foundation, which the mayor also chairs.

However, in a letter by Joe Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial, this year said the name-reading will continue this year.

Last year’s plan was met with anger by the families of some 9/11 victims, who said the reading by family members should remain part of the official Ground Zero ceremony, the Filipino Reporter said.

A lottery system was used to select the family members that will read the names of the victims.

Health concerns

Meanwhile, in a report of Chris Francescani on Reuters said 11 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, New Yorkers will mark the anniversary on Tuesday against a backdrop of health concerns for emergency workers and a feud over financing that has stopped construction of the $1 billion Ground Zero museum.

While notable progress on redevelopment of the World Trade Center has been made since early disputes over financial, design and security issues, the project remains hobbled by political battles and billions of dollars in cost overruns.

A major sticking point is the museum at the heart of the World Trade Center (WTC) site redevelopment. Construction has been suspended because of a feud over finances between the National September 11 Memorial and Museum foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

When the foundation announced recently that for the first time, politicians would be excluded from having speaking roles in the Sept. 11 anniversary ceremonies, it was seen by many victims' families and others in the 9/11 community as a public reflection of these behind-the-scenes disputes.

Overall site redevelopment costs have grown to nearly $15 billion, up from $11 billion in 2008, according to a recent project audit.

But for many of the families of 9/11 victims and ailing Ground Zero workers, the redevelopment disputes are a disheartening sideshow to the rising loss of human lives.

When the 110-storey Twin Towers came down, thousands of tons of steel, concrete, window glass and asbestos came down with it. While thousands of gallons (litres) of flaming jet fuel and burning plastics released deadly carcinogens.

Last week, the New York City Fire Department added nine names to the 55 already etched on a wall honoring members who have died of illnesses related to Ground Zero rescue and recovery work.

Some estimates put the overall death toll from 9/11-related illness at more than 1,000. Nationwide, at least 20,000 Ground Zero workers are being treated and 40,000 are being monitored by the World Trade Center Health Program.

"We're burying guys left and right," said Nancy Carbone, executive director of Friends of Firefighters, a Brooklyn-based non-profit that helps treat first responders. "This is an ongoing epidemic."

In the past seven weeks, three New York City cops, two firefighters and a construction union worker who toiled at Ground Zero have died of cancer or respiratory illnesses, according John Feal, who runs a non profit that monitors Ground Zero health care issues.

The staggered nature of the respiratory diagnoses have complicated efforts to distribute $2.7 billion in federal victim compensation funds. A range of cancers is expected to be added to the list of ailments covered by the fund this month.

Leslie Haskins, who lost her husband on 9/11, said she has grown disillusioned by the politics of the reconstruction, and wants to see more attention paid to the ailing workers.

"They are sick and dying and their marriages are breaking up," she said. "Why are we pouring all this money into buildings when men don't have enough insurance to buy breathing apparatus?"

Progress and setbacks

Retired Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) battalion chief Jim Riches, who spent nine months digging through the rubble at Ground Zero before his firefighter son's body was recovered, called the reconstruction disputes "a disgrace."

Seven years ago, Riches was hospitalized with acute respiratory disease and fell into a 16-hour coma. He came out of the coma with stroke-like symptoms.

"We can send men to the moon but we can't rebuild some buildings in more than 10 years?" he asked.

Some progress has been made by Larry Silverstein, the developer who owned the lease on the Twin Towers and is now building three office towers at the Ground Zero site, and the Port Authority.

The September 11 foundation has also raised hundreds of millions in private and public funding for the overall project.

One step forward was last fall's opening of the September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero, twin reflecting pools in the footprints of the towers. More than four million people have visited.

Also, One World Trade Center, one of the tallest towers in the country, is near completion and expected to open in 2014.

Yet disagreements over costs have undermined the rebuilding and hurt public relations. Among the disputes, the September 11 foundation insists the Port Authority owes it $140 million, according to a source familiar with the financial issues.

The Port Authority believes it is owed $300 million, the source said.

Feal, a demolitions expert who lost part of his leg doing post 9/11 recovery work, is among those who said they are tired of reading about the contentious World Trade Center project when health concerns persist.

"2,751 lives were lost that day," he said "That's sad, but they didn't suffer long. These first responders have been slowly dying for 11 years." - with reports from AFP, Reuters, AM/VVP, GMA News

article source: gmanetwork.com

Americans mark more low-key 9/11 anniversary

NEW YORK -- Americans mark the 11th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001 on Tuesday with relatively low-key ceremonies that reflect a gradual dampening of passions around the emotional day.

The main ceremony will be the ritual reading at New York's Ground Zero of the names of the 2,983 people killed both on 9/11 and in the precursor to those attacks, the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center.

Relatives of the dead will take turns to read the names against a backdrop of mournful music.

They will pause for moments of silence marking the moment when four planes hijacked by al-Qaeda turned into fireballs -- two smashing into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon and one crashing into a Pennsylvania field.

Another two moments of silence will be observed at the times the two towers collapsed, accounting for the vast majority of 9/11's victims.

However, this year New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians will not take the podium at Ground Zero, in contrast with last year's 10th anniversary, when President Barack Obama led a long list of VIP guests.

Obama and his wife Michelle will observe the anniversary with a moment of silence outside the White House, then visit the Pentagon memorial.

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 crashed after passengers attacked the hijackers and thwarted a worse disaster had it continued to its target.

The White House said Obama had been briefed by "key national security principals on ... preparedness and security posture" for the anniversary.

But in keeping with the lower key atmosphere this year, there will apparently be no official suspension of the bitter presidential campaign.

Former president Bill Clinton will be campaigning for Obama and speaking out against Republican Mitt Romney at an event in Miami.

The passage of time appears to have cooled public attention to September 11, particularly after the huge media coverage of the 10th anniversary, which many saw as a suitable moment for allowing commemorations to peak.

The killing by American troops of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in May 2011 has helped draw a line under 9/11, as has the opening of the Ground Zero memorial, which opened for last year's ceremonies.

A skyscraper at One World Trade Center is near completion and is again the tallest building in New York, as were the Twin Towers before they fell down.

This year sees the publishing on Tuesday of a book by a former US Navy SEAL who was among the troops that shot dead bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout.

The book describes in gory detail how the special forces killed the fugitive, then radioed back the news, saying it was "for God and country."

The Pentagon has threatened legal action against the author who uses the penname Mark Owen, but has been outed by the US media as Matt Bissonnette.

Last week, Obama said in a radio address that the United States is "stronger, safer and more respected in the world" since 9/11.

But his Republican opponent has accused Obama of weak leadership during the Arab Spring turmoil and of failing to be tough enough on Iran's government.

In Afghanistan, which once hosted bin Laden, US troops continue to struggle to overcome the Taliban guerrilla army.

Most foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2014, handing over responsibility for combat to Western-backed Afghan government forces.

source: interaksyon.com