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Britain is facing the second day of storms as the remnants of Hurricane Katia continue to batter vast swathes of the country today.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for Scotland and northern England, with winds expected to reach 60 mph (100 km/h) later in the day.
Power outages, falling masonry, downed trees and transport chaos struck as gales reached 82 mph (130 km/h) in Wales and north of England, reviving memories of the Great Storm of 1987.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for Scotland and northern England, with winds expected to reach 60 mph (100 kmh) later in the day
A yellow alert – the second-highest of four warning levels – had been issued by the Met Office for much of the country as roads were closed and ferry services cancelled.
Ten flood warnings were issued as waves and high tides threatened to overwhelm coastal defences in the North East and southern Scotland.
Thousands of homes, shops and businesses across central England were blacked out for hours as wind speeds of more than 50 mph (80 km/h) damaged an overhead power line. Central Networks said 2,000 homes in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Gloucestershire were left without electricity.
Tour of Britain cycle race was cancelled over safety fears.
The remnants of Hurricane Katia hit Britain yesterday morning, bringing the worst storms since the remnants of Hurricane Lili wreaked havoc in 1996.
Met Office forecaster Sarah Holland said today:
“Winds will reach 60mph in exposed areas of northern England and southern Scotland with 50mph inland, and about 30-40mph in the Midlands.
“High tides and the full moon mean there is a higher risk of tidal flooding.”
The Environment Agency issued nine flood alerts on Monday for the north-west coast from Morecambe Bay in Cumbria down to Blackpool, North Wales and Anglesey, and one for the north-east coast at Bridlington in Yorkshire.
The blustery conditions will tail off in the Midlands and south of England by Wednesday and across the whole country by Thursday.
The storm caused havoc for passenger aircraft attempting to land at England’s highest airport, Leeds Bradford International Airport in Yorkshire.
A Ryanair jet was forced to abort its landing after being blown sideways across the runway, while a Flybe jet managed to touchdown safely despite heavy winds interfering with its flight path.
Ports around Britain have been battered by huge waves leading to the cancellation of ferries while trees have been uprooted, causing damage to cars and houses.
Increasing wind speeds as the hurricane approached forced the cancellation of high speed ferries to France from Portsmouth.
The transportation company, Brittany Ferries said it was scrapping its high speed ferries on two crossings scheduled from Portsmouth to Cherbourg yesterday.
Safety regulations state that when waves reach a height of 10 feet (3 meters) or more the high speed crossings must not go ahead
Although the Hurricane Katia has been downgraded, it still appears to create the worst storms since 1996, when Hurricane Lili brought 90 mph (about 150 km/h) winds to these shores.
British Special Forces will join the hunt for Judith Tebbutt, who is abducted in Kenya, amid fears she has been taken by a group linked to Al Qaeda.
An air, sea and land search yesterday failed to turn up any trace of Judith Tebbutt, 56, who was kidnapped by pirates after watching them execute her husband David with a single gunshot to his chest.
UK Special Forces involved in tracking down Al Qaeda-linked groups and Somali pirates operating in the Indian Ocean are now said to be “gathering intelligence” on possible kidnappers.
The Special Forces could be supported by UK troops currently on routine training operations in Kenya.
Yesterday the bungalow, where David and Judith Tebbutt were staying, was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape as armed police patrolled the three-mile arc of white sand outside their door
It appears that Judith Tebbutt had still been in her night clothes when the pirates escaped with her by motor boat minutes after finding the couple in the beach cottage of Kiwayu Safari Village.
There are fears that Judith Tebbutt, who is a social worker helping people with drug and alcohol problems, will struggle to communicate with her kidnappers because she relies on battery-operated hearing aids.
According to a friend of the couple, Judith Tebbutt is deaf, having around 30-40% hearing, and wears double hearing aid.
Monday night a local man was reportedly being held by police in Lamu, 30 miles from the murder scene, in connection with the kidnapping.
It is presumed that the pirates group is linked to the Al Qaeda aligned al-Shabaab group which is waging an insurgency against Somalia’s fragile, Western-backed government and that Judith Tebbutt is already across the border of the lawless country.
Staff at the Kiwayu Safari Hotel told yesterday how they found David Tebbutt lying in a pool of blood minutes after a gunshot shattered the calm night.
The British tourists were the only guests at the 18-bungalow resort, where a host of celebrities including Sir Mick Jagger and artist Tracey Emin have stayed.
Head of security Hussein Girimo, 51, said: “We heard a gunshot, but there was no scream.
“We raised the alarm and rushed out with a police officer accompanying us. We first thought the sound was coming from our boss’s house. We knocked on the door and told him what happened. He joined us to go to check on the couple.
“When we called, there was no reply and then we stumbled on a body lying on the floor with blood on his head and chest. I’m not sure exactly where they had shot him. We sealed off the room.”
Another guard said: “We saw the footprints of the attackers and followed to the beaches. Then we went back to the beach hut and saw our guest lying on the floor on his belly, and only dressed in pyjama bottoms with green and red dots. He seems to have wrestled with the attackers and that could be the reason why they killed him.”
Although Kiwayu Safari Village has 21 security staff, it was unclear whether any of them were guarding the beach when the attackers struck.
Yesterday the bungalow, where David and Judith Tebbutt were staying, was cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape as armed police patrolled the three-mile arc of white sand outside their door.
Regional police commander Aggrey Adoli, who is leading the search, said:
“We are using all the tactics and resources available but we have not had any success so far – we hope to find her safe.”
Piracy in Somalia in a multi-million pound industry but all previous hostages – including British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler – have been taken during raids on ships and yachts in the Indian Ocean.
Police were last night trying to check whether the gang had been tipped off about the British couple after their arrival by private plane at the resort’s grass airstrip.
David Tebbutt, who was described as an “Africa hand” after many visits there, is said to have worked in Zambia in the 1970s.
Judith and David Tebbutt were married for 26 years and they have a 25 year-old son, Oliver.
A new drug derived from autumn crocus extracts could wipe out tumors in a single treatment with minimal side effects, according to University of Bradford researchers in UK.
The British researchers from University of Bradford have turned a chemical found in crocuses into a “smart bomb” that targets cancerous tumors.
The most important fact is that healthy tissue is unharmed, reducing the odds of debilitating side effects.
Unlike other side effect-free products, the new drug is able to kill off more than one type of the disease, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung and bowel cancer.
The miraculous drug is based on colchicine, an extract from the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), known also as meadow saffran
Potentially, all solid tumors could be vulnerable to drugs developed this way, meaning it could be used against all but blood cancers.
In some tests of the drug, half of tumors vanished completely after a single injection and the results will be presented at the British Science Festival this week.
The miraculous drug is based on colchicine, an extract from the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), known also as meadow saffran, and is at an early stage of development, being so far tested only on mice.
But the University of Bradford researchers are optimistic about drug’s potential in humans.
Professor Laurence Patterson said:
“What we have designed is effectively a <<smart bomb>> that can be triggered directly at any solid tumour without appearing to harm healthy tissue.
“If all goes well, we would hope to see these drugs used as part of a combination of therapies to treat and manage cancer.”
Colchicine has long been known to have anti-cancer properties but has been considered too toxic for use in the human body.
To solve this issue, the specialists attached a chemical “tail” to the substance, deactivating it until it reaches the cancer.
Once colchicine reaches the target, the tail is cut off by an enzyme called MMP (Matrix metalloproteinase involved in cell proliferation), which is found in tumors.
Once the tail is removed, the drug is activated, which then attacks and breaks down the blood vessels supplying the tumors with oxygen and nutrients.
Cancerous tumors use the blood supply to spread around the body and it is hoped that the treatment, called ICT2588, will also combat this.
The first tests on humans could start in as little as 18 months.
If the treatment will be successful, the drug could be on the market in 6 to 7 years.
DSK spent more than three hours in a police interview as a “witness” just over a week after charges of sexually assaulting a hotel chambermaid in New York were dropped.
Journalist Tristane Banon, 32, filed a complaint this summer alleging that Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in a Paris apartment in 2003 where he had invited her to interview him for a book she was writing.
Tristane Banon said the fomer IMF chief lunged at her like a “rutting chimpanzee” and she had to fend him off with kicks and punches as he ignored her cries of “rape”.
DSK is suing Tristane Banon for defamation, alleging she made up the "imaginary" assault as a publicity stunt
DSK is suing Tristane Banon for defamation, alleging she made up the “imaginary” assault as a publicity stunt.
Police are now conducting a preliminary investigation into Tristane Banon’s allegations to see if there is enough evidence to press charges.
Police has already interviewed friends, family members and other politicians in the investigation, including Tristane Banon’s mother – once DSK‘s lover – and François Hollande, polled as most likely to be the Socialists’ presidential candidate.
Tristane Banon, 32, filed a complaint this summer alleging that Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in a Paris apartment in 2003
DSK‘s lawyers Frédérique Baulieu and Henri Leclerc said on Monday:
“At the request of Mr Strauss-Kahn, this interview is taking place as early as possible in the timetable of the investigation.”
Meanwhile, Tristane Banon said over the weekend she was “sickened” by the “hero’s welcome” he received on DSK return to France from the US.
“What has been happening over the past six days makes me feel sick,” she wrote.
“I cannot believe that my country gives a hero’s welcome to a man who has not been cleared.
“I hear people telling me of their disgust, I feed off their support to remain upright, yet I am the one who bows my head and hugs the walls while others laugh at the cameras.”
She has called for a demonstration on September 24 in front of Paris’s criminal court to demand a trial.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s return has embarrassed the opposition French Socialist party, about to launch presidential primaries. Party’s former leader Martine Aubry, a presidential hopeful, said DSK “must explain himself” to party colleagues.
Before DSK arrest in New York in May, he had been the Socialist party’s favourite to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy next April, with polls predicting he would win comfortably.
Attempted rape charges were dropped in New York after prosecutors ruled that chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo had later lied to police and was “unreliable”. DSK had always insisted sex was consensual.
DSK still faces a civil lawsuit filed by Nafissatou Diallo in the US.
Serena Williams got very angry and launched a verbal attack on an umpire during the U.S. Open final on Sunday, calling her “loser” and “unattractive inside”.
Serena Williams had received a code violation for yelling “come on” after battling to hang on to her serve during the start of the second set against Australian Samantha Stosur.
The ball had not yet reached Samantha Stosur and, under grand slam rules, a deliberate hindrance, such as an intentional shout during a point, sees the perpetrator lose the point.
Serena Williams' outburst on umpire, calling her "loser" and "unattractive inside"
Serena Williams, who lost the US Open final with 6-2 6-3, will find out today whether the run-in with officialdom will lead to a sanction after she refused to apologize for the outburst.
Sunday incident follows Serena Williams’ infamous verbal attack on a lineswoman which cost her a point penalty at US Open semi-final against Kim Clijsters in 2009.
Serena Williams was given a hefty fine and was still playing under a two-year suspended ban.
On Sunday, Serena Williams was being outplayed by Samantha Stosur at Arthur Ashe Stadium and had already lost the first set when she let out a huge cry.
Eva Asderaki, the Greek chair umpire then told Williams the point would go to Stosur because she had committed an intentional hindrance.
Serena Williams asked for a replay but when the umpire refused, she accused Eva Asderaki of being involved in the 2009 incident.
Serena Williams asked for a replay but when the umpire refused, she accused Eva Asderaki of being involved in the 2009 incident
Pointing her finger, Serena Williams yelled:
“Aren’t you the one that screwed me over last time here? Yeah you are.
“Seriously, you have it out for me?
“I promise you, that’s not cool. That’s totally not cool.
“I truly despise you.”
Serena Williams continued her tirade during the break, sitting in a chair while drinking water, she warned the umpire:
“If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way because you’re out of control.
“You’re a hater and you’re just unattractive inside.
“Who would do such a thing? And I never complain. Wow. What a loser.
“You get a code violation because I express who I am. We’re in America last I checked.
“Can I get a water? Or am I going to get violated for a water?
“Really, don’t even look at me. I promise you don’t look at me… Don’t look my way.”
Chair umpire, Eva Asderaki didn’t respond as she listened to the rant.
Serena Williams hugged Samantha Stosur after the match but then immediately walked off, ignoring Eva Asderaki as Stosur reached up to the umpire’s chair to shake her hand.
Serena Williams also refused to apologize and was unwilling to discuss the incident during the press conference.
She told reporters laughing:
“I don’t even remember what I said, I’m sorry.
“It was just so intense out there. It’s the final for me. I guess I’ll see it on YouTube. I don’t know. I was just in the zone. I think everyone when they play kind of zones out.”
Instead, Serena Williams spoke highly of her opponent, saying:
“She was cracking ’em today. She definitely hit hard and just went for broke.
“And I think sometimes, a lot of people were putting me as the favorite and I definitely was trying not to put myself as the favorite. I was like <<It’s anyone’s game>> as you can see after the result today.”
The United States Tennis Association will decide today whether to fine Serena Williams.
The US Open organizers said in a statement yesterday: “Any impact this code violation might have on Serena Williams’ Grand Slam probation would require the incident being ruled a major event. That determination will be made by the Grand Slam Committee Director.”
Samantha Stosur won US Open final
The match was Samantha Stosur’s first at Arthur Ashe Stadium where she secured a maiden grand slam title.
Samantha stosur, 27, became the first Australian woman to win a grand slam title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
Samantha Stosur said it was intimidating playing against Serena Williams.
“She’s probably the best player of at least my generation of playing. Not only is she big in stature and all that, she’s got a huge game.
“But it kind of becomes more irrelevant and becomes about the task on that day, playing the match.”
Stosur added of her win: “I’m still kind of speechless. I can’t actually believe I won this tournament.
“I’ve played matches where I feel like I can’t miss a ball, and it’s fantastic, but to do it under these circumstances in this kind of final against a player like Serena, for sure I’m going to think it’s one of the best days of my career.”
Happy Feet, the world’s most famous penguin, who was rescued in a costly mission that restored him to his ocean home, may have ended up as a predator’s lunch.
Happy Feet, the wandering emperor penguin had been nursed back to health after being found on Peka Peka Beach in New Zealand – 3,000 miles north of its native Antarctica – in a very serious condition, after eating sand he thought was snow.
A human surgeon helped the vets in removing sticks and stones from Happy Feet‘ stomach.
Happy Feet on Peka Peka Beach in New Zealand
The emperor penguin then had a GPS transmitter attached to him so his progress back into Antarctic waters could be tracked when he was released back into the ocean two weeks ago.
It appears the GPS transmitter attached to Happy Feet stopped working last Friday – about half way to his destination in the Southern Ocean.
Specialists said there are two possibilities: one, the device fell off and is sitting at the bottom of the ocean while Happy Feet continues safely on his journey or, the worst, they fear he could also be eaten in the jaws of a predator.
Emperor penguins have a number of predators including sharks, seals and killer whales.
In an early statement, Sirtrack, the company that attached the transmitter, told the New Zealand Herald that the lack of signal “leads to the conclusion that either the satellite transmitter has detached or an unknown event has prevented Happy Feet from resurfacing”.
A Sirtrack spokesman, Kevin Lay said there was “a chance” Happy Feet had been eaten, adding: “That’s what makes the world go round.”
Lay also said that the transmitter appeared to be in good working order up to the time it stopped sending data and the most likely explanation for the silence is that it had fallen off.
“The transmitter had been only glued on so that it would fall off in time.
“We hoped it would stay on for five or six months, but it appears in this case it’s only stayed on for two weeks.”
Lay added that it was possible that Happy Feet had been eaten, but he was doubtful.
“There are some species that will forage on emperor penguins but it’s not likely that it has happened to Happy Feet because of the area he was in,” he told New Zealand’s ONE News.
“We firmly believe that the transmitter has become detached.”
The spokesman said another possibility was that Happy Feet was underwater when the satellites that picked up the GPS signals were overhead.
“Maybe he’s just spending a lot of time under water because he’s found a good source of food,” said Kevin Lay.
Happy Feet underwent four surgeries at Wellington Zoo to remove sticks and stones from his stomach
Vets at the Wellington Zoo and experts who have been tracking the penguin’s progress all agreed that the next few days were critical.
Happy Feet was named after the 2006 animated feature about a tap-dancing emperor chick.
The penguin underwent four surgeries at Wellington Zoo to remove sticks and stones from his stomach and then spent two months in rehabilitation before being released into the ocean, well short of his habitat.
Happy Feet was placed on a tarpaulin slide running from the boat's ramp to be released in the sea
An international treaty prevents authorities from returning the penguin directly to Antarctica, so Happy Feet was released in an area where other juvenile emperor penguins like himself are at play at this time of the year.
When Happy Feet had finally been given a clean bill of health, he was placed in a specially-designed crate filled with ice and loaded onto the research vessel Tangaroa.
Sea conditions were too rough for Happy Feet to be released by hand, so he was placed on a tarpaulin slide running from the boat’s ramp.
A British tourist was murdered and his wife was kidnapped by pirates during their stay at an exclusive Kenyan beach resort.
The British couple, David and Judith Tebbutt, was attacked on Saturday late in the night by a gang carrying guns within hours of arriving in a beach cottage close to the border with lawless Somalia.
The attackers arrived at the private resort by speedboat and stormed into the couple’s secluded hut, which had just a piece of cloth as the door, and demanded all their money.
One of the Kiwayu Safari Village's exclusive bungalows, where David Tebbutt was killed and Judith Tebbutt kidnapped
David Tebbutt, 56, finance director of publishers Faber and Faber, was presumed to try to stop the gang but he died eventually from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
The assailants then forced Judith Tebbutt, 56, into the motorboat and locals reported that they sped off north in the direction of Somalia.
David Tebbutt, 56, finance director of publishers Faber and Faber, died from a single gunshot wound to the chest
Helicopters, speed boats and a spotter plane deployed in the search of the British woman, but no sightings of her have been reported.
On Sunday, there were suggestions Judith Tebbutt had been taken by an Islamist group Harakat al-Shabab al Mujahideen, an extremist group based in Somalia, according to The Guardian.
If Somali pirates are to blame, it would be the first time they had moved on to land to capture western hostages in what, at sea, has become a lucrative multi-million pound business in ransom demands.
All the other hostages – including British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler – have been taken during raids on ships and yachts in the Indian Ocean.
The FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) confirmed yesterday it has sent a team from Nairobi to work with Kenyan authorities to secure Judith Tebbutt’s release.
According to Kenyan police commissioner Matthew Iteere, who revealed the identity of the couple:
“So far we are treating it as a bandit attack. We’ve not received any hint pointing at a terror group.
“The gunmen gained entry very easily because only a piece of cloth was used in the place of the door at their cottage. They may contact us demanding a ransom. Maybe they are from Somalia but we cannot be certain.”
The British couple is believed to have travelled to the Kenyan coast for the second part of a two-leg trip which had earlier seen them enjoy a safari in the Masai Mara game reserve.
David and Judith Tebbutt are from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire and have a 25-year-old son.
The couple had only checked into the Kiwayu Safari Village resort, near the island of Lamu, in the same day at 4:00 p.m.
They were the only tourists at the resort that boasts around-the-clock security with 21 guards who patrol alongside six police officers.
Kiwayu Safari Village resort has a total of 18 bungalows are spread out over a mile of beach. The price for a bungalow is £600 a night in September – the off-season, but the cost is nearer to £900 a night during the December peak season.
Mick Jagger, actress Imelda Staunton and artist Tracey Emin have stayed in the bungalows and it had been also considered by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their honeymoon.
Despite its setting near a national reserve, the resort is barely outside the safety zone from the Somali border recommended by the Foreign Office.
A statement posted on the FCO travel advice website said:
“We continue to advise against all but essential travel to within 30 kilometres of Kenya’s border with Somalia. There have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya. Three aid workers were kidnapped in July 2009, and two western nuns in November 2008.”
Britain was hit today by the worst storm since 1996, as the swirling remnants of Hurricane Katia have crossed the Atlantic and reached the land in the morning, sweeping across large swathes of the country.
Weather forecasters warned that gusts of up to 80 mph (c 135 km/h) would batter buildings, uproot trees and cause travel chaos.
They also issued urgent weather alerts for Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East, North West and parts of the Midlands and Wales as the storm prepares to make its way eastwards.
Hurricane Katia's remnants hit Britain this morning
High speeds winds will be accompanied by heavy rain and the Environment Agency has issued several flood alerts for inland and coastal areas.
Wind speeds were increasing as the hurricane Katia remnants approached, forcing the cancellation of high speed ferries to France from Portsmouth.
According to Brittany Ferries, the company was scrapping its high speed ferries on two crossings scheduled from Portsmouth to Cherbourg today.
Safety regulations state that when waves reach a height of 10 feet (about 3 meters) or more the high speed crossings must not go ahead.
A Brittany Ferries spokesman said it hopes to have all services operating as usual by tomorrow.
Another alert – which warns that flooding is possible – has been issued along the North Sea coast in Yorkshire between Bridlington and Barmston with people being told to be aware of overtopping spray and waves at high tide.
The western coast of Anglesey has also been issued with an alert with waves of up to two metres high expected to lash certain areas, while water levels at Derwent Water, Cumbria, remain high.
According to the Met Office, the South East and South West will largely escape its wrath, but wind speeds are still expected to reach up to 50 mph in places.
Weather forecasters issued a yellow alert, warning people to be on their guard, for more than half of the country and placed several areas on amber alert – the second-highest of four levels.
British weather forecasters warned that gusts of up to 80 mph (c 135 kmh) would batter buildings, uproot trees and cause travel chaos
Other warnings said the storm could disrupt road and rail networks and damage buildings, and trees could be uprooted.
The worst conditions will be in northern and western parts of England and central and southern Scotland. The Environment Agency issued flood alerts for the North East, North West and Wales.
All coastal areas are said to be at greatest risk of flooding with strong winds to gales, large waves and a surge coinciding with high tides.
The storm will continue into tomorrow before petering out on Wednesday. Homeowners were warned to check for loose tiles and bring garden furniture indoors to help prevent flying debris.
Billy Payne, forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said:
“The brunt of the the wind will go through central and southern Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and North Wales.
“Gusts are from 60-70mph in some places, possibly higher, especially in exposed places in parts of western Scotland like the islands and hilly areas.
“It will be quite windy in the south (of England) too with gusts of 40-50mph.
“There will be quite a lot of rain, perhaps heavy outbreaks over the next couple of days.
“The heavy rain will be mostly confined to the north and west of Scotland today and tomorrow. There is a risk of some flooding in north-west Scotland with the high rainfall totals.”
Ferry services and transport routes were already reporting disruption this morning.
Although the hurricane Katia has been downgraded, it still seems to create the worst storms since 1996 when Hurricane Lili brought 90 mph winds to these shores.
Met Office forecaster Tom Morgan said:
“In areas with amber warnings there will be 60-70mph gusts in many places and a chance of 80mph in a few exposed locations.”
The high speeds winds will be accompanied by scattered rain and some hail storms on the east and south coasts.
Despite the harsh conditions, parts of the South East are expected reach 21C (69F) this afternoon, but wind speeds could reach 50 mph.
The 9/11 commemoration ceremony began exactly as it did on that fateful date 10 years ago.
Where the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre stood until 9:59 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. respectively on 11 September 2001, two giant waterfall pools features now cascaded following their official opening.
World Trade Centre memorial ceremony, September 11, 2011
The sound of water falling 30 ft to the reflective pools below echoed around the glass cladding of the replacement towers rising around Ground Zero, creating the illusion of hundreds of people chattering.
Each one coming there brought with them the memory of a father, wife, son – some in physical form like the woman who carried aloft a series of photographs of a man cut into shapes that spelled: “I love daddy”. Others wore T-shirts with printed photos of their loved ones, or held up placards showing a husband at his college graduation, a daughter smiling broadly, with the words: “Never forgotten”.
2,977 is the number of those who died in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania (not including the 19 hijackers). Almost half of those who died had children under 18.
It took 4 1/2 hours to read out in alphabetical order the names of the victims. Those with a surname starting with “A” alone took almost 10 minutes – all 108 of them.
9 /11 commemoration 2011: many relatives struggled to keep their composure, voices cracking, as they read out the name of their own loved-one
Many relatives struggled to keep their composure, voices cracking, as they read out the name of their own loved-one. Strangely, one of the calmest speakers was also one of the youngest: a 10-year-old boy took the stage and said, without a glitch: ” I wish I’d known you better, but I was nine months old when you died. Everybody says you were a great guy. I love you Dad.”
Gordon Aamoth was the first of the 2,977 to be proclaimed. His friends called him “Gordy”. He was a keen athlete and captain of his high-school football team, and on the day before he died, aged 32, he clinched the largest deal of his career as an investment banker. He came to the World Trade Centre that morning to announce his success.
9/11 commemoration ceremony 2011: a minute of silence was held at 8:46 a.m. to mark the instant the first plane went into the North Tower
The very last name was Igor Zukelman. He arrived in New York in 1992 from his native Ukraine and built a new life for himself in a financial company. Igor used to boast to friends that from his 97th floor office in the Twin Towers you could see the whole of New York City, and he became an US citizen just months before he died, aged 29. He left behind a son, then aged three.
For the first time, Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were united at Ground Zero – Bush having declined an earlier invitation to appear here after the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Barack Obama read from Psalm 46 – “God is our refuge and strength” – after a minute’s silence was held at 8:46 a.m. to mark the instant the first plane went into the North Tower. The president was standing just in front of the spot where the tower used to stretch far up into the sky.
9/11 commemoration ceremony 2011: President Barack Obama read from Psalm 46 - God is our refuge and strength
In his oration, George W. Bush turned to Abraham Lincoln for inspiration, reading a letter his predecessor sent to a mother of five sons who died in the Civil War. “I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming,” Lincoln wrote.
Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama spoke from behind bullet-proof glass screens. That was a sharp reminder that the wound to America’s sense of security that was inflicted 10 years ago has yet to heal.
Away from Ground Zero, smaller gatherings marked aspects of the 9/11 tragedy in their own personal ways. Further uptown, at a fire station on 48th Street, firefighters and bereaved families remembered the firefighters of Engine 54, Ladder 4. Every member who reported for duty that day died, 15 in all.
Among those at the ceremony yesterday was retired fire chief Joe Nardone, commander on 9/11. He said it was a day for remembering “broken hearts and unspeakable horrors”.
In a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where president Barack Obama travelled from Ground Zero to lay a wreath, thousands of people marked a moment of silence at 10:03 a.m., the moment United flight 93 flew into the ground after 40 passengers and crew lost their battle to seize control of the plane from the hijackers.
Sorrow filled the speeches in Shanksville but also celebration, at times marked with jingoism, for the “extraordinary heroism” of the 40 passengers and crew who prevented the hijackers going on to attack the Capitol in Washington.
Jason Cassidy, a metalworker, came from Baltimore because he felt it was important to honour the dead. But he was frustrated at the tone of some of the speeches, which he felt cast the resistance of the passengers and crew to the hijackers as a justification for a wider war.
“We don’t forget that day because we’re still living it. It’s not just history, it’s now. Out of that day, a lot of people have died. Thousands more Americans. Thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
“There are not enough people asking the question whether our response to what happened here has made it more not less likely we’ll be attacked again.”
Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” Starz television series, died on September 11 in Sydney, Australia.
Andy Whitfield, Spartacus: Blood and Sand star, dies of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
“On a beautiful sunny Sydney … morning, surrounded by his family, in the arms of his loving wife, our beautiful young warrior Andy Whitfield lost his 18-month battle with lymphoma cancer.” Declared Vashti, his widow.
The Welsh artist was diagnosed with early stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2010 and was treated in New Zealand. He had begun to act in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” in January 2010 and had to took a supposedly temporary leave.
Waiting for Andy Whitfield‘s return Starz Entertainment filmed a prequel, “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”, with a brief voice over from him.
The actor was declared cancer-free in June 2010, but a recurrence of the lymphoma appeared in September 2010.
Andy Whitfield, born in Amlwch, Wales, lived in Australia and became famous when he started to play a film series that uses sex and violence to describe the life of Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator who led a slave rebellion against the Roman ruling class from 73 to 71 B.C.
The Spartacus part for the second season was given to Liam McIntyre, an actor from Australia, who said: “Andy’s such a wonderful actor. I don’t want to follow that guy, and everybody hurts that he’s had to give up the role, myself included.”
Andy Whitfield died only 18 months after his blood cancer diagnosis and is survived by his wife, his two children and his sister, Laura.
Andy Whitfield in Spartacus: Blood and Sand
“The man who played a champion on-screen was also a champion in his own life” and fought cancer with “courage, strength and grace,” said Chris Albrecht, Starz president.
“No words to express the depth of such a loss. You will be deeply missed, my brother.” Said Steven DeKnight, the creator of Spartacus, about Andy Whitfield.
Andy was “a gentle man who never said a bad word about anyone, a gifted photographer, engineer (no really!) and a brilliant actor. Andy’s incandescent film presence made men want to be him and women want to marry him. Andy’s two babies will always know that their Daddy cherished them and their mother, Vashti, above all things. How lucky we were to have him grace all our lives. Godspeed, Andy!” said Lucy Lawless (known for Xena: Warrior Princess), who played Lucretia as Andy Whitfield’s co-star in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”.
A British man was murdered and his wife is presumed kidnapped during an attack at the beach resort where they were on holiday in Kenya.
The British couple, who have not been named, were staying at the Kenyan resort Kiwayu Safari Village close to the border with Somalia when gunmen burst into their beach hut late in the night on Saturday.
The British couple was attacked at the Kenyan resort Kiwayu Safari Village close to the border with Somalia
The man is believed to have been deadly shot after trying to resist the attackers, who ordered the couple to hand over their valuables.
The woman was dragged to the speedboat on which the gunmen had arrived and has not been seen since.
The British government has called for the release of the kidnapped woman.
Officials in Kenya say the couple were attacked on the first night of their stay at the resort, which consists of 18 luxury cottages spread along a private beach.
The Kenyan refused to speculate on who the attackers might be, but officers feared the raid may have been carried out by members of the Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab rather than pirates, according to the Guardian.
Nairobi government has sent anti-terror and special crimes officers to the area as part of an enormous search and rescue mission, but, according to Ndegwa Muhoro, director of the country’s criminal investigation department, no sign had been received from the woman’s abductors so far.
“We believe it is a kidnap but we are yet to receive any communication from the alleged kidnappers, over 11 hours after they took her with them,” Ndegwa Muhoro said.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesman said:
“We can confirm that two British citizens were attacked overnight at a beach resort north of Lamu, near the Kenya-Somalia border.
“One was killed and another kidnapped. We are working closely with the Kenyan authorities to establish further details.”
FCO did not release the names of the couple for fear of further endangering the woman, but said it is doing all it can to effect her release.
“We have deployed a consular team from our high commission in Nairobi and are offering all possible support to the family of those involved,” FCO spokesman said.
“Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
“We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British national who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately.”
FCO also repeated its warning against venturing within 18 miles (30km) of the Kenya-Somalia border, reminding travellers that there had been earlier attacks in Kenya carried out by Somali militia.
Two nuns from Western Europe were kidnapped in November 2008 and three aid workers were abducted in July 2009.
Accordind to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the couple had come from a trip to the Masai Mara reserve and were the resort’s only guests.
Attacks on tourists are unusual in Kenya, which is popular for its safari vacations and pristine beaches.
At least 190 people died yesterday and another 40 people are in a “serious condition” after an overloaded ferry sank off with almost 600 onboard between Zanzibar and Pemba island, Tanzania.
Tanzanian government called for an immediate investigation to uncover the reasons for the disaster.
Survivors of the ferry disaster in Zanzibar
“The ship’s manifest shows that the vessel travelling from Unguja to Pemba islands had more than 500 passengers on board,” Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa said.
“Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued … we have recovered several bodies but I can’t give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile,” he said.
190 people drown in the ferry tragedy in Tanzania
Passengers described the terrifying moment when they realized something had gone wrong, with people began to scream as the boat tilted to one side and water rushed in.
“I realized something strange on the movement of the ship. It was like zigzag or dizziness,” said 15-year-old Yahya Hussein, who survived by clinging to a plank of wood with three others.
“After I noticed that I jumped to the rear side of ship and few minutes later the ship went lopsided.”
Hussein said there had been many children aboard the ship.
“After the ship began to list, water rushed through the main cabin and stopped the engines,” said Mwita Massoud, another survivor.
Those passengers lucky enough to find something to cling to floated in the dark waters for at least three hours until the strong currents began to wash them up on the white sandy shores of Zanzibar.
Throughout the day, police waded through the clear waters to shore, carrying bodies on stretchers, wrapped in brightly colored cloth and blankets.
Tourists on the popular island of Zanzibar helped survivors and local charities provided blankets and tea.
Tourists on the popular island of Zanzibar helped survivors and local charities provided blankets and tea
Pemba island is about 25 miles from Zanzibar. Passengers who regularly take ferries between the two islands said the vessels are in a poor state of repair and are often overcrowded and loaded with cargo.
“They normally pack us in like sardines in a can. And for that I really fear this could be a very big disaster,” said resident Mwnakhamis Juma.
The government in Zanzibar said last month it planned to invest in bigger, more reliable vessels to ferry passengers between the two islands.
“We are fearing the greatest calamity in the history of Zanzibar. This is a disaster,” said a government official, who declined to be named.
In 2006, another ship capsized in Zanzibar, killing hundreds of people. But the government still did not invest in better ferries or boats capable of mounting a rescue.
William H. Millard , former ComputerLand CEO was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and allegedly totalled astonishing unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years.
William H. Millard, the 79 year-old founder of retail chain ComputerLand, was last seen by tax authorities on the remote Pacific island of Saipan in 1990.
Despite vanishing soon after selling his company, Millard has now been tracked down to the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, court papers said.
William H. Millard was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and totalled unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years
The astonishing news about the man once listed as one of the US richest men was revealed by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.
The U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which includes Saipan, is now using a law firm and investigators’ help to get the money.
William H. Millard is linked to a vast network of more than 50 shell companies, trusts and bank accounts, according to Wall Street Journal.
“This is one of the most sophisticated and complicated cases of offshore asset structuring that we have ever seen,” Michael Kim, prosecuting, said.
“Last Christmas an investigator spotted their target at dinner with one of his daughters in Florida,” Mariana government officials said.
William H. Millard has not yet commented, but his former attorney Terry Giles said it was “ludicrous and insulting” to suggest he was hiding.
College dropout William H. Millard was a 1970s technology pioneer in California and he turned ComputerLand into a huge PC retail chain.
The retail chain had around 800 stores and his stake in the company was valued at $1 billion at one point, reported the Wall Street Journal.
William H. Millard was known for his lavish spending, private jets and working 18-hour days whilst eating peanut-butter sandwiches.
William H. Millard left ComputerLand, having a fallout with franchisees and management, and soon moved with his family to Saipan.
Former ComputerLand CEO sold his remaining shares in 1987 and the family left Saipan, where William H. Millard had half-built a turreted castle on the coastline, in 1990.
The commonwealth got a tax judgment against William H. Millard and his wife for $36 million in court in 1994, according to Wall Street Journal.
Commonwealth authorities then picked up traces of his movements in Singapore, Ireland, Brussels, Hong Kong and the Caymans.
Then the commonwealth hired New York law firm Kobre & Kim and a private investigator tracked William F. Millard’s daughter’s home to Orlando, Florida, in December.
The private investigator soon spotted William H. Millard talking a walk outside and they tracked him to the Grand Cayman Island, lawyers said.
“I hope he will do the right thing and pay his debts,” Michael Kim told the Wall Street Journal. “But most people do not let go of $100 million easily.”
Started on September 3, the George Enescu International Competition closed on September 11 with an online concert Gala in Bucharest, Romania. China and South Korea won best prizes.
The competition had as jury members personalities from US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Russia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Italy, under the leadership of Ioan Holender.
George Enescu International Competition gathered 183 competitors: 55 at Piano, 51 at Violin, 45 at Cello, and 32 works at Composition.
The Grand Award of the The International Competition “George Enescu” went to Cello Section.
Tian Bonian won the Grand Prize at Cello Section of George Enescu International Competition
Tian Bonian (China) was awarded with first prize (the grand award), Valentin Răduţiu (Romania) won the second prize and Michal Korman (Israel) third.
All three cellists interpreted Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor.
” Every cellist is happy with scores like these as they allow you while playing to enjoy the music, which is, in fact, the most important aspect,” said Bonian when he qualified for semi-final.
“… for me most important is the music to reach the audience… while I was performing I wasn’t thinking to win the first prize, I was thinking to communicate with the public,” said Tian Bonian at the end of the competition.
Bonian, born in 1986 in Shenyang, won First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Xiamen, China (2002) and First Prize at the Davidov International Competition in Latvia (2006) . He attended the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and toured Germany for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now. He gave recitals in a private audience for Queen Margrethe of Denmark and performed concerts as a soloist with orchestras and chamber music ensembles in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Korea, China and Switzerland.
Valentin Răduţiu, as best ranked Romanian, won a prize from Liliana and Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts and another one from Musicians Performers Union in Romania.
Lee Yeong-Kwang (South Korea) won a special prize as the youngest competitor.
At the Violin Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was not awarded.
Szalai Antal won best performance of George Enescu's Sonata
Second prize went ex aequo to Kayayzan Haik and Alexandra Conunova (Republic of Moldova), and third to Szalai Antal (Hungary).
Szalai Antal was also awarded for the best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata (Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor dans le caractère populaire roumain).
At the Piano Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was also not awarded.
Jeung Beum Sohn (Korea) won second prize, and the third was ex aequo granted to Ilya Poletaev (Canada) and Mihai Ritivoiu (Romania). Ritivoiu performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2 in C minor, while Sohn and Poletaev interpreted Brahms’ Concerto No.1 in D minor.
At the Composition Section of George Enescu International Competition the jury awarded South Korea.
At the Chamber Music (ex-aequo): Kwang – Ho (Garnio) Cho with Cytisus/A-Phonie, and Mihyun Woo with The Play of Light for String Quartet.
At the Symphonic Music the award went to Chang Eunho for The Human (symphonic poem).
The first prize is 15,000 euros, the second 10,000, the third 5,000, the prize for symphonic music 10,000 euros, for chamber music 7,000 and the prize for best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata 6,000 euros.
George Enescu International Competition is a part of George Enescu International Festival, a biennial event started in 1958 to honor the Romanian composer’s legacy. George Enescu Festival 2011 ends on September 25.
Michael Fassbender won the Coppa Volpi for best actor at Venice Film Festival 2011 on Saturday.
Michael Fassbender plays a man obsessed with impersonal gratification in the film “Shame” by Steve McQueen from UK.
Michael Fassbender won Best Actor trophy at Venice Film Festival 2011
The film, in which Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a sex addict living in New York and also stars Carey Mulligan as his sister, was co-written by Abi Morgan, the screenwriter behind the recent BBC series “The Hours”.
Russian film “Faust”, an adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy, was named the winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday by the jury headed by director Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan” film director).
Asia put in a strong showing, the Coppa Volpi for best actress going to Deanie Yip in the film “Tao Jie” (“A Simple Life”) by Hong Kong’s Ann Hui.
And China’s Cai Shangjun was awarded with Silver Lion for best director for his film “Ren Shan Ren Hai” (“People Mountain People Sea”), which was a surprise late addition to the Venice festival lineup.
Also, Marcello Mastroianni Award for best new young actor or actress went to Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido in the film “Himizu” by Japan’s Sion Sono.
Jury’ special prize was give to “Terraferma” by Emanuele Crialese of Italy, while the Osella for the best cinematography went to Robbie Ryan for the film “Wuthering Heights” by Andrea Arnold and the Osella for best screenplay went to Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for the film “Alpis” (“Alps”).
The new British film “Wuthering Heights” is a provocative adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 novel set in the Yorkshire moors, directed by Andrea Arnold.
The handful of American films in competition, including George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” “Dark Horse,” “Texas Killing Fields” and “Killer Joe” were shut out.
It was also a disappointing night for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the widely acclaimed film adaptation of John le Carré’s Cold War-era novel, starring Colin Firth, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Oldman, which failed to win an award.
Thousands of people, family members of the victims killed in New York on September 11 2001, gathered this morning at Ground Zero as United States began a sombre day of tributes to those who lost their lives during the terror attacks that shocked the world ten years ago.
Today’s ceremony has moments of silence to mourn those who perished as each of the planes crashed and the two towers went down, while President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush deliver readings of the names of the 2,753 people who died in the terror attacks.
Thousands of family members of the victims killed in New York on September 11 , gathered this morning at Ground Zero for 10th anniversary from the terror attacks
New York forms the focus of the memorial day, but respects will be paid throughout the country, with events at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania also poignantly marking the passing of innocent Americans a decade ago.
First moment of silence will be held at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane crashed into the North Tower, and then the names of the victims will be read.
Further moments of silence will be held to mark the other attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania at 9.03am, 9.36am, 9.59am, 10.03am and 10.28am.
President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush participating at the September 11 10th anniversary at Ground Zero
The annual “Tribute in Light” will then begin from the World Trade Centre site at sundown, visible for more than 60 miles. Two blue lights, made up of 7,000 watt bulbs, were switched on for the first time this year on Tuesday night.
Law enforcement agencies around the country have stepped up security at airports, nuclear plants, train stations and elsewhere in anticipation of possible anniversary attacks.
New York City residents and workers in the area of Ground Zero are required to carry identification to gain access with 20 downtown streets planned for closure.
September 11 2011 also marks the opening of the memorial and museum, set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers of World Trade Centre among a small forest of oak trees in an eight-acre plaza.
The Ground Zero pools have the September 11 victims' names etched around their perimeters
The memorial, which opens to the public tomorrow, features two 30 ft-deep pools, each containing fountains, along with a museum with exhibitions and artefacts to teach visitors about the events of September 11. The Ground Zero pools have the September 11 victims’ names etched around their perimeters.
Yesterday, more than 4,000 people, including relatives of those killed when Flight 93 crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field, attended the memorial service in Shanksville.
Former President George W. Bush paid tribute to the victims of Flight 93 on Saturday, describing their actions as some of the most courageous in U.S. history.
George W.Bush was joined by former president Bill Clinton to lead a silent tribute to the victims of September 11 at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania the day before the official anniversary of the terror attacks.
A long white stone wall bearing the names of those who struggled with al-Qaeda terrorists on the fourth airliner to be hijacked on September 11, 2001, was unveiled on the rural Pennsylvania field where the Boeing 757 crashed.
Current vice president Joe Biden joined the former presidents, families of the victims and several hundred others – many in patriotic T-shirts or holding US flags under a slate grey sky.
During the ceremony, the names of the 40 victims were read out, one by one, accompanied by chimes.
2,753 Flags of Honour – each baring the names of 9/11 victims in patriotic stripes of red and blue – are standing at the tip of Manhattan as New York City marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The New York City Memorial Field, part of a five-day installation, was erected to give New Yorkers a public place to gather in remembrance of those who were killed in the horrific acts of September 11, 2001.
2,753 empty chairs, representing the lives lost on 9/11, were set Friday in Manhattan in order to face south toward the World Trade on Bryant Park’s lawn for part of a project called “Ten Years Later, A Tribute 9/11”.
Actors and performers from the Broadway community gathered at Times Square in costume for “Broadway Unites: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance” ceremony.
Organizers at Manhattan Community Board said the event is open for those who feel excluded from today’s official 9/11 Memorial ceremony, which is only open to families of the victims. Events to mark the tenth anniversary will go on throughout today in Manhattan.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will display the 9/11 Peace Story Quilt with an accompanying programme throughout the afternoon.
Graduate students from New York University will read poetry from the quilt and a free concert will be performed. Created in collaboration with New York City students aged between 8 and 19, the quilt was made to convey the importance of communication among cultures and religions to achieve peace.
The New-York Historical Society will showcase a selection of photos taken during the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Remembering 9/11 photo exhibition will be on view until April 12.
A film titled “World Trade Center: All Times”, based on a 10-year project by Fred J. DeVito that began as a way to remember the events and how they shaped the lives of Americans, will play at the Big Screen Plaza in Manhattan’s Flatiron district.
The New York Mets will hold a tribute at Citi Field at 7:30 p.m., half an hour before their game against the Chicago Cubs begins. John Franco will throw the first pitch to Mike Piazza – both members of the 2001 team.
Ground Zero "Tribute in Light" uses 88 powerful beams and has been running every year to mark the anniversary of the attacks
An Evening of Light 10th Anniversary Gala will be also held at Capitale at 8:00 p.m.
FDNY 10th anniversary memorial service honouring members lost at World Trade Centre, a free ceremony at St Patrick’s Cathedral, will be held from from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., honouring the 343 FDNY families that lost a loved one at the World Trade Center. The ceremony will be shown on large TV screens in midtown Manhattan.
At the end of the day, St Patrick’s Cathedral will hold a free concert given by the Young Peoples Chorus of New York, the New York Choral Society, and Cathedral Choir of St Patrick.
Cyndi Lauper is now highly criticized on Twitter for changing the lyrics of the US national anthem at the US Open during the remembrance ceremony of the 9/11 10th anniversary.
Cyndi Lauper performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the beginning of the women’s final tennis match between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.
Cyndi Lauper singing US national anthem at US Open 9/11 commemoration
Cyndi Lauper was doing fine until she got to that crucial line regarding ”the ramparts we watched,” the same line that Christina Aguilera famously botched during 2011 Super Bowl.
While Christina Aguilera’s error involved a reference to “the twilight’s last reaming” — a line that surely Francis Scott Key did not have in mind when he wrote the poem that inspired America’s definitive piece of musical patriotism — Cyndi Lauper changed the lyric less significantly.
Cyndi Lauper sang “O’er the ramparts, we watched as our flag was still streaming,” instead of the usual “O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming.”
After this incident, all tweeters went nuts and, in yet another irony, blasted Cyndi Lauper for making such a terrible mistake while making an error of their own and completely misspelling her name –“Yes, Cindy Lauper has been a trending topic tonight on the social networking site.”
America remembers 10 years from September 11, 2001, when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
This weekend has been dedicated to remembrance, with hundreds of ceremonies across the country and around the globe.
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among guests at dedication in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of memorial to Flight 93 hijackers on Saturday.
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among guests at dedication in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of memorial to Flight 93 hijackers on Saturday
Other memorials are planned for Sunday in New York,such as a memorial mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and Washington D.C. as nation mourns the almost 3,000 victims.
Former president George W. Bush has praised the 40 passengers and crew who fought back against their Flight 93 hijackers on 9/11 for carrying out what he described as one of the most courageous acts in U.S. history.
Saturday, former president George W. Bush was at the ceremony dedicating a memorial at the nation’s newest national park in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as the U.S. marks the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks.
Americans will also come together on Sunday where the World Trade Center soared in Manhattan, New York, and in Washington D.C. where the Pentagon now stands as a fortress once breached.
The World Trade Centre ceremony in New York begins at 8:30 am local time, with a moment of silence 16 minutes later - coinciding with the exact time when the first tower was struck by a hijacked jet
Other ceremonies wil take place on Sunday at the Pentagon and in lower Manhattan for the dedication of the national September 11 memorial.
President Barack Obama planned to attend ceremonies at both sites, as well as the Pennsylvania memorial, and was scheduled to speak at a Sunday evening service at the Kennedy Center.
The World Trade Centre ceremony in New York begins at 8:30 am local time, with a moment of silence 16 minutes later – coinciding with the exact time when the first tower was struck by a hijacked jet.
After this moment, there will be the reading of names of the 2,977 people killed on September 11 – in New York, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania.
The "Tribute in Lights" could be seen in New York on Saturday night, shining into the sky as a mark of remembrance of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers
The “Tribute in Lights” could be seen in New York on Saturday night, shining into the sky as a mark of remembrance of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers.
Americans will come together on Sunday where the World Trade Center soared in Manhattan, New York
At Shanksville, Pennsylvania memorial, George W. Bush said the Flight 93 cockpit storming “ranks among the most courageous acts in American history” and former president Bill Clinton said the passengers and crew were “ordinary people given no time at all to decide” what to do.
Bill Clinton likened the actions of those aboard Flight 93 to the defenders of the Alamo in Texas or the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae some 2,500 years ago, who knew they were going to die.
“They gave the entire country an incalculable gift,” Bill Clinton said.
“They saved the capital from attack and avoided Al Qaeda’s a symbolic victory of smashing the centre of American government.”
The speeches of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton drew standing ovations and loud cheers from the ceremony which drew about 5,000 people, including 4,000 invited guests including the victims’ families.
Vice President Joe Biden was on hand to unveil the Wall of Names at the memorial – a set of 40 marble slabs, each inscribed with the name of a passenger or crew member who died.
Former first lady Laura Bush and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden, were both seen to wipe tears away at the ceremony.
“The moment America’s democracy was under attack our citizens defied their captors by holding a vote,” George W. Bush said, referring to when those on the plane decided to try to overpower the hijackers.
“The choice they made would cost them their lives,” he added.
George W. Bush was joined at the ceremony by the Reverend Daniel Coughlin, who was the U.S. House chaplain at the time of the attacks.
On Sunday Americans will gather to pray in cathedrals, lay roses before fire stations and remember the anniversary of the most devastating terrorist attacks since the nation’s founding.
President Barack Obama has already been paying tribute to America’s resilience and the sacrifice of its war, after he made a pilgrimage to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Saturday.
Barack Obama was seen strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars
Barack Obama was seen strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – and said the U.S. cannot be broken by terrorism “no matter what comes our way”.
“The terrorists who attacked us that September morning are no match for the character of our people, the resilience of our nation, or the endurance of our values,” Barack Obama said in a weekly address.
Barack Obama was a little-known state senator in Illinois at the time of the attacks, but now has the responsibility to help lead the nation in remembrance of a trauma 10 years on.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who gave the weekly Republican address, said the terrorists achieved their goal of killing Americans, but failed to destroy the U.S. spirit.
“The country was not broken, but rather, it was more united in the days after September 11 than at any time in my lifetime,” Rudy Giuliani said.
The first pictures of the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero have been revealed before the 10th anniversary on Sunday.
Ground Zero, the site which people once associated with death, devastation and abject terror has now turned, after 10 years, into a place of peace, tranquillity and sadness.
National 9/11 Memorial: view from the south pool waterfall with Freedom Tower in the background
Starting with Sunday, September 11, 2011, Ground Zero – once a black hole of despair – will become known as the National September 11th Memorial.
On the places where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre once stood now lies two granite pools in its footprints with waterfalls cascading 30 feet (about 10 meters) below.
National 9/11 Memorial: view of Ground Zero from Washington Street
The one-acre size pools sprawl out across the World Trade Center plaza – one to signify each fallen tower.
The pools are bordered by bronze panels inscribed by the names of all those who perished at the hands of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at the Pentagon, in New York and in Pennsylvania; when night time falls, the panels will be backlit to shine against the void.
400 swamp white trees line the plaza and a small clearing known as the Memorial Glade is set aside for special ceremonies, according to the New York Post.
National 9/11 Memorial: Freedom Tower, One World Trade Centre building
A navy-blue flag adorned with 40 gold stars to represent the passengers and crew members who died on United Airlines Flight 93 billows high above the site.
A white ring encircles around an image of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre to form the shape of a pentagon to honour the 184 who perished both at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.
The Twin Towers, standing in the centre of the flag with the numbers nine and 11 and the words ‘we remember’ represents the thousands who perished on the morning of September 11 when two planes crashed into the buildings.
The 9/11 Memorial’s designer, Michael Arad, was a young, little-known architect whose plan was selected out of 5,200 proposals.
“These two acre-sized voids are like a moment of silence and what we do with that moment of silence depends on us. We just want to make sure everything is done very carefully. We’re building for the ages,” Michael Arad told CBS.
National 9/11 Memorial: North Pool at Ground Zero
Joe Daniels, president of the National 9/11 Memorial told the New York Post:
“We remember the towers standing, the towers falling, the devastation on the pile, the empty pit.
“And to move to a place of grace and beauty is something that the entire country can feel proud of.”
The National Memorial opens to the 9/11 families on Sunday and to the public on Monday. Visitors must reserve visitor passes in advance on the memorial’s Website, 911memorial.org.
Stella Artois recalls three batches of its new cider drink after several customers reported the bottles were exploding in their hands.
Customers have been urged to use gloves and eye protection before handling the 568 ml bottles of Stella Artois Cidre.
If the bottles are from the affected batches they must dial an emergency hotline immediately to arrange for them to be collected.
Stella Artois Cidre, the "explosive" bottle
According to InBev UK, which brews and markets Stella Artois Cidre, two customers had already been injured by a bottle which had “burst unexpectedly”.
An InBev UK spokeswoman said: “The safety of our consumers is our top priority and that is why InBev UK Ltd is taking the measure of recalling all potentially affected bottles.
“The potentially affected bottles come from three batches. No other Stella Artois products are affected.
“We are working closely with the Food Standards Agency to take all necessary action, and have moved quickly to understand and identify the issue and take action.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
The affected batches (1182381, 1214381 and 1217381) went on sale on July 1 and were sold individually or in packs of 12.
The batches accounted for just 1.4% of total Stella Artois Cidre bottles on sale in the UK.
A Japanese air traffic controller has published on his personal blog classified Air Force One flight plans of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Tokyo last year.
Obama steps off Air Force One in Tokyo last year. An air traffic controller has posted the flight information on the Internet.(AP)
Japan’s air traffic authorities has found out about the incident through an anonymous phone call on Monday warning the “inappropriate posting of information”, reported Jiji Press. All the postings have been deleted after that.
President Barack Obama has visited Japan in November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Yokohama.
The air traffic controller, a man about 50 years old, has posted photos of flight plans and radar, said NHK. The information about Air Force One included its takeoff and landing, scheduled routes, transit times, and flight altitude. This kind of details are kept secret for security reasons.
He also has uploaded the flight plan for an unmanned American reconnaissance aircraft dispatched to gather radiation data from Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Kyodo News agency. The US surveillance jet Global Hawk has flown above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant several times since the March 11 tsunami triggered Japan’s nuclear crisis.
The air traffic controller has obtained the information from computer screen shots he took while he was working at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
He said he “wanted his friends to see” what he had obtained, said Yomiuri and Sankei Shimbun.
The transport ministry was investigating and considering disciplinary action for the air traffic controller, said Kyodo and NHK.
Yoshihiko Noda will present Barack Obama the findings of investigation regarding the air traffic controller.
A senior government official, quoted by Yomiuri, said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda “will have to apologize to President Obama”, at their summit in New York.
Noda will present the findings to Obama when he will travel to Washington later this month. Noda said he wanted to strengthen ties between the countries and has expressed strong support for the U.S.-Japan security alliance, said Kyodo.
However, it is not clear if the data leaked before or after Obama flew from Seoul to Tokyo.
This incident apparently is another confirmation to the worldwide travel alert issued by the United States ahead of the 10th commemoration of the 9/11 attacks.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment on this unusual air traffic controller behavior.
CBS News made an enormous gaffe by reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs died in a careless post on Twitter.com today.
A Twitter account tied to the CBS series “What’s Trending”, hosted by Shira Lazar, sparked an internet firestorm with a post reading:
“Reports say that Steve Jobs has passed away. Stay tuned for more updates.”
CBS' What's Trending huge gaffe on Twitter
The post was pulled few minutes later, but the text still exists on the website, because so many people retweeted it.
A while after the huge error, an apology appeared on Twitter.
“Reports of Steve Job’s death completely unconfirmed,” the post read.
The CBS What's Trending apologies post few moments after the imense gaffe
Shira Lazar, who is also the CBS “What’s Trending” show’s executive producer, followed with an apology.
“On behalf of all of us at @disruptgroup we sincerely apologize for the inaccuracy that was tweeted earlier today.-EP/ Host @WhatsTrending.”
Shira Lazar apologies post
The incident has fuelled speculation as to the state of Steve Jobs’ health.
Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple was seen for the first time since his departure in August, his frame looking so incredibly frail it fuelled fears that he was nearing the end in his eight-year battle with the pancreatic cancer.
However, Steve Jobs made no direct reference to his health problems in his letter of resignation to the Apple board.
The former Apple boss wrote only that he had always said he would step down as CEO if he felt he could no longer do the job to his high standards.
Steve Jobs had surgery to remove a tumour after being diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2003 and had a liver transplant in 2009 in a further attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.
Steve Jobs went on medical leave in January 2011, but still introduced the second generation iPad a couple of months later and has led the development of the iPhone 5 and iPad3.
Announced at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Martin Scorsese is directing the documentary “George Harrison: Living In The Material World” about the life of former Beatles member.
Martin Scorsese has been working with Olivia Harrison, George Harrison‘ second wife for the last 2 years on the film, which will look at George Harrison’s entire life.
George Harrison and his wife Olivia
The film will feature previously unreleased footage and photos as well as unreleased recordings that the guitarist saved.
Olivia Harrison, one of the film’s producers, has spent years going through her husband’s tapes, notes and photos to deliver essential elements for the film.
“Marty had a connection with George, and they spent some time together. He is as passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film,” she said.
It was surely not the intention of the documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World to depict the Beatle as the prime mover in a sexual free-for-all.
But, driven by a desire to show the so‑called “quiet Beatle” in both “light and shade”, it portrays him as a sensitive, spiritual man with serious weaknesses when it came to women.
The documentary runs for 3 1/2 hours and is in two parts.
The film has just premiered at the Telluride documentary festival in America, and will be shown in its entirety on the BBC on October this year.
Film presented nights of chaos and excess at Friar Park, George Harrison’s immense Victorian Gothic home in Henley, with a haze of dope, cocaine and alcohol.
In a 1973 night, George Harrison’s friend and houseguest Ronnie Wood took him aside and told him that he intended to sleep with the former Beatle’s wife Pattie Boyd that evening.
George Harrison’s response was to point to the room which Ronnie Wood was sharing with his wife Krissie and say: “And I shall be sleeping there.”
There was a moment on the landing when the two men looked at each other, on the threshold of the two bedrooms, and then they both went in.
Ronnie Wood slept with Pattie, and George Harrison slept with the Rolling Stone’s wife – and even took her off to Spain to meet Salvador Dali a few weeks later, which Wood found amusing.
In the same period, George Harrison also slept with Ringo Starr’s wife Maureen, having announced during a dinner party – and in front of Pattie – that he wanted her.
Both Ringo Starr and Pattie Boyd were greatly distressed, and Pattie in particular became annoyed by Maureen’s habit of turning up late at night and spending the evening in meditation with George, or locking herself away in a studio with him.
Pattie Boyd left George Harrison for Eric Clapton
In turn, Pattie Boyd slept with Eric Clapton and eventually left George Harrison for Clapton in 1974.
In an interview, given for the upcoming documentary film about George Harrison’s life, his close friend Eric Clapton recalls that Harrison was “very cavalier” about the affair with Pattie, and almost gave him “carte blanche” to have sex with her.
“To be honest, there was a lot of swapping and fooling around,” Clapton said.
But Pattie Boyd recalls: “That whole period was insane. Friar Park was a madhouse. We were all as drunk, stoned and single-minded as each other.”
In the documentary, Olivia Harrison tells of “hiccups” in their marriage when her husband had affairs, even long after those crazy days of the early 1970s with Pattie were over.
Olivia and George Harrison were married in 1978, a month after the birth of their son Dhani, and she was at his bedside when he died of cancer in 2001.
Between those times, Olivia suggests that her husband had several affairs, which she endured, simply waiting for them to pass and forgiving him when they did.
“He liked women and women liked him,” Olivia says.
“If he just said a couple of words to you, it would have a profound effect. It was hard to deal with someone who was so well loved.”
Paul McCartney says: “I don’t want to say much because he was a pal, but he liked the things that men like. He was red-blooded.”
Red-blooded seems an understatement when it comes to George Harrison, who had an abiding fondness for other men’s wives – much like his devotion to marijuana and sitar music.
According to Beatles expert Bill Harry “George had hundreds and hundreds of affairs. John Lennon was probably the most highly-sexed Beatle, but I would put George next after him.”
And in their tell-all book The Love You Make, two Beatles roadies, Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, assert: “He wanted to seduce every woman he laid eyes on.”
George Harrison and Madonna in 1986 during Shanghai Surprise film press conference
Rather extraordinarily, more than one source suspects that George Harrison had a heavy flirtation with Madonna on the set of the 1986 film Shanghai Surprise, despite the presence of her first husband Sean Penn.
Madonna was at the time deeply unhappy with Sean Penn, and said she found George Harrison, who was executive producer of the film, “very understanding and sympathetic”.
George Harrison came to see them filming in Macau, and also met her several times in London before and after the production.
Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, noted that, although George Harrison felt moved to “read the riot act” to Sean Penn over his hostile and aggressive attitude during filming and gave the actor a stern ticking-off, he treated Madonna with “kid gloves”.
A few weeks after filming finished, he surprised everyone present at a press conference by going on the attack over allegations that Madonna had been impossible to work with, passionately denouncing the assembled journalists as “animals”.
Those who worked with George Harrison at Handmade Films, where he oversaw numerous projects in the 1980s, recall that one close relationship with a young member of the team was very much the talk of the office.
“The story was widely circulated around the film business that he was having an affair with an office junior,” said a source.
It’s all rather extraordinary as, until now, it has always been thought that George Harrison’s love story with Olivia Arias was one of complete spiritual and emotional union.
Olivia, a young woman of Mexican descent, was working as a secretary for the Dark Horse Records label in America when she struck up a telephone friendship with George Harrison, who was recording music for it.
Olivia and George finally encountered each other in person at a party in Los Angeles in 1974. She was a stunning 23-year-old, and he was lonely after the loss of Pattie Boyd a few months previously to Eric Clapton.
Like George Harrison, whose father was a bus driver, Olivia Arias came from a working-class family – her mother was a seamstress, her father, a dry-cleaner.
George Harrison quickly asked Olivia to move into Friar Park with him, so she relocated to England. At first, she found the house lonely, but although Friar Park was so enormous that Pattie Boyd used to complain she could never find her husband, the charismatic George Harrison filled it with friends.
“He was so generous and open, so much more patient with people than me,” Olivia told an interviewer.
“He took everybody along with him, like a driftnet fisherman.
“If we were going on holiday, everybody would come. If we were having dinner, everybody was welcome. He was Pisces, so he swam in a school.”
One of Olivia and George most significant acts was to visit India together in 1976.
That helped George Harrison to continue his spiritual journey which had begun in 1968 with a visit to meditate with the Indian yoga guru Maharishi with the other Beatles.
In 1969, he even gave up all alcohol, drugs and sex for six months, in search of enlightenment.
Unlike his other band members, George Harrison remained committed to the religious sect Hare Krishna, and Olivia shared his commitment.
There was a real sense in which their married life was a retreat. Harrison concentrated on the enormous task of renovating the house and tending the gardens.
George Harrison became passionate about horticulture. To live invisible to the throng behind high walls was a release after the pressure of being a Beatle.
George Harrison first developed cancer in 1997, but the lump in his neck was removed and he underwent radiotherapy.
In 2001, however, it was discovered he had lung cancer, and soon after a brain tumour was also found. Within seven months he had died, with Olivia and his son Dhani by his side.
Olivia tells the documentary that George Harrison had achieved his spiritual goal, which was to take conscious leave of his life and to be ready to go. And, by the end, she says she had forgiven him completely for his affairs.
Law enforcement authorities are spreading additional security measures and advising all Americans to be watchful for suspicious activity. The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,
On Wednesday U.S. officials obtained information about a threat involved up to three people, either in the U.S. or who were traveling to the country; a plan concocted with the help of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri; and a car bomb as a weapon, which might be used in New York or Washington.
Counterterrorism officials have been working around the clock to find out whether the threat is accurate. However it could take weeks before the intelligence community can come up with a verdict.
The White House said when President Barack Obama learned about the threat, he gave orders to his security team to take “all necessary precautions”. Obama hasn’t change his mind about his trip to New York on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as well as the short visits at the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa. Extra security was put in place to protect the people in the two cities.
In New York City, policemen were stopping and searching trucks as they approached the George Washington Bridge, which links New Jersey with New York City, as well as the Queens Midtown Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel and the Verrazano Bridge, linking Staten Island and Brooklyn. Police officers also manned checkpoints throughout Manhattan where they examined vehicles, particularly vans and trucks, for possible bombs.
9/11 NYC police officers
In Washington, police activity increased right after Labor Day. Members of Congress, their staff and visitors were being urged Friday to keep their eyes opened for anything suspicious.
The U.S. House sergeant-at-arms said:
“Remember, ‘if you see something, say something!’”
At the U.S. Capitol, Americans should not be surprised to see “visible strategic security enhancements” such as more uniformed and undercover officers and more police cruisers, as well as deployments of bomb squads, Hazmat and SWAT teams, and K9 units, said Sgt. Kim Schneider of U.S. Capitol Police. He also added that federal law officials will be sharing information and coordinating operations. For example, Capitol Police special agents are embedded in the intelligence community and assigned to the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Defense.
The efforts are intended “to present a visible deterrent to our adversaries and detect those who may present a threat” as well as “to respond to incidents in our jurisdiction or take protective measures in response to an incident occurring elsewhere in the National Capital region or anywhere around the nation”
The United Kingdom informs its citizens who are traveling to the United States that there was a threat of a new terrorist attacks that could include “places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.”
