Tribute in light over Ground Zero
March 12, 2002
Two columns of light representing the twin towers beam from ground zero.
Six months after they watched their greatest towers crash down, New Yorkers looked up again yesterday.
A girl orphaned in the September 11 attacks flipped a switch at dusk on Monday, and two thin columns of translucent bluish light soared into the sky over Lower Manhattan, symbolically recreating the World Trade Center and memorializing those lost there.
From subway entrances to the top of the Empire State Building to the suburbs of North Jersey, people looked up. On the George Washington Bridge, on the Staten Island Ferry, on the New Jersey Turnpike, people looked up. Outside firehouses, firefighters looked up. Outside precinct houses, police officers looked up. On boats in New York Harbor, relatives of the lost looked up.
‘The beams seem to go up forever,’ murmured Kathy Ganci, riding in a special ferry with hundreds of other firefighter families. Her husband, Peter, a fire department chief, died on Sept. 11.
Some looked up in hope, others in sorrow. Everyone looked up with the memory of that other day. People gathered at the same vantage spots as they had six months earlier, including Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, N.J.
The twin pillars came from two giant light banks, each with 44 high-powered lamps, mounted in a vacant lot near Ground Zero.
The towers of light will shine until April 13; they will be succeeded eventually by a permanent memorial at Ground Zero.
Earlier, in a morning ceremony several blocks from Ground Zero, hundreds of mourners paused for two moments of silence marking the precise times when two airliners hit the towers and killed more than 2,800 people Sept. 11.
City officials dedicated a sculpture damaged in the attack as a temporary memorial in Battery Park. The Sphere, a steel-and-bronze sculpture that stood in the fountain of the Trade Center plaza, was gashed and partially crushed by falling debris.
The twisted wreckage of the World Trade Center
Geordie engineer chosen
to investigate wreckage
October 18, 2001
Newcastle engineer Prof John Knapton is studying the structural strength of the World Trade Center towers on behalf of companies facing huge insurance claims.
Prof Knapton, 52, Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Newcastle, has warned the attacks on New York could have far reaching implications for the future of building design around the world.
He said buildings over five storeys high would have to be designed with the threat of impact from a plane crash in mind. But the design would also have to give firemen time to get people out if there was a fire.
He said steel would have to be protected with more concrete to achieve this - which would hugely increase building costs.
Professor Knapton is a familiar and colourful figure in the North-East. In 1998 he was chosen by the village of Ukumfi-Atakwa in south western Ghana to be their village chief.
October 9, 2001
The UK's war cabinet was meeting for the first time this morning in the wake of a second wave of air attacks on targets in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has put together a streamlined decision-making team of seven senior ministers and his most senior advisors. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was due to visit Moscow straight after the meeting to discuss military co-operation with his counterpart Sergei Ivanov.
Earlier, Mr Blair was interviewed by an Arabic satellite TV station and stressed it was terror, not Islam, which was the target of the attacks.
The Muslim Council of Britain has issued a statement saying it is 'deeply saddened and gravely concerned' about the strikes, which threaten the safety of 'the innocent Afghan people'.
Scotland Yard has drafted in more officers to patrol potentially vulnerable parts of London and to reassure the public.
The Foreign Office has advised Britons in Indonesia to stay inside their homes amid fears of street protests.
Honeymooners confined
to barracks
September 29, 2001
A newlywed couple from South Shields spent the first three days of their honeymoon confined to a Canadian barracks in the wake of the terror attacks on America.
Philip and Melanie Hamlani from Sorrel Gardens jetted off for a dream honeymoon in Mexico on September 11, the day terrorists smashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.
Five hours into the flight, their pilot announced he was going to have to change direction because American air space had been closed down. He then told the stunned passengers on the Boeing 747 of the atrocities which had just happened in the USA.
The plane was redirected to the Warrior Naval and Air Base in Nova Scotia, Canada, along with 45 other planes and 10,000 worried travellers.
Melanie, a fitness instructor at the Temple Park Centre, said: 'Planes were lined up on the runway wing-to-wing. It looked like Asda car park on a Saturday afternoon.'
The couple were issued with paper boiler suits to wear and, after officials learned they were on their honeymoon, they were given their own room in the barracks.
Philip added: 'I suppose we were quite lucky, most of the other passengers had to stay in long communal bunks.
'There was another honeymoon couple in the camp and they got put in a room with two nuns.'
After three days, the couple were told a flight had been arranged to take them on to Mexico where they could finally start their honeymoon.
Now safely back in South Shields, Melanie added: 'In the end we did have a wonderful time and of course, our family was delighted when we returned safely.'
Appeal for calm as Mosque
is attacked
September 24, 2001
Police have appealed for calm among Muslim communities in South Shields after a mosque was damaged by fire in what is thought to have been a racist attack.
Detectives investigating the incident at Al Hazar mosque warned that 'revenge attacks' in the wake of the US atrocities would not be tolerated.
Home Secretary David Blunkett is considering the introduction of compulsory ID cards in the UK in the wake of the USA atrocities.
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service has launched a fund to help support the widows and orphans of emergency staff who died in the US terrorist attacks. The brigade has sent a letter of condolence to the NY Fire Department and has offered assistance if needed.
Blair spearheads anti-terror coalition
September 19, 2001
Prime Minister Tony Blair was meeting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder today to forge an international alliance behind US action against mass terrorism.
He will meet the French President Jacques Chirac tomorrow and will then fly to the US to talk to President George W Bush.
Yesterday, Mr Blair spoke to the leaders of six African countries and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Following that meeting, the presidents of Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania issued a joint statement pledging to 'dismantle terrorist networks wherever they exist'.
Mr Blair last night demanded that the Taleban regime in Afghanistan hand over the terrorist suspect Osama Bin Laden, or face the consequences. He said he had personally seen evidence pointing to the involvement of Bin Laden, and knew that he was in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has sent a delegation to Afghanistan to try to persuade the ruling Taleban to surrender Osama Bin Laden. The decision to support Washington has prompted protests from hard-line Islamic groups.
British nationals in Pakistan are being advised to consider leaving the country.
The advice was issued by the Foreign Office last night in the light of heightened tension since the US terrorist attacks and followed a warning earlier this week that Britons should not go to Pakistan unless absolutely necessary.
A spokesman stressed it was not an evacuation notice and that British missions were not being closed. However, all British nationals living in the border areas with Afghanistan have been advised to leave.
British nationals in the rest of Pakistan are being urged to follow the security situation carefully, keep a low profile and stay in touch with consular wardens at the British High Commission.
Those concerned about friends and relatives who are UK citizens in Pakistan can call 0870 121 5151.
September 17, 2001
The attack on the World Trade Center has put the world into the most frightening situation since the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.
He said the loss of any innocent life was unbearable, which was why people have been so profoundly shocked as a result of the loss of 5,000 or more lives in the atrocities.
His comments came just hours after Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the UK was 'at war with terrorism'.
Mr Blair has given his backing to President George W Bush over any US response to the attacks.
Mr Straw said Osama Bin Laden remained the top suspect behind the attacks in New York and Washington and extended thanks to the government of Pakistan who have sent a delegation to Afghanistan to try to persuade the Taleban to give up Bin Laden.
Anti-terrorist police in the UK are working with the FBI to hunt for suspected British-based associates of those responsible for the US attacks.
UK police are also joining forces with their US counterparts to help identify British victims of the attacks.
The Duke and Duchess of York with the Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
The Duke and Duchess of York have visited the American embassy to pay their respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks. The Duchess had been due to visit the twin towers on the day of the attack.
The Yorks and their daughters, Beatrice, 13, and Eugenie, 11, visited the embassy in Grosvenor with the American Ambassador William Farish and his wife Sarah. They signed the book of condolence and laid bouquets at the Roosevelt Memorial.
Asked if she had a message, the tearful Duchess, who returned to London last night, said: 'I don't have enough words.' She was said by her spokesman to be 'devastated' by the tragedy.
Thousands of people attended church services across the country yesterday to remember those who died in America.
At Durham Cathedral a two-minute silence was held and special prayers said during the Evensong service and at the Great North Run in Newcastle-upon-Tyne thousands of competitors stood to observe a minute's silence before the event got underway.
Police have issued a warning to travellers after a man was charged after allegedly claiming to have explosives on him as he checked into Teesside Airport for a flight to Tenerife. With security extremely tight at airports around the world, officers in Darlington have warned that this is not the time to be making such comments. The man will appear before magistrates tomorrow. Six passengers had been arrested at the airport in the past three months after claiming to have bombs in their luggage.
The first flight between America and the North-East since last week's tragedy touched down at Newcastle Airport today. The Britannia charter flight from Florida brought back holidaymakers who had been due to leave the US on Thursday.
Britannia did not allow hand luggage on the flight and advised passengers to carry their documents in clear plastic bags.
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18-10-01
09-10-01
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24-09-01
19-09-01
17-09-01
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Where you there?
If you have witnessed at first hand any of the tragic events of this week and feel able to write about it or if you have any comments or observations to make on this disaster and its aftermath please contact me.
Write to Sue
read on
Geordie engineer chosen to investigate wreckage
UK War Cabinet meets
Honeymooners confined
to barracks
Appeal for calm as Mosque
is attacked
Blair spearheads anti-terror coalition
At war with terrorism
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Sue Kelly