Terror strikes America
New York: Two hijacked passenger airlines plunged into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, crumbling them like house of cards, killing thousands of people, while another plane struck and badly damaged the United States defence headquarters at Pentagon in The United States.

The attacks, suspected to be the handiwork of some terrorist outfit, has shaken the world with the fear of an impending meltdown of global economy. New York, the worlds financial capital, is in shambles.

All government buildings in the country were evacuated, including the White House and Congress, warships and aircraft carriers deployed near New York, the US Air Force jets ordered to shoot down any suspicious airplane flying over the US and all flights to and from the country cancelled.

America's 15,000 airports were closed almost immediately following the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. All international airlines have cancelled their flights to and from the US. European airports quickly clogged up as flights were cancelled and diverted and security operations stepped up, while other staff tried to comfort distressed passengers.

The US embassy and consulates in New Delhi and Mumbai have been closed and placed under heavy security as precautionary measures.

The attacks have caused chaos on world stock markets. Trading has been suspended in New York and markets will remain closed on Wednesday. Share prices on European exchanges plummeted.

Huge explosions rocked the World Trade Center after horrified onlookers watched two passenger jets plunge into its towers. Panicking office workers jumped from windows in the Center as it collapsed during attempts to evacuate the building.

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

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

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

Another passenger jet crashed in Pennsylvania, south-east of Pittsburgh. The plane's intended target was believed to be the Maryland presidential retreat, Camp David.

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

World leaders have reacted with shock and outrage to news of the devastating attacks. Among those sending messages of condolence were president Vladimir Putin of Russia, UK prime minister Tony Blair and French prime minister Lionel Jospin.
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Markets close
New York: Trading on the main US stock markets will continue to be suspended throughout Wednesday. Trading came to a virtual halt on US and European stock and commodities exchanges on Tuesday afternoon.

European stock markets plummeted, with Frankfurt down 8.6 per cent, London losing 5.7 per cent - its biggest one day fall since 1987 - and Paris plunging 7.4 per cent.

The New York Stock Exchange and the Nymex commodities exchange, just a few hundred metres from the devastated Trade Center towers, were evacuated, and trading was suspended "indefinitely".

The world's largest electronic stock market, the Nasdaq, suspended all its trading for the day, as did the American Stock Exchange.

The main US exchanges said they would not be opening for business on Wednesday.

On currency markets, the dollar plunged against the euro, the Swiss franc and the yen, while trading in oil was suspended in London, New York and Chicago, after prices rose sharply following the attacks.

The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank said they would stand by to provide cash to the banking system to ensure financial stability.

Many of those killed and injured in the New York attacks are likely to be financial workers, including, possibly, key figures from banking and trade, the BBC reported.

Several top financial institutions had offices in the World Trade Center, including investment bank Morgan Stanley, which was the building's largest tenant with 25 floors, Switzerland's Credit Suisse Group, Germany's Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank and Bank of America.

The forty seven storey Salomon Brothers building next to the devastated twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed on Tuesday evening after catching fire.

A spokesman for Salomon brothers said the building, the former headquarters of the bank prior to its merger with Citigroup, was evacuated.

In Germany, the Frankfurt stock exchange was evacuated on Tuesday evening following a bomb threat.

London's stock exchange was also evacuated as a safety precaution, although screen-based trading continued.

A spokesman for the London Stock Exchange said trading would continue as normal on Wednesday.

European markets went into freefall in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

In Germany, where trading in all US stocks was suspended, the main stock markets closed 45 minutes earlier than usual.

At one point the Dax index of leading shares was down nearly 12 per cent, but by the close it had recovered slightly to end down 8.6 per cent.

In Paris, the Cac 40 index closed down 7.4 per cent.
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Oil and gold prices zoom
London: Crude oil and gold bullion prices rose sharply before trading was suspended on most major world exchanges after devastating terrorist attacks in the US. Oil prices jumped nearly $4 a barrel in London, following the explosions at New York's World Trade Center.

Officials from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) said the group was committed to ensuring stability in world oil markets.

There was panic buying of metals, gold and oil. Gold soared nearly 6 per cent or $16, an ounce after the attacks, with the London benchmark fixing price climbing to $287 in the afternoon from the morning's benchmark $271.

When European trading ended, gold spot prices were quoted at $289.80/290.30 an ounce, up from Monday's New York close of $271.40/271.90.

Oil giants BP and Shell and defence company BAE Systems were the only three among the UK's top 100 listed firms to see their shares rise on Tuesday.

In Johannesburg, a big world centre for gold trading, gold prices leapt to $289.9 an ounce from $271.15.

BAA, the owner of seven UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted serving London, has suspended flights to the US.

In America, congestion will be a serious problem as well.

Under normal circumstances a large proportion of its planes would be in the air at any point in time.

Space at airports is scarce, so landing planes within a narrow timeframe presents huge logistical difficulties.
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