Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 September 11

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Today's featured article
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' morning, daily scheduled transcontinental flight, from Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California. On September 11, 2001, the aircraft flying this route was hijacked by five al-Qaeda insurgents, and deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, as part of the September 11 attacks. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the hijackers forcibly breached the cockpit, and overpowered the pilot and first officer. Mohamed Atta, an al-Qaeda member and trained pilot, took over the controls. Air traffic controllers noticed the flight was in distress when the crew stopped responding to them. They realized the flight had been hijacked when Atta mistakenly transmitted announcements for passengers to air traffic control. On board, Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong contacted American Airlines, and provided information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew. The aircraft crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46 local time; the impact killed all 92 people aboard. The impact and subsequent fire caused the North Tower to collapse, which resulted in thousands of additional casualties. During the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site, workers recovered and identified dozens of remains from Flight 11 victims, but many other body fragments could not be identified. (more...) Recently featured: Silverchair – Shapinsay – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Bob Beckwith, the firefighter accompanying President George W. Bush at Ground Zero (pictured), had been retired for 7 years and bluffed his way into the rescue site using old gear? ... that the concept of Nesting Orientalisms is based on the ideas of historian Larry Wolff and Edward Said's Orientalism? ... that Frank Ponta competed in five Paralympic Games, including the first in 1960, and coached several medal-winning Paralympic athletes including Louise Sauvage and Priya Cooper? ... that The Comic Strip Presents... film The Hunt for Tony Blair portrays former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a fugitive on the run? ... that Egyptian Healy had one of the lowest winning percentages of any Major League Baseball pitcher during the 1880s? ... that the woollybutt is useful in the production of honey and railway sleepers? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Russian director Alexander Sokurov (pictured) wins the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion for his film Faust. Thousands of demonstrators storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo, prompting Israeli diplomats to flee Egypt. Russia opens the first section of the 1,800-kilometre-long Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline. Jürgen Stark resigns from the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. A public inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa finds British soldiers guilty of "serious, gratuitous violence". Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
September 11: Teachers' Day in parts of Latin America; National Day of Catalonia; Patriot Day and National Grandparents Day (2011) in the United States 1709 – An allied British-Dutch-Austrian force defeated the French at the Battle of Malplaquet, one of the bloodiest battles of the War of the Spanish Succession. 1914 – During World War I, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force invaded German New Guinea, winning the Battle of Bita Paka. 1945 – The Japanese-run camp at Batu Lintang, Sarawak, in Borneo was liberated by the Australian 9th Division, averting the planned massacre of its 2,000-plus Allied POWs and civilian internees by four days. 1992 – The eye of Hurricane Iniki (pictured), the most powerful hurricane to strike the state of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Islands in recorded history, passed directly over the island of Kauai, killing six people and causing around USD$1.8 billion dollars in damage. More anniversaries: September 10 – September 11 – September 12 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now September 11, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A stitched panoramic view of western Manhattan, the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City, as seen from across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. The view spans more than 20 miles (32 km) of skyline. Highlights from left to right include the George Washington Bridge, Riverside Church, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the spire of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the World Financial Center, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Photo: Jnn13/LiveChocolate

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