Update: Where the Story Stands

Fire fighters salute the coffin of Chaplain Rev. Mychal Judge

KEVIN COOMBS/REUTERS

The New York Stock Exchange re-opened Monday morning after its longest pause since the Great Depression. Stocks plummeted, closing down 684 points as investors struggled to regain their footing in a shaky marketplace.

Elsewhere, the investigation into last Tuesday's attacks proceeded on several fronts, as authorities arrested two more people with ties to the suspected terrorists and a Pakistani delegation gave Afghanistan's Taliban three days to hand over fugitive terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. This after a grim weekend of dimmed hopes in New York City as rescue workers at the World Trade Center site marked their fifth day without finding a survivor in the wreckage. Pentagon sources put the death toll there at 188, including the 64 passengers aboard American flight 77. Authorities there say rebuilding the Pentagon could take years.

Meanwhile, the President stepped up his rhetoric, issuing a warning to the terrorists responsible for Tuesday's attacks: "We will find this who did it, we'll smoke them out of their holes," Bush said Saturday during his weekly radio address to the nation. "We'll get them running and we'll bring them to justice."

[an error occurred while processing this directive]The President continues high-level meetings, devising a plan to respond to this week's deadly attacks. Bush told Americans to prepare for a protracted battle, and urged patience and faith. "I will not settle for a token act," he said. "Our response must be sweeping, sustained and effective. We have much to do and much to ask of the American people. You will be asked for your patience, for the conflict will not be short. You will be asked for resolve, because the conflict will not be easy. You will be asked for your strength because the course to victory may be long."

In New York, rescue workers continued their search for survivors in the rubble of what was once the World Trade Center. Amidst fading hopes of finding people alive in the wreckage, the rescue effort has faded into the grim task of recovering bodies and body parts. It has been five days since a survivor has been found. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani urged everyone to prepare for the worst; by Monday 190 bodies had been recovered from World Trade Center ruins, 115 of whom had been identified. The number of missing stands at 5,147.

Services were held in New York City Saturday afternoon for Fire Chaplain Rev. Mychal Judge, a beloved figure among the city's firehouses. Judge was killed Tuesday while he was delivering the last rites to a rescue worker.

While Saturday saw the first official funerals after the attacks, Friday was marked by hundreds of remembrances and prayer services. People gathered Friday night all around the country for candlelight vigils. Outside fire stations in New York, flowers and candles stand five feet deep. At Washington D.C.'s National Cathedral, the President, First Lady, members of Congress, Cabinet members, former Presidents and their families gathered Friday morning with other dignitaries for a prayer service. According to reports, President Bush made a call to Al Gore, who was trapped in Europe after the attacks, asking the former vice president to return to Washington for the service. Gore and his wife were both in attendance.

Friday afternoon The President traveled to New York, visiting rescue workers at the disaster site. "Thank you for your hard work, thank you for making the nation proud," the President told cheering workers. He perched atop a felled firetruck, exhorting workers with the help of a bullhorn.

On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan congressional panel has drafted a resolution designed to "deter and prevent future terrorist attacks." Congress has also approved a $40 billion anti-terrorism relief package. Those funds will be used to increase security and to help families of firefighters, police officers and military personnel lost during the rescue efforts.

The U.S. intelligence community is focusing more tightly on fugitive financier-terrorist Osama bin Laden as the possible perpetrator of Tuesday’s deadly attacks. According to Secretary of State Colin Powell, bin Laden, who reportedly moved locations just after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, is the primary suspect. Intelligence officials report they have identified 19 hijackers and accomplices involved in Tuesday's attack. Seven of the 19 are believed to have been trained pilots. The FBI wants to interview at least 100 people in connection with the week's terrorist activities.

In rural western Pennsylvania, investigators found the black box and flight data recorder from United Flight 93, which crashed into the countryside after several passengers apparently decided to try to overpower the hijackers after learning that two other planes had been crashed into the World Trade Centers. Some suspect flight 93 may have been bound for Camp David or another high-profile target. Workers also recovered the black box from the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

At airports across the country American travelers got a first look at new, heightened airport security measures as limited domestic air service resumed Thursday. Some international flights returned to the sky Saturday. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the Justice Department will place armed federal agents on every passenger plane.

Airlines, staggered by Tuesday's attacks, and predicting a precipitous drop in air travel, had more bad news for an already gloomy financial outlook: Continental, Northwest and American airlines will all cut their schedules by as much as 20 percent. Industry experts estimate airlines have lost $1 billion in revenues in the last week.

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