Over 1,000 sue Port Authority over WTC attack NEW YORK: About 1,000 people sued the two-state agency that owns the World Trade Center on Tuesday, claiming that family members who died in the Sept. 11 attacks may have lived but for structural problems and poor evacuation procedures. The rush of suits against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were filed in a federal court in Manhattan on the eve of the first anniversary of the horrific strikes that destroyed the WTC. One of the suits filed on Tuesday was brought on behalf of more than 700 plaintiffs. At least 50 cases, some having multiple plaintiffs, were filed in the last two days. Singapore Airlines plans bullet-proof doors, cameras SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA), Asia’s largest airline by market value, said on Wednesday it will install surveillance cameras and bullet-proof cockpit doors on all of its 94 planes. Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia’s biggest carrier, has similar plans for the doors of its fleet of Boeing 747s. US Airlines have led the way in booking fortified doors, in line with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements introduced after the September 11 attacks that were carried out using three hijacked passenger planes. Down Under, fears mingle with the mourning SYDNEY: American flags hung at halfmast in Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday as a wave of commemorations for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks began its sweep around the world amid fears of further violence. Australian drivers switched on headlights in tribute and flowers were laid at a memorial here. US embassies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan were to remain shut after Washington raised its colour-coded warning level to orange, while Australia alerted its Embassy in East Timor to an unspecified threat against Australian interests. German police raid mosque near city where plot hatched HAMBURG: Police launched a dawn raid on a mosque on Wednesday after a tip about a possible bomb in Hamburg, the North German city where the September 11 plotters partly prepared their attacks. But a police spokesman said no explosives were found in the operation, the latest in a series of security alerts and arrests in Germany around the first anniversary of the attacks on the US led by Mohamed Atta, who for years lived in Hamburg.
