The hijackers attacked at 9:28. While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. Eleven seconds into the descent, the FAA's air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions from the aircraft. During the first broadcast, the captain or first officer could be heard declaring "Mayday" amid the sounds of a physical struggle in the cockpit. The second radio transmission, 35 seconds later, indicated that the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting:" Hey get out of here-get out of here-get out of here." On the morning of 9/11, there were only 37 passengers on United 93-33 in addition to the 4 hijackers. This was below the norm for Tuesday mornings during the summer of 2001. But there is no evidence that the hijackers manipulated passenger levels or purchased additional seats to facilitate their operation. The terrorists who hijacked three other commercial flights on 9/11 operated in five-man teams. They initiated their cockpit takeover within 30 minutes of takeoff. On Flight 93, however, the takeover took place 46 minutes after takeoff and there were only four hijackers. The operative likely intended to round out the team for this flight, Mohamed al Kahtani, had been refused entry by a suspicious immigration inspector at Florida's Orlando International Airport in August. Because several passengers on United 93 described three hijackers on the plane, not four, some have wondered whether one of the hijackers had been able to use the cockpit jump seat from the outset of the flight. FAA rules allow use of this seat by documented and approved individuals, usually air carrier or FAA personnel. We have found no evidence indicating that one of the hijackers, or anyone else, sat there on this flight. All the hijackers had assigned seats in first class, and they seem to have used them. We believe it is more likely that Jarrah, the crucial pilot-trained member of their team, remained seated and inconspicuous until after the cockpit was seized; and once inside, he would not have been visible to the passengers.

Question: "Jarrah remained seated where during the takeover?"

Answer: "In his seat in first class"

Response: yes

Responding to a wave of public dismay over the first designs for rebuilding Lower Manhattan, Gov. George Pataki has sent word that it's time to go back to the drawing board. It is the right message, sent while it is still early enough to do something constructive about the disappointing quality of the work so far. The governor, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now seems committed to creating a better mix of uses for ground zero, and a 24-hour community in Manhattan's downtown. While rethinking the plans will delay the original rebuilding schedule slightly, it does not need to stall progress if the governor keeps the pressure on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New York cannot afford to have a gaping hole that mocks the city and its process for rebuilding what was destroyed. Pataki openly questioned the Port Authority's requirement that any plan for the site replace all the office, hotel and retail square footage lost in the attack on Sept. 11. More than anything else, that specification limited the designs to the undistinguished options presented two weeks ago. Renegotiating that issue with the World Trade Center leaseholders should begin immediately. Opening the process to other designers, both here and internationally, will help separate this urban plan from the ordinary. The city also needs to begin openly discussing what happens underground, in particular with the transportation network. At this point, planners have focused on short-term repair of PATH and subway lines, with medium-range proposals being shopped in Washington that could untangle the disorganized web of subway lines downtown. Within the next few weeks the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority should offer some bigger ideas about how to connect the downtown area better to the rest of the region. Lowering West Street alongside the World Trade Center site and building a park or esplanade on top is another option that has been popular with those reviewing the first six public proposals. But it would be expensive, and the governor, the mayor and their friends in Washington will have to look at long-range ways to pay the bill. Pataki's recent remarks are a sign that he understands how central the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan will be to his own political legacy. Now he needs to follow through with action, to keep demonstrating that his core concern is coming up with the best possible plan, not simply keeping the issue on hold until after this fall's election.

Question: "What did Gov. George Pataki say that it was time to do due to the public dismay from the disappointing work on rebuilding Lower Manhattan?"

Answer: "We must cut costs"

Response: no

The inhabited history of the Las Vegas Valley stretches to 23,000 b.c. , when much of the area was covered by a prehistoric lake. During this period, the indigenous people lived in caves, hunting the mammals that gathered at the shoreline. The landscape of the valley changed dramatically over the next 200 centuries. The glaciers feeding the lake melted away and the lake evaporated. Fossils tell an obscure story of man's slow and sporadic development. Around 3000 b.c. , native Archaic Indians began to develop a lasting hunting and gathering culture. By this time, the valley was in much the same geographic state as it exists in today, with one exceptionthe presence of artesian springs that bubbled to the surface in several areas. These springs fed a network of streams draining through the Las Vegas Wash to the Colorado River. The areas surrounding the springs were desert oases: sprawling collections of grasses, trees, and wildlife. Many springs lay in areas that would eventually become the center of the modern Las Vegas metropolis. For about 4000 years, the Archaics thrived in a culture that included many signs of early civilization. Signs of even more advancement appeared halfway through the first millennium a.d. , when the Anasazi Indians inhabited the valley. Far more progressive than the Archaics, the Anasazi utilized such formal agricultural techniques as irrigation to assist their harvest. This permitted the Anasazi to achieve a benchmark of advanced societythe ability to live in permanent shelters year-round without need to follow wildlife. Mysteriously, the Anasazi vanished from the valley around a.d.

Question: "During what time period did the Anasazi Indians inhabit the Las Vegas valley?"

Answer: "1000 b.c"

Response: no

In remarks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony here on Wednesday, Gov. George E. Pataki said he expected the facility to generate thousands more jobs in the Hudson Valley area for contractors and suppliers catering to the factory. He praised IBM for being "a critical partner in our economic development efforts" in New York state. In a brief speech, Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chief executive, emphasized that it was important to make long-term investments despite the current slump in the technology business. "To play to win in technology, you innovate and you lead," he said. But manufacturing technology products is a costly and cyclical business. In June, IBM announced that it was taking a charge of more than $2 billion against earnings. The largest single reasons for the charge were the cost of getting out of the business of manufacturing hard disks for storage, which it sold to Hitachi, and closing down some of its older semiconductor operations. But Kelly said the demand for advanced chips, like those produced at IBM's facility in Burlington, Vt., is strong. "I need more capacity in that end of the market," he said, "and this is factory is critical to meeting that growing demand." If IBM has miscalculated the demand, it will suffer badly as both the high operating costs and depreciation on the huge capital investment for the East Fishkill factory drag down earnings. But industry analysts said the plant should be insulated from a falloff in one or a few segments of the semiconductor market.

Question: "What comments did IBM CEO make at Wednesday's ribbon cutting ceremony?"

Answer: ""I need more capacity in that end of the market,""

Response:
no