(CNN) -- A crowd of rescuers chanted "USA, USA" as President Bush thanked everyone working Friday at ground zero of the devastated World Trade Center that was hit by hijacked planes flown by terrorists.
As he stood on a pile of rubble in Manhattan, some people in the crowd shouted they couldn't hear him.
Bush promises terrorists will get message soon
"I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon," Bush answered.
The crowd roared its approval.
The president was updated on the progress of recovery efforts and shook hands with many of the volunteers, police officers and firefighters involved in rescue efforts.
He arrived in a wet and dreary New York after attending a prayer service at Washington National Cathedral with other political and religious leaders on the day Bush had designated as a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.
He also declared a national emergency that allows the call-up of National Guard and reserve units.
Pentagon sources tell CNN that at least four U.S. Air Force fighter jets scrambled to intercept the hijacked jetliners that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Tuesday, but the jets arrived too late
The first arrest warrant connected to the terrorist attacks has been served on a potential material witness, a Justice Department official told CNN. Also, at least 27 people have been detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the request of the FBI. Sources also told CNN no one has been charged, but all were wanted for questioning because they may have information related to the attacks.
Meanwhile, federal law enforcement sources told CNN the suspected names used by 19 hijackers who authorities believe commandeered four commercial airliners Tuesday in a coordinated attack on two renowned symbols of American power.
U.S. officials said evidence indicates there are terrorists in the United States who may be planning further attacks.
A pair of hijacked commercial airliners plowed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center Tuesday, followed a half an hour later by another hijacked jet that hit the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth jet hit the ground in rural Pennsylvania.
Latest developments
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Montana, introduced legislation Friday to direct the Department of Treasury to issue War Bonds for the first time since World War II. The money raised would help fund rebuilding and security efforts.
• Treasury Department announced Friday it has established -- with the FBI and CIA -- a team "dedicated to the disruption of terrorist fund-raising," which will eventually become a permanent "foreign terrorism asset tracking center."
• The U.S. Defense Department is investigating the possibility that two of the alleged terrorists involved in Tuesday's attacks on New York and the Pentagon in Washington may have attended schools run by the U.S. military, a senior defense official told CNN. The officials cautioned that it is possible that the matching names are merely a coincidence or that the terrorists were using false identities.
• The Senate approved Bush nominees John Negroponte as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman one day after each was approved by House committees. Both men are expected to play huge roles in any retaliation efforts against the terrorists.
• The Federal Emergency Management Administration is seeking cell phone numbers of the missing at the World Trade Center. Special technology may track the phones, which may aid in finding remains.
• Chicago's Midway Airport reopened Friday evening after being shut down when two people were detained for questioning. In Boston, officials said Logan Airport, starting point of two of Tuesday's suicide hijackings, would reopen early Saturday.
• With sharply reduced airline flights stranding passengers across the nation, Greyhound buses are running at full capacity, with about double the usual number of passengers, said spokeswoman Kristin Parsley. Tripled demand in Chicago forced the bus line to stop selling tickets Thursday night.
• Congressional sources tell CNN that Republican and Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have agreed in principle to a $2.5 billion emergency bailout package for the U.S. airline industry, which was hard hit by this week's terrorist attacks.
•The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, with a unanimous vote, passed a $40 billion emergency spending measure to combat terrorism and help recovery efforts in New York and Washington.
•Bush gives the Defense Department the go-ahead to call up to 50,000 reservists for "homeland defense." Governors in 31 states have already called up 10,000 National Guard troops.
•The Senate also passed a resolution authorizing the president to use force to retaliate against the terrorist attacks. The vote was 98-0.
•Search and rescue efforts continued in both Washington and New York, where bad weather had forced a temporary suspension of the operation.
• New York City schools below Canal Street remain closed Friday, leaving 15,000 students out of class. Two of the schools closest to the blast area may not open for the rest of the year.
•The list of people missing in New York is approaching 5,000; in Washington nearly 200 people are believed dead. All 45 people aboard the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania died.
•Justice Department tells CNN that the tape in the cockpit voice recorders, from the hijacked jet that plowed into the Pentagon, was badly damaged. Officials hope to get some usable information from the other so-called black box, the flight data recorder, which was also recovered overnight Thursday. On Thursday, searchers found the flight data recorder from the Pennsylvania crash.
•Many European nations observed three minutes of silence at 6 a.m. EDT.
•Sources at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority told CNN Friday that Reagan National Airport -- located just across the Potomac River from the Pentagon -- would be closed "for the time being." All three New York City airports reopened late Friday morning.
•The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a Carnival Cruise Line ship off the coast of Miami early Friday and detained two people who authorities determined have a "history of hijacking." According to a law enforcement source, the ship was boarded at 3 a.m. after authorities checked the passenger list. The two were to be handed over to the FBI when the ship was to return to port, about 5 a.m. ET.
•The FBI is searching an area at the Thunderbird Motel in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, as part of the investigation surrounding the attacks. Authorities would not release any details about the nature of the search other than to describe it as "pursuing one of many leads into the potential hijackers or those who may have assisted them."
•At least eight people detained Thursday at airports in New York because of new security measures -- including four people who were seen at one airport before Tuesday's terrorist attacks. All but one were later released. Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there is "no evidence" that anyone has been involved in a second wave of attacks like Tuesday's.
•The Pentagon on Friday was expected to hold several multireligious services honoring the memory of the attack victims of the Pentagon plane crash. Prayer services are scheduled as well as those for Christians, Protestants and Jews |
