It is 8.40am on a bright Tuesday morning in the offices of WBUR, “Boston’s NPR News Station”, a little over 60 minutes until The Connection, a two-hour live daily programme of news and culture.
One subject in each hour, phone lines open to the public. I’m the host this week. Our first-hour guest is Jack Welch, controversial chief executive of General Electric, and I am talking to the executive producer about how to structure the interview. The news director rushes into our open-plan production area.
“I think you may have to change your first hour. A plane has crashed into the World Trade Centre.”
Being a wise guy, I snark at him, “What? We’re going to do a history of planes flying into skyscrapers? Like the time the Empire State Building was hit by one in World War II?”
“No, You have to come see this.”
These were the days before smartphones put a screen in everybody’s pocket on which to watch the world as you knew it evaporate.
We went to the newsroom where a couple of televisions permanently tuned to news stations were live with images of the South Tower on fire. Serious. And about 30 seconds after we started watching, AA Flight 11 ploughed into the North Tower. I cursed and shouted: “Osama.”
A quick huddle with producers and then I disappeared into a tiny edit suite to write a script for the show’s opening.
“America is under attack this morning,” I typed.
I then went on the air, with a TV in the studio, describing the collapse of the North Tower as it happened at 10.28am. Kept a steady stream of informed conversation with two people who had dealt with Al Qaeda already. Read the latest wire service bulletins as they came in, reminding listeners a lot of the information would prove to be inaccurate.
I came off the air and went to my hotel. Spoke to the BBC World Service.
“This changes everything,” I said, meaning the US would not wait to assemble a big coalition to attack Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. It would go in on its own, if necessary, to take vengeance.
Twenty years later, I remember everything and my words, simple and direct, have a different meaning today: it was the “idea” of America that was under attack on 9/11, not the country.
And what changed was the society. All its flaws were laid bare by Osama bin Laden. We are still naked before the world.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
The%20specs
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Honeymoonish
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England 12-man squad for second Test
v West Indies which starts Thursday: Rory Burns, Joe Denly, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jack Leach
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
More coverage from the Future Forum
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Company%20profile
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Real Madrid (2) v Bayern Munich (1)
Where: Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
When: 10.45pm, Tuesday
Watch Live: beIN Sports HD
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The%20specs
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