Vanished flag from famous 9/11 photo returns to ground zero
Vanished flag from famous 9/11 photo returns to ground zero
NEW YORK (AP) — An American flag raised at ground zero on Sept. 11 in a defining moment of patriotic resolve took its place at the site Thursday after disappearing for over a decade.
The 3-foot-by-5-foot flag took a symbolic and curious journey from a yacht moored in lower Manhattan to the smoking wreckage of the World Trade Center, then to a firehouse about 2,400 miles away in Everett, Washington — and now to a glass case at the National Sept. 11 Museum. A TV show, a mysterious man and two years of detective work helped re-establish its whereabouts.
“In a museum that’s filled with such deeply powerful artifacts, this newest of artifacts is certainly one of the most emotionally and historically powerful,” museum President Joe Daniels said as the display was unveiled Thursday, three days before the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks.
The flag’s absence, he said, “just felt like a hole in the history of this site.”
The flag is the centerpiece of one of the most resonant images of American fortitude on 9/11. After plucking the flag from a nearby boat, three firefighters hoisted it amid the ashen destruction as photographer Thomas E. Franklin of The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey, captured the scene. The Pulitzer Prize-winning picture inspired a postage stamp, sculpture and other tributes.
Monitors report unusual seismic activity in North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A European monitoring agency is reporting a 5.0 magnitude quake near North Korea’s northeastern nuclear test site. There was no immediate confirmation of a nuclear test, which such seismic activity has previously indicated.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Friday it could not immediately confirm the cause, and the country’s weather agency said it was analyzing what might have happened. But the U.S. Geological Service reported an “explosion” in the area.
North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test earlier this year, part of its push for a nuclear-armed missile that could one day reach the U.S. mainland.
Study: Latino population growth slips behind Asian Americans
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The growth of the U.S. Latino population — once the nation’s fastest growing — slowed considerably over the past seven years and slipped behind that of Asian Americans amid declining Hispanic immigration and birth rates, a study released Thursday found.
The Pew Research Center study, which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data, found that the U.S. Hispanic population grew annually on average by 2.8 percent between 2007 and 2014.
That’s down from the 4.4 percent annual growth from 2000 to 2007, before the Great Recession.
By comparison, the Asian American population grew around 3.4 percent on average annually during the same period.
William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, the slower growth is largely a factor of the economy. A slower economy is influencing families to hold off on having more children, and it’s discouraging migration amid stronger border enforcement, he said.
US tries rescue mission in Afghanistan, hostages not found
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S special operations forces launched a rescue mission to retrieve two men kidnapped by insurgents in Afghanistan last month, but the hostages were not there when the rescue team arrived, U.S. defense officials said Thursday.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the rescue mission was approved by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and authorized by the president. Cook said no U.S. personnel or civilians were injured and added that he would not provide any more details “in order to protect the safety of hostages and operational security.”
According to defense officials, the mission was delayed one day because of questions about the intelligence and whether the hostages, an American and an Australian who worked at the American University of Afghanistan, were there. Officials would not provide the precise timing or location of the rescue attempt because they said it could jeopardize any possible future operations.
Because of questions about the intelligence — including the degree of confidence in the information that the men were at that location — administration officials did not forward the mission request to President Barack Obama until the next day, officials said. Obama approved the mission, and commandos went out that next night.
The officials said that when U.S. commandos arrived at the location, they killed seven enemy fighters. They said that based on interviews with people at the site, it’s still not clear if the hostages were ever there.
Forum puts focus on how Clinton is judged compared to Trump
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — For months, Hillary Clinton’s supporters have griped that she’s held to a higher, harder standard than Donald Trump. After Wednesday night’s forum on national security, those complaints became a rallying cry.
In the opening segment of the made-for-TV event, moderator Matt Lauer interrupted Clinton’s answer to his first question, about what it takes to be commander in chief, to set up 10 minutes of questions about her use of a private email system and her vote for the Iraq war.
Trump seemed to skate by a half hour later as he repeated — unchallenged — the false claim that he was against the war, even though he voiced support for it in a 2002 interview. When Lauer introduced a question about how the Republican nominee is boning up on issues, he told Trump, “nobody would expect you” to have delved deeply into foreign policy.
The forum underscored a debate that’s rapidly becoming a focal point in the race: Is the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. party being judged fairly? Clinton’s answer, unsurprisingly, is no.
“I don’t understand the reason for it,” Clinton said Thursday. “I find it frustrating, but it’s just part of the landscape that we live in and we just keep forging ahead.”
Clinton blasts Trump’s comments on military generals, Putin
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) — Hillary Clinton blasted Donald Trump Thursday for his condemnation of American military generals and his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying her Republican opponent had “failed” at proving he can be commander in chief.
“Every Republican holding or seeking office in this country should be asked if they agree with Donald Trump about these statements,” Clinton said in a news conference the morning after both candidates appeared at a national security forum.
Trump did not directly respond to Clinton’s critique Thursday. At a speech in Cleveland, he tagged his Democratic opponent with a new nickname — “trigger-happy Hillary” and repeated his incorrect claim that he opposed the war in Iraq “from the beginning.”
Still, Clinton indicated later in the day that she does not want the final weeks to be exclusively focused on Trump, unveiling plans for a series of policy speeches aimed at promoting a positive message. That effort started in Kansas City on Thursday night with an address on faith at the National Baptist Convention. Clinton did take some thinly veiled shots at Trump, but she also made an appeal to African-American voters and reflected on her Methodist faith.
“I’ve made my share of mistakes. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t,” said Clinton. “It’s grace that lifts us up and grace that leads us home.”