Black box found in US search

People are desperately searching for loved ones

US investigators have found a black box flight recorder from the hijacked airliner that crashed in Pennsylvania, as the number of those missing after Tuesday's devastating attacks climbed to 5,000.

The United States is on heightened alert. Flights over New York were stopped just a few hours after US airspace reopened.

A man carrying a false pilot's identification was arrested at New York's John F. Kennedy international airport.

Make no mistake about it, my resolve is steady and strong about winning this war that has been declared on America

President Bush

And there are reports that the Pentagon is considering calling up reservists.

The Capitol building, seat of the US Congress, was briefly evacuated on Thursday while police checked reports of a suspicious package.

President George Bush has promised that America will "lead the world to victory" over terrorism in a conflict he described as the first war of the 21st century.

In other developments:

• The White House declared Friday a national day of prayer and remembrance.
• Nato and Russia pledged increased co-operation to defeat the "scourge of terrorism".
• In the FBI's biggest ever operation many of the hijackers have been identified - some were trained as pilots in the US.
• The FBI said 18 hijackers were believed to have commandeered the four airliners.
• Secretary of State Colin Powell says Osama Bin Laden is a prime suspect. But the Taleban in Afghanistan reject the accusations against him.
• Vice-President Dick Cheney was moved from Washington to Camp David as a precaution.
• The New York bureau of the US Secret Service, which had 200 staff, was destroyed when the World Trade Center collapsed.

A senior US official said more than one group could have been involved in planning and carrying out the attacks.

He said the government did not want to be premature in declaring the Saudi-born dissident, Osama Bin Laden, as the main suspect.

Click here to see a map of New York's damaged buildings

Thousands of people remain buried in New York beneath the wreckage of the World Trade Center - according to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Another 190 people are thought to have died in the Pentagon in Washington.

Black box

The flight data recorder from United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania killing all 45 people on board, was found at the crash site, transport officials said.

Death toll

All 266 on board the four planes

About 190 feared dead at the Pentagon

94 bodies found at the WTC, but thousands thought to remain inside

Nearly 100 Britons confirmed dead

At least 259 rescue workers missing, feared dead

The black box could shed light on what happened during the flight after the plane left Newark bound for San Francisco.

It was the only hijacked plane not to hit a US landmark building.

US airspace, closed since the attacks, was reopened at 1100EDT (1500GMT), with airports being allowed to resume operations on a case-by-case basis.

But by late Thursday the authorities had ordered the closure of all New York's airports due to what officials said was "FBI activity."

Bush visit

President Bush plans to visit New York on Friday.

He also said Americans should resist any temptation to retaliate for the attacks by targeting individual, innocent Arab-Americans and Muslims.

"Now's the time for the country to be united", he said.

In New York, distraught relatives have been carrying photographs of their loved ones onto the city streets in attempts to trace them.

But with no flood of injured victims reaching hospital, the worst fears for the missing appear to have been confirmed.

Miracle denied

A report during the day of a miraculous rescue of five firefighters turned out to be erroneous, denting hopes that people were still to be found under the rubble.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani warned that the current figure of 4,763 missing may not represent an accurate death toll.

Several hundred firemen and police officers remain among those unaccounted for.

Many foreigners are also dead, including at least 100 from the UK.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said they now estimated around 190 people died when a plane ploughed into the defence building. This included 64 people on board the airliner.

Unprecedented search

The scale of the US search for those behind the attacks is unprecedented.

The authorities are throwing all their resources at the case - more than 4,000 FBI special agents, with more than 3,000 support staff.

The FBI has been following up hundreds of leads and conducted searches across the country.

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