More than 30,000 tonnes of WTC’s steel scrap has been exported to India and other parts of Asia. One shipload landed in Chennai, and was collected by a company. An unidentified Indian trader also bought an undisclosed amount of the debris. The scrap is possibly contaminated with asbestos, PCBS, cadmium, mercury and diosins.

No remains of the 2,823 victims have been linked to any of the known  hijackers. Nor have any requests for their remains been received so far.

The US’ National Reconnaissance Office was planning an exercise last September 11, in which an aircraft crashes into one of its buildings. It was to be a simulated accident. The agency had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet crashes into one of the four towers at the agency’s headquarter building after a mechanical failure. The reason: to test employee ability to respond to a disaster. When the real-world crashes began, the agency cancelled the exercise.

A California-based insurance company has offered free insurance policies for the 300 search and rescue dogs that helped at Ground Zero. Owners of 89 of the dogs have accepted the offer.

Eight American cable television networks will suspend programming on the morning of September 11 to honour its victims. They will fade to black. Then for the following hour and 43 minutes, they will show a scroll of the names of the attack
victims.

9/11 Books: War Without End

At least a 100 new books on the event have been released. Our picks:

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal His thesis: the attacks are being used as an excuse to curtail American civil liberties. Article The End of Liberty rejected by Vanity Fair.

9-11 by Noam Chomsky His take on the attacks: America is a terrorist nation, and on that day in September, the chickens just came home to roost.

War Without End by DIlip Hiro Begins as a riveting history of Islam. Ends with a fine analysis of the Bush doctrine—"a recipe for war without end".

9/11, The Big Lie by Thierry Meyssan His theory: a US military faction in the government zapped two remote controls to guide two planes into the WTC and a US missile into the Pentagon. 

Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani Reminiscences of the day by the steely former mayor of New York.

The Cell by John Miller and Michael Stone Dissects the world’s most fatal intelligence failures that led to the attack.

A New Deal for New York by Mike Wallace The Pulitzer prize-winning historian talks about 9/11 and the effect on city planning.

9/11 Music: God Is Back

He marks a return in pop albums released after the WTC attacks. A checklist:

The Rising by Bruce Springsteen In this new album, the Boss sings: "I pray for strength, Lord/With these hands."

Heathen by David Bowie The rocker tells God to better give us battered humans a break soon or "I might just stop
loving You".

Halos and Horns by Dolly Parton Implores this pop diva: "Hello, God...are you listenin’ any more?"

Busted Stuff by Dave Matthews His is a song about a despondent woman who continues praying "there’s still a hope in hell He might" (hear).

9/11 TV: Surf’s Free

A look at what will be beamed on the first anniversary

CNN: Its Special programming deploys 25 anchors and correspondents around the world to bring 30 "behind the scene" reports. Includes Christiane Amanpour from Kabul and Pak special.

BBC: Talking Movies interviews people behind "Attack and Aftermath: Documenting September 11" by the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York.

9/11 TV: Telly Tales

Lifetime: Now showing "Stories of Hope, Healing and Courage", a documentary on how five women were affected by the attacks.

Sundance: The channel will have two anthologies to celebrate New York and address the horror. NY, NY, airing September 9, is a series of classic New York-centric pictures.

9/11 TV: Telling Tales

ESPN: Its two specials The Bravest Team and Outside the Lines featuring topics ranging from the New York City Fire Department’s football team to sports in a post-Taliban Afghanistan.

ABC: The programme Love’s Legacy: The Babies of 9/11 takes a look at the pregnant wives left widowed on that day.