9 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(02/19/08 3:46am)
PRISTINA, Kosovo – The U.S. and major European powers recognized Kosovo on Monday, a day after the province’s ethnic Albanian leaders declared independence from Serbia. Ecstatic Kosovars danced in the streets when they heard of the endorsements.\nKosovo’s leaders sent letters to 192 countries seeking formal recognition and Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. were among the countries that backed the request. But other European Union nations were opposed, including Spain, which has battled a violent Basque separatist movement for decades.\n“The Kosovars are now independent,” President Bush said during a trip to Africa. \nSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush “has responded affirmatively” to Kosovo’s request to establish diplomatic relations.\n“The establishment of these relations will reaffirm the special ties of friendship that have linked together the people of the United States and Kosovo,” Rice’s statement said.\nSerbia withdrew its ambassador from Washington over the U.S. decision to recognize Kosovo.\nAs word of the recognition spread, ethnic Albanians poured into the streets of Kosovo’s capital Pristina to cheer and dance.\nThe republic’s new flag – a blue banner with a yellow silhouette of Kosovo and six white stars representing each of the main ethnic groups – fluttered from homes and offices. But Serb-controlled northern Kosovo was tense with thousands demonstrating against independence and an explosion damaging a U.N. vehicle. No one was hurt.\nBy sidestepping the U.N. and appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo’s independence set up a showdown with Serbia – outraged at the imminent loss of its territory – and Russia, which warned it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.\nRussia persuaded the U.N. Security Council to meet in emergency session Sunday in an attempt to block Kosovo’s secession. The council was to meet again later Monday.\nKosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic’s crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.\nNinety percent of Kosovo’s two million people are ethnic Albanian – most of them secular Muslims – and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.\nDespite calls for restraint, tensions flared in northern Kosovo, home to most of the territory’s 100,000 minority Serbs. An explosion damaged a U.N. vehicle outside the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, where thousands of Serbs demonstrated, chanting “this is Serbia!”\nThe crowds marched to a bridge spanning a river dividing the town between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian sides. They were confronted by NATO peacekeepers guarding the bridge, but there was no violence.\nIn a first sign that Serbia was attempting to retake authority in the north of Kosovo, some Serb policemen started leaving the multiethnic Kosovo police force on Monday and placed themselves under the authority of the Serbian government in Belgrade, a senior Kosovo Serb police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.\nAbout 320 Serb policemen are part of the U.N.-established force that has run Kosovo since 1999. The departure of Serb policemen in the force would likely trigger a confrontation with the U.N. administration.
(09/08/06 3:19am)
A thief who carried out Austria's most spectacular art heist of a $65 million Renaissance figurine was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.\nRobert Mang, an alarm systems expert who said he stole the prized work three years ago from Vienna's Art History Museum as a prank and described the caper as "child's play," had faced up to 10 years' imprisonment. The case triggered months of heated debate over whether the Austrian capital's famed museums had proper security.\nMang, 50, was convicted of the theft but was acquitted on a separate charge of attempted extortion after the court decided there was insufficient evidence to prove he allegedly threatened to destroy the prized work unless up to $13 million in ransom was paid.\nPolice recovered the 16th-century gold-plated "Saliera," or salt cellar, by Florentine master Benvenuto Cellini in January, a day after Mang turned himself in and confessed following the release of photos identifying him as the suspect. Mang has been jailed since his arrest.\nInvestigators said Mang had led them to the artwork, which was buried in a wooden case in a forest outside the town of Zwettl, about 55 miles north of Vienna. Museum officials have said the object was slightly damaged but was being restored.
(12/02/05 2:08pm)
VIENNA, Austria -- Two of America's allies in Iraq are withdrawing forces this month and a half-dozen others are debating possible pullouts or reductions, increasing pressure on Washington as calls mount to bring home U.S. troops.\nBulgaria and Ukraine will begin withdrawing their combined 1,250 troops by mid-December. If Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Poland and South Korea reduce or recall their personnel, more than half of the non-American forces in Iraq could be gone by next summer.\nJapan and South Korea help with reconstruction, but Britain and Australia provide substantial support forces and Italy and Poland train Iraqi troops and police. Their exodus would deal a blow to American efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over the most dangerous peacekeeping tasks and craft an eventual U.S. exit strategy.\n"The vibrations of unease from within the United States clearly have an impact on public opinion elsewhere," said Terence Taylor of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington. "Public opinion in many of these countries is heavily divided."\nAlthough the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq dwarfs the second-largest contingent -- Britain's 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in the Gulf region -- its support has shrunk substantially.\nIn the months after the March 2003 invasion, the multinational force numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries. That figure is now just less than 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave.\nIn the spring, the Netherlands had 1,400 troops in Iraq. Today, there are 19, including a lone Dutch soldier in Baghdad.\nUkraine's remaining 876 troops in Iraq are due home by Dec. 31, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Viktor Yushchenko. Bulgaria is pulling out its 380 troops after Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov said.\nIn his strategy for Iraq, announced Wednesday, President Bush said expanding international support was one of his goals. He also seemed to address the issue of more allies withdrawing.\n"As our posture changes over time, so too will the posture of our coalition partners," the document says. "We and the Iraqis must work with them to coordinate our efforts, helping Iraq to consolidate and secure its gains on many different fronts."\nStruggling to shore up the coalition, Bush stopped in Mongolia on his recent trip to Asia and praised its force of about 120 soldiers in Iraq as "fearless warriors."\nAt least 2,109 U.S. service personnel have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press count. At least 200 troops from other countries also have died, including 98 from Britain. \nOther tolls include: Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, one each.
(04/19/05 4:28am)
VATICAN CITY -- Black smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel's chimney Monday evening, signaling that the cardinals sequestered inside for the first papal conclave of the new millennium failed to elect a new pope.\nThe black smoke emanating shortly after 8 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT) meant the 115 voting cardinal "princes" of the church would retire for the night and return to the chapel Tuesday morning for more balloting in their search for a successor to Pope John Paul II.\nIf two morning ballots fail to produce a pope, the cardinals could hold two more votes Tuesday afternoon.\nSome 40,000 people who packed St. Peter's Square to stare at the stovepipe jutting from the chapel roof shouted, "It's black! It's black!" and snapped photos with their cell phones.\nWhite smoke will tell the world that the church's 265th pontiff has been chosen to succeed John Paul, who died April 2 at age 84.\nThe cardinals, from six continents and representing 52 countries, began their secret deliberations late in the afternoon after the ceremonial closing of the massive doors of the chapel, which is decorated with frescoes by Michelangelo and wired with electronic jamming devices to thwart eavesdropping.\nThe excitement built as darkness set in and pilgrims watched close-ups of the chimney on giant video screens in the square.\nAs the smoke began pouring from the chimney, shouts of "e bianco! e bianco!" -- "It's white! It's white!" -- rippled through the crowd. But the cries quickly gave way to sighs of disappointment as the smoke blackened.\n"At first it seemed that we had a new pope, so I had a lot of emotions. But of course we didn't really expect to have a pope on the first day," said Alessia Di Caro, a 23-year-old university student.\nThere was initial confusion when a Vatican Radio commentator said, "It seems white," as the first puffs emerged from the chimney. But as thick, darker smoke followed, the station proclaimed it black.\n"It looks like the stove wasn't working well at first," an announcer joked a few minutes later.\nBefore shutting themselves inside, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led his fellow cardinals in reading aloud an oath of secrecy. One by one, they then filed up to a Book of the Gospels, placed their right hands on it and pronounced a second oath to keep their sessions secret.\nRatzinger's admonition read, in part: "In a particular way, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and regarding what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly related to the results of the voting; we promise and swear not to break this secret in any way ..."\nRatzinger -- a powerful Vatican official often mentioned as a leading candidate for pope -- began by reciting a prayer at the palace. The cardinals chanted the Litany of the Saints as they made the short walk to the chapel, led by altar servers carrying two long, lit white candles and a metal crucifix.\nIn a stately and colorful procession carried live on television, they walked past a pair of Swiss Guards in red plumed hats standing at attention at the entrance to the chapel and took two steps into the voting area, where special devices were installed beneath a false floor to block cell phone calls or bugs in an unprecedented effort to secure the proceedings.\nMost of the cardinals were clad in crimson vestments and hats except for two Eastern Rite prelates -- Lubomyr Husar of Ukraine and Ignace Moussa I Daoud of Syria -- who wore black. Ratzinger entered the chapel last -- an honor bestowed upon the dean of the College of Cardinals.
(04/05/05 5:48am)
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II's body was carried solemnly on a crimson platform to St. Peter's Basilica, past a sea of more than 100,000 pilgrims who waited for hours Monday under a blistering sun for a glimpse of the late pontiff before his funeral and entombment.\nTwelve white-gloved pallbearers flanked by Swiss Guards in red-plumed helmets gingerly marched the body from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, where it had lain in state for prelates and dignitaries, to the basilica for display to the public. Priests chanted the Litany of the Saints.\nIncense wafted through the church where John Paul's body will be laid to rest Friday in an ancient grotto holding the remains of popes through the ages, after a heavily secured funeral to be attended by President Bush and dozens of other world leaders. Up to 2 million pilgrims are expected in Rome to pay their final respects.\nAs cardinals in their red robes and caps filed past the body, bowing and crossing themselves, a long line of faithful, tourists and Romans who had packed St. Peter's Square slowly snaked into the basilica.\nPilgrims gasped, dabbed away tears and snapped photographs as they circled John Paul's body, clad in a scarlet velvet robe, his head crowned with a white bishop's miter and a staff topped with a crucifix tucked under his left arm.\n"His face was suffering," said Sister Emma, a 76-year-old Italian nun who saw the pope's body. "I felt a sense of sadness even though I know he's in Heaven."\nChicago Cardinal Francis George said the cardinals prayed for about one hour before the procession started to St. Peter's. He said it was "quite moving" to see John Paul "laid out as if he were going to celebrate Mass." George said the pope looked "at peace, but a man who had suffered."\n"You see the face of death very clearly," he said. "This is a man for whom I'm extremely grateful."\nOn John Paul's feet were a pair of the simple brown leather shoes he favored during his 26-year pontificate and wore on many of his trips to more than 120 countries -- a poignant reminder of the legacy left by history's most-traveled pope.\n"I would like to tell him how much I love him," said Lorenzo Cardone, 9, waiting in line with his parents.\nSince the pope's death Saturday, St. Peter's Square has been transformed into an outdoor shrine of thousands of candles, farewell letters and notes scribbled on train tickets and tissues fused in puddles of melting candle wax. The scene was reminiscent of the impromptu tributes that swelled in Paris and London after the 1997 car crash that killed Princess Diana.\n"Yesterday there was almost nothing here, and now look at it," said Catherine Pech, who drove 12 hours from Switzerland with her husband and daughter to mourn the pope.\nHours before the body was moved to the basilica, the College of Cardinals -- meeting in tradition-bound secrecy -- set Friday as the date for the funeral in the first of a series of gatherings preceding their secret vote this month to elect a new pope.\nIt was not clear if they discussed other issues. Chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said there were 65 cardinals attending, and the remaining cardinals were heading to Rome.\nJohn Paul will be buried immediately after the funeral, which will include pageantry reserved for the highest prince of the church. The basilica was designed by Bramante and Michelangelo and dedicated in 1626. It was built on the site where St. Peter is believed to have been buried.\nNavarro-Valls said John Paul would "almost surely" be buried in the tomb where Pope John XXIII lay before he was brought up onto the main floor of the basilica. John XXIII was moved after his 2000 beatification because so many pilgrims wanted to visit his tomb, and the grotto is in a cramped underground space.\nMany of the world's dignitaries are expected to attend the funeral.\n"It will be a moment without precedent," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni told Repubblica Radio Monday. "Rome will grind to a halt."\nArchbishop Josef Clemens, secretary of the Vatican office for lay people and a former aide to top Vatican Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said not all the cardinal electors had arrived in time for Monday's first session. Asked about the atmosphere among the cardinals, he said, "Sad, but hopeful."\nNavarro-Valls made no mention of a date for the papal election, or conclave, implying that no such decision had been made. By church law, the conclave must occur within two weeks of the burial.\nMonday's procession of the body began at the Sala Clementina in the Apostolic Palace, where John Paul had lain in state since Sunday.\nTelevised by Vatican TV, it moved slowly through the frescoed halls, giving the general public a rare view of the inner sanctums of the Vatican. Many in the huge crowd who were too distant to see the pope watched images on giant screens set up in the square.\nBefore the procession, the camerlengo, or chamberlain, responsible for running church affairs in the time after the pope's death, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, said prayers and blessed the body with holy water as chanting echoed off the walls of the ornate Vatican hall.\nEmerging through the Bronze Door, the procession moved across St. Peter's toward the basilica's central doors to applause, an Italian gesture of respect. The pallbearers paused at the top of the stairs and turned the pope's body to face the crowd briefly before entering.\nMartinez presided over a prayer service in Latin before the public viewing.\n"When I saw him, it sunk in that he's no longer with us," said Evelina Prezzo, a 43-year-old Italian postal worker. "We see only the body, not the substance of what he has been, but we have the certainty that he is with the Father"
(02/11/05 4:46am)
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II left a Rome hospital in his white popemobile Thursday, 10 days after suffering breathing spasms that left him bedridden and rekindled debate about his ability to continue leading the Roman Catholic Church.\nUnder heavy security, the 84-year-old pope was bundled into the vehicle inside a covered entrance to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic to shield him from the winter chill. Police sealed off St. Peter's Square to tourists, and hundreds of cheering Romans lined the route to the Vatican.\nThe pontiff waved to the crowds and blessed the faithful standing along the two and one-half mile route to the Vatican. His return was broadcast live on television.\nThe bulletproof popemobile is equipped with a hydraulic lift, which makes it easier for the pontiff, who walks with difficulty, to get into than a limousine.\nPapal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said at midday Thursday that the frail pope had recovered completely from the breathing crisis that led to his urgent hospitalization Feb. 1, and his general condition continued to improve.\nNavarro-Valls said a battery of tests, including a CT scan, had ruled out any new illnesses.\nThe pope, who also suffers from Parkinson's disease and crippling hip and knee ailments, was rushed by ambulance to Gemelli two days after coming down with the flu. A Vatican official said the situation was "serious, very serious" when he first arrived at the hospital.\nThe pope's return to his apartment in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace coincided with the start of a traditional Lenten period of spiritual reflection for the pontiff, during which he has no public ceremonies. The break will give the pope a chance to regain his strength before Easter services without having to cancel anything.\n"When he gets back to the Vatican he will look over and decide with his doctors what his appointments will be," Navarro-Valls said.\nJohn Paul also planned to send a thank-you note to the doctors and nurses who attended him, the spokesman said.\nJohn Paul's hospitalization forced him to skip the Ash Wednesday ritual in St. Peter's Basilica for the first time in his 26-year papacy.\nDoctors at Gemelli never publicly discussed the pope's condition, but the Vatican press office issued its own medical bulletin every few days tersely describing his continued improvement. His doctors persuaded him to prolong his hospitalization just to be on the safe side.\nThe faithful will be watching Sunday to see if he makes another window appearance like he did last week from the hospital. Throughout the pope's hospitalization, scores of pilgrims from all over the world stood vigil beneath his window, trying to cheer him with prayers and songs.
(10/02/02 5:19am)
VIENNA, Austria -- Iraq agreed Tuesday to a plan for the return of U.N. weapons inspectors for the first time in nearly four years, but the deal ignores U.S. demands for access to Saddam Hussein's palaces and other contested sites.\nChief U.N. inspector Hans Blix said an advance team of inspectors could be in Iraq in two weeks if it gets the go-ahead from the U.N. Security Council.\nHe also said the agreement on logistics, hammered out in two days of talks in Vienna, called for "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access" to most suspect sites.\nBut, he said, eight presidential sites -- 12 square miles of territory -- would remain off-limits to surprise inspections unless the U.N. Security Council bends to U.S. demands that all sites be subject to unannounced visits.\nUnder a 1998 deal worked out between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Baghdad, the inspectors are not allowed to visit the presidential sites unannounced and must be accompanied by a team of international diplomats when they do.\nThe chief Iraqi negotiator, Gen. Amir al-Sadi, sought to deflect attention from the presidential sites.\n"Quite honestly, I don't understand why it is so critical," al-Sadi said, adding that on the whole, Baghdad was "happy with this agreement." He and Blix agreed that the issue of presidential sites had not been on the Vienna agenda.\n"We have come to a very practical arrangement, and we anticipate every inspection to go to a sensitive site," al-Sadi said.\nThe United States, meanwhile, moved negotiations on its tough new proposal for Iraq to the United Nations on Tuesday, meeting with permanent members of the Security Council opposed to authorizing force against Saddam before testing his willingness to cooperate.\nAt the meeting, ambassadors from the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China discussed the resolution's so-called "or else" clause which warns Saddam to cooperate or face military action from member states.\nThe draft resolution would also give member states the right to give military support to inspections.\nFrance and Russia vehemently oppose the U.S. position, with Paris floating its own proposal for a two-phased approach which would only authorize force if Iraq failed to cooperate with inspectors.\nBut a senior U.S. official in Washington told The Associated Press that all five veto-holding members agreed that a new system of inspections -- after a four year absence -- must be worked out to open Saddam's palaces.\nThe United States and Britain have drafted a new plan that would give Iraq seven days after adoption of the resolution to declare whether it would comply, and then 23 days to list all sites where weapons are stored, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.\nAlso, the resolution contains a provision giving inspectors the authority to declare "no-fly" and "no-drive" zones that would keep out Iraqi officials while the inspections proceed.\nThe State Department said any inspections should be deferred until a U.N. resolution is approved. However, spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration had no objection to inspectors making arrangements in advance.\n"We continue to work with other members of the council to come up with a resolution that makes clear the need for thorough and unfettered inspections and the need for consequences if Iraq refuses to cooperate," Boucher said. "They really don't understand quite yet that they have to disarm, they have to cooperate."\nBlix, who was to brief the Security Council on Thursday, said the talks focused on practical aspects of the renewed inspections, such as where the inspectors would fly and their security on the ground. The Iraqis were unable to guarantee the safety of inspector aircraft that might cross "no-fly" zones in parts of Iraq, he said.\nThe Iraqis handed over four CDs containing a backlog of monitoring reports for suspect sites and items, spanning June 1998 to July 2002, Blix said. Although that information was not yet analyzed, it will provide important clues about Iraqi weapons activity, he said.\n"It was promised to us in New York, and I'm glad it came here," Blix said.\nHe said the Iraqis were serious about allowing the return of his team despite the continuing standoff on the presidential sites. "There is a willingness to accept inspections that has not existed before."\nBritain welcomed the agreement but said it did not replace the need for a tough new Security Council resolution.\n"I welcome the work of Hans Blix and his colleagues and look forward to his report to the Security Council," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. "However, this work is not an alternative to the high priority we place on a new and tougher resolution in the Security Council."\nNearly four years ago, inspectors hunting for evidence of weapons of mass destruction withdrew from Iraq on the eve of U.S.-British airstrikes amid allegations that Baghdad was not cooperating with the teams.\nSanctions imposed on Iraq by the Security Council after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that any weapons of mass destruction it possesses have been dismantled.\nBy the end of the 1991 Gulf War, IAEA assessments indicated Saddam was six months away from building an atomic bomb. Inspectors discovered the oil-rich nation had imported thousands of pounds of uranium, some of which was already refined for weapons use, and had considered two types of nuclear delivery systems.\nOver the next six years, inspectors seized the uranium, destroyed facilities and chemicals, dismantled over 40 missiles and confiscated thousands of documents.
(10/01/02 5:00am)
VIENNA, Austria -- Opening talks with Iraqi experts Monday, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said he expected unfettered access to suspect sites if his teams return and full cooperation in the meantime to make that happen.\nChief inspector Hans Blix told reporters at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency that the talks would operate under the assumption that nothing in Iraq--including Saddam Hussein's palaces--will be off-limits to inspectors hunting for nuclear, biological and chemical weaponry.\n"The purpose of the talks is that if and when inspections come about, we will not have clashes inside" over what the inspectors will do, Blix said. "We'd rather go through these things outside in advance."\nIn the two days of discussions, both sides will discuss "practical arrangements" with the Iraqis for inspections, he said, such as where the inspectors would be based, their accommodations and security, and how samples would be taken out of the country for analysis. Blix said he would report back to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.\nThe Iraqis were supposed to bring a backlog of reports listing items they possess that could have military purposes. The lists must disclose the locations and current uses for those items.\nBriefing journalists 2 1/2 hours into Monday's talks, chief IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky called the atmosphere "businesslike" and said the discussions were "very thorough."\n"We're moving along nicely," he said. "They're all aware of the importance that there be no misunderstandings."\nIAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the success of a new weapons inspection mission would hinge on Saddam's promise of full cooperation.\nUnder a deal U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan cut with Baghdad in early 1998, the inspectors' access to eight so-called presidential sites encompassing a total of 12 square miles was restricted. The deal prevented them from carrying out surprise inspections at the sites, which include Saddam's palaces, and created a team of international diplomats to accompany inspectors when they did enter.
(09/11/02 4:29am)
VIENNA, Austria -- Sergei Dreznin knows it's risky to debut a musical about Sept. 11 on the anniversary of the attacks. \nHowever, Dreznin, a Moscow-born composer who lives in New York City, says he couldn't resist capturing how the spirit of New York has endured. He felt compelled as an artist, he says, "to tell the most important story that could possibly be told."\n"Vienna-New York Retour," which premieres Wednesday at Vienna's Metropol Theater, chronicles the destruction of the World Trade Center and the aftermath through the eyes of Suzanne, a struggling young singer who lands a dream role on Broadway on the eve of the attacks. \nDirector Jesse Webb, a native of Baton Rouge, La., who now lives in Berlin, said he had to overcome initial misgivings about the piece, which makes its U.S. debut later this year in Washington, D.C. \n"When Sergei first approached me, I told him, 'You can't do this. You can't write a musical about Sept. 11,"' Webb said. \n"Then I realized that a lot of people have never really processed what happened. It just sat there in their subconscious. We've been careful not to wallow in the sentimental aspect of the attack. We just want to offer a means for dealing with it." \nOn the morning of the attacks, Suzanne sets out from Queens for her first rehearsal in Manhattan. She is fretting about being late, when an ominous announcement comes over the subway's public address system: "Service on the L-train to downtown Manhattan will be suspended indefinitely." \nAgainst a backdrop of still photos and video images from the moments before the attack -- investment bankers in wingtips toting attaches, children with book bags heading to school -- the scene moves to Brooklyn Heights, where dot-com worker Gerald Ackerman is at his desk with a breathtaking view of the towers just across the river. \n"A day like every day. Like every other day. A beautiful day," Ackerman muses. Seconds later, his office is engulfed in screams of, "Oh my God!" and, "Oh, Sweet Jesus!" \nTo the searing guitar licks of Austrian rock band Slash, the action moves to free-lance journalist Amy Hendricks, at street level with a video camera and overwhelmed by the snippets of chaos and conversation swirling around her. "Screaming fire engines ... ambulances ... masses of people in the street, just staring." \nThe musical ends with Suzanne struggling to understand a post-attack New York she barely recognizes. "When will we learn?" she asks. "Dresden. Belfast. 'Jews Forbidden.' 'Manifest Destiny.' As from a warm bed into a cold night, we leave the life we had." \nThe opera's plot is largely autobiographical: Suzanne Carey, a Missoula, Mont., native who sings the lead, was supposed to meet with Dreznin on Sept. 11, 2001. \n"Of course, I couldn't get there -- the entire subway system was down," said Carey, who now lives in Austria and has starred in numerous productions, including Roman Polanski's "Dance of the Vampires," which premiered in Vienna. "Vampires," now substantially rewritten and starring Michael Crawford, will open on Broadway in November. \n"I'm drawn to the strength of the human spirit against huge obstacles," Dreznin said.