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Replacing Trade Center rail terminal two years away

Recovery work continues in New York on Friday.

SUMMARY:

Transportation officials announced that construction to restore commuter rail service between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey should be complete in two years. Before September 11, about 65,000 people entered and exited the PATH commuter train -- which links Manhattan and New Jersey -- at the World Trade Center stop. Since terrorist attacks destroyed that stop, commuters have used one north of the Trade Center.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners approved a plan for a temporary station in the Lower Manhattan area until the $544-million permanent station opens in December 2003.

Meanwhile, the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans on legislation to help move the slumping U.S. economy out of recession continued Friday, despite signs of possible movement just a few days earlier.

UPDATE:

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Friday morning that deep differences still remain between the two political parties on an economic stimulus bill. (Full story)

U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones ordered Zacarias Moussaoui, a 33-year-old French Moroccan, moved to Virginia, where he will stand trial on conspiracy charges in connection with the hijackings and attacks that killed about 3,300 people. Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota a month before the attacks on immigration charges after he aroused suspicion by trying to buy time on a jumbo jet flight simulator at a flight school. (Full story)

Osama Awadallah, 21, a Jordanian-born college student and permanent U.S. resident, left a federal courthouse on Thursday after posting $500,000 bail on charges he lied to a federal grand jury. Prosecutors say Awadallah acknowledged before a grand jury that he knew two of the men who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and steered it into the Pentagon. (Full story)

Two men carrying box cutters and $5,600 in cash when authorities arrested them on a train in Texas in mid-September are not connected with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, law enforcement sources said Thursday. But the two remain in custody on immigration charges. (Full story)

A man whose phone number was found in the car of one of the men suspected of carrying out the September 11 terrorist attacks pleaded guilty to a minor check forgery charge on Thursday. A federal law enforcement official said authorities were not able to tie Mohamed Abdi, a Somali native and naturalized U.S. citizen, to the terrorists.

Tests revealed traces of anthrax on a U.S. State Department mail pouch in Vienna, Austria, department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday. Mail pouches bound for the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, and Vilnius, Lithuania -- held along with the Vienna pouch in October -- also tested positive for traces of anthrax last month. (Full story)

• Summary   • Update   • Key questions   • Who's who   • Victims   • Impact

REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS   •  Emergency information   •  Partial list of victims   •  Victims story archives

CNN.COM SPECIAL REPORT  CNN NewsPass Video  Agencies reportedly got hijack tips in 1998  MORE STORIES Intelligence intercept led to Buffalo suspects Report cites warnings before 9/11  EXTRA INFORMATION Timeline: Who Knew What and When? Interactive: Terror Investigation Terror Warnings System Most wanted terrorists What looks suspicious? In-Depth: America Remembers In-Depth: Terror on Tape In-Depth: How prepared is your city?  RESOURCES On the Scene: Barbara Starr: Al Qaeda hunt expands? On the Scene: Peter Bergen: Getting al Qaeda to talk

KEY QUESTIONS:

What order did President Bush give that allows for the detention of terrorism suspects? Click here for more

Could the detainees be held for years? Click here to learn more on one case

Learn about one tool the FBI may be using to investigate suspects.

What is the government doing to fortify homeland defense? Click here for more

What are tips to know in the wake of the attacks? Click here for more

WHO'S WHO:

George W. Bush: U.S. president Click here for more.

Laura Bush: First lady of the United States, she has become more visible since the terrorist attacks, making public appearances urging parents and teachers to help reassure children that everything is being done to try to keep them safe. Click here for more

Tom Ridge: Director of the U.S. Office of Homeland Security, a new Cabinet-level position Click here for more

Richard Clarke: Head of efforts to safeguard information systems for the Office of Homeland Security Click here for more

Wayne Downing: Retired Army general tapped as deputy national security adviser Click here for more

Joe Allbaugh:The chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Click here for more

Dr. David Satcher: Surgeon General of the United States

Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan: Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Click here for more

Rudy Giuliani: Mayor of New York Click here for more

Michael Bloomberg: Mayor-elect of New York

Anthony A. Williams: Mayor of Washington

Dr. Ivan Walks: Director of the Department of Health for the District of Columbia

Paul O'Neill: Treasury secretary

Norman Y. Mineta:Transportation secretary

Jane Garvey: FAA administrator

VICTIMS:

The latest figures provided by federal and local officials give the following numbers of people dead or missing from the September 11 attacks.

WORLD TRADE CENTER: According to New York City officials, the death toll is 3,040. That figure includes 2,545 people who are missing and presumed dead, including the 157 on the two hijacked planes; 487 bodies have been identified.

PENTAGON: 64 dead on hijacked plane; another 125 missing and presumed dead

PENNSYLVANIA: 44 confirmed dead on hijacked plane

IMPACT:

The attacks of September 11 have sparked new debate about balancing the protection of U.S. citizens with the protection of the civil rights of those suspected of terrorism.

While the United States is proud of the freedoms and the legal rights guaranteed by the Constitution, authorities and many citizens have argued those people who seek to destroy America do not deserve such protections while they represent an ongoing threat to the country.

While those arguments continue, so do the threats against U.S. interests. Security remains high at airports, certain industries and many government facilities.