Mourning Around The World
Britain showed its solidarity with America Thursday, expressing sympathy for America's losses and its own.
The government announced there may have been as many as 500 Britons who died in the World Trade Center attacks, CBS News Chief European Correspondent Tom Fenton reports.
For the first time in history, the ceremony of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was altered. The band played the American National Anthem. and with Prince Andrew and American Ambassador William Farish in attendance, there were two minutes of silence for the victims.
Americans wept, waved the Stars and Stripes and sang softly Thursday as a military band played the anthem. Queen Elizabeth II ordered the break with tradition as a gesture of solidarity with the American people suffering from the worst terrorist strike ever to hit their land.
Mourning the loss of so many lives, nations from Albania to South Korea ordered flags flown at half-staff, declared national days of mourning and observed periods of silence.
In London, thousands of onlookers and hundreds of Americans stood eight deep at Buckingham Palace's front gates and lined the road to the queen's main residence. Some carried miniature American flags.
Flowers are also being brought to the American embassy in London, along with notes of sympathy. There has been a constant stream of mourners since early Wednesday.
Much of the world did come together Thursday to remember the victims. Russian television and radio stations halted their broadcasts, church bells tolled across Austria, and German leaders quietly gathered on the steps of the chancellory in Berlin.
"I am here to show that the German people feel for the American people," said 37-year-old Berndt Mattig, who joined hundreds in front of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, amid a sea of flowers spread along the street leading up to the building.
Across Scandinavia, a minute of silence brought buses and trams to a temporary halt. Finnish tram driver Mika Savela, 31, said, "Innocent people were killed, and we showed our respect for them and their families." Norway's King Harald V and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg gathered in Oslo Cathedral for a memorial service, and flags in Turkey flew at half-staff.
The terror attacks also prompted unusual unity and an outpouring of sympathy from China.
Putting aside months of angry words over Taiwan and a spy plane collision, Chinese President Jiang Zemin offered help with rescue efforts.
In Japan, professional baseball players and 14,000 fans observed a moment of silence before their game at Osaka Dome.
Lloyd's of London rang the Lutine Bell, the famous bell salvaged from a British frigate in the 19th century, which traditionally is rung to signal news of a missing ship, but has been rung to mark other losses, such as the death of Princess Diana.
French and Polish leaders attended special memorial services, while the leaders of Croatia, Albania, Czech Republic and South Koea joined other states in declaring Friday a day of national mourning. The South Koreans said they would blow sirens for one minute followed by a silent prayer, while Romania's Orthodox Church scheduled memorial prayers in all churches and monasteries on Friday. Greenland and Bulgaria also planned to hold a minute's silence on Friday.
Media around the world struggled to find words for the suicide attacks on American nerve centers. Some of the words they chose: "Hell," "War," "Armageddon."
Television networks from Bangladesh to Finland carried blanket, round-the-clock coverage, repeatedly showing footage of the planes ramming the World Trade Center on Tuesday, smoke billowing from the Pentagon, survivors covered in soot.
Italian newspapers touched on the darkest fear of many people: "Now we really are at war," the Corriere della Sera said in a front-page editorial. "And what's worse, the enemy is an invisible one."
La Stampa likened the attacks to Japan's World War II assault on Pearl Harbor.
Russia's newspapers all carried similar headlines, describing the attacks as "Armageddon" and "Apocalypse."
Britain's Times predicted the attacks would change the course of history. "Terror for all. The day that changed the modern world," was the title of its editorial.
In Finland, the Helsingin Sanomat, Finland's largest daily, broke a decades-old tradition and covered its front page — which usually only features advertisements — with news of the attack.
Japan's major dailies reserved the first eight pages of their morning editions to news of the terror. Evening papers were entirely devoted to the news.
"Simultaneous terror hits America's heart," said a towering headline on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun. Several inside pages were simply a grisly gallery of photographs.
Newspapers in Syria, an Islamic nation suspected of promoting terrorism, condemned the attacks and expressed sympathy.
"Black Tuesday in the United States," said a headline in the state-run Al-Baath.
In Jordan, the daily al-Aswaq also denounced the attack, with the headline, "Doomsday in America."
But papers in Iraq, which waged war with President Bush's father, described the strikes as due punishment.
"Now, America is gaining the fruits of its worldwide crime," the state-run al-Iraq newspaper said.
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