New Yorkers were stunned and disbelieving at the news of another devastating air crash, killing 262 at the last count, just two months after the trauma of Black Tuesday. American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus 300 bound for the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo, nosedived into New York's waterfront Queens district, less than 10 km from the John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12.

	SMOKE ON THE WATERFRONT: Firemen tackle the crash site

The scene was eerily reminiscent of the earlier tragedy-plumes of smoke from aviation-fuel-triggered fires rose from several houses even six hours after the crash. And this neighbourhood was home to at least 10 fire-fighters who died in the rescue attempts at the WTC twin towers.

However, the National Transportation Safety Board, the main investigating agency, said that the flight recorder had been recovered. It joined the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration in emphasising there was no indication that the crash was anything other than an accident. At the same time, investigators haven't ruled out terrorist involvement.

The crash could not have come at a more inopportune time. It has sent a fresh wave of fear among the already traumatised American public, while the stunned airline industry is preparing for reburial. Even with the post September 11 decision by US lawmakers to cough up $15 billion in aid, the seat occupancy rate had become dismal and airlines were slashing many routes off their lists.

-Shuchi Sinha

SIGHTINGS
Osama the Omnipresent

The man the world seeks is all over

American President George W. Bush and arch enemy Osama bin Laden have both claimed that God is on their side, but bin Laden manages at least one trick more than Bush to buttress his claim: he's omnipresent. The so-called poster boy of terrorism who is now more sought after than Elvis Presley has been spotted in more places than that undying icon of rock.

	SHOW TOPPER: Osama lookalikes on Jay Leno's show

Sometime before five of him appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno he was spotted by earnest spycatchers in locales as far apart as Pakistan occupied Kashmir and-the CIA and the FBI must be sleeping-in bookstores across the US. In between he has also had time to put in guest appearances across Macedonia and Xinjiang in China, both of which have their share of Islamic radicals. The more plausible sightings were probably the ones in Kabul and at a kidney hospital in Peshawar, but all hopes of an American posse bringing him in trussed and bound have disappeared long ago.

Whatever his fate, bin Laden has captured more mindspace and occupied more nightmares than anyone since Hitler. He's not the Scarlet Pimpernel; but he is damned elusive alright.

-Samrat Choudhury