Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta (Arabic: محمد محمد الأمير عوض السيد عطا, Muḥammad Muḥammad al-Āmir ‘Awaḍ as-Sayyid ‘Aṭā) (September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and one of the ringleaders of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.
Born in 1968 in a small town in Egypt's Nile Delta, Atta moved with his family to the Abdeen section of Cairo at the age of 10. Atta studied architecture at Cairo University, graduating in 1990, and continued his studies in Hamburg, Germany at the Technical University of Hamburg. In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the al-Quds Mosque, where he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ziad Jarrah, together forming the Hamburg cell. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, spending some time in Afghanistan, including several months in late 1999 and early 2000 when he met Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders. Atta and the other Hamburg cell members were recruited by bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the "planes operation" in the United States. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, and began inquiring about flight training in the United States.
Ziad Samir Jarrah (Arabic: زياد سمير جراح, Ziyād Samīr Ǧarrāḥ) (May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of the masterminds of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville—after a passenger uprising—as part of the coordinated attacks.
After a wealthy and secular upbringing, Jarrah moved to Germany in 1996. He became involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks while attending TUHH in the late 1990s, meeting Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, forming in 1998 what is now known as the Hamburg cell. Jarrah was recruited by Osama bin Laden for the attacks in 1999. Unique among the hijackers, he was close to his family and girlfriend.
Jarrah arrived in the United States in June 2000, he trained at Florida Flight Training Center from June 2000 to January 2001, after relocating to Florida from New Jersey.
On September 7, 2001, Jarrah flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark. On September 11, Jarrah boarded United 93, and he is believed to have taken over as the pilot of the aircraft along with his team of hijackers, which included Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami and Ahmed al-Haznawi who together made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol or the White House, since the passengers started a revolt against the hijackers.
Amanda Rose Keller (born 25 February 1962) is an Australian journalist, radio and television presenter, and media personality.
Keller went to Carlingford High School (NSW) and studied media and communications at Mitchell College of Advanced Education (MCAE) as a contemporary of Andrew Denton (among others). She was a broadcaster with on-campus community radio station 2MCE-FM. Keller has no recorded entries of undertaking services to the community during her years at primary school or high school or while an undergraduate student.
Her first professional media job was in 1983 as a researcher for the popular children's television show, Simon Townsend's Wonder World! She was later a researcher and producer for Good Morning Australia when Gordon Elliott and Kerri-Anne Kennerley were hosts. By 1985, she was a researcher and producer for Ray Martin's Midday show, where she first began to appear regularly on camera.
In 1987, she left Midday to appear in the pilot for Richard Neville's counter-culture programme Extra Dimensions, which was produced by the same team that made Beyond 2000. Extra Dimensions folded after the first season. Keller's luck changed when she was signed to Beyond 2000, the internationally popular science programme, where she won numerous media awards including the United Nations Association of Australia's Media Peace Award in 1989, and the Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism.