TODAY: Monday September 13, 2021 ON THIS DAY

20 years ago (2001)

We told how President Bush had described the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington as “acts of war” and vowed to crush a “new deadly enemy”. And PM Tony Blair pledged his “full support” to America.

Some 2,977 people died when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes, flying two into the World Trade Centre and a third into the Pentagon.

A fourth came down in a field in Pennsylvania after a heroic passenger fightback.

68 years ago (1953)

In the Soviet Union

Nikita Khrushchev was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party after a power struggle following the death of Joseph Stalin.

Three years after winning power, he denounced Stalin’s brutal purges.

28 years ago (1993)

Israel’s PM Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn after signing the Oslo Accords which gave Palestine limited autonomy in the governance of the West Bank and Gaza.

It was hailed as a landmark moment but, in reality, the Accords had minimal impact on peace in the Middle East.