A White House official said that Secretary of State Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton will represent the administration at commissioning of a Navy assault ship built with steel from the felled World Trade Center towers.

Ms Clinton, who represented New York State before becoming President Barack Obama's top diplomat, will join the ceremony in New York City. The White House official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the schedule before it was announced to the public.

The USS New York arrived in its namesake city on November 1st 2009. The bow of the USD 1 billion ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tonnes of steel from the towers destroyed by hijacked jetliners in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

(Sourced from Associated Press)