New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg began the ceremony saying that the children carried "both our deepest memories and the bright promise of tomorrow." In twos they stepped forward at Ground Zero. The sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters of the Sept. 11 victims, recited the 2,792 names of the World Trade Center victims. 200 children were the key figures leading the mourning, showing extraordinary poise as they read the enormous list of victims for 2 1/2 hours. The children, the youngest was 7, offered poignant messages to their lost loves ones, their emotions laid bare before a crowd that held aloft pictures of the victims, dabbed tears from their eyes, and laid flowers in temporary reflecting pools representing the towers. The two years since the attack seemed to disappear as speakers surrendered to their emotions. Some family members used their hands to scoop up dirt from the site as a keepsake, slipping it into bags and empty water bottles. For many, it may provide the only link to their lost relatives; authorities estimate the remains of as many as 1,000 victims may never be identified. The crowd of thousands observed a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane slammed into the north tower. At sunset, two light beams pointing skyward were switched on, evoking the image of the twin towers. They will go dark Friday at daybreak. For a second year, family and friends of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed in the trade center attack gathered in Central Park for a memorial service. The group met beneath a white tent festooned with an American flag. In Manhattan, the footprint of the trade center's north tower was outlined by a 4-foot fence draped with banners bearing drawings and messages painted by children of the victims. Family members of victims walked down a ramp into the pit of the site. Some knelt to touch the trade center's bedrock; others hugged or wept. Some families of the 700 New Jersey victims in the trade center attended ceremonies in their home state, including the unveiling of black marble monuments for the 37 residents of Middletown, N.J., killed by the terrorists. Thousands of victims' relatives, some holding flowers and portraits of their loved ones, took part in an almost four-hour long solemn ceremony at the site. Some wore T-shirts imprinted with portraits of the dead, police and firefighters wore dress uniforms, bagpipes were played and many were tearful. Just this week, the last funeral took place for one of the 343 firefighters killed and unidentified remains were found on a scaffolding a block away from the trade center site. Across New York, there were quiet reminders of the anniversary on nearly every corner, with the red, white and blue of the US flag omnipresent, pasted in apartment windows or fluttering outside office buildings and shops. The minute's silence at Ground Zero was preceded by the mournful tone of a solo bagpiper, accompanied by two drummers, as members of the emergency services carried the battered Stars and Stripes that flew over the World Trade Center site during the rescue and recovery operations. Among the family members, many wept as the names of their loved ones were read out and clutched framed photographs of their dead mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers. All the relatives wore coloured ribbons on their chests, with black for mourning and yellow to symbolise hope. The moment of silence was also observed in New York's normally bustling Times Square where people stood and watched the commemorations on giant television screens.

 

 

A moment of silence was observed at the Pentagon for the 184 victims there. And President Bush stood in silence on the White House lawn. "We remember the heroic deeds," Bush said. "We remember the compassion, the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day. We pray for the husbands and wives, the moms and dads, and the sons and daughters and loved ones." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld presided over a ceremony at the Pentagon and attended a wreath-laying at nearby Arlington National Cemetery. The September 11 terror attacks were marked in the US Congress with a somber ceremony in the US Senate, and a full slate of commemorative events was planned for the day. Senate leaders rang a "bell of remembrance" initiating four separate minutes of silence over the course of the morning. The House of Representatives, which also held a ceremony observing a minute of silence, was to take up two bills honoring those who died in the attacks. "The True American Heroes Act of 2003," would posthumously honor police, fire emergency workers and others who perished in the attacks, with the Congressional gold medal. Another bill would establish a memorial in Washington to Americans who died in terrorist acts against the United States at home and abroad. Lawmakers from both chambers also held a midday remembrance ceremony Thursday on the steps of the Capitol building. President Bush attended a church service of remembrance and prayers for the victims of the New York attacks and of the simultaneous crash of two other hijacked planes -- one into the Pentagon and the other into a field in Pennsylvania.

 

 

In rural Pennsylvania, church bells began tolling solemnly shortly after 10 a.m. to mark the moment Flight 93 crashed. The plane was believed to be headed to the nation's capital; it went down as the passengers fought back against the hijackers. "I feel incredibly proud for what my nephew did and those brave souls and what a difference they made," said Candyce Hoglan, whose nephew Mark Bingham was among the passengers. "They prevented those monsters from continuing on with their plan."

 

 

Across the world, people and governments marked the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Thursday with prayers, promises to continue fighting terrorism, and reflections on the changes that have been wrought internationally. In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Cabinet stood to observe a minute's silence in memory of the more than 3,000 victims. Later, Princess Anne planned to open a garden of remembrance near the U.S. Embassy dedicated to the 67 British people who died in New York's World Trade Center. A twisted metal girder recovered from the Twin Towers is buried beneath the garden.  At Yokosuka Naval Base just south of Tokyo, U.S. military personnel held a wreath-laying service. In Baghdad, the U.S. administrator for Iraq and the commander of American forces joined about 100 civilians and soldiers for a moment of silence at Saddam Hussein's former Republican Palace in Baghdad. L. Paul Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez bowed their heads as a bagpiper played "Amazing Grace." At the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, U.S. Charge d' Affaires Joseph Mussomeli laid a wreath by the mission's flagpole, where the American flag was at half-staff. In Australia, hundreds of expatriate Americans and volunteers planted some 3,000 trees in a Sydney park in remembrance of the dead, who included at least 10 Australians. Top Russian officials paid homage to the Sept. 11 victims, saying Russia's solidarity with America was born from shared experience. "The day on which the black cloud of dust from the collapsed skyscrapers overcast the blue sky over New York will go down in world history," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in a statement. In Brussels, Belgium, the 15 European Union governments issued a joint statement reaffirming their "close solidarity" with the United States and other countries hit by terrorism and their "great determination" to combat terrorism through the "broadest possible international cooperation." In China's Muslim northwest, the regional Communist Party secretary seized the occasion to warn that separatists in the country's Xinjiang region were getting training from international terrorists, including at "several training camps in Pakistan." In Muslim majority Pakistan, about 100 students and teachers at a small Christian school in the central city of Multan lit candles and observed a minute's silence to mark the anniversary. India, which has accused Pakistan of fomenting terrorism, declared Thursday to be Anti-Terrorism Day. In Afghanistan, people on Kabul's streets reveled in the changes since the United States ousted the Taliban regime. Across Japan, people paid their respects at memorials to the victims, including 24 Japanese.