People gather along the north reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in Manhattan, New York, U.S., Sept. 11, 2016.
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“September 11, 2001, touched every single one of us”, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday during a memorial service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the city’s fire department.
A ceremony is also being held in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines flight 93 crashed after passengers fought with the terrorists who had taken control of the plane, preventing them from striking a target in Washington. Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was killed in 2011 by US special forces, but there are many others who have chosen to follow in his bloody footsteps and wage a terrorist war on America.
The first of what will be six moments of silence was observed at 8.46am ( 8.46pm Singapore time) – the time when the first hijacked passenger jet hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Sunday marks the start of the NFL season in the United States, and those attending the American football games and watching on television will watch video messages from both Obama and Bush.
A man grieves outside the World Trade Center site in New York September 11, 2006. “Terribly, terribly, terribly. Not a day goes by that we don’t remember him”, Acquarviva told Reuters.
Many of them died while running up stairs in the hope of reaching victims trapped on the towers’ higher floors.
President Obama will join Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr.at a private ceremony for victims’ relatives at the Pentagon Memorial at 10 a.m. The New York remembrance is a private event attended by families and local officials.
During the first moment of silence at 8:46 am, the time when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower, houses of worship in NY have been asked to toll their bells.
At 10:03 a.m. (1403 GMT) United Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the final moment of silence was observed at 10:28 a.m. (1428 GMT) when the North Tower fell.
The minute of silence at 9:03 a.m. marked the time when United Airlines flight 175 hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
As evening falls across New York City on Sunday, scores of 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs will project two giant beams of blue light into the night sky to represent the fallen twin towers, fading away at dawn.
Countries in the Middle East from Libya to Syria are engulfed in war, providing a fertile ground for Al-Qaeda affiliates to breed, and Europe has been tormented by attacks inspired by the Islamic State group.
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“In the face of terrorism, how we respond matters”, he said in his weekly address.
