Commemmorative events took place all across the US and the world today as the victims of the 9/11 atrocities were remembered on the five year anniversary.
Tears were shed at the sombre ceremony at Ground Zero in New York today which saw relatives read out the names of the 2,749 killed in the New York attacks.
Memorial services were also held at the Pentagon where another hijacked jet hit, as well as field in Pennsylvania where a fourth plane crashed.
The city of New York also fell silent at four points during the day to mark the exact time each jet crashed.
US President George W Bush laid a wreath at Ground Zero yesterday, vowing that he was “never going to forget the lessons of that day.”
Accompanied by his wife Laura, he then attended a prayer service at St. Paul’s Chapel, followed by a surprise stop at a firehouse and a memorial museum overlooking the vast gash in the ground where the twin towers once stood.
Many victims' families will gather at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan today, where a moment of silence at 8.46am (1.46pm UK time) will mark the exact time the first jet hit the north tower, beginning a day of unprecedented horror.
Across the city, bells will toll at houses of worship before a group of 200 spouses and partners begin reading aloud the names of all those who were killed.
There will be three further periods of silence, at
9.03am, 9.59am and 10.29am, marking the times when the south tower was struck, and when it and then the north tower collapsed.
Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to attend a memorial in Halifax, N.S., along with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Twenty-four Canadians died in the attacks.
President Bush is expected to make a formal TV address to the nation from the Oval Office at 2100 (0100 GMT) tonight.
It is just the fifth time Mr Bush will make such an address to the American people - the first was on the day of the attacks.
White House spokesman Tony Snow told AFP that Mr Bush's planned address "is not a political speech".
"It is a reflection of what 11 September has meant to the president, and to the country; the realities that it has brought to all of our attention and how we can move forward together to try to win the war on terror," Mr Snow was quoted as saying.