Compiled from news reports
From U.S. troops stationed in dusty post-9/11 battle zones to dignitaries in capitals across the globe, the world paid tribute Sunday to the victims of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
With the war sparked by the attacks still raging in Afghanistan 10 years on, U.S. soldiers paused at Bagram and other bases across the country in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed when the Twin Towers came down.
In Kabul, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker joined dozens of embassy staff and troops for a ceremony.
"Some back home ask, why are we here? It has been a long fight and people are tired," Crocker said after the American flag was lowered at the embassy. "The reason is simple: Al-Qaeda is not here in Afghanistan, and that's because we are."
A Taliban suicide attack in Afghanistan jarred with the solemnity elsewhere, providing a stark reminder that Al-Qaeda and its supporters had not been crushed. Two Afghans were killed and dozens of US soldiers were wounded in the attack on a NATO combat post in the central Wardak province.
The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, in the Iraqi capital's heavily fortified Green Zone, observed a minute's silence at 9:11 am (0611 GMT), followed by brief remarks over the mission's public address system by Ambassador James Jeffrey.
While U.S. President Barack Obama prepared to address a ceremony at Ground Zero in New York, the families of British 9/11 victims attended a packed memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral in London to commemorate the 67 Britons who died in the attacks.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, said the "premeditated death and destruction" of the attacks had "shocked the entire world."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, meanwhile, said that Al-Qaida, which carried out the attacks, was "weaker than at any time in the decade since 9/11".
In a moment of discord, a small group of protesters brandished anti-U.S. banners and chanted slogans outside the U.S. embassy in London where a minute's silence was being held.
They burnt a small piece of paper with a picture of the U.S. flag on it. Police formed a line nearby but there was no violence.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a ceremony at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels that a "long winter" following 9/11 has turned into a "season of hope" with the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned that Islamic militancy "is at its peak; it is not yet over." He urged allies to "act in concert against this blight."
Passengers and staff at Rome's two airports observed a minute's silence at 2:46 pm (1246 GMT) to coincide with the timing of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center a decade before. Mayor Gianni Alemanno and U.S. Ambassador David Thorne laid a wreath at a monument in the Italian capital to the victims as similar ceremonies were held across the country.
France marked the anniversary with concerts, a memorial mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and the erection of a replica of the Twin Towers near the Eiffel Tower. The commemorations were led by a Franco-American friendship group, "The French Will Never Forget."
The US flag at Berlin's iconic Cold War border crossing Checkpoint Charlie was lowered to half-mast in honor of the victims.
A sign at the site, which marked the frontier between communist East Berlin and the American sector of the city, read: "We will not forget September 11, 2001." It was signed "We Berliners."
Earlier, German President Christian Wulff marked the anniversary with an ecumenical memorial service at Berlin's American Church led by representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.
Three of the September 11 hijackers including their ringleader Mohammed Atta, who flew the first plane into the World Trade Center, planned the attacks while living in the northern German city of Hamburg.
The small eastern Canadian town of Gander commemorated the attacks, 10 years after it welcomed with open arms some 6,600 passengers and crew of 38 planes stranded there after the U.S. airspace was closed.
"We wanted to do it and the smiles on the people's faces when they left Gander was sufficient thanks for what we have done," Gander Mayor Claude Elliott told a public ceremony.
President Obama honored the legacy of Sept. 11 victims on Sunday by personally tracing the trail of the terrorist attacks, proudly declaring that the decade since has proven ``America does not give in to fear.''
At ground zero, Obama stood in solidarity with President George W. Bush right where hijacked airliners smashed into the twin World Trade Center towers in 2001. He touched the names of those etched into a bronze memorial amid the rush of its striking waterfalls.
In a field in western Pennsylvania, Obama strolled along a marbled Wall of Names that stands in tribute to the 40 people who crashed in Shanksville after fighting back against the terrorists. Obama seemed to shake the hand of every person he could reach.
In the rebuilt Pentagon just outside the U.S. capital, the symbol of U.S. military might attacked by terrorists that day, Obama placed a wreath at a memorial where each of 184 victims is remembered. A brass quartet played a soulful rendition of ``Amazing Grace.”
And finally, back in Washington, after a day he chose to mark mainly by quiet presence, the president spoke of the pride of a nation.
``These past 10 years have shown that America does not give in to fear,'' he said. Nor to suspicion or mistrust or sacrificed values, he said.
``Our people still work in skyscrapers,'' Obama said during an evening ceremony centered on American hope and resilience.
``Our stadiums are still filled with fans, and our parks full of children playing ball. ... This land pulses with the optimism of those who set out for distant shores, and the courage of those who died for human freedom.''
This was not a day centered on politics.
Obama's principal role was simply to be there _ to be there at every site _ as Americans remembered the nearly 3,000 lives lost and ponder all that has transpired.
On a brilliant, sun-splashed morning, Obama and his wife, Michelle, first walked with Bush and his wife, Laura, to the new North Memorial Pool at New York's ground zero. All four touched the names etched in bronze and silently bowed their heads. The former president wore his anguish clearly.
They then turned to dispense greetings and hugs to family members of those who died.
Bush gave Obama a quick nod of solidarity after the president's reading. It was the first time the two presidents had seen each other since their Rose Garden appearance after the Haiti earthquake in January 2010.
The presidents and their wives stood behind bulletproof glass during the ceremony, an indication of the tight security surrounding the day's events. In Washington, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser convened a meeting in the Situation Room to review security threats.