As the world prepares to mark the anniversary of the the 9/11 attacks, the New York skyline has been lit up with twin lights, filling the hole left by the World Trade Center.
The bright beams shooting up into the sky are turned on every September 11, and today’s 11th anniversary is no different.
Memorial services are set to take place at Ground Zero and hundreds of other venues around the globe.
Memory: The Manhattan skyline has been lit up with tributes to the victims of the September 11 attacks
Tribute: Every year beams of light are shot into the sky to commemmorate the anniversary of the terror attacks
Viewpoint: Japanese flautist Toshi Bota is photographed on the shore of Brooklyn looking over to downtown Manhattan
Light: A ground view of the Tribute in Light on the evening of September 10, ahead of the 11th anniversary
One tribute to the victims comes at Highland Memorial Park in Ocala, Florida, where 2,741 American flags – one for each of the attacks’ victims – have been planted in a moving act of remembrance.
On Monday, Leon Panetta attended a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The Secretary of Defense called the site ‘the final resting place of American patriots’, and said he was there ‘to extend our nation’s deepest gratitude to the heroes of Flight 93’.
Grief: A single flower inserted into one of the names on the 9/11 National Memorial located at Ground Zero
Contemplation: 10-year-old Stella Towers, from Sydney in Australia, on a visit to the memorial on September 10
Display: Another floral tribute to the victims of the attacks set up at the memorial in downtown Manhattan
Visit: Leon Panetta was in Shankville, Pennsylvania on Monday paying tribute to those who died on Flight 93
Ceremony: The Secretary of Defense laid a wreath at the memorial near to where the flight crashed 11 years ago
Heroes: Candles have been set up at the Shanksville site to honour the 40 passengers who overpowered their terrorist hijackers
For the first time, the memorial ceremony at the 9/11 National Memorial in Manhattan will not feature any politicians this year, in an attempt to focus it on the private grief of survivors and victims’ relatives.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are expected to limit their campaigning, and to cancel negative advertising for the day.
The President has been briefed by top national security aides on what steps the government was taking to reduce the possibility of reprisal attacks on the 9/11 anniversary.
Flags: A lawn at Georgia Tech was covered in Stars and Stripes to commemorate the 9/11 victims
Field: A visitor at Victor Valley College in Victorville, California sits among the tribute there
Put out more flags: Military cadet Ted Sanchez, 16, lays out the flag display at Highland Memorial Park in Ocala, Florida
The White House said on Monday that Mr Obama and his advisers discussed specific measures the administration was taking to prevent related attacks.
They also discussed steps that were being taken to protect Americans abroad and U.S. forces serving in combat zones.
The President has instructed government agencies to do everything possible to protect the American people both at home and abroad.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 killed nearly 3,000 people and led to long-running U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
Moving: 7th-grader Salvatore Giudice, from Florida, drew this memorial picture for the first responders who died in the September 11 attacks
Rebuilding: Four World Trade Center and One World Trade Center are close to completion, filling in the Manhattan skyline once more
Horror: Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
Elie Chahine 