NEW YORK (AP) — Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
This morning, President Barack Obama said the nation will never forget the lives of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Obama said at a Pentagon memorial service that he is inspired by the resilience of the victims’ families.
He quoted Scripture: “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the table of your heart.”
Obama also praised America’s diversity and urged Americans not to let their enemies divide them. He called the day “difficult” but one that “reveals the love and faithfulness in your hearts and in the heart of our nation.”
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Hundreds gathered for the 9/11 anniversary observance in Pennsylvania where one of the planes hijacked by terrorists crashed in a field 15 years ago.
They gathered at Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville as ceremonies were also taking place Sunday in New York and at the Pentagon. Forty passengers and crew members died in the Pennsylvania crash.
For the first time, the Shanksville ceremony is being held outside the visitor center that opened last year rather than at the granite mall that runs along the crash site. The names of the victims will be read and bells ring in their memory.
The United Airlines flight was heading from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco when it crashed after passengers and crew members fought the terrorists for control of the plane.
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The government’s homeland security secretary says the United States is safer now than it was in 2001 against what he calls “another 9/11-style attack.”
But Jeh Johnson — making the rounds of the Sunday news shows — says the country is “challenged when it comes to the prospects of the lone-wolf actor, the homegrown violent extremists.”
He tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that requires “a new, whole of government response and public participation and vigilance.”
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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are attending the Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony in New York.
The presidential candidates greeted supporters on Sunday as they entered the downtown Manhattan memorial. They’re not expected to make public remarks at the event, and both have promised to suspend campaign activities to mark the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
Clinton — a former New York senator — has frequently highlighted her efforts, including in a campaign ad released Friday, to aid those affected by the World Trade Center collapse.
Trump — a New York real estate mogul — has said he donated construction equipment to the recovery effort and gave $100,000 to the memorial after touring it for the first time earlier this year.
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The commemoration of the 15th anniversary of 9/11 has begun at ground zero.
Sunday’s ceremony began with a moment of silence and tolling bells at 8:46 a.m., the time when a terrorist-piloted plane slammed into the World Trade Center’s north tower.
After the silent period, victims’ relatives began reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed when four hijacked aircraft hit the trade center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. It was the deadliest terror attack on American soil.
President Barack Obama will speak at an observance at the Pentagon. Hundreds of people also are expected at a ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump are attending the anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center.
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Family members of those lost on Sept. 11 are arrived at ground zero for the ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
Some went to the National September 11 Museum, which is open only to victims’ families until Sunday afternoon, when the public will be allowed to enter.
About an hour before the official commemoration start, police officers in uniform and bagpipers rehearsed part of the ceremony involving a display of the US flag.
As it has every year, the remembrance will mainly focus on the reading of the names of those killed in the attacks. It will also include moments of silence and the tolling of bells.
Other ceremonies are being held at the Pentagon and at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
