Pakistan, Sept. 12 -- Twenty-five years after the deadliest attack on US soil, Americans paused on Friday to commemorate the nearly 3,000 people killed when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania - and to wrestle with the consequences of September 11 that reverberate to this day.

In New York, family members of the victims, many carrying pictures of their loved ones, joined Vice-President J.D. Vance and four former US presidents at ground zero in Lower Manhattan.

The ceremony began, as always, at 8.46am with a moment of silence to remember the shocking instant when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Centre's North Tower.

Shortly after, victims' family members began r...