Tributes paid to 9/11 victims at Republican midterm convention in Dallas

Emergency responders and military personnel paid tribute those killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks during the Republican Party's midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday.

The usually jovial crowd fell silent as an honour guard performed a solemn bell salute to remember the victims and mark the occasion, the eve of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

The event saw thousands of people gather at the American Airlines Center to pledge their support for GOP candidates running in the crucial upcoming midterm elections, which will determine the makeup of Congress for the final two years of US President Donald Trump's term.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance are scheduled to visit the sites of the 2001 attacks on Friday, with Trump expected to deliver a speech at the Pentagon.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is also planning an event at the 9/11 Memorial plaza in Manhattan, where the families of victims will come together for a ceremony to read aloud the names of the 2,983 people killed in the September 11 attacks and the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center.

The museum announced that it would also introduce a seventh moment of silence to honour those who have lost their lives due to health effects from 9/11. It has typically observed six periods of silence to mark major moments of the attacks - when each of the towers were struck, when each fell, and the times of the attacks at the Pentagon as well as the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

It comes after Trump earlier this week posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the US' highest civilian honour - to Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader and volunteer firefighter from New York who died while rescuing people trapped in the World Trade Center's South Tower.

"Today, in honor of his incredible bravery and all of the other countless unknown acts of heroism that day, it is my privilege to award the very special, the highest honor that we give, highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We want to award that to Welles and Welles' family," Trump said while announcing the award.

In New York, thousands of illuminated drones also recreated the Twin Towers in a poignant memorial on Wednesday as part of the anniversary events.

The artwork, titled "2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor," included 2,977 drones, representing each of the lives lost on 9/11.

Writing on X, US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy called it a "breathtaking tribute" that "stands as a solemn reminder of America’s resilience and the extraordinary courage of the heroes and first responders who gave everything."

"To the victims, their families, and all who served: We will never forget," he added.

In a post on X, Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, also commemorated those who lost their lives in the attacks, which she said had "changed the course of history."

"The attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania shattered lives and fundamentally altered world affairs," she wrote.

"A quarter-century on, Europe remains fully committed to strong ties with the United States," she added.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also expressed the city's solidarity with New York, writing on social media: "25 years on, London stands with New York, with love and solidarity."

On 11 September 2001, 19 members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network hijacked four commercial airliners, flying two into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Virginia. A fourth plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against hijackers.