The world paused Wednesday to honor the more than 3,000 killed last Sept. 11, but memorial ceremonies were tinged with fear the anniversary could spark repeat attacks. Firefighters walked through the darkened streets of New York and their courage was hailed around the globe. "Right must and will prevail," Britain's Queen Elizabeth said in a message to a New York commemoration service that echoed an international message of determined defiance.

"People must go about their daily lives. The terrorists will win if we're paralyzed into doing nothing," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said.

U.S. embassies were the focus for memorial services in many countries -- while security scares closed others -- as mourners recalled the day that commercial airliners were turned into weapons of war.

In the Australian state of Queensland, 3,000 citizens, fire-fighters, lifeguards and ambulance officers answered a radio station call and turned up in red, blue and white T-shirts to form a huge U.S. flag on Surfers Paradise beach.

The world of business, which lost so many when the twin towers crumbled, paused to reflect. Stock exchanges held moments of silence or opened late as a tribute.

"Financial markets are not that relevant today. Today is not about markets but about other, more important things," said London equities strategist David Thwaites.

EXPATRIATES REMEMBER

Starting with choirs in New Zealand and at the South Pole, 15,000 musicians around the globe staged a "Rolling Requiem" performance of Mozart's masterpiece in every time zone to mark the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

Amid heavy security in London, expatriate Americans joined the British in front of the U.S. embassy to remember the dead.

In a sign of the close ties, a British flag recovered from Ground Zero in New York was handed over by New York policeman Frank Dwyer to British interior minister David Blunkett.

At the U.S. embassy in Japan, a Japanese maple tree was planted in front of the embassy gates by Nancy Kassebaum Baker, wife of ambassador Howard Baker, on the spot where offerings of flowers and paper cranes were left last year after the attacks.

In New Zealand, a lone bugler played on Auckland harbour bridge as the U.S. flag was raised and then lowered to half mast in a moving dawn service.

South African Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu, who will deliver the main sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington later Wednesday, said the anniversary was an opportunity for Americans to take a hard look at themselves.

"How gratifying that so many, many voices in the U.S. are being raised to say: 'America, let us engage in serious introspection. This is an opportunity for a hard look at ourselves'. That way lies the way to true greatness," Tutu said.

In Kenya and Tanzania, where two bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies on August 7, 1998 killed 224 people and injured more than 4,000 people, U.S. embassy staff held memorial services.

In Beirut, still haunted by memories of the 1975-1990 civil war between sectarian militias, the memorial service had an added poignancy. "You know what it is like to grieve," said U.S. Ambassador Vincent Battle.

EUROPEAN CEREMONIES

In Europe, Swedish politicians agreed to halt general election campaigning and hold a minute's silence.

Pope John Paul dedicated the whole of his weekly general audience to commemorating the first anniversary of the attacks, branding terrorism "ferocious inhumanity."

In Athens, Greek-American fireman Peter Critsimilios, who was on duty in New York when the city was attacked, brought tears to the eyes of many in a remembrance ceremony at U.S. ambassador Thomas Miller's residence.

He recalled a fellow Greek American New York fighter who was killed while racing to the scene by a falling body from the Twin Towers. "Our boots melted from the heat while we worked in those first hours," he said. "We would dig until we were exhausted."

But voices of dissent about the calls for military action against Iraq were raised amid the grieving.

About a dozen people -- some in white and saffron robes -- gathered in front of the U.S. embassy in Tokyo to beat small drums and recite Buddhist chants in support of peace.

"Today is not a day just to mourn the dead but also to celebrate life. I feel very lucky that I'm here," said American English teacher Lindsay Nelson, who attended the ceremony.

And not all the memorials passed off smoothly.

Hundreds of motorists were stranded in Sydney, Australia with flat batteries as they headed home from work after a morning headlight parade in memory of the Sept. 11 victims.

PHOTO CAPTION

French President Jacques Chirac arrives at a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the U.S. Ambassador residence in Paris on September 11, 2002. (Philippe Wojazer/