Special report: 5th anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday hosted "an International Remembrance Ceremony" to pay tribute to non-Americans who died in the Sept. 11,2001 terror attacks, which claimed lives of people from some 90 countries.

    Chinese Rui Zheng and another relative of a victim of 9/11 attacks were invited to read at the ceremony the names of the more than 90 countries that lost citizens.

    Rui Zheng is daughter of Yuguang Zheng, 65 and Shuying Yang, 62.The couple were killed when their American Airlines flight 77 to Los Angeles crashed in a terrorist hijacking on Sept. 11, 2001.

    Also present at the ceremony were the diplomatic corps, and under secretaries of state, as well as assistant secretaries of state. Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher also attended the ceremony.

    "The attacks of September 11 were the worst assault on the American homeland in our country's history," said Rice at a ceremony.

    "They were more than that. They were an attack on the universal ideals of peace, liberty and human rights that symbolize nations like ours," Rice said, as she stood before flags of the countries whose nationals perished in the attacks five years ago on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

    It was the first time that the U.S. State Department organized a tribute to foreign victims of 9/11 attacks. Enditem