New York prepares to commemorate 9/11 attacks

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The US is preparing to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York amid controversy over the pastor who has threatened to burn the Koran.
US President Barack Obama has appealed for calm as the city prepares.
The pastor, Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, has arrived in New York where he hopes to meet a leading imam.
His plan to burn the Muslim holy book has caused international outrage, but Mr Jones says his plans have been put on hold.



Mr Jones has instead travelled to New York where he wants to meet the imam at the head of a project to build an Islamic community centre and mosque near Ground Zero.
During the official commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero the names of all the people who died when hijacked aeroplanes crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001will be read out.
The US Vice President, Joe Biden, will attend the anniversary ceremony in Lower Manhattan.
Houses of worship across the city have been asked to toll their bells at 0846 (1336 GMT), the moment the first hijacked plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.
Meanwhile, protests have are scheduled for when the commemoration ends.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11269681

 

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Memorial services were held at each location where the planes crashed
The US is marking nine years since 9/11 amid controversy over plans for an Islamic centre near Ground Zero and a threat to burn the Koran.
In New York, at the biggest event, relatives read out the names of those who died when planes hit the World Trade Center.
At the Pentagon, President Barack Obama said the US was not at war with Islam.
Earlier, the pastor behind the threat to burn Korans in Florida said the event has been cancelled permanently.


"We will definitely not burn the Koran, no," the Reverend Terry Jones told NBC's Today show.
"Not today, not ever," he said when pressed about whether his planned demonstration might happen at a later date.
Speaking at a memorial event at the Pentagon - which was also hit by an airliner on 11 September 2001 - President Obama paid tribute to those who died in the attacks, saying America's greatest weapon was to stay true to itself.
"It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was Al-Qaeda," he said.
"We will not sacrifice the liberties we cherish or hunker down behind walls of suspicion and mistrust," he said.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11269681