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.
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. Some of the families of people who died in the attacks say that it is insensitive to build a mosque so close to the site.
Pastor Jones has placed himself at the centre of the drama, after claiming he would call off his plan to burn the Koran if the planned mosque and community centre was moved. He says he received assurances delivered by a local Florida imam that this would be the case.
But then the New York planners of the Islamic community centre said they had not spoken to the Florida imam and would not be moving their project.
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. Some of the families of people who died in the attacks say that it is insensitive to build a mosque so close to the site.
Pastor Jones has placed himself at the centre of the drama, after claiming he would call off his plan to burn the Koran if the planned mosque and community centre was moved. He says he received assurances delivered by a local Florida imam that this would be the case.
But then the New York planners of the Islamic community centre said they had not spoken to the Florida imam and would not be moving their project.
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