The US Senate’s senior Democrat broke with US President Barack Obama on Monday over the proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque in New York City, with Senator Harry Reid saying it should be built elsewhere.
The project, planned near the “ground zero” site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, has emerged as an emotional issue two-and-a-half months before US congressional elections in which Republicans are trying to take back control of Congress from Obama’s fellow Democrats. Reid is in a tight contest for re-election against a very conservative Republican challenger.
“The First Amendment [of the US Constitution] protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley said.
The project’s backers vowed on Monday to press ahead with their plans and denied a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz that they would scrap the US$100 million project, which has generated fierce debate.
Sharif El-Gamal, the owner of the building where the Cordoba House would be located, said a report that the center would be relocated further from Ground Zero, reported in Haaretz on Monday, was false.
“Everything is on track and we are moving forward with the location,” said El-Gamal, chief executive of Soho Properties, which owns the building.
Haaretz reported that leaders agreed to abandon the site to prevent an escalation of anti-Muslim sentiment.
The proposal, announced this spring, has caused an uproar among many New Yorkers, who feel the location of the center is insensitive to the memory of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Friday, the debate over the construction of the Muslim center intensified when Obama said he supported the right of Muslims to build there.
A day later, amid a political backlash, Obama said he was not commenting on “the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there.” Instead, he said he was “commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.”
The proposed 13-story building, which has gotten the go-ahead from a New York City agency, would include meeting rooms, a prayer space, an auditorium and swimming pool.
The families of some victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center have been vehemently opposed to the construction of a Muslim center so close to Ground Zero.
Close to 60 percent of Americans oppose the plan, although supporters say having the Islamic cultural center is a chance to promote understanding of the religion and begin healing nearly a decade after the attacks.
The site cleared a major political roadblock earlier this month, when the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission refused to grant it special designation. The move means the existing building can be torn down and replaced by the 13-story community center, complete with a fitness center, conference room and artist studios.
The plain building as envisioned will not feature either minaret or dome or any other motif typically associated with mosques. Still, some oppose it being built while the buildings set to replace the World Trade Center have not been completed and the memorial planned for the site not yet open.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a strong proponent of the project, even as his approval ratings have taken a hit because of it. Some families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks have also supported the project.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS