NEW YORK (Reuters) – Among the most visible supporters of a proposed Islamic cultural centre and mosque near the World Trade Centre site have been the city’s Jewish mayor and a libertarian congressman from faraway Texas.

Notably absent from the controversy has been a nationally recognizable Muslim American leader in the style of the late Martin Luther King Jr. who spoke for blacks in the civil rights movement, Cesar Chavez who represented Latino migrant workers or, however briefly, Harvey Milk who stood up for gay rights.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Among the most visible supporters of a proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site have been the city’s Jewish mayor and a libertarian congressman from faraway Texas.

Notably absent from the controversy has been a nationally recognizable Muslim American leader in the style of the late Martin Luther King Jr. who spoke for blacks in the civil rights movement, Cesar Chavez who represented Latino migrant workers or, however briefly, Harvey Milk who stood up for gay rights.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York political leaders sought on Tuesday to defuse tension over a proposed Muslim cultural center two blocks from the World Trade Center site, with the governor criticizing the tone of some opponents’ rhetoric and the mayor hosting a Muslim ceremony.

Muslims hoping to build the $100 million cultural center and mosque have met fierce opposition from conservative politicians and those who call it offensive to families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda militants in 2001.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The furor over plans to build a Muslim cultural center near the World Trade Center site shows nine years of efforts to separate Islam from association with terrorism have largely failed, experts say.

“I’d take it one step further. I’d say that it’s far, far worse today than it was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11,” said Reza Aslan, a writer and scholar on religion, using the shorthand for the attacks of September 11, 2001.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Muslims in lower Manhattan who have prayed in a crowded basement or in the streets say they are not looking for confrontation with opponents of a new mosque. They simply need the space.

Some New Yorkers traumatized by the September 11, 2001 attacks have emotionally opposed a proposed Muslim community center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center. Republican politicians seeking to wrest control of Congress from Democrats in November elections have seized on the issue.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Mets suspended four-time All-Star reliever Francisco Rodriguez for two games on Thursday after his arrest on suspicion of assaulting his 53-year-old father-in-law inside the Mets’ ballpark.

He was released without bail on Thursday after his arraignment on misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment that could result in up to a year in jail, the Queens County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Americans will gather for a group “kiss-in” Times Square and buglers across the country will play the military funeral tune “Taps” on Saturday in the first national day of remembrance for the World War Two generation.

This year’s event comes on the 65th anniversary of what Americans call V-J Day, marking the victory over Japan that ended the war in 1945.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A JetBlue flight attendant who became an Internet hero after storming out of a plane with an expletive-filled intercom address and an escape down the emergency chute had bail set at $2,500 on Tuesday.

Steven Slater, 39, captured the sympathy of frustrated travelers and airline industry workers on Monday with his theatrical departure that was provoked by an altercation with a passenger aboard a jet that had just arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy international airport.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Anti-mosque advertisements depicting a plane about to crash into a flaming World Trade Center will soon be displayed on New York City buses after the transit authority relented and agreed to the ads.

The display asking “Why There?” is the latest attempt by opponents to block the proposed Cordoba House Islamic community center two blocks from the site of the attacks of September 11, 2001, carried out by the militant Muslim group al Qaeda.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A wave of attacks by black youths against Mexican immigrants has provoked a police show of force and swift action by politicians worried about racial conflict in the remote New York City borough of Staten Island.

Gravely concerned about racial conflict in the middle of a hot summer, city authorities, immigrant advocates and the Mexican consulate have announced a series of measures aimed at reducing the violence even as they disagree over the cause of the attacks and how to stop them.