The pastor planning to burn Qurans on the Sept. 11 anniversary said Thursday that he had called off the event after being given assurances that the Muslim group seeking to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site would move the project. But sources close to the imam behind the New York mosque denied any deal had been struck.

A plan by a small Florida church to burn Qurans on September 11, which has triggered worldwide controversy, is a “recruitment bonanza for al Qaeda,” President Obama said Thursday.