Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

The leader of a small church in the US state of Florida says he is determined to go through with his plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, despite an international outcry against it.

Terry Jones, the pastor, said on Wednesday that he has received encouragement for his protest, with supporters mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his church in Gainesville.

Officials say they have received no reports of casualties after a moderate 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan.

The Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC) recorded the quake in the town of Jenah, some 104 miles (167 km) west of the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, shortly after 06:41 local time (0210 GMT).

Thunderstorms and heavy downpours have triggered massive flooding in Australia's Victoria State, threatening the safety of hundreds of homes.

"Many communities and individuals across the state have been affected by flooding from heavy rain over this weekend," said Victoria Premier John Brumby on Sunday.

Earl has killed one person and caused power outages affecting almost one million people in Canada, before losing its tropical storm status.

The center of the storm made landfall south of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia around 1400 GMT on Saturday, but was later downgraded to winds of about 83 km/h (51 mph), according to the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC).

Widespread flooding and landslides in the Central American country of Guatemala have left at least 21 people dead, prompting a state of emergency.

Ten people out of the 21 died when their bus was buried under a mudslide near central Chimaltenango city. Four others died when their house collapsed after being buried under a mudslide.

At least five people have been killed after heavy downpours and stormy winds pounded most parts of Uttar Pradesh state in northern India.

Four people died on Saturday when they were struck by lightning in the state's Allahabad district - situated at the confluence of rivers Ganga and Jamuna, and 563 km (350 miles) southeast of New Delhi, Times of India newspaper reported.

Haiti may soon find itself in the path of a storm taking shape in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Unrelenting rains and severe weather have lashed Guatemala, leaving at least 21 people dead over the past 24 hours, in what the country's president calls a "national tragedy".

Twelve people were killed, and another dozen injured on Saturday when a rain-triggered landslide buried a bus on a major highway near central Chimaltenango city.

Hurricane Earl has hit islands off the coast of the US state of North Carolina, where at least 100,000 people have been ordered to leave the Outer Banks Islands.

The hurricane brought heavy winds, rain, and lashing waves that pounded the coast. But apart from some power outages in the towns of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, the hurricane caused no major damage.

A strong 7.4 magnitude earthquake has struck New Zealand's South Island, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 6 km (4 miles) southeast of the city of Christchurch, BBC reported.