A magnitude-6.6 earthquake hit Indonesia's eastern region on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no tsunami warning issued.

The quake struck off Halmahera island in North Maluku province at 0948 GMT at a depth of about 35 kilometres (22 miles), the USGS said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the earthquake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was "no tsunami threat" from the quake in the Molucca Sea.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 hit Indonesia's eastern province of West Papua on April 9, but did not trigger a tsunami warning, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency.

The earthquake occurred at around 7am, with its epicentre situated 46 km southeast of Ransiki town, and at a depth of 11 km under the seabed, the agency was quoted by local media.

The intensity of the quake was felt at III to IV MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) in the Ransiki town, it added.

The agency did not issue a tsunami warning as the tremors would not potentially trigger giant waves.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes for its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.

Parts of southern China continued to be battered by heavy downpours over the weekend, with rainstorm and flood alerts issued for the second day on Sunday.

The Bei, a tributary of the Pearl River in southern Guangdong province, was declared as having recorded its first "No 1 Flood" of the year at 6.35am on Sunday - marking the earliest numbered flood in a major river since data began to be compiled in 1998.

China has seven main river systems, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, as well as the southern Pearl River and waterways further north.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, China's major rivers and lakes can flag "numbered floods" when their water levels reach the warning level or register a flood of "once in two to five years" magnitude.

Footage captures flooding near the rural township of Charleville following a weekend of heavy rain in parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Communities across the region have been impacted by flooding, with some isolated by road closures.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the Warrego River gauge near Bakers Bend, in south-west Queensland, recorded a peak of 10.16m on Monday morning.


Source: Katrina Lehmann | Murweh Shire Council

In yet another tragic incident highlighting the issue of stray dogs in the state, an 11-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries after being attacked by a pack of strays on Sunday. The deceased, Puri, daughter of Hirabhai Piprotar, resided in the Rupmora area of Bhanvad in Dwarka.

According to reports, the attack occurred around 4:00 pm on April 7th. Puri was playing outside her residence when she was accosted by a group of stray dogs. The animals inflicted severe injuries on the child. Rushed to the Bhanvad government hospital in critical condition, Puri was unfortunately declared dead on arrival by the attending doctors.

This incident has sent shockwaves through the local community, reigniting concerns about the growing stray dog population and the dangers they pose. Public frustration over the lack of effective management strategies for strays is likely to intensify following this tragedy.

Eleven people died during nor'wester that swept Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bhola, Khulna and Bagerhat districts on Sunday.

Among them, three people died in Jhalakathi, two each in Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Bhola districts and one each in Bagerhat and Khulna districts.

The seasonal storm lashed different parts of the country on Sunday morning, damaging crops, houses and uprooting trees.

Jhalakathi, three people including two women were killed while bringing cattle from fields in Sadar and Kathalia upazilas of the district.

Sufia Begum, 85, wife of Ahmed Pada of Char Algi village, was killed when a tree collapsed on her.

Bashir Ahmed, in-charge of Barishal Division Weather officer, said the met office recorded 15.2 mm of rainfall in the morning.

As many as 15 goats were killed while three tourists were injured after being struck by lightning in two separated places of Odisha.

According to reports, the 15 goats were killed at Batasasan village under Badagada police limits of Ganjam district this afternoon after lightning struck them.

Sources said that four locals of Batasasan village namely Krishna Gauda, Jaga Gauda, Manas Gauda and Bijay Gauda had taken a herd of goats to the nearby forest for grazing them. Though it was sunny when they left the house in the morning, but it rained heavily in the locality in the afternoon.

An amount of land equivalent to the Isle of Wight has been added to the shorelines of 13,000 islands around the world in just the last 20 years. This fascinating fact of a 369.67 square kilometre increase has recently been discovered by a group of Chinese scientists analysing both surface and satellite records. Overall, land was lost during the 1990s, but the scientists found that in the study period of three decades to 2020 there was a net increase of 157.21 km². The study observed considerable natural variation in both erosion and accretion. Of course, the findings blow holes in the poster scare run by alarmists suggesting that rising sea levels caused by humans using hydrocarbons will condemn many islands to disappear shortly beneath rising sea levels. By means of such flimsy scare tactics, as we have seen in many other cases, desperate attempts are made to terrify global populations to accept the insanity of the Net Zero collectivisation.

The scientists said their data suggested that sea-level rise has not been a widespread cause of erosion for island shorelines in the studied regions. "Presently, it is considered one of the contributing factors to shoreline erosion but not the predominant one," they explained. Needless to say, none of this will detain the attention of climate hysterics in both mainstream media and politics. The Guardian was in fine form last June stating that rising oceans will extinguish more than land. "It will kill entire languages," it added, noting the effect on Pacific islands such as Tuvalu. Those areas of the Earth that were most hospitable to people and languages are now becoming the "least hospitable".

Silly emotional Guardianista guff of course, but happily it does not seem to apply to Tuvalu. A recent study found that the 101 islands of Tuvalu had grown in land mass by 2.9%. The scientists observed that despite rising sea levels, many shorelines in Tuvalu and neighbouring Pacific atolls have maintained relative stability, "without significant alteration". A comprehensive re-examination of data on 30 Pacific and Indian Ocean atolls with 709 islands found that none of them had lost any land. Furthermore, the scientists added, there are data that indicate 47 reef islands expanded in size or remained stable over the last 50 years, "despite experiencing a rate of sea-level rise that exceeds the global average".

A 35-year-old woman, said to be mentally challenged, was mauled to death by stray dogs near the village Nanhu Mundera in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district.

According to Vikram Ajeet Rai, police post in charge, a partially eaten body was found by locals near a canal in the village Nanhu Mundera on Saturday.

The body has been sent for post-mortem and an inquiry is underway into the case. The deceased has not been identified yet.

Take a look at these amazing smoke rings bursting out of a volcano. in the Italian region of Sicily.

They're coming from Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe.

This rare smoke-show is happening because gases are being pushed really quickly through a new circular crater that's appeared on the summit.