US pastor confirms he will not burn Quran (Nightlead)

FLORIDA/WASHINGTON - A Florida pastor who wanted to burn Qurans to protest Islamic extremism reiterated Friday that he would not go ahead with the plan.

Since pastor Terry Jones first announced that he would not burn Qurans Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attack, he appears to have changed his mind several times, causing widespread confusion.

“We are seriously, seriously, seriously considering not burning the Qurans. That is absolutely right,” Jones told reporters Friday outside his Dove World Outreach Center, which has a congregation of about 50 people.

Late Thursday Jones told NBC News that “we are a little back to square one” after what he claimed was a deal to relocate a controversial mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center in New York appeared not to have materialised.

Jones said earlier Thursday that he was dropping the plans in exchange for relocating the mosque. But mosque officials in New York denied there was an agreement to move the construction site.

“Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision,” Jones told NBC after the mosque officials denied a deal was in the works. “So as of right now, we are not cancelling the event, but we are suspending it.”