International
Volcanic ash closes airport in La Palma – again
AFP
Clouds of thick ash from the volcano on La Palma on Thursday forced the island’s airport to close for the second time since the eruption began last month, Spain’s airport authority said.
“La Palma airport is not operational due to the accumulation of ash,” AENA tweeted, with a spokeswoman telling AFP “some cleaning work needs to be done” on the runways before it would reopen.
The airport was briefly shut on September 25 after a thick cloud of black ash forced airlines to cancel flights.
Although it was reopened a day later, flights did not resume until September 29.
It has been 18 days since La Cumbre Vieja began erupting, forcing more than 6,000 people out of their homes as the lava burnt its way across huge swathes of land on La Palma, one of Spain’s Atlantic Canary Islands that lie off the northwestern coast of Morocco.
The AENA spokeswoman said Thursday’s airport closure “may not last very long”.
David Calvo, spokesman for Involcan, the Canary Islands volcanic institute, said the volcano was producing “a lot of ash”, saying a change in the wind meant the ash cloud was “affecting the airport”.
On Wednesday evening, local airline Binter had said it was cancelling all flights in and out of La Palma.
“This suspension will last until conditions improve and we can fly safely,” Binter tweeted, with rival airline Canaryfly also suspending flights.
An AFP correspondent at the scene said the glowing lava streams could still be seen for miles around on Wednesday night.
By Thursday morning, images released by the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute (IGME) showed a thick cloud of black smoke billowing from the crater of Cumbre Vieja.
– The 100-acre lava delta –
Pumping out endless streams of molten rock with a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), the volcano spewed out streams of lava that consumed more than 1,000 acres (422 hectares) of land as it cut a six-kilometre (3.5-mile) path to the sea.
Once it reached the coast on September 29, it cascaded into the sea, creating a growing lava delta that is currently the size of 60 football pitches (100 acres), Involcan data shows.
And figures released on Tuesday by the islands’ regional government said more than 605 of the destroyed buildings were homes.
It has also destroyed huge swathes of banana plantations — the chief cash crop on La Palma.
“The damage is enormous.. We are talking about a third of the banana production of the entire Canary Islands,” the archipelago’s regional head Angel Víctor Torres said last week, indicating the current harvest had been “completely lost”.
The eruption on La Palma, an island of some 85,000 people, is the first in 50 years.
The last was in 1971 when another part of the same volcanic range — a vent known as Teneguia — erupted on the southern side of the island.
Two decades earlier, the Nambroque vent erupted in 1949.
International
HMPV infection rate declining in Northern China, health official reports
The rate of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infections, which is similar to the flu, in northern China is decreasing, a health official said on Sunday, amid international concern about a potential pandemic.
HMPV, which belongs to the same family as the human respiratory syncytial virus, causes symptoms similar to the flu or a cold, such as fever, cough, and nasal congestion. Symptoms often resolve on their own, although they can lead to lower respiratory tract infections in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals.
“Human metapneumovirus is not a new virus and has been with humans for at least several decades,” said Wang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press conference by the National Health Commission of China.
Wang added that the recent increase in cases of the virus, first detected in the Netherlands in 2001, is due to better detection methods.
International
Elon Musk sends Cybertrucks with Starlink and supplies to assist Los Angeles wildfire victims
Rescuers are working to contain the wildfires in Los Angeles, where the death toll stands at least 24. Amid the tragedy, billionaire Elon Musk announced the deployment of Cybertrucks with Starlink and supplies to help the victims.
“We’re going to place Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free WiFi in a grid pattern in the areas that need it most in the Los Angeles/Malibu metropolitan area,” Musk posted on X.
“Security personnel will also be added to the vehicle, along with snacks and drinks for passersby,” he explained.
The Cybertrucks being used are scheduled deliveries, so Musk apologized in advance.
“We apologize to those awaiting Cybertruck deliveries in California over the next few days. We need to use those trucks as mobile base stations to provide power to Starlink internet terminals in Los Angeles areas without connectivity. A new truck will be delivered by the end of the week,” he stated.
International
Trump announces creation of external revenue service to collect foreign tariffs
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the creation of a body to “collect tariffs, duties, and all revenue from foreign sources,” comparing it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which collects taxes from Americans.
“We will begin charging those who profit at our expense through trade, and they will finally start paying what they owe,” Trump said in a message on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He indicated that the new body, to be called the External Revenue Service, will begin operations on January 20, the day Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the U.S. and when he is expected to make the first decisions of his second term.
The Republican also criticized “soft and pathetically weak trade deals” that have been in place until now.
“The U.S. economy has provided growth and prosperity to the world while we taxed ourselves,” he stated.
Trump has been insisting on raising tariffs for months and has even declared that “tariff” is, for him, “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
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