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Tourists and residents evacuated as volcano erupts in Iceland
Tourists and residents have been evacuated as a volcano erupted in south-west Iceland, threatening a town and popular attraction.
The volcano has been spewing lava and smoke in a fiery display of orange and red since the eruption began in the morning, creating a huge crack in the ground which has grown to 1.2km (0.75 miles) long.
Multiple earthquakes have occurred in the volcanic area throughout the day.
The volcano is close to the fishing town of Grindavik and the famous Blue Lagoon spa. A small number of people refused to evacuate the town, local media reported.
People were asked to “leave the danger zone,” the region’s police commissioner, Ulfar Ludviksson, told Iceland’s RUV broadcaster. But he said individuals staying in “seven or eight houses there… have decided to remain in the town.”
There were fears that the town was “in danger of having lava flows entering the inhabited area”, said Rikke Pedersen from the Nordic Volcanological Centre.
A hot water pipe has broken in the northern part of Grindavík, which confirms that considerable cracking has occurred within the town, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said.
The protective barriers around Grindavik have also been breached, as new eruptive fissure opened a few hundred meters inside, the IMO reported. But volcanic activity eased off in the early afternoon on Tuesday.
Roads in and out of the town remain closed, but flights are currently not affected.
Most of the 4,000 residents of Grindavík left in a mass evacuation in 2023 because of the dangers of the volcanic activity. The volcano has erupted several times since.
The length of the magma that formed on Tuesday under the crater series stretched to about 11 km (6.8 miles) – the longest that has been measured since 11 November 2023, meteorologists said. The magma corridor extends about 3km further northeast than seen in previous eruptions.
Based on current wind direction, gas pollution from the eruption will travel northeast towards the capital area, the IMO added.
The eruption, which began around 09.45 local time (10:45 BST), occurred after several earthquakes hit the area known as the Sundhnúk crater range.
Multiple eruptions have occurred on the Reykjanes Peninsula since 2021. The last time the peninsula had a period of volcanic activity was 800 years ago – and the eruptions continued for decades.
Iceland has 33 active volcano systems and sits over what is known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the boundary between two of the largest tectonic plates on the planet.
[BBC]
After months of threats and pressure tactics, the United States has bombed Venezuela and toppled its president, Nicolas Maduro, who was seized and taken to New York, where he will be put on trial.
Maduro arrived on Saturday evening at a military base in the US after his “capture” by US forces in Caracas.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has slammed the “kidnapping” of Maduro and said that he is “the only president of Venezuela”.
US President Donald Trump says the “,US will run Venezuela and tap its vast oil reserves, but he gave few details on how the US will do this.
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet today (Monday) on the matter, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the US actions set “a dangerous precedent”.
(Aljazeera)
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President Trump says the US has ‘captured’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country
President Donald Trump says the United States has ‘captured’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country after “large-scale” strikes.
Earlier, Venezuela’s government accused the US of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states, as it rejected “military aggression” by Washington. The government of President Maduro had declared a national emergency following the series of attacks.
The attacks came after months of tension with the US, which has accused Venezuelan President Maduro of being involved in drug trafficking. Maduro has denied the accusations.
On Thursday, Maduro indicated he was open to negotiating a deal with the US to combat drug trafficking. The US has carried out more than 20 air strikes in the sea near Venezuela since September, as it slapped sanctions and upped military pressure on Caracas.
(Aljazeera)
The United States Coast Guard has said it has suspended its search for survivors days after the US military said it struck two more boats in the eastern Pacific amid its ongoing military campaign in waters in and around Venezuela.
In a statement shared on its website on Friday, the Coast Guard said the three-day search had been focused on water “approximately 400 nautical miles [about 740km] southwest of the Mexico/Guatemala border” and had continued for more than 65 hours, but that no sightings of survivors had been reported.
(Aljazeera)
Venezuela’s Maduro arrives in New York after ‘capture’
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