- First tourists evacuated from riot-scarred New Caledonia
- Thailand celebrates return of looted statue from New York's Met
- German prince on trial in far-right coup plot
- Syria first lady diagnosed with leukaemia: presidency
- India inspects spice companies after contamination claims
- Fear but no injuries after quake 'swarm' near Naples
- France begins its first war crimes trial of Syrian officials
- Blues look into early playing return for Beauden Barrett
- Iranians pay last respects to president killed in helicopter crash
- Japan's new whaling mothership sets sail on first hunt
- Markets retreat as traders take profits, eye commodities' spike
- Demise of rangelands 'severely underestimated': report
- India shuts schools as temperatures soar
- Muted on world stage, Taiwan speaks up at Cannes
- Crunch time looms for BHP's bid to buy Anglo American
- 'Heart of the left': ruling party fights to keep Mexico City
- First tourist rescue flight lands in riot-scarred New Caledonia
- New Caledonia tourists 'ecstatic' as rescue planes arrive
- Atalanta's Gasperini stands in way of Alonso's rise in Europa League final
- Funerary procession to be held for late president in Iran's northwest
- Taliban poets sing praise of new Afghan order
- Asian markets slump as traders take profits, eye commodities' spike
- Japan wrestles with legacy of graft-stained Games in Paris warning
- In Darwin's footsteps: scientists recreate historic 1830s expedition
- Parent company of Trump's Truth Social posts $328 mln loss
- Australia's Sam Kerr ruled out of Paris Olympics
- Sick of tourists, Japan town blocks view of Mt Fuji
- Sick of tourists, Japan town to put up barrier blocking Mt Fuji
- Amal Clooney helped ICC weigh Gaza war crimes evidence
- Biden says Israel's Gaza offensive 'not genocide'
- Trump trial prosecution rests, closing arguments likely next week
- Police officers killed as Colombia rebels launch gun, bomb attacks
- Top US banking regulator offers resignation after toxic workplace report
- Airport reopens in Port-au-Prince after 11 week closure
- Colombia replaces scandal-plagued army chief
- Nasdaq and gold hit record highs
- Youth movement: NBA's 20-something stars set to battle in conference finals
- Top-ranked golfer Scheffler's court date postponed until June
- Brazil mayor's mammoth task: rebuild from floods, prevent more
- Microsoft unveils 'AI-ready' PCs
- Trump trial prosecution rests, closing arguments next week
- New Liverpool boss Slot admits he could not resist lure of club
- OpenAI to 'pause' voice linked to Scarlett Johansson
- Women's tennis signs 'multi-year partnership' with Saudi investment fund
- Two policemen killed as Colombia rebels launch gun, bomb attacks
- Murray on the brink in Geneva comeback
- ICC prosecutor seeks Gaza 'war crimes' arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Hamas leaders
- 'Incognito Market' founder arrested in New York
- Cate Blanchett urges film industry to include refugee voices
- Sargent returns to US squad for pre-COPA friendlies
Indonesia volcano eruption shuts more airports, ash reaches Malaysia
Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, officials said Wednesday, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.
Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash more than five kilometres (three miles) into the sky and forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for 12,000 locals.
A rescue ship and a warship were dispatched to help move thousands from neighbouring Tagulandang island north to Siau island because of a warning about parts of the volcano falling into the sea potentially causing a tsunami.
Rosalin Salindeho, a 95-year-old resident of Tagulandang in Indonesia's outermost region of North Sulawesi province, spoke of her fears when Ruang erupted after arriving in Siau.
"The mountain exploded. Wow, it was horrible. There were rains of rocks. Twice. The second one was really heavy, even the houses far away were also hit," she said.
The country's meteorological agency (BMKG) shared a map on Wednesday morning that showed volcanic ash had reached as far as eastern Malaysia on Borneo island, which the country shares with Indonesia and Brunei.
The spread of volcanic ash forced seven airports to close, the biggest in provincial capital Manado and the city of Gorontalo, according to a notice from state-run air traffic control provider AirNav Indonesia.
Julius Ramopolii, head of Mount Ruang monitoring post, said the volcano was still billowing ash and smoke above the crater on Wednesday morning.
"The volcano is visibly seen, the plume of smoke is visible, grey and thick, and reached 500-700 metres (2,300 feet) above the crater," he said in a statement.
He said the alert level remained at its highest of a four-tiered system and called on locals to remain outside of a seven-kilometre exclusion zone.
The tsunami fears were informed by recent experience.
The crater of Mount Anak Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra islands, also partly collapsed in 2018 when a major eruption sent huge chunks of the volcano sliding into the ocean, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and injured thousands.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire".
H.Seidel--BTB