Volcanic Ash Cloud Closes Airport in La Palma

La Palma airport was briefly shut on September 25 after a thick cloud of black ash forced airlines to cancel flights. JORGE GUERRERO AFP/File
La Palma airport was briefly shut on September 25 after a thick cloud of black ash forced airlines to cancel flights. JORGE GUERRERO AFP/File
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Volcanic Ash Cloud Closes Airport in La Palma

La Palma airport was briefly shut on September 25 after a thick cloud of black ash forced airlines to cancel flights. JORGE GUERRERO AFP/File
La Palma airport was briefly shut on September 25 after a thick cloud of black ash forced airlines to cancel flights. JORGE GUERRERO AFP/File

Clouds of thick ash from the erupting volcano on La Palma on Thursday forced the island's airport to close for the second time since the September 19 eruption, Spain's airport authority said.

"The airport is not in operation at the moment," an AENA spokeswoman told AFP, saying "some cleaning work needs to be done" on the runways before it would reopen.

But the closure "may not last very long" she added.

On Wednesday evening, local airline Binter had said it was cancelling all flights in and out of La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands archipelago in the Atlantic, just off the northwestern coast of Africa.

"This suspension will last until conditions improve and we can fly safely," Binter tweeted, with rival airline CanaryFly also suspending flights.

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.



Trump Picks Massad Boulos to Serve as Adviser on Arab, Middle Eastern Affairs

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
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Trump Picks Massad Boulos to Serve as Adviser on Arab, Middle Eastern Affairs

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos would serve as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social. Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders during the election campaign, Reuters reported.

It was the second time in recent days that Trump chose the father-in-law of one of his children to serve in his administration.

On Saturday, Trump said that he had picked his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, real estate mogul Charles Kushner, to serve as US ambassador to France.

In recent months, Boulos campaigned for Trump to drum up Lebanese and Arab American support, even as the US-backed Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Boulos has powerful roots in both countries.

His father and grandfather were both figures in Lebanese politics and his father-in-law was a key funder of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah.

His son Michael and Tiffany Trump were married in an elaborate ceremony at Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago Club in November 2022, after getting engaged in the White House Rose Garden during Trump's first term.

Boulos has been in touch with interlocutors across Lebanon's multipolar political world, three sources who spoke to him in recent months say, a rare feat in Lebanon, where decades-old rivalries between factions run deep.

Boulos is a friend of Suleiman Frangieh, a Christian ally of Hezbollah and its candidate for Lebanon's presidency. He is also in touch with the Lebanese Forces Party, a vehemently anti-Hezbollah Christian faction, the sources say, and has ties to independent lawmakers.