Spain

LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Olga Reinoso took advantage of the All Saints Day public holiday to see the erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma but like other tourists she wanted to help islanders whose homes have been destroyed and crops ruined.

Tourists were keen to help La Palma by spending money to boost the island's economy.

LA PALMA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Spain would speed up aid to the hard-hit agriculture and fishing industries on the island of La Palma, where part of the volcano's cone collapsed on Saturday and red hot lava continued to flow over a month after the eruption began.

Lava has covered almost 900 hectares of land, destroying over 2,000 buildings and many banana plantations. More than 7,000 people have had to leave their homes since the eruption started on Sept. 19.

MALLORCA, Spain, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group (9988.HK) founder Jack Ma was on the Spanish island of Mallorca where his luxury yacht is anchored, two Spanish newspapers said on Wednesday, on his first trip abroad since he fell out with China's regulators in 2020.

The Chinese billionaire has largely been out of public view since he publicly criticised China's regulatory system in a speech last year. His empire promptly came under heavy scrutiny by regulators, that even led to the suspension of Ant Group's $37 billion blockbuster IPO.

MADRID, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Survivors of a mass food poisoning four decades ago occupied Madrid's El Prado art gallery for a few hours on Tuesday, threatening to commit suicide if their demands for aid and attention were unmet.

A photo showed six people - one in a wheelchair - holding a banner in front of "Las Meninas", a painting by Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. Others gathered outside.

Police detained two of the protesters and the others left the museum around noon, the association "We Are Still Alive", which defends victims, told Reuters.

LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 17 (Reuters) - There's no immediate end in sight to the volcanic eruption that has caused chaos on the Spanish isle of La Palma since it began about a month ago, the president of the Canary Islands said on Sunday.

There were 42 seismic movements on the island on Sunday, the largest of which measured 4.3, according to the Spanish National Geographical Institute.

LOS LLANOS DE ARIDANE, Canary Islands (AP) — Hundreds of people on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands woke up Wednesday fearing for their homes and property after a new river of lava from an erupting volcano threatened to engulf another neighborhood on its way toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Island authorities ordered the evacuation of around 800 people from the coastal town of Los Llanos de Aridane on Tuesday after the lava took a new course and put their homes in its probable path of destruction.

LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Blocks of molten lava as large as three-storey buildings rolled down a hillside on the Spanish island of La Palma on Sunday while a series of tremors shook the ground three weeks after the volcano erupted.

There were 21 seismic movements on Sunday, with the largest measuring 3.8, the Spanish National Geological Institute (ING) said, shaking the ground in the villages of Mazo, Fuencaliente and El Paso.

LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Buildings near the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma were engulfed by rivers of lava early on Saturday, with the drama of the red-hot eruption intensified by the spectacle of flashes of lightning.

The magma destroyed at least four buildings in the village of Callejon de la Gata, Reuters witnesses said.

"During the early morning new flows have caused more destruction of properties. Helplessness and pain in the face of so much damage," tweeted Anselmo Pestana, the Spanish government representative in the Canary Islands.

MADRID (AP) — The airport on the Spanish island of La Palma shut down again Thursday due to ashfall from a volcano that has been erupting for almost three weeks.

Scientists said the course of the eruption was unpredictable. It settled down in recent days, but the volcano in the Canary Islands continues to spew lava, and 16 earthquakes of up to magnitude 3.5 shook the area over the previous 24 hours, the National Geographic Institute said.

MADRID, Oct 4 (NNN-Xinhua) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised an aid package of 206 million euros to help the island of La Palma overcome the effects of the ongoing eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

The aid package, which is aimed at supporting infrastructure, tourism and water supplies, would be approved at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting and passed by a royal decree as quickly as possible, Sanchez said.

This “potent aid package” will be added to the 10.5 million euros in aid approved last week to be granted to help people displaced by the eruption.