LOS ANGELES: Fresh lava fountains spewed in spectacular fashion from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on Saturday, US volcanologists said, marking nearly a year since one of the world’s most active volcanoes began erupting.

“Sustained lava fountains approximately 50–100 feet (15–30 metres) in height are currently erupting from the north vent,” the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement, adding that “fountain heights are increasing rapidly.”

The latest episode in the ongoing eruption – the 38th such surge of molten rock and gases from deep underground – began at 8:45 am local time (18:45 GMT), USGS said.

Such activity has been intermittent since an eruption began on December 23, 2024, USGS said, and typically continues for “a day or less.”

All the eruptive activity is “confined to Halema’uma’u crater within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park,” the service said, and local airports are not expected to be affected by volcanic gas or ash.

Officials are on watch for high levels of volcanic gas and a phenomenon called “Pele’s hair,” in which strands of volcanic glass “often produced by lava fountaining activity” are “carried well over 10 miles (15 kilometres) from the vent.”

Hot glassy volcanic fragments “can fall on the ground within 1–2 miles (1–3 kilometres) of the eruptive vents.”

Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly.

It is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is much smaller than neighbouring Mauna Loa, but is far more active and regularly wows helicopter-riding tourists who come to see its red-hot shows.

• Musk calls for power to be returned to European nations.
• EU fines X 120m euros for breaking digital rules.
• European Commission said X breached transparency rules.

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk clapped back on Saturday at the European Union after it hit the tech tycoon’s X social media platform with a major fine, telling his 230 million online followers that the EU should be “abolished.”

Following a high-profile probe seen as a test of EU resolve to police Big Tech, the social media platform owned by the world’s richest person was slapped with a fine of 120 million euros ($140 million) on Friday for breaking the bloc’s digital rules.

The penalty was swiftly criticised by the US administration of Donald Trump, who as president aligned with Musk on a contentious effort to slash the federal workforce and cut spending, before the two had a falling out.

Musk himself weighed in after the fine was announced, posting on his X account: “The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people.”

When a user reposted Musk’s comment, he responded, “I mean it. Not kidding.”

“I love Europe, but not the bureaucratic monster that is the EU,” he added in another post.

The fine against X was the first imposed by the European Commission under its Digital Services Act (DSA) on content.

The Commission said X was guilty of breaching the DSA’s transparency obligation.

The violations include the deceptive design of the platform’s “blue checkmark” for supposedly verified accounts, and its failure to provide access to public data for researchers, it said.

X had also failed to be sufficiently transparent about its advertising, the Commission added.

ATHENS: Seventeen men were found dead on Saturday after a migrant vessel was discovered drifting off the Greek island of Crete, a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

“Two survivors in critical condition have been hospitalised,” the spokeswoman added.

“Autopsies have to be carried out as the circumstances of the sinking are not known.”

Greek state television channel ERT said the bodies had been found inside the vessel, which was taking on water and partly deflated.

Manolis Frangoulis, the mayor of the Cretan port of Ierapetra, told reporters that all the victims had been young.

“The vessel the migrants were on was deflated on two sides, which forced the passengers into a reduced space,” he added.

Coroners are looking at the possibility that the migrants died of dehydration, ERT reported.

The vessel was found 26 nautical miles (48 kilometres) southwest of Crete, said Greek officials.

A Turkish cargo ship spotted it and alerted the authorities, Greek news agency Ana reported.

Two coastguard vessels and another from the EU’s border agency Frontex travelled to the scene, as did a Frontex aircraft and a Super Puma helicopter, said the coastguard.

They added that the two survivors had said their vessel had become unstable because of bad weather, and they had had no way to cover up nor to eat or drink anything.

Migrants have over the last year turned their attention to the Greek island of Crete, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as a way of reaching European Union territory from Libya, in north Africa.

The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR says more than 16,770 people seeking asylum in the EU have arrived there since the start of the year.