Guatemala: About 4000 residents fled Guatemala's Volcano of Fire as red-hot rock and ash spewed into the sky and cascaded down the slopes toward an area devastated by a deadly eruption earlier this year. Guatemala's volcanology unit said that explosions from the 3763m high mountain shook homes with "constant sounds similar to a train locomotive". Incandescent material burst as high as 1000m above the crater and flows of hot rock and ash extended nearly 3km down one flank of the volcano. Hot blasts of pyroclastic material pushed down canyons on the slopes, while a column of ash rose nearly 7000m above sea level and drifted towards Guatemala City to the east.
Turkey: Turkey's foreign minister says he has discussed all aspects of a possible international investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke briefly to UN reporters after discussing Khashoggi's murder inside Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul with Guterres. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters: "We have not received any formal request from the Turkish side." Dujarric reiterated that the secretary-general feels he needs a formal request from one of the countries and from a UN legislative body like the Security Council, General Assembly or Human Rights Council to initiate an international investigation.
Italy: Archaeologists have found in an ancient Pompeii bedroom a fresco depicting a sensual scene of a goddess and a swan representing a god. The figure of goddess Leda being impregnated by a swan representing Jupiter was a fairly common theme in home decoration in Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum, another ancient town destroyed in AD 79 by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius near present-day Naples. The fresco features details like a depiction of Leda protecting the swan with her cloak as the bird sits on her lap. The bedroom is located near a corridor by the entranceway of an upscale domus where another splendid fresco was previously discovered, said the archaeological park, which is part of the Italian Culture Ministry.
El Salvador: The navy has seized 6.3 tonnes of cocaine from a semi-submersible boat in the Pacific Ocean. The Salvadoran anti-narcotics police division says that four Colombians and a Guatemalan were detained aboard the vessel. Police said the boat was spotted about 185 nautical miles offshore. It had been modified to sit low in the water to avoid detection. The largest previous drug bust in El Salvador was a 5.1-tonne shipment of cocaine found at warehouses in the capital of San Salvador in 1993. The cocaine from this week's seizure had an estimated value of US$160 million.
