A volcanic eruption in Indonesia has thrown air travel into chaos, leaving around 170,000 passengers stuck after widespread flight cancellations.

Authorities halted operations at eight airports across the country on Sunday as thick volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau drifted into flight paths.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta’s main aviation hub, said in an Instagram update that all aircraft would remain grounded until at least 8.59am local time on Monday, leaving large numbers of travellers waiting inside the terminal.

The shutdown at Soekarno-Hatta, which has already been extended several times, has disrupted 964 flights at that airport alone, according to Indonesia’s transportation ministry.

Across all eight affected airports, more than 1,500 flights have been impacted, with approximately 170,000 passengers caught up in the disruption, the ministry said.

Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Lion Air Group said they had cancelled flights to and from Jakarta for the rest of Sunday.

Anak Krakatau, which means child of Krakatau, is a volcanic island that emerged from the caldera formed by the gigantic 1883 explosion that destroyed the original Krakatau and killed more than 36,000 people in a series of tsunamis. 

Situated roughly halfway between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia’s vast island chain, it has been erupting since late on Friday, with volcanic ash detected at the airport early on Sunday, the transport ministry said. 

Ash reached as high as 20,000 feet on the Java side of the volcano and 50,000 feet  on the Sumatra side and some parts of Banten province in Java, meteorological agency BMKG posted on its website.

Ersy Laksita Rini, 55, was upset when she arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International and learned that her 8am flight to Surabaya had been cancelled. She said the airline had not informed her ahead of time.

‘If the eruption happened last night and there were predictions of flight cancellations, we should have been notified from the start,’ she said. 

‘That way, passengers wouldn’t have needed to come here so early and could have looked for alternatives instead.’ 

French national Eloan Tasset, 21, got a text from Batik Air that his flight to his holiday destination of Manado in North Sulawesi had been delayed, but he said it was unclear how long the delay would be.

‘If they tell me my flight is cancelled, I think I’m going to try to find a hotel in Jakarta,’ he said.

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The airport operator said it was providing food and light refreshments for affected passengers and buses to hotels, in coordination with the airlines.

The disaster mitigation agency BNPB said it would conduct a weather modification operation, which could include cloud-seeding, on Sunday to promote rain.

‘If it rains heavily enough, the volcanic ash that has been disrupting our daily lives since yesterday and continuing today will be washed away quickly,’ BNPB chief Suharyanto told a press conference.

The transport ministry named three other airports across Java – Kertajati, Ahmad Yani and Juanda – as alternatives, ‘should airlines or operators be able to divert their flights’, minister Dudy Purwagandhi said.

BNPB spokesperson Berton Panjaitan said the agency is urging the public to remain calm while ‘increasing vigilance’. 

He added: ‘In the event of ashfall, people are advised to wear masks and eye protection, reduce outdoor activities, cover water sources and exercise caution when driving, as volcanic ash can reduce visibility.’

Ferries in the Sunda Strait were operating normally, the transport ministry said, urging vessels to stay at least 3 km (2 miles) away from Anak Krakatau’s crater and remain vigilant for volcanic hazards, including volcanic ash and other ejected materials.

Several schools cancelled activities on Saturday after students and residents suffered eye irritations from the ash, while fishermen cancelled fishing trips, local media outlet Kompas reported.

Police distributed masks to motorists in Cianjur, West Java, some 200 km (130 miles) from Anak Krakatau, the state news agency Antara reported, while the disaster management agency reported volcanic ash in the city, urging residents to stay indoors.

Governors of Lampung and Jakarta have ordered remote learning starting Monday to prevent health risks for students caused by volcanic ash, state news agency Antara said.

Some 850 km (530 miles) away from Anak Krakatau, Mount Semeru in East Java also erupted on Sunday, sending an ash column 1 km (3,300 feet) above the summit, said volcano monitoring agency PVMBG. 

It advised residents to stay at least 5 km (3 miles) away from the crater and warned of the risk of hot ash clouds and lava flows up to 17 km (10 miles) from the summit.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent. Anak Krakatau has been on alert level 3, the second-highest, since July 2. 

Semeru was also on level 3, as were three other volcanoes: Merapi, Lewotobi Laki-laki and Sinabung.

The disaster mitigation agency said there was no imminent risk of tsunami from the volcano. A tsunami in 2018 caused by Anak Krakatau eruptions killed more than 400 on Java and Sumatra.

Mariska Hargitay delivered a standout red carpet moment on Saturday night, stepping out in a striking gown as she celebrated two wins at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys.

The 62-year-old actress and filmmaker, who directed the documentary My Mom Jayne about her late mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, joined a star-studded crowd at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles for the annual awards event.

Hargitay commanded attention in a strapless red dress designed with a structured, figure-hugging bodice and a flowing skirt that added movement and drama to the look.

She completed the monochromatic ensemble with closed-toe red heels, while bold, sparkling necklaces brought an extra dose of glamour to her awards-night styling.

Her brunette hair was parted down the center and styled in soft waves, falling just to her shoulders for a polished finish.

A warm blush was added to her cheekbones for a radiant glow while a pink satin tint was worn on her lips for a finishing touch. 

Later in the evening on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys, Hargitay posed on the red carpet while proudly holding two awards in her hands. 

She flashed a cheerful smile for the cameras as she lifted the trophies into the air. 

The actress received the award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for My Mom Jayne, which was released on HBO Max last year in June. 

Hargitay additionally won for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. 

Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Hargitay for comment, but has yet to hear back.  

The star previously won an Emmy for Best Actress back in 2006 based on her performance in Law & Order: SVU. 

While accepting the award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, she gave a special shout out to Gloria Steinem for encouraging her to pursue bringing the film to life. 

Activist and journalist Steinem passed away at the age of 92 earlier this week on September 2. 

‘My hero and friend Gloria Steinem recently said, “Please tell your own story,”‘ Hargitay said during her speech, per Deadline. 

‘The most important thing we can do for each other is to know each other through stories. I got to know my mother through telling the story. It’s a gift that’s indescribable.’ 

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And while taking to the stage again after winning for directing, the actress gushed that she felt ‘overwhelmed.’

‘I just wanted to share with you that it took me a while when I decided to make this film during the pandemic.’

She continued that, ‘It took me a while to realize that this was my story to tell. I could direct it.’

While backstage amid the festivities, Hargitay reflected on how the recent Emmy wins had a ‘meaningful’ impact on her after helming the documentary about Mansfield. 

‘It feels extraordinarily new and it’s deeply meaningful for me to have gone into a completely different arena, and to be recognized like this is really beyond my wildest dreams,’ she said, per The Hollywood Reporter. 

My Mom Jayne ‘explores the life and legacy of Mariska Hargitay’s mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who died tragically in a car accident at age 34 when Mariska was only three years old,’ per an IMDB synopsis. 

The documentary has a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a 95% audience score. 

Mansfield welcomed the Law & Order star in January 1964 while she was married to Mickey Hargitay. 

However, Hargitay later discovered in her 20s that her biological father was singer and comedian Nelson Sardelli. 

During an interview with Vanity Fair, the star recalled meeting Sardelli for the first time when she was age 30 as he performed in Atlantic City at the time. 

She had introduced herself as his daughter, to which he replied with, ‘I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.’ 

Hargitay told the outlet that she went ‘full Olivia Benson,’ referring to her character on Law & Order: SVU. 

‘I was like, “I don’t want anything. I don’t need anything from you… I have a dad.” There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey,’ she said. 

The actress had also confronted Mickey, the man who raised her, but he insisted that he was her father and the pair did not discuss the topic again.

Hargitay also won Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures at the Producers Guild of America Awards in February.  

On September 14, the actress will also take on hosting duties for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. 

‘Do I want to quit now? No,’ she told Variety last month. ‘Why? I made a movie while shooting; I did a play for six weeks on hiatus. I’m hosting the Emmys.’ 

Hargitay further shared how she plans to keep busy by taking more projects under her belt.

‘Next summer, if I don’t make another movie, I’ll probably do another play. And I love it!’ 

Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s hard-right Alternative for Germany party, declared that the AfD had been handed a clear mandate to govern after Sunday’s exit polls pointed to a landmark regional election triumph.

The anti-immigration party, which has also been noted for its Russia-friendly stance, was projected to secure at least 44 percent of the vote in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, according to exit polling from two public broadcasters.

That result would put the AfD well ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centre-right CDU, which was polling at 18.5 percent.

Public broadcasters ARD and ZDF cautioned, however, that it remained unclear whether the hard-right party had won enough support for an outright majority — a result that would allow it to lead a German state government on its own for the first time.

“We have made history today,” said Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s 35-year-old lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, as he celebrated the projected result.

Weidel said the AfD would talk to all parties. The AfD has until now faced a policy of so-called Brandmauer – which translates as ‘firewall’ – meaning other mainstream German parties have refused to cooperate with or go into coalition with them.  

Recently dubbed ‘Germany’s most dangerous man’ by a news magazine, the hard-Right leader mocked the publication by handing out signed copies to his fans.

In recent months, Siegmund has been mobbed by adoring supporters at ‘family picnics’ and campaign events across the small state.

But his vow to deport irregular migrants ‘from minute one’ has terrified many foreign-born residents.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency considers the AfD chapter he represents as ‘Right-wing extremist’ with links to ethno-nationalist groups and think-tanks.

Siegmund was present at a 2023 secret meeting near Berlin where extreme Right-wing activists discussed a radical ‘remigration’ plan to expel millions of people with a migration background.

At the time, the revelation cost Siegmund a committee chairmanship in the state parliament – but he has since dismissed the meeting as a ‘Kaffee Klatsch’ or casual social gathering.

‘It was the others who erected the firewalls,’ he told Bild daily. ‘If no one wants to work with us, then we’ll just have to do it alone.’ 

German voters headed to the polls today for a crucial regional election with voting booths closing at 6pm local time (4pm GMT). 

The small state of Saxony-Anhalt was ruled by the centre-Right CDU of Chancellor Friedrich Merz in coalition with two smaller parties, run by state premier Sven Schulze, but the multi-party coalition appears to have failed to cling to power.

AfD’s win will shake Germany, a country that has long been at pains to atone for its dark history in World War II and the Holocaust and which has so far kept extremist parties in check.

A strong AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt will also heap pressure on Merz, who has vowed to reboot a stagnant economy and restrict irregular immigration, but has seen his party beaten by the AfD in national surveys too.

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‘If the AfD wins in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz’s critics will become even more vocal, and calls for better leadership will become impossible to ignore,’ said political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder of Kassel University.

However, Schroeder also said he does not expect Merz to be ousted, given the current absence of a strong rival candidate: ‘As far as I can see, there is no alternative chancellor.’

Siegmund had vowed to topple a ‘domino’ on Sunday and lead a political revolution from the small state of 2.1 million people that propels the anti-establishment party to national victory in 2029.

The AfD’s key campaign promises include a ‘remigration and deportation offensive’, a ban on LGBTQ pride rainbow flags at public schools, and an end to new wind farms.

The party has also tapped into a sense of nostalgia for communist East Germany and lingering resentment about an enduring wealth gap with the West decades after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

The prospect of an AfD state government – while eagerly awaited by many voters – has sparked alarm among mainstream parties and minority groups.

Thousands of the AfD’s opponents joined a ‘festival of democracy’ rally in Magdeburg on the eve of the vote.

The German Economic Institute warned the AfD’s immigration policy would be ‘ruinous’ for the state, whose population is already ageing, shrinking and highly reliant on foreign-born workers.

Others have voiced fears an AfD-run state security apparatus could leak sensitive information to Russia.

The Kremlin ‘makes no secret of the fact that the AfD is the most important instrument for destabilising Germany for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,’ Thuringia state interior minister Georg Maier told the Handelsblatt daily.

The latest poll, released Thursday by public broadcaster ZDF, gave the AfD a commanding lead of 41 percent.

The CDU got 23 percent, the centre-left SPD 8.5 percent and the Greens six percent, while two smaller parties failed to cross the five-percent hurdle to reenter parliament.

A similar result may allow a scenario where the CDU and others form a minority government with ad hoc support from the hard-Left Die Linke party, which polled at 11.5 percent.

In the final stretch of campaigning, a social media video stoked fears about mail vote fraud, with claims of manipulation at an elderly care home that were denied by state authorities.

Germany’s parliamentary speaker Julia Kloeckner dismissed AfD speculation of voter manipulation, speaking to news weekly Der Spiegel.

‘Questioning elections without concrete evidence appears to have one goal,’ she said, ‘to sow distrust in our rules and to accept the results only if the outcome suits’.

A wedding photoshoot took an unforgettable turn when a newly married couple lost their footing and plunged into a river on their big day.

Jamie and Michelle Wade, both 46, were standing in a canoe for romantic wedding pictures on the River Bure in Norfolk when they toppled over and, in their words, “went down like the Titanic” after losing balance on August 29.

The couple, who live in Horstead, Norfolk, said the canoe mishap was just one of several things that went wrong during their wedding celebrations — but they were determined not to let the soggy setback spoil the day.

Michelle, a phlebotomist, had been wearing her £1,800 wedding dress for only a short time when the moment unfolded. She recalled thinking, as the canoe began to sink, that she could not possibly end up in the water after getting ready for the ceremony.

She said she had been in the gown for just two hours before the dramatic dip, adding that although she and Jamie love the River Bure, she never imagined her wedding day would end with her actually falling into it.

‘Not exactly the elegant newlywed photo we had imagined, but somehow it sums up our day perfectly – completely unexpected, slightly chaotic, soaking wet, absolutely hilarious and filled with love.’

Michelle and Jamie, a builder, first met at school in 1993. They had been together, but split up and went their separate ways as adults.

A chance meeting in a Tesco car park in 2016 saw them reunite. Five years later they got engaged – on a boat.

Jamie said they have been ‘inseparable ever since’ and have ‘never spent more than a day apart’.

He added: ‘I’d moved back to Norfolk and went to Tesco one day when I saw Michelle walking through the car park.

‘I had that panic moment that comes from childhood dreams and I thought “if I don’t talk to her now, I never will again”.’

Their journey to the altar wasn’t easy as Michelle had suffered several miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy – a devastating condition that occurs when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb. It is unsurvivable for the baby and life-threatening for the mother.

The couple planned to marry last year but postponed following the loss of Jamie’s dad and Michelle’s mum.

But despite everything, the couple battled the odds to marry at Norwich Castle Museum last month – with more hiccups than just the unexpected swim.

Jamie said: ‘First, Michelle forgot her bouquet and had to turn back, passing me on the road after we’d carefully avoided seeing each other all the night before.

‘Then, as I cried my way through an emotional ceremony at Norwich Castle Museum, torrential rain caused the confetti to stick to all our guests as they threw it over us.

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‘It doesn’t rain for months and then the day you want to get married, the heavens open.’

Following the 50-guest wedding at Norwich Castle Museum, the couple held their reception at the Grade-II listed pub The King’s Head in Coltishall, Norfolk.

It was on the nearby Coltishall Common that their newlywed shoot began.

Michelle said: ‘All morning we thought the weather looked okay and then suddenly, rain, thunder, everything.

‘Our photographer told us we weren’t going to get our sunset picture but we knew we had to get creative. I’d waited since I was 13 for this moment.’

It was then the couple tentatively stepped into the canoe – before overbalancing and spilling into the river.

To make matters worse, another wedding guest had rushed to see if they were OK and slipped – breaking their leg.

The pair went back to their 120-strong wedding reception to the shock of their guests.

Jamie said: ‘We took it entirely in our stride. Michelle looked absolutely stunning before and after the dunk.

‘She just shook out her drenched hair, straightened her dress, and gave me a big hug.

‘I was tipping water out of my boots all night – every time I emptied them, a little while later they were full again.

‘To top it off, Michelle accidentally put her foot in the fireworks machine and burnt her toe. If she hadn’t been wet, she would have gone up.

‘We’d worked so hard to get to our wedding day and the powers that be had one last test for us.’

The couple are due to go to Corfu on their honeymoon this month but Michelle added: ‘I think we should probably take a paramedic.’