Whakaari Management Limited (WML) was found guilty in 2023 of failing to keep visitors safe and fined just over NZ$1m ($560,000; £445,000). They were also ordered to pay NZ$4.8m in reparation to the victims.

However, following an appeal, the High Court ruled on Friday that the company only owned the land and were not responsible for people’s safety.

White Island, which is also known by its Māori name, Whakaari, is New Zealand’s most active volcano and has been erupting in some form since 2011.

It had been showing signs of heightened unrest for weeks before the fatal December 2019 eruption, which killed almost half of the people who were on it at the time. Most were tourists, including 17 from Australia and three from the US.

Another 25 people were injured, with many suffering extensive burns.

High Court Justice Simon Moore said on Friday that while WML licensed tours of the volcano, there was nothing in these agreements that gave the company control of what was happening on the island day to day.

He agreed that it was reasonable for the company to rely on tour operators, as well as emergency management and science organisations, to assess risks to safety.

Justice Moore added that, in coming to his decision, he had not ignored the pain and grief of the families that had been affected.

“It is impossible not to be deeply moved and affected by the sheer scale and nature of the human loss in this case,” he said.

Thirteen parties in total, including tour operators, were charged over the disaster. WML was the last to receive a verdict after six had pleaded guilty, while six more had their charges dismissed.

The case against WML was the largest action of its kind brought by New Zealand’s regulator, Worksafe NZ, who said it acknowledged the High Court ruling and was considering whether to appeal.

James Cairney, a lawyer for James, Andrew and Peter Buttle – three brothers who own the company – said the family welcomed the decision, Radio New Zealand reported. He added that the Buttles hoped it would “bring certainty for all landowners who grant others recreational access to their land”.

The Buttle family has owned Whakaari/White Island since the 1930s, when their grandfather bought it and placed it in a family trust. It is one of only a few privately owned islands in New Zealand.

The brothers had previously been on trial in relation to the 2019 disaster as individuals over alleged breaches of New Zealand’s workplace health and safety legislation. Those charges were dismissed in 2023.

The smoke coming from Mount Dofan that began around 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Thursday “has a fiery plume and it’s very high,” Sultan Kemil said.

In a video posted by the Ethiopian Geological Institute on its Facebook page steam and debris can be seen shooting out from the mountain.

In recent weeks, there have been more than a dozen seismic events around Awash Fentale – an earthquake-prone area of Ethiopia’s Afar region.

Abdu Ali, the chief administrator of the local area in Afar told Ethiopia’s FBC news site that an evacuation process is under way to prevent harm to residents.

He is quoted as saying that there have been earthquakes that are getting “higher and stronger”.

Tremors have also been felt away in Addis Ababa.

Shiferaw Teklemariam, from the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, told the Reuters news agency that while it was too early to classify the activity as an eruption, authorities were taking precautions.

The little boy wandered off from his family and “in a split second, ran straight toward the 400ft cliff edge” of the Kilauea volcano, the park said.

“His mother, screaming, managed to grab him”, the park added in its statement, when the toddler was “just a foot or so away from a fatal fall”.

Park ranger Jessica Ferracane, who observed the incident said that she hopes sharing details of the incident will help “prevent future tragedies”.

Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

It routinely erupts, and the latest eruption began on 23 December with lava pictured gushing to the surface.

The eruption is continuing at a low level within a closed area of the national park, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in its latest update on Saturday.

The park said the incident happened on Christmas Day in a closed area of the park where families had gathered to watch the lava.

It was in an area overlooking the caldera – the large crater of the volcano – and the boy would not have survived the fall, Ms Ferracane said.

Park rangers said they want to remind visitors to stay on trail and out of closed areas, and to keep their children close.

“Those who ignore the warnings, walk past closure signs, lose track of loved ones, and sneak into closed areas to get a closer look do so at great risk.

“Ms Ferracane added: “Hopefully sharing the news will prevent future tragedies and near-misses.”

“An explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of Kanlaon Volcano at 3:03 pm (0703 GMT) today,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said in a statement on Monday.

“All local government units are advised to evacuate the 6km (4 mile) radius from the summit of the volcano and must be prepared for additional evacuation if activity warrants,” it added.

PHIVOLCS later warned there are indications that Mount Kanlaon could erupt further in the coming days.

Images posted on social media following the eruption showed several areas near the volcano were blanketed in thick volcanic ash.

Rising more than 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) above sea level on the central island of Negros, Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines.

The Office of Civil Defense estimated that 54,000 people or 12,000 families would be covered by the evacuation efforts. It is unclear how long the evacuation process would take.

“Authorities are preparing for the worst-case scenario of raising the alert level … which would necessitate further evacuation and safety measures,” the civil defence office said in a statement.

“Evacuations are ongoing” in four upland villages of La Castellana town, on the volcano’s southwest slope, municipal police officer Staff Sergeant Ronel Arevalo told the AFP news agency.

Governor Eugenio Lacson of Negros Occidental Province told ABS-CBN News that he is ready to declare a state of calamity should the situation worsen.

La Castellana resident Dianne Paula Abendan, 24, used her mobile phone to take a video clip of a giant cauliflower-shaped grey mass of smoke billowing above the crater.

“These past few days we’ve seen black smoke coming out of [the] volcano. We were expecting that it would erupt anytime this week,” she told AFP by phone.

Abendan said people rushed home to await evacuation orders, but added that the volcanic activity appeared to ease slightly about an hour later.

In September, hundreds of nearby residents were evacuated after the volcano spurted thousands of tonnes of harmful gases in a single day.

The seismology office said Kanlaon has erupted more than 40 times since 1866.In 1996, three hikers were killed due to ash ejection from the volcano.