Ashes

  Peruvian President-elect Ollanta Humala, confronted Tuesday with canceled flights due to the ash cloud from Chile's Puyehue volcano, resorted to traveling by boat instead of airplane to keep an appointment with Argentine PresidentCristina Fernandez de Kirchner. A day earlier, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also eager to meet with Fernandez, caught a bus for the 400-mile ride from Cordoba, Argentina, to Buenos Aires. His flight from Bogota, the Colombian capital, had been forced to land before reaching the Argentine capital because of Puyehue.

Strong aftershocks from New Zealand's deadly quake, plus a drifting ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Chile, disrupted flights, temporarily closed airports and stranded travelers in Australia and New Zealand on Monday. South American travelers also continued to be delayed. New Zealand tourism officials are warning travelers to the Christchurch area to be prepared for more aftershocks after a pair of strong earthquakes Monday caused more damage to the city center, already devastated by the deadly quake in February.

Wildfires raged in eastern Arizona, burning tens of thousands of acres and sending smoke more than 200 miles away to New Mexico, where thousands of residents woke to find a fine layer of ash on their cars and a heavy haze hanging in the air. Calls from panicky residents flooded Albuquerque's 911 emergency center Thursday night when strong winds blew smoke from the blazes into the metro area, dramatically limiting visibility. Many thought there was a fire in the Sandia Mountains foothills or in the cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande, said Darren White, the city's public safety director.

With Iceland 's Grimsvotn volcano no longer spewing ash, officials on Wednesday cautiously predicted a reprieve from the ash cloud that closed air space and idled planes this week in parts of Britain and the Continent. Earlier Wednesday, about 450 flights were canceled in Germany, affecting airports in Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin. The three airports reopened later in the day. Now the British Meteorological Office expects minimal ash over the Britain and the Continent for the next few days, good news for British travelers this weekend who have Monday off as a national holiday.

High concentrations of volcanic ash from the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland are wafting over northern parts of Britain and have forced the cancellation of 500 flights across Europe, the European air traffic center said Tuesday. Eurocontrol also predicted more cancellations Wednesday as the cloud drifts toward Denmark, southern Norway and southwest Sweden. But the agency also expects the number of future flights affected by the cloud will be relatively low. Airlines such as British Airways , KLM , Aer Lingus , Loganair , Ryanair and others that canceled flights Monday and Tuesday have been scrambling to keep passengers informed of operations using Twitter, Facebook and websites, telling passengers not to come to the airport if their flight has been canceled.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Monday: The Billboard Music Awards were back on the air after six years in mothballs. ( Los Angeles Times ) The end is coming this week! The end ... of Oprah. ( Huffington Post ) Oscar winner Joseph Brooks, who wrote the song "You Light Up My Life," apparently killed himself while awaiting trial on suspicion of rape. ( Los Angeles Times ) "Pirates of the Caribbean" plundered loot overseas, while Americans finally seem to be tiring of Captain Jack's shenanigans.

 The volcanic ash cloud blowing from Iceland toward Europe has forced President Obama to leave Ireland early and some smaller airlines to cancel flights.  Obama arrived in Ireland today but now plans to leave Monday night rather than Tuesday because of concerns about the looming ash cloud from Grimsvotn volcano that could interfere with his flight to London. News organizations report a White House statement saying: "Due to a recent change in the trajectory in the plume of volcanic ash, Air Force One will depart Ireland for London tonight.

There's a "strong possibility" that the ash cloud heading toward Europe from the Grimsvotn volcano could disrupt flights in parts of Scotland and Ireland in the next 24 hours, according to the air traffic organization Eurocontrol . Airlines have begun to take steps to cancel flights in anticipation of the cloud emanating from a volcanic eruption last weekend in Iceland. British Airways has canceled flights between London and Scotland until 2 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to its website.

Ash Wednesday marks a day of sacrifice and penance for Christians in order to atone for sins. The theology of the idea coincides nicely with psychology. Feeling pain, it seems, really cleanses the mind of guilty burdens, according to a new study. Australian researchers tested the idea of whether pain and sacrifice ease guilt. They recruited 62 young men and women under the guise that they were part of a study on mental and physical acuity. The participants were asked to write a short essay about a time when they had ostracized someone.

The mourners were outnumbered by news crews and clerics at this week's burial service at the Los Angeles County Crematory. I'm not sure what group to count myself in. I took notes, and I prayed. And I mourned for those who had died alone, as I contemplated the freshly dug mass grave that had become their final home. It held the remains of 1,689 people who died in Los Angeles County three years ago and were cremated by the county after no one showed up to claim their bodies. Three years later, their ashes were still unclaimed.