South American ash cloud causes major disruptions

BUENOS AIRES: The vast ash cloud spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano caused major disruption to South American air travel on Thursday, grounding hundreds of flights and upsetting regional diplomacy.
All flights in and out of the Argentine capital were halted, as well as most arriving or departing the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, forcing President Jose Mujica to postpone a Buenos Aires meeting with his Argentine counterpart.
As the travel misery intensified, organizers were also forced to delay Friday's first annual meeting in Buenos Aires of finance ministers from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) regional bloc. No new date was set.
The volcano, which rumbled to life on Saturday for the first time since 1960, is high in the Andes mountains, 870 kilometers (540 miles) south of the Chilean capital Santiago, near the border with Argentina.