17/03/2017 Newsround

Hi, I'm Ayshah.

Happy Friday everyone, this is Newsround.

On the way, a lucky escape for people who were

on a volcano when it erupted.

How a spider's big appetite is good for us humans.

And the brand new hippo saying hello to the public for the first time.

First up, to the lucky escape of a film crew and some tourists

who were on Mount Etna when it erupted.

This is the moment the volcano shot hot rocks,

boulders and steam into the air.

People ran away from the blast to safety and although some

were hurt, amazingly there were no serious injuries.

BBC Reporter Rebecca Morelle was there and has spoken

about her experience.

What happened is only really starting to sink in.

Look at this, this hole was made by one of the

incredibly hot pieces of volcanic rock that rained down upon us.

We had a very, very narrow escape.

Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes

and it is usually thought to be safe to view lava flows close up

but explosions like this one are unpredictable, as volcano expert

Dougal Jerrum explains.

Really amazing scenes at Mount Etna.

It's one of Europe's most active volcanoes and it has been showing

some fantastic eruptions recently.

You can normally look at the lava flows from a reasonably close

distance, but in this instance what Rebecca

and the camera crew were

caught up in is what we call a rootless eruption.

Essentially the lava flows are coming over the

water, in this case snow, and it is flashing

the snow into steam.

It's really dramatically expanding, and

it causes an eruption of the lava flow itself.

It is called rootless because it doesn't have a vent

beneath it, it's being driven by the ice and water being flashed into

steam.

The problem with these is that they are really rather

unpredictable, so although it is great to go and view these volcanoes

as close as you can safely do, at this time

of year when there's lots

of snow around Mount Etna, it can be a treacherous place to be.

To rugby union, and it's the final weekend of the Six Nations.

England may have already won the championship,

but there's there's still plenty to play for.

Martin's got this.

Six teams came to the tournament with high hopes.

But then, one by one, they saw their chances of

victory slip away.

All except reigning champions, England.

Over the last six weeks we have seen some

amazing tries.

And some shocking fails.

Oh, my word.

But with four teams looking to tie up second place

and Italy still searching for their first win,

expect Saturday's games to be as ferocious as ever.

Unbeaten England visit Ireland in the final match.

A 19th straight victory for Eddie Jones's men will not only give

them a second Grand Slam in two years, but also break the record for

the most wins in a row by an international team ever.

A record currently held by none other than

the mighty All Blacks.

But Ireland will be doing everything in their

power is to stop their fierce rivals from making history.

And who were the team that brought the New

Zealand winning streak to an end?

England's opponent on Saturday, Ireland.

Well before the rugby, Ireland has another big day - it's St

Patrick's day today and land marks around the world will be

lit up green to mark the country's patron saint.

Here's the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil lit

up, and the fountain at the White House in

America is turning green.

Parades and other celebrations will also be taking place.

Spiders, ahhh!

Horrible things.

But it turns out these guys have a very big appetite.

And actually it's doing us all a favour.

Arachnids.

These creepy, crawly beasties are many people's top

phobia.

But maybe they should be known as our eight-legged friends.

I know, but hear me out on this one.

A new study revealed that spiders have a pretty

big appetite.

Apparently they eat up to 800 million tonnes of insects

every year.

It might sound like they are greedy, but they are helping

humans and saving us from disease-carrying

pests like flies and insects.

Without them, the world would be swamped with bugs.

So, for that, you have to give them a thumbs

up.

This spectacular appetite forms a very important, if rather gross,

part of the food chain.

So what do you think about spiders now?

Still scared?

Me too.

Cuteness is about to get off the scale.

Just have have a look

at these rare twin foals who were born on a farm in Suffolk

It's really unusual for horses to have twins.

They've been called Tilly and Lilly, and are doing well under

the watchful eye of Mum Rose.

More cute baby animals, I hear you say?

Why not?

Meet....

well, she hasn't got a name just yet,

but this little one made it's first appearance with her mum

at a zoo in Australia.

She's a pygmy hippo and there are less than 3,000 left in the wild.

The zoo is running a competition to get a name.

And if that isn't enough news for you today, go online

to find out who will be hosting the new Great British Bake Off.

Thanks for watching this morning, we'll see you back here at 4:20pm.