MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano is continuing to spout gases and hot rock fragments and it is dusting towns on its flanks with volcanic ash. But unlike recent days, the ash has not spread to neighboring cities. Civil defense radio dispatcher Dulce Maria Casquera says the volcano alert level remains high, but no evacuations are planned at present. Casquera says that apart from the ash, the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano has been relatively calm. However, the National Disaster Prevention Center says in a report Wednesday that that some glowing rock fragments rolled about a quarter mile (half kilometer) down the slopes. Authorities this week raised the alert level due to increasing activity at the peak southeast of Mexico City. Its most violent eruption in 1,200 years occurred on Dec. 18, 2000.