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Asia Pacific

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A volcano has erupted in southern Japan, sending an orange burst into lava and the skies rolling down the mountain.

The nation’s meteorological bureau said Sakurajima erupted at about 7pm local time (10am GMT). The public broadcaster NHK showed dark grey smoke billowing into the sky and lightning. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The meteorological agency however prohibited entry to the region, expanding an existing no go zone around the crater to some 1.2-mile radius.

The eruption, while dramatic, was typical compared to the previous eruptions in Sakurajima, Kyoto University volcanologist Kazuhiro Ishihara told NHK. “But of course we have to keep monitoring the volcanic process.”

The Japanese archipelago sits atop the Pacific “Ring of fire” and has more than 100 volcanoes. 57 people were killed by the 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan.

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Experts have warned of a potential deterioration in ties involving the two Koreas after the sudden death of a senior North Korean ruling party official who had been in charge of managing relationships with South Korea.

Kim Yang- a top aide to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, perished on Tuesday in an automobile crash, the state news agency reported on Wednesday, in the most recent episode involving the leader’s deputies.

Kim Yang-gon was credited with helping serious battle is averted by both nations after an exchange of a landmine explosion as well as artillery fire – attributed on North Korea – two South Korean soldiers were maimed by that.

Analysts said his departure could prompt a deterioration in the relations of North Korea with its neighbour.

“This will produce negative impacts on inter-Korean relations,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor in the University of North Korean Studies.

“In light of the North’s nature, I do not see anyone who can replace him in his part in daring to offer policy thoughts and guidance to the leader in these areas.”

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) described him as Kim Jong-un’s “most beloved & most trustworthy comrade-in-arms. His departure was a “great loss” to the party as well as the individuals, KCNA said, commending him for his “admirable devotion and competence”.

He was also a part of a high level delegation that held talks in August, after cross border tensions reached their one of their greatest points in modern times.

Those discussions in Panmunjom created an agreement that ended the standoff, with both sides agreeing to increase ties to boost, including exchanges between civilians on either side of the heavily armed border dividing the two nations.

But following discussions have made little progress in resolving key problems, including reunions for families separated by war as well as the resumption of cross border tours.

KCNA said Kim, who’d served three generations of the state’s ruling dynasty, perished in an automobile crash at 6.15am on Tuesday.

No other details were given by the bureau, but said Kim Jong-un would head an 80-member organising committee to get a state funeral to be held on Thursday.

Since he took over following the departure of his dad in 2011 the North’s leader has blown off a sequence of top aides.

The reported inclusion of Choe Ryong-hae in Kim Yang-gon’s funeral committee has prompted speculation he continues to be welcomed back following a little while in the political wilderness in the direction fold.

Choe, until recently an integral element of Kim Jong-un’s inner circle, was sent into a farm in November to get “ground-breaking instruction” for mishandling a fresh hydroelectric power plant job, in accordance with South Korean media.

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Japanese moviegoers will eventually get the opportunity to determine Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s movie about an American POW tortured by the Japanese, despite attempts by right-wingers to prevent its release.

Before being screened at other places, based on media reports, the movie, that was released in the US along with other nations at the conclusion of last year, will likely be shown in a theater in Tokyo.

Directed by Jolie, Unbroken tells the story of the US Olympic runner and air force aviator Louis Zamperini, who spent 47 days adrift after his B24 bomber crashed into the Pacific.

After being caught he spent in prison camps where he was tortured and starved by guards.

Rightwing activists established campaigns on Change.org and Facebook calling for the movie to be banned, and for Jolie to be told she was no longer welcome in Japan. A spokesman for the ultra-conservative pressure group the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact described the film as “pure fabrication”.

Zamperini, who died this past year aged 97, after returned to Japan to meet with his captors, but a prison guard named Mutsuhiro Watanabe, his leader wartime tormentor, allegedly turned down his request for a meeting.

The Japanese promotional posters for the movie describe it as the true story of a guy “who survived hell for a couple of years in a prison camp”.

Jolie said she wasn’t worried about the criticism of her picture. “It’s a lovely picture which has a lovely message,” she told USA Today in December ahead of the film’s worldwide release.

“We were quite cognizant of showing all sides of the war, like the bombing of Tokyo. But this is Louis’ encounter and he … had a very difficult time as a POW. So we wish to pay respect and reveal that all people suffer in war.”

Unbroken is not the first foreign film to have drawn criticism from Japan’s ultra-nationalists.

The movie was shown after leading film industry figures called on films and distributors to defend free speech.

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