Flights grounded at Kagoshima Airport as volcano erupts in southern Japan

A volcano in southern Japan has erupted, shooting smoke and ash thousands of meters into the sky, and grounding dozens of flights at a nearby airport, AP said. The Meteorological Agency says the Shinmoedake volcano erupted violently several times on Tuesday, raising ash and smoke up to 2,300 meters in its biggest explosion since 2011. It said some lava was rising from inside a crater at the volcano. The volcano, which featured in the 1967 James Bond film ‘You Only Live Twice,’ has had smaller eruptions since last week. Around 80 flights in and out of the nearby Kagoshima Airport were canceled.