In Japan, officials in southern part of the country have urged more than 1,000 residents of a town near an erupting volcano to evacuate amid reports of large rocks falling in the area. Mount Shinmoe's first major eruption in almost 200 years is sending plumes of ash and rocks kilometres into the sky. The eruption, on the southern island of Kyushu, has disrupted flights and train services and sparked warnings about another, even more powerful blast. More than 600 people have already been evacuated. Vulcanologists say a giant lava dome on the volcano has now grown to more than 500 metres in diameter.