hello and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm ross mihara in tokyo. members of soccer's world governing body fifa have re-elected sepp blatter as their president. they voted in the midst of a scandal over corruption that blatter's opponent had wanted to tackle. fifa members cast ballots in a presidential election they hold every four years. blatter had held the top job since 1988. he faced a challenge from jordan's prince ali bin al hussein. the vote was inconclusive. then prince ali withdrew. he had wanted to tackle corruption. u.s. authorities indicted nine

fifa officials this week for allegedly taking kickbacks from media firms. blatter has come under fire for not cleaning up the organization's culture. a volcano on an island in southern japan has erupted. officials with the meteorological agency described the explosion on kuchinoerabu island as powerful. they've issued the highest level warning and evacuated all the residents. nhk world's ayaka hatta has more. >> reporter: mount kuchinerabu erupted a little before 10:00 a.m. friday local time. it sent smoke 9,000 meters into the air. about 140 people live on the island. one resident says he heard a huge explosion when the volcano erupted. observers say rapid flows of gases and rocks have reached the coast. >> translator: more strong and large scale explosions could happen.

we want people in areas where paraclastic flows are possible to follow directions issued by local authorities, including evacuation orders. >> reporter: kuchinoerabu is a small island located in kagoshima prefecture. it's about 15 kilometers from yakushima island. a unesco world heritage site. about 80 years ago, eight people were killed when mt. shindake erupted. the mountain was quiet for 34 years. then last august, an eruption sent large rocks up into the air about several hundred meters above the crater. all of the island's residents have been evacuated by helicopter or ship. a ferry carrying 120 residents arrived on yakushima on friday afternoon. >> translator: i'm greatly relieved to have been evacuated from the island.

i experienced the dangerous side of mother earth for the first time in my life. >> reporter: authorities from the town of yakushima are doing everything possible to support the evacuees. >> translator: it's difficult for us to care for the children and seniors. we'll do our best to make the evacuees' lives comfortable. >> reporter: officials with the meteorological agency say they will only allow the residents to return to the island once it's declared safe. ayaka hatta, nhk world. japanese lawmakers have hit a roadblock in their deliberations over security bills. they are holding heated debates over proposed legislation that would expand the role of the self-defense forces, but

opposition lawmakers walked out of a lower house committee session. the committee was supposed to discuss the legislation for about seven hours, but an hour into the meeting members of three opposition parties left. they accused foreign minister fumio kishida of not properly answering a question about what constitutes a perilous situation in areas surrounding japan. committee directors from the ruling and opposition camps failed to agree on a resumption of the discussion for the day. in a separate move the opposition bloc is urging the prime minister to apologize for a remark he made on thursday. kiyomi sugimoto of the opposition democratic party of japan was grilling abe. and he cut her off. >> [ speaking foreign language ]. >> abe apologized at the meeting but the opposition bloc says it

was not sincere enough. so lawmakers seem far apart on the issue. earlier james tengan spoke to nhk world's tomoko kamata. >> what was the focus of this week's debate? >> one of the key issues was how japan could exercise its right to collective self-defense or respond with force when countries with close ties come under attack. last july members of the cabinet said the country can use that right. that's a departure from the way in the past he has interpreted the constitution. the abe administration has determined that there are three conditions under which japan could use the right. they include an attack on a closely related country that threatens japan's survival, but only if other appropriate means are not available. in addition, only the minimum

amount of force could be applied. government officials earlier this month submitted a set of security bills to the diet. if passed, it will give the government a legal basis for using the right. >> what are the members of the opposition saying? >> well, they've been highly critical. they say the government could apply the criteria arbitrarily to many situations. abe said he would be extremely careful to make sure that the situation meets all three criteria before mobilizing the sdf. he said he would in principle not deploy sdf units overseas to use force. he says that would go against the rule of necessary minimum extent and violate the constitution, but abe says the

government could dispatch mine sweepers to the persian gulf even though such an action could be interpreted as a use of force. many foreign tankers carrying oil to japan pass through a narrow strait connecting the gulf of oman and persian gulf. abe says he may send sweepers if the oil tankers are being impeded by mines. that would be considered a threat to japanese lives. >> translator: mine sweeping can be considered an exception to my principle. the purpose of such operations is to protect civilian vessels from underwater danger and ensure safe navigation. so the nature of the activities is passive and limited. it could meet the three conditions for the use of force even overseas. >> abe has said he will achieve his reforms by the summer, but

opposition members say the debate is far from over. defense chiefs from countries across the asia-pacific region are discussing their shared concerns. they'll likely focus on china's growing maritime presence and its attempts to control disputed territory. delegates gathered at the asia security summit also known as the shangri-la dialogue. they include japanese defense minister gen nakatani, u.s. defense secretary ash carter and military commanders. they'll talk for three days. the delegates will likely discuss the growing chinese presence in disputed territory in the south china sea. workers are turning the reefs in the spratly islands to what others fear could be military bases.

they are warned to stop building up the reefs. they're also stepping up reconnaissance. officials in beijing have reacted by trying to tighten their military control. authorities in seoul are reporting another case of a potentially deadly illness. they are tracking the spread of the virus that causes middle east respiratory syndrome or mers. they say the number of south korean patients now stands at ten. health officials in seoul say the tenth patient in their country's outbreak had been in contact with the first. they report he tested positive during a trip to china. they say he traveled in defiance of his doctor's orders. south korean media are criticizing them for not stopping him. mers patients can develop severe pneumonia. infections have been spreading for about a year mainly in the middle east. workers at the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have contained a leak of highly radioactive water. the plant operator says the leak was first identified on thursday and that the water escaped into

the plant's harbor. officials with tokyo electric power company say the contaminated water was leaking from a crack in a hose connecting a wastewater tank and a building at the plant. the water was contained while cleaning up rainwater tainted by radioactive materials. tepco officials say concerns have been raised about the hose's durability. they say workers have been replacing them. they say they detected about 1,200 becquerels per liter from of beta ray emitting substances from water taken from the channel on thursday. thursday. that figure was 40 times the level the previous day. they say the figure rose to a maximum of 1,400 becquerels on friday. officials believe the leaking continued for the two days. authorities in fukushima prefecture want the company to investigate the cause of the leak. they say the company should take thorough measures to prevent it from happening again.

delegates from around the world have met in the thai capital bangkok to deal with a large-scale humanitarian crisis in southeast asia. patchari raksawong in bangkok is following the story. >> that crisis involved thousands of rohingya muslims fleeing persecution in myanmar. and impoverished bangladeshis. they are crammed together on boats adrift in the eastern indian ocean. most are victims of human trafficking. delegations from members of the association of southeast asian nations, japan, the united states, and other countries attended the conference. they discussed the need for international cooperation to stop human trafficking groups. a major human trafficking base is located in thailand. the thai delegates stress that the country cannot tackle the issue by itself.

>> the influx of migrants in the indian ocean has reached an alarming level. the situation has affected various countries in the region. no country can solve this problem alone. >> the government of predominantly buddhist myanmar does not grant citizenship to the rohingya people. the representative of the united nations urged myanmar to start working to deal with the rohingya issue. >> there is no solution without addressing the root causes. among other things, this will require full assumption of responsibility by myanmar towards all its people. >> delegates from myanmar responded sharply saying the crisis should not be politicized. >> you need to be more informed. i'm saying that because this issue of migrant people, you cannot single out my country.

>> this month alone more than 3,000 migrants have landed in indonesia and malaysia. more than 2,500 are still stranded at sea. rohingya muslims are asked to give human traffickers money in order to flee persecution. but even after paying many ended up not achieving their goal. some are even killed because they cannot pay the ransom money brokers demand, and in some cases people are deceived and find themselves adrift at sea. nhk world's daisuke iijima met one such victim. >> reporter: this is a port town at at myanmar's western state rakhine. houses are made of bamboo and leaves. there's no electricity where rohingyas live.

one of the people living here is this 23-year-old woman. one day she was offered a ride home. but she was delivered into the hands of traffickers who paid the equivalent of $20. >> translator: i was left with the smugglers. i wasn't allowed to go home and realized she had sold me to the group. the smugglers hit me repeatedly and then put me on a boat. >> reporter: once offshore khaleda was moved to another boat and crammed in with 400 people. half were rohingyas and half were bangladeshis. she was kept at sea for over two months. >> translator: we were given just a bit of food like instant noodles. we weren't allowed showers. if we took too much time in the toilet, we were beaten. >> reporter: injuries to her

head are still painful. while she was at sea, authorities threatened the crackdown on human trafficking and the boat she was on returned to myanmar. then the traffickers demanded ransom money from khaleda's mother. her family managed to scrape together about $100 and last week khaleda was finally set free. >> translator: we didn't know where she was. we thought if she was sold into human trafficking, we'd never see her again. >> translator: i would tell them not to. >> reporter: authorities are trying to stop human trafficking, but a man who knows some brokers says there will always be people eager to migrate. >> translator: the brokers have taken root in thailand, malaysia, and myanmar. they know we are suffering and

so they invite us onto boats. we're so oppressed that we see no choice but to flee. that's why we tend to accept their offer. >> reporter: the human traffickers exploit the rohingya people for money and they also tell them if their families cannot come up with the ransom money. it's a huge humanitarian crisis that the related countries will need to tackle through cooperation and information sharing. daisuke iijima, nhk world, rakhine state, myanmar. >> and that wraps up our bulletin. i'm patchari raksawong in bangkok. emerging economic powers still struggling with poverty. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence. the push for peace. the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok only on nhk

world "newsline." young chinese are finding their country's cooling economy is heating up the competition for jobs. so government leaders are encouraging them to employ themselves and helping them get their businesses off the ground. nhk world's naoki makita has more. >> reporter: thousands of young people flock to a job fair in shanghai. 370 companies were looking to hire new people. the number of students completing university is the largest ever this year. as more young people with high education enters the workforce, many are finding it difficult to get their dream job. despite a drop in china's birthrate, the number of college graduates has more than doubled

over the past ten years. they are facing intense competition trying to land a job. >> translator: i'm looking for work in the i.t. field which was my major. but it's very tough. look at all these people here trying to get a job. there's a lot of pressure. >> reporter: to ease the situation, the government is encouraging students to start off in their own businesses. last year this university near shanghai began offering a new course. it teaches students how to go about setting up their own companies. students don't have to write graduation papers. instead they must develop a business plan and try to raise about $25,000 from investors. >> translator: it's useless just

to study theories. we invite business owners to teach this course. they guide students individually and help them to start their own businesses. >> reporter: the school has also set up an incubator center where aspiring entrepreneurs can keep their offices free of charge. this man started an aerial photography business last year. he flies a drone to take pictures of tourists and historic spots. he says he earns about $8,000 in a good month. he used to belong to a club where members built model planes. he knew the demand for this type of service was growing. >> translator: the job market is tough and i would have to compete with many other students

if i wanted to find work in my field. but i can do what i want to do if i start my own business. that's a big plus. >> reporter: the university is also helping students find funding. this man created a company two years ago. it develops and sells 3d printers. through his university he received an interest-free bank loan. it was part of his start-up capital. the 3d printer he has developed is inexpensive. even people without any technical know-how his company sold 450 printers so far due to strong demand from jewelry makers. to expand his business, he has recently teamed up with some of thopen an neetai shop. he started his firm with just two other college friends. now the company employees 80 people.

>> translator: you can get a generous amount of funding if you start a business while in college. also launching a business means creating new jobs. this will help the labor market. >> reporter: but right now only about 1% of students choose to start their own businesses. many still prefer secure jobs like those in public service. officials need to find a way to motivate young jobseekers to take the initiative and some risks. naoki makita, nhk world. practitioners of kendo are crossing swords in tokyo at their world championships. they're representing 56 countries and territories. the most ever. one nation competing for the first time is indonesia.

nhk world's yusuke ota shows us how the national team fought to make the cut. >> reporter: the sound of bamboo swords resound here. the indonesian kendo association has about 300 members. 15 members are visiting japan for the championships. i'm joining a practice match to know the skill of indonesian kendo players. it was so fast i couldn't see at all. pandu is the hope of the indonesian team. he started kendo at the age of 17 and has been practicing for the past 13 years. he watches japanese national competition matches to improve his skills.

>> translator: going to to this was my dream. when i heard indonesia could compete, i was very excited. >> reporter: this is a sacred place for japanese martial arts. the indonesians' path to the world championships have been a difficult move. the country's climate makes things difficult. practicing hard in the armor is extremely challenging in the heat. pandu cannot drink water in the daytime. this makes it almost impossible to practice kendo. it is also hard to find a place. to train. the national team usually uses a

small fitness center in a jakarta hotel. one of their japanese coaches has helped them improve. he has been coaching for five years. >> translator: your feet have no power. >> reporter: kasai works in a factory a jakarta suburb. at first he struggled with the language barrier, so he tried to get his message across to the athletes. >> translator: i don't want them to give up. i want them to fight until the end. that kind of spirit will determine whether they win the match. >> reporter: pandu is desperate to meet kasai's expectations. he has problem with stamina and often gets leg cramps. he trained hard to overcome

these challenges before the international competition. before leaving for japan, he took part in practice matches in jakarta. after strikes and defense, pandu won demonstrating his readiness for the international competition. >> translator: it's all thanks to the coach. he teaches me to keep moving. we have to do our utmost to give it our all for indonesia. >> translator: i want them to use aggressive techniques in the championships. i hope they'll learn a lot and come back and keep training hard. >> reporter: fascinated by the sport, the swordsmen in the tropical country are up for the international challenge. they are starting a new chapter

in indonesian kendo history. yusuke ota, nhk world, jakarta. let's take a look at the weekend weather forecast.

that's all we have for now on "newsline." thank you for watching and have a good day.

steves: the dramatic rock of cashel is one of ireland's most evocative sites. this was the seat of ancient irish kings for seven centuries. st. patrick baptized king aengus here in about 450 a.d. in around 1100 an irish king gave cashel to the church, and it grew to become the ecclesiastical capital of all ireland. 800 years ago, this monastic community was just a chapel and a round tower standing high on this bluff. it looked out then as it does today over the plain of tipperary, called the golden vale

because its rich soil makes it ireland's best farmland. on this historic rock, you stroll among these ruins in the footsteps of st. patrick, and wandering through my favorite celtic cross graveyard, i feel the soul of ireland. michaela: hello and welcome to "global 3000." education means a chance to escape poverty, to build a better future for yourself and your children. that's backed up by many statistics, and that's also what

our correspondents around the globe keep reporting back to us. but in the united states, of all places, more and more young people find themselves trapped by the costs of launching a career. we find out why, and here's what else we have coming up for you over the next half-hour. debt traps -- how student loans are plaguing the lives of young americans.