Hello, Australia! – A volcano on Japan blows its top – Why was the third-most powerful man in America being blackmailed? – Sepp Blatter refuses to step down from FIFA in the wake of scandal – Don’t drink too much this weekend – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Japan’s Mount Shindake volcano in the far southwest of the country erupted, sending a column of smoke and ash into the air and a “pyroclastic flow” into the sea.  The government raised the alert leval to 5 – the highest on the scale – and ordered all 130 people on the island to be evacuated.  The volcanic island is only a few kilometers off of Yakushima, the lush, green rainforest island that inspired the Hayo Miyzaki film “Princess Mononoke”.  The Japanese government is taking now chances with this, after being criticized for failing to warn of increased volcanic activity before last year’s eruption of Mount Ondake in central Japan that killed 57 people.

A political volcano in America – former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Dennis Hastert has been indicted for secretive cash transactions that were apparent hush money paid to an as-yet unidentified individual.  The problem lies in the way the cash payments were made, in violation of US tax laws.  Hastert is also accused of lying to federal investigators about the affair.  Also unknown is why Hastert was being apparently blackmailed.  Hastert is nicknamed “Coach” to his friends, because he used to coach a high school boys’ wrestling team.  Hastert was the longest serving House Speaker, a position that put him third in line to the US Presidency.

Is Sepp Blatter still a shoe-in to be reelected to an unprecedented fifth term as president of the world soccer organization FIFA?  It still looks that way, even though the head of the European football group asked Blatter to step down over the massive corruption scandal that tore open this week.  US Federal prosecutors are not screwing around, and indicted some 14 FIFA officials – including the six immediately below Blatter on FIFA’s organizational chart.  “I asked him to resign: enough is enough, Sepp,” said UEFA Chief Michel Platini.  “He listened to me but he told me it is too late,” Platini told a press conference in Zurich, where the vote takes place later on Friday.

The Catholic Church is withdrawing its support of Burundi’s upcoming presidential election.  This comes after weeks of violent and occasionally deadly unrest over President Pierre Nkurunziza runs for what opponents call an unconstitutional third term.  Burundi’s Catholic bishops released a statement Thursday saying it is asking its clergy who serve on electoral commissions to step down from those commissions.  And the European Union has withdrawn its election monitors, citing the government’s excessive force against demonstrators and a climate of intimidation.

Nigerian President-elect Muhammadu Buhari takes office later today, marking the first time power has changed hands via the ballot box.  Security is tight in the capital Abuja because the swearing-in ceremony would be a juicy target for Boko Haram. 

Police in Colombia busted a baby trafficking ring, arresting a doctor, two nurses, and two others.  “They are suspected of belonging to a criminal network that trafficked newborn babies and performed illegal abortions,” police said in a statement.  Investigators say the doctor performed abortions – only for women in their first trimester of pregnancy – for US$240 or less per procedure.  Women who were pregnant for longer than four months were urged to give up their babies to infertile couples for US $2,000.  Given the poverty that exists in eastern Colombia near the Venezuelan border and the total lack of support services for women, I’m seriously wondering if crimes were actually committed..

A French bartender was found guilty of manslaughter for serving 56 shots to a man in a drinking challenge.  57-year-old Renaud Prudhomme beat the bar’s record of 55 shots, and was carried back to his home where he suffered a heart attack and died.  47-year old Bartender Giles Crepin was given a four-month suspended sentence and banned from tending bar for a year in the town of Clermont-Ferrand.