Top News Stories –

Japan uses anime to target young voters –
Japanese cities are using manga and anime to persuade young people to vote in forthcoming elections. The popular formats feature in local electoral commission materials aimed at newly enfranchised 18- and 19-year-olds, which explain why going to the polls is important, The Japan Times website reports. Last year, Japan lowered the voting age from 20 to 18 – the first change in seven decades. An election on 10 July to choose members of the upper house of parliament will be the first national poll since the law changed. Officials in the city of Nara have created a five-minute-long anime video on the importance not only of voting, but of making an informed decision at the ballot box. It shows three girls celebrate turning 18, two of whom don’t intend to use their votes. Other characters then warn the girls that it’s never been more important to make their voices heard. It ends with what the paper describes as a “perky, off-key song” about nearing adulthood and thinking for yourself. [BBC]See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

エンジェルは選挙権がお好き / 井上涼 【18歳選挙権】- Nara City Voting video

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War
  • Three Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant bombings in Yemen’s southern port city of Al Mukalla kill 38 government forces and injure 24 others. (Reuters)
• Iraqi Civil War
  • At least 12 people are killed and 32 more are injured in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Atatürk Airport attack, Turkey–ISIL conflict
  • Suspected ISIL militants attack Turkey‘s Istanbul Atatürk Airport. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım says 36 people were killed, as were the three suicide bombers. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ says 147 were wounded. (BBC) (The Guardian) (AP via Toronto Star), (The Australian) (AP)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Al-Bukamal Offensive
    • Rebels of the New Syrian Army begin an offensive to capture the eastern town of Al-Bukamal, currently held by ISIL militants. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Balochistan conflict
  • Gunmen kill four police officers and four paramilitary soldiers in separate attacks in the city of Quetta. (AP via ABC News America)
• Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • Turkish Armed Forces state two soldiers are killed and three wounded in a pair of attacks by Kurdistan Workers’ Party fighters in Diyarbakır Province in the country’s southeast. (Reuters) (Daily Sabah)(Azeri-Press Agency {APA})

Business and economics

• Volkswagen emissions scandal
  • Volkswagen and the United States Justice Department agree on a $14.7 billion settlement for its emissions-cheating program. The breakdown: $10 billion to consumers to cover buybacks and fixes; $2 billion for green energy funds investment; and, $2.7 billion to offset diesel emissions. In addition, VW agrees on a settlement with 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that will cost at least $600 million. As for Europe, Volkswagen says its diesel vehicles don’t violate European Union emissions standards. (Reuters) (Nasdaq)
• IKEA is to recall 27 million Malm chests of drawers in North America due to the danger they pose to children. Since 2014, at least three children have died when the drawers toppled over on them. (BBC)
• Toyota is recalling 1.43 million hybrids worldwide—Toyota Prius, Toyota Prius Plug-in, and Lexus CT200h—from model years 2010-2012 because of a possible airbag inflator defect. The company says it is not aware of any injuries or deaths related to this issue. (Reuters) (AP via U.S. News & World Report)

Disasters and accidents

• EgyptAir Flight 804
  • One of the flight recorders of EgyptAir Flight 804 has been fully repaired in Paris after being found in the Mediterranean Sea and will now be sent to Egypt to be analyzed. (Euronews)
• Three crew members are missing and one worker is injured following the head-on collision of two BNSF Railway freight trains near the American town of Panhandle, Texas. Officials, concerned that flames from box car fires could cause a fast-moving grass fire, order an evacuation of some nearby areas. (AP via MSN)
• A huge explosion completely destroys a house and damages 24 others in Mississauga, Canada. At least one person is dead and 13 others are injured, according to Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services. Thousands of residents are forced to evacuate and many spend the night at a local community shelter. (CBC News) (CP24)

International relations

• Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Sweden are elected to be non-permanent members in the United Nations Security Council. (ABC News)

Politics and elections

• United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union
  • The European Parliament’s first debate on the UK’s vote to leave is marked by bitter exchanges as prominent pro-Brexit figure Nigel Farage is booed and heckled by members of the European Parliamentand European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is heckled after saying that he is neither a robot nor a bureaucrat. (BBC)
  • Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn refuses to resign after losing a vote of no confidence, with 80% of voting members of the Parliamentary Labour Party voting against him. Critics which include fellowMPs cite his failure to do more in the effort for the UK to remain in the EU as the main issue. (The Guardian)
  • Prime Minister David Cameron will turn over his office no later than 9 September 2016. (Daily Mail)
  • Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon schedules a meeting Wednesday with European Parliament President Martin Schulz about remaining in the EU, and intends to discuss the Scottish issue with theEuropean Commission. (Time) (Reuters)
• Following a South African Constitutional Court order, the National Treasury reports President Jacob Zuma should pay back $500,000, the public funds spent upgrading his private residence. (Gulf News)(Business Standard)

Science and technology

• Durham and Oxford universities’ geologists, working with a helium exploration company, discover an at least 54 billion cubic foot field of helium in the Tanzanian East African Rift Valley. Previously, helium has only been found in small quantities. This field, found using a new exploration approach connected to volcanic activity, could potentially meet global demand for several years. (BBC) (Phys.org)(Goldschmidt conference)

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