1. Ornately decorated floats have paraded through the streets of Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto in the annual Gion Festival. The parade of 11 floats began at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Leading the procession was one depicting a famous scene of fighting on bridge between the warrior monk Benkei and the young samurai Ushiwakamaru. Gion is one of Japan’s three biggest festivals. It is said to have originated more than 1,000 years ago to pray for an end to a plague.
2. A passenger plane carrying more than 4 people has crashed in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Amur. The state-run TASS news agency quotes an aviation official as saying there are no signs of survivors.
3. Japan’s police agency says it identified nearly 900 disturbing social media posts targeting lawmakers and election candidates over the recent Upper House election.
The National Police Agency says a total of 889 threatening posts related to the election were confirmed between June 16 and July 19. The agency also says most of the contents were threats to harm politicians and election contenders, such as, “I will shoot you if I find you” or “Watch your back.”