1. Japanese eel restaurants were busy on Thursday as it marked this year’s second midsummer Day of the Ox. Eating eel on the day is traditionally believed to help people overcome the summer heat. The Urawa district in Saitama City, north of Tokyo, is known as a place for good eel dishes as the area used to have marshes where eels were caught. The city designates the area’s eel cuisine as a traditional industry.
2. Scorching weather continues across Japan on Thursday, with life-threatening temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius recorded in some places for a second day. The extreme heat is mainly affecting western Japan. The mercury hit 40.4 degrees in Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture, on Thursday afternoon.
3. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says his country will recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September if the Palestinian Authority commits to democratic reforms. Carney condemned the Israeli government at a news conference on Wednesday saying it “allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza.”