News Headlines - 21 July 2016

▽Russia Bombed Base in Syria Used by U.S. - WSJ

The Russians weren’t bombarding a run-of-the-mill rebel outpost, according to U.S. officials. Their target was a secret base of operations for elite American and British forces. In fact, a contingent of about 20 British special forces had pulled out of the garrison 24 hours earlier. British officials declined to comment.

▽Russia Olympic ban: Six questions answered - CNN.com

The country is banned from competing in track and field events, including the Olympic Games, after an appeal against its exclusion was rejected Thursday.

▽Japan government planning at least 20 trillion yen to support economy: Kyodo | Reuters

The Japanese government is planning to compile a stimulus package of at least 20 trillion yen ($186.60 billion) to help the economy emerge from deflation and fend off possible adverse effects of Brexit, Kyodo reported on Thursday, citing sources close to the matter.

▽Japan 'to stop making VCR machines' - BBC News

Funai Electric has been producing VHS-playing VCRs for 33 years, most recently in China for Sanyo. But last year it sold just 750,000 units, down from a peak of 15 million a year, and has been finding it difficult to source the necessary parts... Last year, Sony announced it would stop selling Betamax video cassettes - a rival to the VHS.

▽Plans for self-driving cars have pitfall: the human brain - The Washington Post

Decades of research shows that people have a difficult time keeping their minds on boring tasks like monitoring systems that rarely fail and hardly ever require them to take action. The human brain continually seeks stimulation. If the mind isn’t engaged, it will wander until it finds something more interesting to think about. The more reliable the system, the more likely it is that attention will wane.