Both Ultimatum and Moon Phase are reporting that, according to the latest issue of Shogakukan's Big Comic, Takao Saito's long-running manga series Golgo 13 will be adapted into an anime.

Adult manga publisher Icarus Publishing has made the test issue (Issue 00) of its Comic AG Digital (NSFW) available via BitTorrent. The download link can be found here.

ANN reports that the Japanese government has decided to spend 147 million yen to spread manga and other Japanese pop culture to Eastern Europe:

The decision was made during cabinet-level discussions between Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukuaga and the other ministers on the 2008 budget. Although the "Program to Spread Japanese Culture" will ostensibly send 30 people to teach Japanese in Hungary and three other countries, its main purpose is to introduce Japanese popular culture.

MediaWorks has launched a new comic imprint called SYLPH Comics. Manga serialized in MediaWorks' comic SYLPH magazine will be released under this new imprint.

After the suspension of Comic Bom Bom, Negima!? neo (ネギま！？ neo) by Takuya Fujima, based on Ken Akamatsu's Mahou Sensei Negima!, will begin serialization once again in Magazine Special No.2 (1/19).

A new one-shot titled Kuru Fukuro (黒梟) by Yoshio Sawai, mangaka of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, will appear in Weekly Shounen Jump No.4-5, on sale 12/25. Also starting in the same issue is a new series titled Shinritsu Poseidon Gakuen by Shinichiro Oe.

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From Manly Manga and More... comes the German Manga Top 15 for November 2007 based on charts released by Egmont Manga & Anime (EMA) and Carlsen, below is the top 5 manga on the list:

1. Naruto (27)
2. One Piece (45)
3. Haou Airen (7)
4. Mahou Sensei Negima (13)
5. Shinshi Doumei Cross (7)

From Daily Yomiuri Online comes an article titled "American artist wins new manga award," which looks at rem, winner of Kodansha's 1st Morning International Manga Competition (MIMC).

Source: Blog@Newsarama

Giapet.net reports more incidents involving "Death Note" that are happening around the U.S. since last November:

• "Death Note Was Not 'Hit List', School Officials Say" [ WKRN Nashville ]
• "Death threats lead to two arrests" [ The Milford Daily News ]

Japanese readers recently noted similarities between Naka Gomura's manga Megabaka, serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shounen Magazine's January 11th Special Issue: Magazine Dragon, and other popular series such as Death Note, Air Gear and MPD-Psycho.

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According to an announcement on the Japanese Foreign Ministry's official website, the Second International MANGA Award, a contest created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to boost Japan's pop culture, is now accepting applications from overseas manga artists. The deadline for submission if February 29th, 2008, and the contest's guidelines for application can be found here (PDF).

Source: Japan Today