The Ukrainian capital Kyiv came under ballistic missile attack from Russian forces early on Sunday, local authorities said, while other regions suffered bombardments later during the day that killed at least six people. Russia said areas of Ukraine under Moscow's control had also come under attack, with four people killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Horlivka. In its morning note, Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched seven ballistic missiles and 136 drones at Ukraine overnight. In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, a Russian drone hit a supermarket, killing two people -- including a 9-year-old child -- and wounding 25, Ukraine's emergency services said. "This is deliberate Russian terror that has no military justification," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 16 others required medical attention after a daytime drone attack, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.

The 225-issue Nikkei stock average slipped below 63,000 on Friday for the first time in about a month on an intraday basis. The 225-issue Nikkei stock average temporarily plunged over 4,100 points Friday afternoon due to selling of issues related to semiconductors and artificial intelligence following overnight falls in their U.S. counterparts. At 1:41 p.m., the index of 225 major issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime section stood at 62,704.60, down 4,130.94 points, or 6.18%, from Thursday's closing. It slipped below 63,000 for the first time in about a month on an intraday basis. In the Tokyo market, memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings and other key Nikkei component issues came under selling pressure. "We can't help thinking that the boom in generative AI-related stocks is about to end," an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said.

Chipmaker Kioxia's market value halves from peak on AI selloff Kioxia overtook auto giant Toyota in market cap value in mid-June, but its ranking has since dropped to the fourth-largest Japanese company, as traders grow more critical over artificial intelligence. Japanese memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings' market capitalization halved in just a month since becoming the nation's most valuable company, on growing concerns the artificial intelligence-driven rally in the sector has gone too far. Kioxia shares tumbled as much as 16% in Tokyo's morning trading on Friday, down 52% from last month's peak and losing at least ¥30 trillion ($185 billion) in value. In mid-June, Kioxia overtook auto giant Toyota in market cap value after the stock rallied more than 600% from the start of the year, driven by exuberance about demand for memory and data storage amid an AI boom. Its ranking has since dropped to the fourth-largest Japanese company. "The chip sector is vulnerable to the silicon cycle, and we've seen this pattern many times before," said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities.

The Cabinet has adopted revised guidelines for artificial intelligence-related policies to bolster cybersecurity measures. The government has revised its guidelines for artificial intelligence-related policies, calling for constantly strengthening measures against cyberattacks in light of serious risks posed by cutting-edge AI models. The original AI policy guidelines were compiled only last December. The revision comes amid rapid technological innovation, including the launch of U.S. startup Anthropic's Claude Mythos. The revised guidelines, adopted at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, note the growing threat of cyberattacks against the backdrop of advancing AI capabilities, and call for collaborating with foreign government agencies and AI development companies to significantly strengthen the capabilities of Japan's AI Safety Institute. The guidelines also highlight the need to avoid excessive reliance on specific countries or companies for AI, and express the government's intention to develop domestic AI that addresses challenges facing Japan.

A facial recognition system has been introduced at ticket gates at Ikebukuro Station on the Tobu Tojo Line in Tokyo. Hitachi and Tobu Railway on Wednesday introduced a facial recognition system at ticket gates at Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo's Toshima Ward. Passengers can pass through the ticket gates hands-free if they register their facial data and commuter pass information in advance. The companies hope to encourage other railway operators to adopt the system, which can be installed by simply adding cameras and other equipment to existing ticket gates. The system was jointly developed in cooperation with three ticket gate manufacturers, including Toshiba. This is the first time that the system has been installed at a major terminal station in Tokyo.

Twenty-six employees of Meta Platforms have filed a novel lawsuit accusing the tech giant of using AI-powered software that disproportionately targeted people with disabilities or who took medical leave in selecting workers for mass layoffs. The lawsuit, filed in Oakland, California, federal court late Monday, says that the company relied on factors such as productivity and AI token usage when it slashed thousands of jobs earlier this year, disadvantaging people who missed work because of medical conditions or to care for family members. The plaintiffs, who were notified in May that their jobs would be eliminated starting on July 22, are seeking a preliminary ruling from the court blocking Meta from completing the layoffs while they pursue their claims in private arbitration. The workers say Meta's agreements require employees to arbitrate workplace disputes individually, but do not apply to requests for temporary relief. A Meta spokesperson on Tuesday said the claims lack merit. "Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI," the spokesperson said.

Damage caused by the use of generative AI is becoming a serious concern, including from AI covers, in which people have AI tools learn the voices of singers and voice actors, and sing songs using the professionals' voices. The Justice Ministry has come up with a draft report calling for the protection of the voices and images of famous individuals as the use of generative artificial intelligence grows. The draft report on civil responsibility over the unauthorized use of portraits and voices of famous people was submitted to an expert committee Monday. The ministry will release a final report as early as August after receiving expert feedback. Many things remain unclear regarding what constitutes the illegal use of voices, as no Japanese court ruling has been issued on related rights. The ministry said that it hopes the final report will be used as a reference in lawsuits and AI development.

More people are using generative artificial intelligence to make travel plans for their summer vacation and letting their children use the technology when doing their homework during summer holidays. Six out of 10 people who responded to a survey on this year's summer holidays said they are using generative artificial intelligence to make travel plans. The survey, conducted by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance on 1,120 people in their 20s to 50s in June, showed that 61.2% of those planning to travel in Japan or abroad refer to generative AI to make travel itineraries, as well as obtain information on local food and transportation. "The main tool people use for planning trips and doing research when they get there is shifting from travel guidebooks to generative AI," the firm said. Asked how they plan to spend their summer holidays, 58.4% said they are going out, down by 6.3 percentage points from last year. The rate of those traveling in Japan was 57.6%, up by 1 percentage point, while the ratio of those traveling overseas halved from 13.5% last year to 6.4%.

Japan's internal affairs industry may introduce artificial intelligence agents at local governments facing labor shortages. Japan's internal affairs ministry has begun considering the introduction of artificial intelligence agents to autonomously perform tasks at local governments facing labor shortages. On Thursday, the ministry held the first meeting of a related study group consisting of relevant experts and local government officials to discuss which tasks could be assigned to AI agents and how local government employees could manage them. The group will compile an interim report by the end of fiscal 2026 and aim to release its final report around summer 2027. According to the ministry, 74% of the country's local governments were using AI in some form as of October 2025. While AI tools to classify data and make predictions and those to generate text and images based on prompts were commonly used, AI agents were rarely used, except in trials at some organizations.

An 18-year-old man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in a cyberattack on an internet cafe operator. An 18-year-old man has been arrested for his suspected involvement in a cyberattack on the operator of the Kaikatsu Club internet cafe chain, according to investigative sources. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police Department's cybercrime countermeasure division arrested the company employee from Tokyo's Katsushika Ward, who was in the second year of high school at the time of the incident, on suspicion of fraudulent obstruction of business and violation of the law against unauthorized computer access. He has denied parts of the allegations, the sources said. In the cyberattack on the internet cafe chain operator Kaikatsu Frontier, a computer program that a high school boy from the city of Osaka developed using ChatGPT was used.