Japan's AI gamble: Can technology offset the cost of an ageing society? Beneath the business towers of Tokyo's Otemachi district, a test is taking place to see whether artificial intelligence can help solve one of Japan's biggest economic challenges: a shrinking workforce. Deep underground, Marunouchi Heat Supply Company operates a 30km (18.6-mile) network of heating and cooling pipelines serving offices, commercial buildings and transport facilities in one of Japan's most important business areas. The company is now using AI to manage this complex infrastructure with the goal of moving towards more automated operations by 2027. Developed with the Tokyo-based AI company Preferred Networks, the project uses PlantPilot, an AI system trained on historical operating data and the expertise of experienced engineers.

Trump is silent so far on Iran strategy as U.S. death toll hits 17 U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office on July 14. | Doug Mills / The New York Times If U.S. President Donald Trump knows where he wants to take the war in Iran, he's giving little sign of it publicly. The conflict continued to spiral over the weekend, with both sides trading attacks in the aftermath of an Iranian strike that killed two U.S. service-members in Jordan and injured others. Both Iran and the U.S. have largely abandoned the tentative peace deal the president had touted. The week of escalating missile and drone strikes underscored the risk that the conflict will reignite in full again even as the man who started it stayed silent, only acknowledging the U.S. troop fatalities in a brief conversation with a media outlet. U.S. Central Command announced Sunday that a third service member died the day before during an controlled detonation of an unexploded Iranian drone in northern Iraq. And the U.S. said unidentified remains of another victim in Friday's Jordan strike were being examined.

China's Moonshot plans IPO in six months after AI breakthrough A Kimi logo is pictured at the Moonshot AI stand, featuring the Kimi K3 model, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday. Moonshot AI has told investors it's preparing to list in as early as six months, seizing the opportunity to tap capital markets after its latest model upended industry perceptions of China's burgeoning capabilities and sent global tech stocks reeling. The Chinese AI pioneer has officially distributed the shareholder resolution to its investors, seeking the blessing of its backers on a Hong Kong listing, people familiar with the matter said. The initiation of the notification process indicates an IPO could happen as soon as within the next six months. Moonshot is now in the process of wrapping a fundraising round that may value the three-year-old startup at more than $30 billion, the people said.

Moonshot AI's Kimi upends conventional wisdom on U.S. lead over China People walk past the Moonshot booth promoting its Kimi K3 AI model, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Friday. At an event in Beijing earlier this year, some of China's top artificial intelligence leaders warned that the country remained meaningfully behind the U.S. in developing cutting-edge AI models, with one executive arguing that "the gap may actually be widening." Leading U.S. firms also appeared confident they were significantly ahead. As recently as last week, one executive at Anthropic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, mused that the Claude maker's technology was roughly six to 12 months ahead of Chinese rivals. The Chinese AI lab released Kimi K3, a more advanced open-weight model that it said outperforms all rivals except for Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 on overall capability.

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.

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.

In an industrial park on the outskirts of Beijing, a humanoid arm picks up a bag of Lay's potato chips and places it neatly along a row of snacks on a shelf. Nearby, a worker films himself grabbing cushions off a sofa and folding sheets on a bed, recording videos that will be used to develop brains for robots. China is deploying more humanoids than ever before, sending thousands to logistics hubs, battery factories and other industrial locations at a faster pace than the U.S. Buoyed by support from the government and a flood of investment, startups are getting their most advanced machines out into the world in a bid to gather torrents of data that can fuel the development of smarter, more humanlike machines. President Xi Jinping is looking to the robotics industry for help beating the U.S. in a global technology race. China's manufacturing prowess and robust supply chain management position it well to reap the benefits of humanoids before its geopolitical rival. Xi is due to address the country's flagship AI conference this week for the first time, where the latest humanoids will be on display.

Masayoshi Son speaks at an annual SoftBank World event in Tokyo on Tuesday. SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said that in the not-so-distant future, nuclear fusion technology will offer the most realistic solution for powering AI data centers' ballooning needs. Natural gas will provide the bulk of data centers' power needs for the time being, Son said Tuesday. But he predicted that nuclear fusion -- the process by which the sun and other stars generate energy -- has a role to play, predicting the world will need 3 terawatts of data center capacity in 2040. Many technological and financial challenges remain for fusion technology to become a viable energy source, however, according to BloombergNEF. "Fusion will become the main source of a new kind of cheaper, clean and safe energy here on Earth," said Son, 68, at an annual SoftBank World event in Tokyo.

A dog has been rescued from Ben Nevis after it is suspected to have fallen ill from eating discarded cannabis. Christina Bluhme, a dog trainer from Esher in Surrey, was halfway up the UK's highest mountain when her black Labrador Tokyo collapsed on the trail. Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team came to their aid and stretchered Tokyo down from the 4,413ft (1,345m) peak to a local vet. Bluhme said Tokyo had made a full recovery after the incident during a trip to Scotland last weekend. She said vets believe she ingested cannabis left on the trail.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets her Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong at a bilateral meeting in Tokyo in March. Singapore - Japan and Singapore have signed a memorandum on cooperation to promote the peaceful use of space. The move came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, agreed at a meeting in Tokyo in March to upgrade the two countries' relations to a strategic partnership, and identified the space sector as a pillar of the partnership. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Space Agency of Singapore signed the memorandum Monday on the sidelines of the Spacetide 2026 international space business conference in Tokyo. The pact is the first bilateral agreement for NSAS.