TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.
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Japan court rules voice is protected as publicity right in AI cloning case
TOKYO - A Japanese court ruled Wednesday in an AI cloning case that voice is protected as a publicity right, similar to the right of portrait.
The first ruling by a Japanese court on voice rights was handed down after a voice actor brought a lawsuit against the operator of Tiktok to take down videos on the platform narrated using artificial intelligence with a voice that he said was similar to his own.
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N. Korea denies involvement in mine blasts that hurt 3 S. Korean soldiers
BEIJING - North Korea has denied involvement in mine blasts last week that injured three South Korean soldiers near the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula, saying Seoul should pay the price for "the farce of their own making," state-run media said Wednesday.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement Tuesday the country's soldiers "have never crossed the border" and warned that Pyongyang would retaliate if South Korean forces open fire at its troops in the border area, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
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Japan to face price hikes on over 3,000 food items in October
TOKYO - The prices of 3,153 food and beverage items in Japan are set to rise next month as higher packaging costs stemming from the Middle East conflict and a weaker yen continue to hit household budgets, a research firm's survey showed Wednesday.
The expected increases in October, extending to dining out and leisure as well as utility bills following the end of government subsidies, will follow price hikes for 4,965 items in September, according to Teikoku Databank Ltd., which described the two months as another "wave of price hikes."
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Asian univ. eclipses mainland Europe's best for 1st time in Times ranking
LONDON - An Asian university placed higher than continental Europe's leading institution for the first time in the latest annual global ranking released Wednesday by British magazine Times Higher Education, reflecting what it called a shift of academic power from West to East.
In the World University Rankings 2027, China's Tsinghua University overtook the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich to rank 11th. The other Asian universities to make the top 15 were Peking University in 13th place and the National University of Singapore in 15th, bringing the total to three for the first time.
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Imperial couple visit quake-hit Kumamoto to meet with disaster victims
KUMAMOTO, Japan - Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako arrived in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Wednesday to meet with people affected by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit the region in July.
After arriving at Kumamoto airport, the imperial couple will fly on a Self-Defense Forces helicopter for their visit to Yatsushiro, Hikawa and Uki, the areas hit hardest by the temblor.
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Trump says AI safety not discussed much with Xi during summit
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he did not discuss the safety of artificial intelligence much with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their summit last week.
Trump, who has opposed calls to slow AI development, made the revelation despite the United States and China saying that launching a dialogue on the technology's risks and benefits was one of the major outcomes of the leaders' meeting at the White House on Friday.
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Trump says North Korea's Kim has "large" nuclear capacity
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a "pretty large" nuclear capacity but asserted that everything will be fine as long as he is in the White House.
"They could have stopped him," Trump said, referring to the failure of previous U.S. presidents to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions. His remarks came when asked why North Korea can have nuclear weapons as opposed to Iran.
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Japan Aug. industrial output falls 1.7% as disasters hit auto production
TOKYO - Japan's industrial output in August fell 1.7 percent from the previous month, as production in the auto sector slowed due to plant shutdowns caused by a massive earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture and typhoons, government data showed Wednesday.
The decline followed a downwardly revised 0.2 percent contraction in July and marked the second consecutive monthly drop.
