Japanese media report about 20–30 employees are missing at an Aeon shopping mall in Kumamoto; police and other authorities are urgently confirming the situation.

Global semiconductor shares are being sold off and worries that rising competition from Chinese firms could curb AI investment have increased, likely weighing on U.S. technology stocks. In Asian trade, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 11%; memory giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix lost more than 13%; Japan's Nikkei and Taiwan's TAIEX each dropped roughly 4%. ING chief investment strategist Vincent Juvyns said trimming semiconductor positions is reasonable—a chance to take profits and diversify—but still recommends maintaining exposure given a clear multi-year earnings outlook, calling the rout a normal correction in a long-term growth cycle. CITIGROUP data show Nasdaq-100 long positions remain underwater, raising the risk of further pullbacks.

YONHAP: South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) said on Tuesday it and Brazil’s space agency signed a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation on launch-permit regulation, aerospace industry development and satellite data sharing. The MoU, a follow-up to the Korea‑Brazil summit in Seoul in February, is KASA’s first agreement with a Latin American country. Brazil, which operates the Alcântara launch center—one of the world’s closest launch sites to the equator—is identified as an important player in space transport.