Le Journal

The growing use of data and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) – computer systems that can copy intelligent human behaviour – has enabled companies to offer their customers more individualised products and services, which have transformed many different parts of people’s everyday lives. Personalised learning – a student-focused educational approach that tailors the instruction based on an individual’s strengths, interests and goals – is also becoming increasingly popular with...

In the 1960s, mathematician Hillel Furstenberg proposed a conjecture: that a number cannot appear “simple and highly regular” under two “independent” rulers simultaneously. Put simply, if a number is written in a binary system – using only two digits or elements to represent a quantity – its sequence is relatively regular and simple. In contrast, when rewriting that number in ternary – using three elements as its base – its sequence will almost certainly become relatively more complex and...

Hong Kong’s luxury residential rents are likely to climb another 3 to 5 per cent next year as growing numbers of returning Western expatriates and home-grown professionals drive demand for high-end accommodation, according to Savills. Deals were expected to exceed the 660 last year, said Jack Tong, the property consultancy’s director of research. “The outlook remains cautiously positive,” he added. For next year, Savills expected “stable to gently rising luxury rents as the supply of prime units...

In 2003, a decade after the humiliation of the Yinhe incident – when a Chinese container ship was left stranded for weeks after the United States jammed its Global Positioning System (GPS) – Beijing set its sights on bypassing the American satellite network. At first, it turned to the European Union, pledging €230 million (then US$260 million) to join the Galileo project, an independent satellite navigation system designed to reduce Europe’s reliance on GPS. But the partnership did not last....

In the aftermath of the recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, many interpretations have emerged. However, one crucial dimension has been overlooked: the way in which Xi’s domestic priorities influence his foreign policy agenda. The de-escalation of trade tensions between China and the United States goes beyond fentanyl, rare earth elements, the chip war and Beijing’s purchase of US soybeans. It constitutes one of the key elements of internal...