A Chinese humanoid robot running 100 metres faster than the fastest human in history is an extraordinary demonstration of engineering progress, but the significance of the achievement lies less in beating a sporting record than in what it reveals about the direction of China’s robotics industry. Tiangong Ultra completed the distance in 9.39 seconds at…
The European Central Bank is moving toward another interest rate increase not because the euro zone economy is overheating, but because a prolonged energy shock is threatening to keep inflation above target for longer than policymakers had expected. According to economists surveyed in recent reporting, the ECB is widely expected to raise its deposit rate…
The investment habits of wealthy households are increasingly diverging from those of ordinary investors, not necessarily because they possess access to secret investments, but because they approach wealth as a system rather than a portfolio. Recent wealth research and financial-industry analysis suggest that affluent investors are putting greater emphasis on diversification across private markets, real…
India is preparing for a broader overhaul of health insurance as rapidly rising medical costs put pressure on households, insurers and hospitals. The proposed reforms are expected to focus on standard treatment prices, clearer coverage rules and faster claims processing, according to people familiar with the discussions. The central objective is not simply to expand…
Myspace is preparing another attempt at a comeback at a moment when the biggest problem facing social media may no longer be attracting users, but keeping them from spending too much time online. The platform that once helped define the early social internet is being positioned for a return just as concerns over endless scrolling,…
Berkshire Hathaway has begun putting its enormous cash reserves to work at a pace that marks an important change in capital allocation under Chief Executive Greg Abel. The conglomerate repurchased $4.5 billion of its own shares in the second quarter and another $3.3 billion in July, while spending nearly $20 billion more on stocks than…
Moderna has begun the first human trial of its experimental vaccine against Bundibugyo virus disease at a moment when the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing one of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreaks ever recorded. The trial is significant because the strain driving the outbreak has no licensed vaccine specifically approved against it, leaving health authorities…
Alibaba’s reported plan to seek revenue-sharing agreements from major commercial users of its next open-weight artificial intelligence model marks an important change in the economics of open AI. The company appears to be trying to preserve the rapid adoption created by freely available model weights while capturing part of the commercial value generated by businesses…
Artificial intelligence model distillation has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the growing technology rivalry between the United States and China, transforming a long-established machine learning technique into a debate over intellectual property, commercial rights and national security. The dispute is not centred on whether model distillation itself is technically legitimate. Instead,…
European chemical companies have delivered stronger-than-expected quarterly results, but the latest earnings season suggests that improved profitability has been driven more by internal restructuring than by a broad recovery in market demand. Across the sector, companies have reported resilient earnings through aggressive cost reductions, operational restructuring and stronger performances in consumer-oriented businesses, even as industrial…
