Clearance rates hit six-year low as more than half of Australian homes up for auction fail to sell

Preliminary data show 47.7% of homes sold at auction in the week ending 21 June, the lowest clearance rate since April 2020

Lloyds Banking Group to hire 300 tech experts to work on AI

Exclusive: While recruits will increase headcount for now, broader adoption of AI could lead to job cuts in future

UK taxpayers want higher levies on big tech companies, survey shows

Two-thirds of respondents support increasing the 2% digital services tax for multinationals

Burnham ally to unveil ambitious plan to reverse decades of privatisation

Exclusive: Productive State policy paper envisages state regaining control of basics to make life affordable, in fleshing out of Manchesterism

Australia is publishing books too quickly – and everyone is losing out

Thanks to rushed deadlines, financial pressure and overworked staff, titles are going to market before they’re ready – and then sliding from view immediately

Readers reply: Is ‘ripen at home’ fruit the supermarkets’ idea of a joke?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts

Trump hails Iran deal but conflict continues to cast long shadow over global economy

As the price of crude oil falls governments are counting the costs of the war in the Middle East

‘Slug sleuth’ farmers in England help develop prediction tool to cut back on pesticide use

Maps created as part of Defra-funded Slimers project allowed test growers to halve amount of slug pellets used

Burnham must be upfront about tax or risk spooking the bond markets

Victory in Makerfield is propelling him towards No 10 but investors expect to know how he will fund his promises

Prediction markets surge in US as public health advocates call for support to combat gambling

Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket operating in areas with limited resources for people with gambling problems

Condemned to plutocracy? The relentless rise of US inequality

Elon Musk is a beneficiary of America’s lopsided prosperity – does the country have any appetite for redistribution?

Suppliers unable to chase fees after film producer’s 50 companies are struck off

Removal of Alan Latham’s firms means there is no longer an entity for creditors to make claims against

How Europe’s EV makers shrank their product to challenge the bloated SUVs

Smaller, cheaper cars built for narrow city streets are becoming more stylish – but require careful design decisions

Petrol prices in Australia are now lower than before the Iran war began. Is the oil crisis over and what happens next?

Fuel suppliers outside the Middle East have proved to be much more flexible than analysts expected – and China surprised everyone

How do people in the US describe customer service in 2026? ‘Debilitating, depressing, enraging. Ugh’

We asked people in the US about their customer service battles and hundreds responded on the financial and emotional costs