The Guardian view on high street woes: time for a fairer deal | Editorial – The growth in e-commerce is just one reason why well-known retailers are struggling. Taxing online firms is not the whole solution – but it is a start The mood on the British high street appears to be lower by the […]

‘Digital wallet’ of Ant Financial captivates China and beyond – The fintech ‘lifestyle platform’ is reportedly raising funds that would value it at $150bn Wang Manni, 23, a graduate student in Hangzhou, is a loyal customer of one of the world’s biggest finance companies. However, it is not one of the traditional banking giants that […]

The quick way to make a feather hat in Tynemouth | Brief letters – Church in Wales | Is there a God? | Friendly bus passengers | Cooking for one | Herring gulls It is not only the Church of England that is forbidden in law to conduct same-sex marriages (Letters, 25 May). The same […]

Cryptocurrencies have a mysterious allure – but are they just a fad? | Robert Shiller – Attempts to reinvent money such as bitcoin often create excitement, but achieve little The cryptocurrency revolution, which started with bitcoin in 2009, claims to be inventing new kinds of money. There are now nearly 2,000 cryptocurrencies, and millions of […]

Cyberlaundering: from ghost Uber rides to gibberish on Amazon – Digital laundering funds terror and will ‘double by 2020’ – and the UN’s anti-crime chief says it must be tackled “We all have a stake in stopping cybercrime, which also enables so many other crimes, from human trafficking and migrant smuggling to trafficking in drugs, […]

From solar-powered shirts to drunken droids: what the smarthome will look like – Can a robot fold towels? Could your toaster turn against you? And will Amazon know when you’re hungry and drone-deliver a Chinese takeaway directly to your mouth? Find out as we step into the home of the future If the invention of […]

HMRC accused of ignoring online VAT fraud worth £1.2bn a year – Campaigners say no rogue traders have been prosecuted for selling wares on Amazon and eBay without VAT HM Revenue & Customs has been accused of being soft on billions of pounds of VAT fraud committed by rogue traders using online marketplaces such as […]

Amazon Prime Video’s growth outpaces Netflix in UK – Cross-promotion to Amazon shoppers and new on-demand series rank it top in 2017 Amazon’s efforts to challenge the supremacy of Netflix are starting to pay off, with Prime Video proving to be the fastest-growing video-on-demand service in the UK last year. New series of The Grand […]

Why Amazon is driving force behind Asda-Sainsbury’s merger – Proposed merger seen as an attempt to insulate against Amazon’s move into sector The rapid expansion of discounters Aldi and Lidl – whose share of the grocery market has rocketed from less than 4% a decade ago to nearly 13% today – has hit all traditional […]