The most telling symbol of the modern era isn’t the automobile or the smartphone. It’s the chicken nugget.

Late last year, as the South African government faced the prospect of its largest city running out of water, they took an unprecedented gamble.

The rapid expansion of discounters Aldi and Lidl — whose share of the grocery market has rocketed from less than 4 percent a decade ago to nearly 13 percent today — has hit all traditional supermarkets. But the industry’s biggest fear is Amazon.

The big Japanese akita dog is stopped in his tracks by the box on wheels, unsure whether it is an equal to be greeted or another south London surface to be marked. His owner, hot on his heels, is just as surprised when he rounds the corner.

Amazon is rife with potentially dangerous counterfeits and other knockoff goods despite years of attempts to crackdown on mis-selling on its platform, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

The computer on which this article was written is sitting on a laptop stand that tells you everything you need to know about how Amazon does business.

First they took the factory jobs; next, robots are expected to replace mortgage brokers, paralegals, and accountants. It has always been assumed, however, that jobs requiring human interaction would remain safe.

The world’s largest brewer is rolling out what it claims is a greener way to put bubbles in beer and reduce its CO2 emissions by 5 percent.