US debt default, buying houses for staff, and the return of push buttons

“The United States is not a deadbeat nation; we pay our bills,” US president Joe Biden has said in advance of crucial talks with congressional leaders this week about raising the country’s debt ceiling.

The new negotiations come as the White House has warned that any US debt default – caused by a standoff with Republicans who control the House of Representatives – would have catastrophic consequences for the economy. Martin Wall reports.

At home, Prem Group, the Dublin-based hotel operator behind the Premier Suites brand of serviced apartments, is “actively looking” to buy properties to house its staff to attract and retain workers amid soaring rents and elevated house prices, its chief executive Jim Murphy has said.

Meanwhile, Irish company Amara Therapeutics has raised €3 million in funding to help further develop its bladder health technology.

‘We saved for our wedding in 2007. We knuckled down for the year previous so we could have everyone we wanted there’

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Irish workers would turn down a job offer if remote working was not possible

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Stock market concentration: Should a handful of Big Tech firms hold all the cards?

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Should we invest in retrofitting our home as pensioners?

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Finally, FT columnist Pilita Clark tells us that in some parts of the car industry, push buttons are coming back.

“I remembered this the other week when I rented a car in which nearly every button had been replaced by a touchscreen so baffling I nearly ran off the road trying to change the radio station,” she says.

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