Bank says bulk of redundancies will occur before end of year, citing challenging economy, competition and ‘rapid technological change’

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National Australia Bank is cutting 2,500 jobs, representing 6% of its workforce, marking another significant round of cuts in a sector heavily exposed to disruption by artificial intelligence.

NAB said in a statement on Tuesday that the bulk of the redundancies would occur before the end of the year, citing a challenging economy, competition and “rapid technological change”.

Dearth of bananas coincides with poor apple harvest and lack of summer stone fruit

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A shortage of Australia’s most popular fruit, bananas, has hit supermarket shelves at a tricky time for lunchboxes, right as apple season winds down after tough growing conditions and summer stone fruit is yet to arrive en masse.

Cool weather in key Queensland growing regions has severely slowed banana production, leaving major supermarkets Coles, Woolworths and Aldi with sparse displays or very green stock.