Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are among a group of celebrity chefs and supermarkets spearheading a new campaign to double UK bean consumption by 2028.
There has been a long push for people to include more legumes in their diets – they are climate friendly and healthy. As the UK faces increasing disease related to poor diets as well as increasing food prices, and the campaigners argue that it is the correct time to launch a drive to “bang in some beans” to the nation’s meals.
Oliver said: “It’s no secret that I love beans. Not only are they delicious and affordable, they’re plant-based powerhouses that are packed with fibre, are a brilliant source of protein and live happily in your store cupboard for ages. If there’s anything we should be eating more of, it’s beans.”
Supermarkets supporting the Bang in Some Beans campaign include Lidl, which has pledged to increase volume sales for all bean products by 50% by 2028; Sainsbury’s, which is aiming to increase sales tonnage for beans and pulses by 2028; and M&S, who say they will increase volume sales for all ambient bean products by 15% by 2028. Waitrose and Ocado have also said they will advertise more legumes to customers.
Growing many types of bean fixes nitrogen into the soil, improving its health, and they are a useful replacement or supplement for more carbon-intensive proteins, such as meat. They are also high in fibre (only 4% of Britons get their recommended daily amount), and 4.5 times cheaper than other plant-based meat alternatives. A new report by the Food Foundation, supporting the campaign, has found that to meet the Eat-Lancet’s planetary health diet, UK bean consumption would need to increase sevenfold.
Food production is a big cause of climate breakdown, amounting to about a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Three-fifths of those emissions come from meat production, leading many to argue for a shift towards a plant-based diet. On average it takes 15,400 litres of water to make 1kg of beef, but about 5,000 litres for the same amount of beans.
Fearnley-Whittingstall, another of the supporters of the campaign, said: “Beans are fantastic for your health and are packed full of fibre, protein and micro-nutrients. Put simply, we should all be eating more of them.
“The Bang in Some Beans campaign is bringing together chefs, influencers and food businesses so we can all get excited about trying new beany recipes, whether that’s exploring exciting dishes from all over the world, or simply banging some beans into family favourites to give them a brilliant boost.”
The Food Foundation has called for more chefs, retailers and restaurant chains to join the bean crusade to increase the marketing and selling of the legumes.
Rebecca Tobi, the head of food business transformation at the Food Foundation, said: “Beans are a win-win-win for our health, the environment and our wallets at a time when food prices continue to rise.
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“As an affordable, healthy and sustainable food, beans deserve to play a much bigger role than they currently do in helping us to eat better as a nation, with two-thirds of the population eating less than a single portion of beans a week. And we’re not just talking about baked beans – we want to get the UK exploring new recipes from chilis, stews, curries and dals to dips and salads.
“We’re now looking for more businesses to sign up and play their part in boosting bean consumption for both people and planet.”
Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Aarhus, 5 November 2025 Company announcement No. 24/2025
The Board of Directors of Vestas Wind Systems A/S has decided to initiate a share buy-back programme of up to DKK 1,120m (approx. EUR 150m).
The share buy-back programme is initiated pursuant to the authorisation granted to the Board of Directors by the Annual General Meeting in April 2025, which entitled Vestas to acquire treasury shares at a nominal value not exceeding 10 percent of the share capital at the time of the authorisation.
The share buy-back programme will be executed in accordance with Regulation No. 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (MAR) and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 (the “Safe Harbour Regulation”).
Purpose The purpose of the share buy-back programme is to adjust Vestas’ capital structure.
Time frame The share buy-back programme will run from 6 November 2025 to 17 December 2025, both days included.
Terms Vestas has appointed Danske Bank as Lead Manager for the share buy-back programme. Danske Bank will make its own trading decisions independently of and without influence or involvement from Vestas.
Under the share buy-back programme, Vestas may repurchase shares up to a maximum amount of DKK 1,120m, and no more than 18,000,000 shares, corresponding to 1.8 percent of the share capital of Vestas Wind Systems A/S.
No shares may be bought back at a price exceeding the higher of i) the price of the last independent trade and ii) the highest current independent bid at the trading venue, on which the purchase is carried out, at the time of trading.
The maximum number of shares that may be purchased on each trading day may not exceed 25 percent of the average daily trading volume of shares on the trading venue, on which the purchase is carried out, over the last 20 trading days prior to the date of purchase.
Prior to the share buy-back, Vestas holds 12,357,143 treasury shares, equal to 1.2 percent of the share capital.
Vestas is entitled to suspend or stop the programme at any time subject to a disclosure of a company announcement.
On a weekly basis, Vestas will issue an announcement in respect of transactions made under the programme.
Contact details Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark
Daniel Patterson, Vice President Investor Relations Tel: +45 2669 2725
Imagine being unable to get a loan, pay an urgent medical bill or secure your new family home with a rental down-payment. Why? All because you lack access to the kind of modern-day financial tools which much of the developed world takes for granted.
You are, to use that quietly damning word, unbanked.
Financial exclusion isn’t confined to the world’s poorest people. It is widespread. It is overlooked. And it is a notoriously difficult trap from which to escape.
Altogether, around a quarter of the world’s adult population – an estimated 1.4 billion people – do not have access to a bank account or appropriate alternative such as a building society or credit union.[1] A further half of adults qualify as ‘underbanked’, relying solely on cash and lacking any avenues of credit.[2]
In today’s hyper-connected world, breaking out of the poverty cycle means having digital access to your finances. Likewise, it demands access to the suite of systems many of us in mature markets already use to receive wages, pay invoices, source credit cards, earn interest, and insure our homes and businesses.
In the absence of these facilities, those affected are likely to endure a form of second-class citizenhood.
Financial exclusion is particularly pernicious because it often leads to inequality and injustice. Of those 1.4 billion financially excluded adults, around 80% live in emerging markets on the frontline of the existential battle against climate change.[3] Already these societies are facing an uncertain future and struggling to implement long-term plans as climate disasters such as floods, droughts and heatwaves derail economic development. Green energy, climate-proof infrastructure and sustainable farming are the solutions – yet all remain beyond the reach of communities marooned in an era of physical currency and 20th Century technology.
Financial inclusion is not simply about convenience – it is about livelihoods and lives. Indeed, financial inclusion is deemed necessary for satisfying at least seven of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals to ensure ‘peace and prosperity for people and the planet’.[4]
Only a fairer and more equitable system of financial access can narrow the opportunity gap worldwide.
How is technology turning the tide for world’s unbanked?
The financial symptoms of a digitally-divided world are detectable everywhere. While savings have increased globally over the past decade, the gap between prosperous and struggling economies is as profound as ever. Mature markets have an average savings rate (the proportion of disposable income set aside rather than instantly spent) of 58% compared to just 25% in developing markets.[5]
In lower and middle income countries (LMICs), there is ample evidence that financial exclusion is limiting business growth. Globally, it remains far easier to borrow money in an advanced economy (where 56% of enterprises are eligible for a loan) compared to emerging economies (23%).[6] Of the approximately 400 million micro-enterprises in developing regions, up to 345 million are classed as informal: Having no employees other than the owner, generating only subsistence-level incomes, and unlikely to be registered for tax therefore failing to elevate national GDPs.[7]
These pen-and-paper businesses cannot grow, advertise or diversify in the way their rivals might in developed markets. Nor can they strengthen their resilience by saving funds to survive fallow periods. In particular, research has highlighted a US$ 173 billion finance shortfall for female-led micro-enterprises in LMICs.
However, other indicators are suggesting a gradual change in momentum. While it is little comfort to the 1.4 billion worldwide who remain unbanked, fewer people are excluded from the financial apparatus with each passing year. In 2011, some 2.5 million adults were forced to live hand-to-mouth, day-to-day, without a bank account – far exceeding the number who find themselves in a similar predicament today.[8]
Similarly, the gender gap between the banked and unbanked is slowly narrowing. In developing countries, around 9% more men than women possessed a bank account in 2017. By 2021 this gulf had narrowed to 6%, indicating positive steps towards female independence.
Forward-thinking governments are taking a more proactive approach to increasing financial inclusion. More than 60 countries have launched national financial inclusion strategies with input from multiple stakeholders spanning telecoms, the environment, education and financial regulation.
In India, for instance, the Aadhaar scheme has equipped 1.2 billion workers with Universal Digital Identification, allowing salaries to be paid into formal bank accounts. In Mexico, the National Council for Financial Inclusion is encouraging digital adoption by increasing the number of ATMs and point-of-sale terminals throughout the country.
As a major intergovernmental organization the World Bank also runs more than 100 schemes worldwide to promote financial inclusion. These funnel cash towards agricultural resilience, social security, energy access and climate mitigation. In 2024 the World Bank contributed to 6.8 million small businesses (around half of them women-led) needing financial services. One project in Africa, for example, mobilized green private capital to help SMEs on their clean energy journey.
By bolstering economic growth and boosting productivity, financial inclusion is a goal worth striving for. Progress in the sector is chiefly credited to our ubiquitous modern-day savior: Technology.
How are smartphones leading the fintech revolution?
Why have the numbers of unbanked individuals fallen, and why are we optimistic that the world will continue welcoming new members into the global financial community? One of the most significant reasons is probably nestled right now in your hand or pocket.
As of 2023 the number of cellphone owners worldwide reached 4.3 billion, or over half of the global population.[9] This trajectory is set to continue so that by the end of the decade the number of cellphone owners could top six billion.
Mobile technology is critical because modern smartphones are about so much more than texts and calls. Smartphones mean access to the worldwide web. Access to banks, both domestic and foreign. Access to apps allowing users to pay for products with a simple swipe or accept payments for services rendered. A cellphone opens the door to economic inclusion by introducing newcomers into the fundamentals of finance, helping them establish a verifiable credit record which can in turn be used to secure loans or make profitable investments. Increasingly, cellphones are the keys which can unlock the door to financial liberty.
Yet this represents just the tip of the iceberg of the financial technology (fintech) revolution helping democratize access to money.
Research shows that over the past 10 years fintech, in its various forms, has helped more than a billion unbanked people access financial services for the first time – notably across emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.[10]
Cellphones are enabling a new concept in personal finance for developing nations – the mobile money service.
Accessible through any app-equipped smartphone, a mobile money service allows users to send, store and receive payments without need for a conventional bank account. For convenience, it also permits cash withdrawals at authorized agents. Deposits are protected by local financial regulations, and a record is kept of every transaction so that money is safe if a SIM card is lost or stolen. A trial scheme in Kenya among rural populations managed to lift around 2% of participating families out of poverty.[11]
With increasing numbers of people working in the gig economy, or being paid by the hour, the era of the monthly pay slip is waning. How to settle that urgent bill, or buy the supermarket shopping, if you have worked for multiple employers during the week each with different payment terms? Real Time Payment technology is emerging to fill the gap, allowing workers to quickly access pay accrued via an ‘earned-wage’ platform. It is proving a vital lifeline for those on insecure incomes even in developed countries like the USA, where more than a quarter of workers report having zero savings.[12]
Liberating finance in emerging markets begins with a robust network infrastructure. Tech firms are at the forefront of plans to invest billions of dollars in affordable connectivity and digital services across 16 Middle East, African and Asian countries between now and 2026. The money will be spent on improving network speeds and driving fiber adoption. A million households in Pakistan have already been introduced to the digital economy, with millions more set to follow.
Technology can help improve financial inclusion for female entrepreneurs too, who often have to fight to make their voices heard in many parts of the world. Digital bookkeeping apps are helping small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accurately record cash flow and inventory – vital financial records which in the absence of collateral can be used to secure a loan. Similarly, electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) technology is helping female business owners in emerging markets access loans of up to US$ 20,000 by verifying their identities digitally.[13]
Fintech innovations can help protect customer assets while assuring compliance with state legislation, essential for any functioning system of financial inclusion. Regulatory technology (regtech) and supervisory technology (suptech) tools are helping formalize the oversight of new finance platforms. Regtech incorporates cutting-edge technologies such as AI, machine learning and blockchain to help companies abide by finance regulations within a given territory. Suptech tools allow regulators to scrutinize mass volumes of data from financial institutions to expose violations or risk. Together, regtech and suptech technology automates compliance processes for real-time monitoring, ultimately helping financial inclusion to flourish.
Embedded finance technologies (direct payment or loan tools accessible through non-banking websites) are proliferating, offering anyone with internet access faster and more versatile transaction choices.
New Fast Payment Systems are also hastening the spread of fintech across developing markets. They permit the near-instantaneous transfer of funds between accounts far quicker than traditional electronic payments. The technology is increasingly available to everyone and covers every type of transaction, whether person-to-person or business-to-business, either domestic or cross-border. International initiatives such as the Payment Systems Development Group (PSDG) have so far helped more than 120 countries modernize their payment systems, with Brazil’s Pix and Costa Rica’s SINPE Móvil serving as key templates.
The private sector is enthusiastically pursuing the digitization of financial services to improve access to money. Abdul Latif Jameel is leading from the front in global efforts to deploy fintech and widen inclusivity.
Bab Rizq Jameel Microfinance, part of Abdul Latif Jameel Finance Saudi Arabia, offers Sharia-compliant loans to long-neglected markets, helping nurture entrepreneurialism among innovators and SMEs. Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia Cash Jameel allows customers to apply for a 10,000 to 300,000 Saudi riyals loan, without guarantor, through a phone app, with approval granted in minutes.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Investment Management Company (JIMCO), meanwhile, is investing in numerous businesses that enable individuals and corporates to access the finance they need, when they need it most. Investments include:
Social impact fintech business Ziina, an instant payment platform allowing workers across the MENA region to withdraw wages early for work already completed but not yet paid.
Buy-now-pay-later startup Tabby, helping customers across the UAE and Saudi Arabia pay for purchases in multiple instalments or via a deferred single payment at no extra cost.
Turkish fintech firm Figopara, offering extended working capital to businesses by lengthening payment terms to suppliers.
Thndr, a mobile-first equities trading platform allowing individuals to make commission-free investments in stocks, bonds and funds on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
Rain, easing access to cryptocurrency markets for investors across the Middle East.
Riyadh-based Lean Technologies, a B2B platform developing user-friendly software for securely connecting financial service institutions to customer bank accounts.
Fintech will continue evolving in the future, bringing financial inclusion to the masses and resolving at least some of the woes endured by the world’s unbanked minority. What does the future look like, and what should governments, NGOs and businesses be doing to prepare?
Will fintech and financial inclusion lead to a fairer future?
Based on the data, it appears that technology is propelling us to a more equitable and inclusive financial ecosystem. As more countries digitize their economies, and as more citizens migrate their personal finances online, valuable new insights will be gained and funding opportunities unlocked.
Increasingly, ‘big tech’ will harness multiple data points – utility bills, rent receipts, sporadic income – to evaluate loan applications. Data channels with unprecedented layers of security will allow governments, businesses and banks to incubate a fertile culture of open banking. The secure exchange of sensitive financial information will help sole traders become SMEs, SMEs become large businesses, and large businesses one day become multinational corporations.
Looking further ahead, public and private sectors must unite to focus on the underlying priorities of a digital ecosystem: Connectivity, cybersecurity, data privacy, digital ID and physical infrastructure.
More research is needed to circumvent the problems inherent in a financial system which is becoming more automated and, arguably, less human. We need to assess potential hazards surrounding consumer protection. We need to understand the dangers of overborrowing, for both individuals and businesses. We need to ensure that women and other under-served minorities are also able to share in the wealth of new opportunities.
All institutions have a part to play.
Banks must develop strategies to promote responsible borrowing and spending. Payment providers must work with fintechs to analyze data and enable sustainable investing.
Governments must legislate for the open sharing of data and encourage the transition by shifting their own payments to the digital realm.
International lawmakers must harmonize regulatory frameworks and ensure cross-border technological compatibility. NGOs must further expand inclusion by helping to improve financial literacy and by leveraging the benefits of fintech at grassroots level.
Jaroslav Gaisler Chief Executive Officer Financial Services & FinTech, Abdul Latif Jameel
“The rewards could be deep and enduring,” says Jaroslav Gaisler, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Services & FinTech, Abdul Latif Jameel.
“Fusing fintech with the concept of financial inclusion unleashed the ideas and energies of untapped innovators within markets too often overshadowed by more mature economic rivals.
“We all stand to benefit from a mutually prosperous world.”
Fast Facts: Tech’s impact on financial inclusion
How many adults worldwide lack access to basic banking services?
Approximately 1.4 billion people – about a quarter of the world’s adult population – are unbanked, with no access to a bank account or appropriate alternatives.
How has mobile technology adoption changed the financial landscape?
As of 2023, there are 4.3 billion cellphone owners worldwide (over half the global population), and fintech has helped more than a billion previously unbanked people access financial services over the past decade.
Which regions are most affected by financial exclusion?
Around 80% of the 1.4 billion financially excluded adults live in emerging markets, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, which are also on the frontline of climate change challenges.
How much progress has been made in reducing the number of unbanked people?
The number of unbanked adults has fallen significantly from 2.5 billion in 2011 to 1.4 billion today, demonstrating steady improvement in financial inclusion.
How many countries have national financial inclusion strategies?
More than 60 countries have launched national financial inclusion strategies involving multiple stakeholders from telecoms, environment, education, and financial regulation sectors.
A sign with the Toyota logo in Surrey, England on August, 2023
Peter Dazeley | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Toyota Motor on Wednesday missed operating profit for the quarter ended September as the Japanese auto giant bears the brunt of U.S. tariffs.
Here are Toyota’s September quarter results compared with mean estimates from LSEG:
Revenue: 12.38 trillion yen (about $81 billion) vs. 12.18 trillion yen
Operating profit: 834 billion yen vs. 863.1 billion yen
The world’s largest carmaker by sales volume reported a nearly 28% drop in profit , year on year, while revenue increased over 8%.
The company released 6-month results — from April to September — and the quarterly numbers have been calculated by CNBC, based on company statement and LSEG data.
The company’s profit fell for a second straight quarter since the United States introduced “reciprocal” tariffs in April. Tokyo in July clinched a trade deal with Washington, bringing down tariffs on its exports to the U.S. to 15% from the 25% initially proposed by President Donald Trump. The 15% tariffs took effect on Aug. 7.
Japanese shipments of automobiles to the U.S. have seen a sharp decline in terms of value, with exports dropping 24.2% in September, slightly less compared to the 28.4% drop in August.
Despite tariff headwinds, Toyota has continued to benefit from strong global demand. The company recently reported that vehicle sales, including its luxury brand Lexus, reached 5.3 million from April to September, a 4.7% increase year-over-year.
Authorities in Denmark are urgently studying how to close an apparent security loophole in hundreds of Chinese-made electric buses that enables them to be remotely deactivated.
The investigation comes after transport authorities in Norway, where the Yutong buses are also in service, found that the Chinese supplier had remote access for software updates and diagnostics to the vehicles’ control systems – which could be exploited to affect buses while in transit.
Amid concerns over potential security risks, the Norwegian public transport authority Ruter decided to test two electric buses in an isolated environment.
Bernt Reitan Jenssen, Ruter’s chief executive, said: “The testing revealed risks that we are now taking measures against. National and local authorities have been informed and must assist with additional measures at a national level.”
Their investigations found that remote deactivation could be prevented by removing the buses’ sim cards, but they have not done this because it would also disconnect the bus from other systems.
Ruter said it planned to bring in stricter security requirements for future procurements. Jenssen said it must act before the arrival of the next generation of buses, which could be even “more integrated and harder to secure”.
Movia, Denmark’s largest public transport company, has 469 Chinese electric buses in operation – 262 of which were manufactured by Yutong.
Jeppe Gaard, Movia’s chief operating officer, said he was last week made aware that “electric buses – like electric cars – can be remotely deactivated if their software systems have web access”. He added: “This is not a Chinese bus problem. It is a problem for all types of vehicles and devices with Chinese electronics built in.”
Gaard said the Danish agency for civil protection and emergency management told it that it was not aware of any specific cases in which electric buses had been deactivated, but warned that the vehicles were equipped with “subsystems with internet connectivity and sensors (cameras, microphones, GPS) that can constitute vulnerabilities which could be exploited to disrupt bus operations”.
Yutong said it “strictly complies with the applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards of the locations where its vehicles operate” and that Yutong vehicle terminal data in the EU were stored at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) datacentre in Frankfurt.
A spokesperson added: “This data is used solely for vehicle-related maintenance, optimisation and improvement to meet customers’ after-sales service needs. The data is protected by storage encryption and access control measures. No one is allowed to access or view this data without customer authorisation. Yutong strictly complies with the EU’s data protection laws and regulations.”
Thomas Rohden, the chair of the Danish China-Critical Society and a regional Social Liberal party councillor, said Denmark has been “way too slow” when it came to dependence on Chinese companies.
“This is a huge problem. We should not be so dependent on a country that has values and ideals so different to Denmark,” Rohden said. He added that at a time when Denmark was trying to increase its resilience amid allegations of hybrid attacks by Russia “it’s not very resilient to be totally dependent on China”.
The Norwegian ministry of transport declined to comment.
As the global race for critical minerals intensifies, Australia is emerging as more than a supplier to traditional partners. Canberra is well positioned as a strategic bridge linking Africa’s vast mineral wealth to the industrial needs of the Indo-Pacific. This matters not only for its alliance with Washington, but the resilience of supply chains stretching from Tokyo and Seoul to New Delhi. With China dominating African extraction and refining networks, Australia’s engagement offers an opportunity to rebalance power and build more secure, transparent mineral flows.
Australia can no longer sustain the old balancing act, maintaining a close US alliance while deepening economic ties with Beijing. Joining AUKUS in 2021 signalled a decisive alignment with Washington and the Critical Minerals Strategy 2023–2030 prioritises collaboration with “like-minded partners.” The importance of this alignment was reaffirmed with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s October 2025 visit to Washington. The two countries signed a framework to secure critical mineral supply chains through shared investment, streamlined regulation, fair-trade protections and improved recycling.
Strengthening engagement with Africa would position Australia at the crossroads of great-power competition and the energy transition, elevate regional influence and shape global supply chains.
More than 170 ASX-listed companies operate in 35 African states with investments valued at $40 billion, comprising graphite in Tanzania, copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and rare earths in Uganda. Walkabout Resources developed the Lindi Jumbo graphite project in Tanzania with approximately $31 million in debt financing and long-term offtake contracts. BHP has entered Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt through an “earn-in” agreement, securing up to 75 percent of copper-silver prospects. Iluka Resources signed a 15-year deal to import monazite concentrate from Malawi for its $1.65 billion Eneabba refinery – the first fully integrated rare earths facility in Australia – and is advancing Kenya’s Mrima Hill project with RareX to establish a non-China supply route.
These ventures anchor Australia’s role in mining and establish midstream processing vital to Indo-Pacific security.
Leaving open the possibility of cooperation with China on terms that uphold African agency and sustainability would ensure Australia’s diplomacy is not entirely adversarial.
African mineral exports to the United States rarely travel directly. Most are routed through Asia for processing. Chinese refineries dominate, reinforcing Beijing’s leverage over regional supply chains. Without Australia’s engagement, African resources will continue to feed China’s industrial base. Investing in Africa provides Australia with an opportunity to redirect flows toward trusted networks serving Japan, South Korea, India and ASEAN economies that are all dependent on stable mineral access for clean energy, defence and manufacturing.
In 2023, Washington and Canberra launched the Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact to align investment and policy frameworks. Australia’s broader strategy allocates $2 billion to support miners and processors aligned with democratic partners. These efforts connect to the US-led Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a multilateral initiative for sustainable mineral sourcing involving Japan, India and the EU. Together with the Quad Critical Minerals Partnership and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), these initiatives embed Africa’s role within regional security and economic strategies.
African nations possess 85% of global manganese as well as 80% of platinum and chromium, along with nearly half of all cobalt and vast copper and graphite deposits. Despite renewed US interest, Chinese engagement remains dominant, built on decades of investment and processing capacity. US private capital such as KoBold Metals, backed by Bezos and Gates, and Australia’s AVZ Minerals are jointly investing over US$1 billion in the DRC’s Manono lithium project. The US Development Finance Corporation has committed US$553 million to Angola’s Lobito Atlantic Railway and projects such as Pensana’s rare earth facility and green copper initiatives in Zambia.
Chinese enterprises dominate much of the continent’s extraction, sending materials to Chinese refineries that supply the Indo-Pacific. This provides Beijing with leverage over both African and Asian markets. Deeper Australian engagement would help ensure Indo-Pacific partners are not hostage to this industrial dominance. Selective cooperation on sustainability, infrastructure or conflict-sensitive governance can promote constructive engagement of benefit to African partners and ease strategic rivalry.
Australia offers three key advantages: 1) Trusted governance, 2) Mining expertise, and 3) the ability to convene alliances. Coupling African resources with Asia-Pacific demand positions Canberra as more than Washington’s ally to become a regional leader shaping standards for responsible mining and transparent trade. Platforms such as the Quad and MSP enable diversified supply chains to bypass Chinese choke points. Strategic investments in African projects, reinforced through refinery arrangements such as Iluka’s Eneabba facility can feed refined materials into Australian, US and wider Indo-Pacific markets.
Leaving open the possibility of cooperation with China on terms that uphold African agency and sustainability would ensure Australia’s diplomacy is not entirely adversarial. Pragmatism could enhance its credibility across Africa, where governments prefer inclusive partnerships over binary choices.
Canberra’s mineral diplomacy highlights Africa as the strategic missing link in Indo-Pacific resilience. Expanding beyond the traditional supplier role will help establish a more balanced global system bridging African resources with Asia’s industrial demand, reinforcing governance and transparency and tempering China’s leverage. Australia would not only reinforce ties with Washington, but strengthen its own leadership across the Indo-Pacific. Keeping open channels for constructive engagement demonstrates Canberra’s approach is not exclusionary, but rooted in shared interests in resilient, transparent and sustainable supply chains of benefit to both Africa and emerging economies close to home.
Ricoh is a leading provider of integrated digital services and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation of workplaces, workspaces and optimize business performance.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh’s global operation reaches customers in approximately 200 countries and regions, supported by cultivated knowledge, technologies, and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-year history. In the financial year ended March 2025, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,527 billion yen (approx. 16.8 billion USD).
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The logo of McDonald’s is seen in Los Angeles, California.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
McDonald’s is expected to report its third-quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday.
Here’s what Wall Street analysts surveyed by LSEG are expecting the company to report:
Earnings per share: $3.33 expected
Revenue: $7.1 billion expected
The fast-food giant, often seen as a bellwether for the financial health of consumers, has spent more than a year sounding the alarm about a pullback in spending from low-income diners. But Wall Street is anticipating that McDonald’s will report same-store sales growth for the second straight quarter, showing that its value strategy is winning over customers.
Kicking off the third quarter, McDonald’s Snack Wraps returned to menus for the first time in nine years. And in September, the chain brought back Extra Value Meals, which it last promoted before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts are projecting that McDonald’s will report global same-store sales growth of 3.5%, according to StreetAccount estimates. Wall Street expects that the burger chain’s international markets will outperform the U.S., where same-store sales are projected to grow 1.9%.
McDonald’s stock has risen just 3% this year, as investor concerns about the restaurant industry and the broader economy have weighed on shares. The company has a market cap of more than $212 billion.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The European Central Bank’s plan to launch a digital euro by 2029 has run into strong opposition from EU lawmakers and Europe’s banking industry.
Ahead of a key European parliamentary hearing on the project on Wednesday, 14 lenders including Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and ING warned that the digital euro could undermine private sector payment systems.
The 14 banks have teamed up to create a private sector rival to US payments companies such as Mastercard, Visa and PayPal. The service, Wero, was launched last year.
“The current design of the retail digital euro largely addresses the same use cases as private solutions, without offering any clear added value for consumers,” the banks said ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.
Fernando Navarrete, a conservative MEP from Spain appointed by the European parliament to assess the digital euro, has also argued for a significantly scaled-down version of the project.
The ECB began evaluating digital central bank money in 2020. Last week, its governing council formally decided to take the necessary steps to be in a position to issue the first digital euros “during 2029”, with a pilot exercise aimed for 2027. The legislation underpinning the project was proposed by the European Commission in 2023.
Current laws only empower the ECB to issue physical cash rather than digital tokens so the project can only move forward if EU governments and the bloc’s parliament give it the green light.
A dramatic decline in the use of cash and the dominance of US payments providers creates the need for the digital euro to protect “our freedom, autonomy and security”, ECB executive board member Piero Cipollone said in September. The share of cash used in stores fell from 72 per cent to 52 per cent in the five years to 2024.
The digital euro has received a boost from the rapid development of US-backed stablecoins, which many in Europe feel could threaten the role of the euro.
The 20 finance ministers of the Eurozone member states last month backed the ECB’s digital euro plans, welcoming “the recent progress achieved in advancing the digital euro project” and urging lawmakers in Brussels to enact the necessary legal changes quickly.
Navarrete argued in a report published last week that the digital euro should only be used instead of coins and banknotes for payments without internet or mobile connection but crucially not as a digital means of real-time payments for other transactions, including online, as envisioned by the ECB.
In his report, Navarrete warns that online payment functionalities could create “a parallel payments ecosystem hindering private solutions from reaching pan-European scale”.
The online version of the digital euro should only be launched if European private sector rivals to US payment providers failed, he argued.
Navarrete told the Financial Times that the private sector was “closer than ever before” to creating a competitive payments system, adding that “a responsible policymaker approach should be to set the framework to maximise the odds for this to happen” while at the same time “being ready for a fallback option”.
It is unclear if Navarrete’s views are shared by the majority of the parliament, with social democrats, liberals and greens all supporting the digital euro, as well as members of his own conservative group.
His assessment was welcomed on Tuesday by the German Banking Industry Committee, the country’s top banking lobby group, which called current plans “too complex” and “too expensive”, warning that it offered “little tangible benefit for consumers”.
In a study commissioned by European banks, PwC estimated that the launch of the digital euro could cost the financial sector up to €30bn. The ECB has rebuffed this estimate, putting the costs at just under €6bn.
“25 years after the euro’s launch, there is still no pan-European, competitive payments solution,” said one senior central bank official, adding that even the successful creation of a domestic private sector rival to Visa and Mastercard would not be a permanent fix to the challenges as its ownership could change.
“Visa Europe used to be European but was eventually sold,” the central banker said.
