Although the day is young and the hype is heavy, American consumers are not very enthusiastic about using digital wallets. High-powered marketers like Apple, Samsung, PayPal and Google are offering their own versions - and with the support of many banks - but only 2 percent of Americans actually use digital wallets.

Axion Consulting, Dow Chemical, Nestlé, Unilever and other global companies say they have made "significant" progress in a project that aims to improve the recyclability of flexible packaging.

A new report released by the Global Commission on the Economy and the Climate identifies 10 key economic opportunities that could close up to 96 percent of the gap between business-as-usual emissions and the level needed to limit dangerous climate change. Shipping is on the list.

New data from Juniper Research has revealed that global e-retail sales are expected to reach $1.7tr this year, up by more than 17 percent on 2014's total. It argued that while recent growth had been buoyed by factors such as public Wi-Fi deployments and 4G rollout, in the medium term sales would receive a strong fillip from the trend of social media companies to act as direct sales platforms.

Africa's second-largest iron-ore mine, in Tonkolili, Sierra Leone, was snapped up by China's state-owned Shandong Iron and Steel Group in April. In fact, Chinese firms, it seems, are buying into the market while stocks are cheap. Hebei Iron and Steel Group is building a massive steelworks in South Africa; last month it received approval to takeover the Swiss firm Duferco's African steel processing and sales network.