Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Menlo Park, CA, United States (4E) – Facebook has partnered with Bango and now accepts mobile payments through various carrier services in the United States. Bango is one of the most popular mobile payment services in the world. Aside from Facebook, retailers, stores and content providers use Bango to collect payments from customers.

Facebook has promised investors in the past that it will focus on its mobile side of the business. This entails mobile advertising, mobile payments and a better mobile Facebook app. This is just one of the steps Facebook is undertaking to boost investor confidence in the company.

According to Bango, “Facebook’s mobile web users to easily purchase digital content without the use of premium SMS messages or the limitations of credit cards. Instead, users enjoy frictionless operator billing, paying on their phone, without the need to register personal details.”

This will undoubtedly help Facebook’s share prices. Facebook’s stock has dropped an estimated 50 percent since its initial public offering in May.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed earlier in the month that the future of Facebook depends on its mobile services.

Hopefully, it’s offering of mobile payments with the help of Bango will be a successful new direction for Facebook.

Bango CEO Ray Anderson said of the deal with Facebook: “We’re delighted to bring Bango’s payment experience to Facebook. As the mobile web experience has matured and improved, consumers are increasingly keen to purchase digital goods on mobile devices.”

Users in the United Kingdom and Germany can also make mobile payments using Bango.

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Brussels, Belgium (4E) – Spain is reportedly in talks with European authorities for a fresh round of rescue plan to be announced next week.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that the EU is setting the stage for a rescue plan for Spain and unlimited bond purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB). The EU and Madrid are in discussions for the details of an economic reform package set to be announced next week.

Officials familiar with the talks say that the focus of those conversations are the conditions requested by creditors as part of the bailout program, as they need to be outlined first before an announcement of any rescue plan.

The plan is reportedly going to be unveiled next Thursday which will include structural reforms to the Spanish economy instead of new taxes and austerity measures.

The Spanish government is also likely to release a report of its banking system review, which will also include details on how the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) can recapitalize Spanish banks.

A senior EU official said Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos is directly involved with the negotiations.

Approval of the plan by the European Union prior to next week’s announcement is seen as a move to relieve some political pressure to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Madrid has been reluctant to ask for assistance from the ESM’s 500bn euro rescue fund through purchase of Spanish sovereign bonds by the ECB for fear that the EU would demand difficult conditions.

All Stories

Economy, Business And Finance Stories

Lobamba, Swaziland (IRIN) – Cold and wet weather, coupled with overgrazing and poor animal husbandry, has been blamed for the deaths of about 10,000 cattle in Swaziland in the past month – and has increased fears of health risks as people scavenge carcasses for food.

“This is the highest number of cattle deaths in the country’s [modern] history,” Zolani Dlamini, the director of the government’s livestock and veterinary services, told local media.

Since the rinderpest outbreak in the 1890s, which killed about 90 percent of all stock animals in Swaziland, farming practices have barely evolved in the landlocked country. Cattle are highly valued culturally and represent the only means of financial security for the two-thirds of the country’s 1.2 million people who reside on communal Swazi Nation Land (SNL).

Prior to the mass deaths, Swaziland’s national herd was estimated at about 750,000 head of cattle, but the agricultural ministry estimates the optimum number of cattle for the country’s pastures – depending on the weather conditions – is between 400,000 and 600,000. While the mass deaths may be seen as mitigating some of the cattle overpopulation, the losses are difficult for impoverished farmers to manage.

Agricultural Minister Clement Dlamini said in a statement, “This is a huge blow to many Swazis, and in monetary terms, they have [experienced] a huge loss [from] which they will never recover anytime soon.”

Poor animal husbandry

Despite a European Union trade export agreement with Swaziland , the country consistently fails to fulfil its hormone-free beef quota, attributed to poor animal husbandry and a reluctance by farmers to sell cattle because of their high social capital. The average herd size for cattle-owning rural households is estimated at between four and six head of cattle.

“Animal husbandry has not changed since the time of the rinderpest. Cattle are still confined in dirt branch kraals that turn to mud when it rains. Cattle become stuck in the mud, either in the kraal or in the fields,” Amos Fakudze, a veterinarian, told IRIN.

Of the recent deaths, Agricultural Minister Dlamini said, “The cattle did not have any layer of body fat [due to malnourishment] to shield them from the cold and to use as energy to generate heat.”

An animal rights activist, who declined to be named, told IRIN, “There is a real gap between the love Swazis have for their cattle and their treatment of their cattle. Swazis even name their cows like pets, but they allow them to wander half-starved to forage on weeds and get killed by trucks on the highway or die of exposure during storms.”

Health risks

The agricultural ministry has broadcast radio bulletins warning of the health risks associated with eating the carcasses littering the countryside, but for an estimated 69 percent of the population living in chronic poverty, it is a temptation difficult to resist.

“People are using unconventional ‘coping mechanisms’ to survive, some by foraging for whatever they can find in the forests. The dead cattle provide an opportunity for food that famished people really cannot resist, despite the health warnings,” Fakudze said.

He expects a recurrence of the mass cattle deaths in coming years, as the country has been increasingly experiencing cycles of dry spells and intense storms. “Modern cattle-raising methods must be introduced, but this is impossible as long as Swazis remain landless peasants with no capital or means of acquiring animal feed and materials to construct proper cattle shelters.”

tg/go/rz

– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

Economy, Business And Finance Stories