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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sewage at the beaches, piles of garbage mar Gaza's summer

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) - When Palestinians in the Gaza Strip seek some relief from the grind of life in an enclave plagued by conflict and hardship, they usually need to look no further than their sandy beaches. The blighted shoreline adds to the grind of Gazan life so far unrelieved by the reconciliation pact which the dominant Islamist group Hamas signed with Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas. One Hamas official mooted retaking charge of the territory if the Abbas-led new government did not wade in with remedies. Baha al-Agha of the Gaza Environment Quality Authority said about 100,000 cubic metres of untreated waste water are being pumped into the sea daily.

North Korea says to try two detained U.S. citizens

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday that it would put on trial two detained American tourists for crimes against the state. "Their hostile acts were confirmed by evidence and their own testimonies," said the official KCNA news agency, referring to U.S. citizens Jeffrey Fowle and Matthew Miller who are being held by the isolated country. Another U.S. national Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary who had been arrested in November 2012, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years hard labor last year. (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by James Pearson)

Bulgarian leaders appeal for public calm after bank runs

By Gareth Jones SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's leaders have appealed to citizens not to panic and withdraw their savings when banks reopen on Monday, following runs on two major lenders that have raised concerns for the Balkan country's financial stability. The runs on Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) and First Investment Bank, Bulgaria's fourth and third largest lenders respectively, pose the biggest challenge for the European Union's poorest member state in nearly two decades. The central bank has said there is a deliberate and systematic attempt to destabilize Bulgaria's banking system and has vowed to take all measures to protect citizens' savings. There is no banking crisis, there is a crisis of trust and there is a criminal attack," President Rosen Plevneliev said on Sunday after more than four hours of emergency talks with the leaders of Bulgaria's main political parties and central bank officials.

U.S. Marine, long listed as deserter, back in custody

By Peter Cooney WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine listed as a deserter for almost a decade since going missing after his return to the United States following his brief disappearance in Iraq is back in military custody, the Marine Corps said on Sunday. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, is scheduled to return on Monday to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 9-1/2 years after he failed to report for duty there on Jan. 5, 2005, following a visit to his family, the Marines said. "The Naval Criminal Investigative Service worked with Cpl. Hassoun to turn himself in and return to the United States to face charges under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice," the Marine Corps said in a statement.

Second boatload of Cuban migrants in 48 hours ordered off Caymans

By Peter Polack GRAND CAYMAN Cayman Islands (Reuters) - An open wooden boat carrying 34 Cuban migrants sought refuge at a dock in the Cayman Islands on Sunday but was turned away, the second Cuban migrant vessel to be rejected in a week. Local law enforcement allowed the migrants to take on drinking water, but no food, before ordering the group to depart immediately or be taken into custody and repatriated to Cuba. The Cubans said they were mostly from the cities of Bayamo and Manzanillo in eastern Cuba, and were headed for the coast of Central America. Boats smuggling Cubans seeking to flee the communist-run island are frequently seen off the Cayman Islands, located in the Caribbean less than 100 miles (160 km) south of Cuba. Read More http://ift.tt/1mbUWFW

Global bank profits hit $920 billion as Chinese lenders boom

China's top banks accounted for almost one-third of a record $920 billion of profits made by the world's top 1000 banks last year, showing their rise in power since the financial crisis, a survey showed on Monday. China's banks made $292 billion in aggregate pretax profit last year, or 32 percent of the industry's global earnings, according to The Banker magazine's annual rankings of the profits and capital strength of the world's biggest 1,000 banks. Last year's global profits were up 23 percent from the previous year to their highest ever level, led by profits of $55 billion at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) . China Construction Bank , Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China filled the top four positions.

Egypt's Sisi approves revised budget with deficit at 10 percent of GDP

By Shadia Nasralla CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved a revised and tightened budget for the 2014/15 fiscal year, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday, as the first step towards a period of painful economic austerity. The budget deficit of 240 billion Egyptian pounds (19.71 billion pounds) will be 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to an expected 12 percent shortfall for the 2013/14 fiscal year ending on Monday, it said in a statement. An initial budget proposal foresaw a 292 billion pound deficit for the next fiscal year, a ministry spokesman said, but Sisi rejected that last week and announced he would give up half his salary and property for the sake of the country. Last month, the Finance Ministry forecast growth of around 3.2 percent for the coming fiscal year, too low to create enough jobs for the rapidly growing population in this country of 86 million.