European Banking System: One fifth of EU banks fail stress test - with twenty-five European banks in trouble

Twenty-five European banks have failed stress tests of their finances, the European Banking Authority has announced.

The banks now have nine months to shore up their finances or risk being shut down. No UK banks are included.

The review was based on the banks' financial health at the end of 2013.

Ten of them have taken measures to bolster their balance sheets in the meantime. All the remaining 14 banks are in the eurozone.

The health check was carried out on 123 EU banks by the EBA to determine whether they could withstand another financial crisis.

The list of 14 includes four Italian banks, two Greek banks, two Belgian banks and two Slovenian banks.

The worst affected was Italian bank Monte dei Paschi, which had a capital shortfall of €2.1bn (£1.65bn, $2.6bn).

Read more: BBC News - Twenty-four European banks fail

Middle East: Kurds fear Isis use of chemical weapon in Kobani - by Emma Graham-Harrison

Kurds battling Islamic State militants for control of Kobani fear the extremist group may have used an unidentified chemical weapon, according to officials and one of the few doctors still working in the besieged Syrian town.

Patients with blisters, burning eyes and breathing difficulties turned up at a clinic after a blast was heard on Tuesday evening, Dr Walat Omar said. He described the symptoms as abnormal and said he could not identify their cause, but suspected a chemical weapon.

“After a loud explosion [on Tuesday night], we received some patients with abnormal symptoms. They reported a bad smell which produced some kind of allergic reaction,” Omar said in a telephone interview that was periodically disrupted by heavy explosions.


Read more: Kurds fear Isis use of chemical weapon in Kobani | World news | The Guardian

The Environment: EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut

EU leaders have reached a landmark deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.

The binding decision came after heated discussions at a summit in Brussels, as some members had argued that their varied interests should be protected.

Correspondents say the final deal is a compromise between countries that rely heavily on coal, and those willing to instil greater emissions cuts.

Environmental groups welcomed the deal, but said it did not go far enough.
The bloc also agreed to boost the use of renewable energy to 27% in the total energy mix and increase energy efficiency to at least 27%.

There were deep divisions within the EU on emissions cuts.

Poland, which is heavily reliant on coal, fears that the costs of decarbonising its economy will slow business growth. Its concerns at the summit were echoed by other central and east European members.

The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said afterwards that some poorer EU members would get help - including additional funds - in reaching the agreed targets.

The UK also had opposed nationally binding targets for renewables - mainly wind, solar and hydroelectric power. It is embracing shale gas and nuclear as alternatives to the current over-reliance on oil and gas imports.

Note EU-Digest: Lets hope, China, India and US follow suit .....

Read more: BBC News - EU leaders agree CO2 emissions cut

The Netherlands: Crowdfunding - Debut Of Exciting New Dutch Vocalist Jo Sarah

Jo Sarah

Following our earlier report we met up again with the exciting new Dutch singer Jo Sarah and asked her how her  recordings have been going these past weeks. 

"These have been some fast moving weeks recording my album. It was really  awesome recording my songs at the Wedgeview studio’s with my band - they were fantastic", said Jo

The album is going to be really special.  she said and will have 5 songs and a small surprise!! "So please stay tuned for the release in January 2015."

 "We are now in the process of mixing the songs….and I can already hear and feel it’s going to be an album to be proud about", says Jo Sarah

Sarah said she has also started a "crowdfunding" to finance the production of her album and that donations already reached more than 50% of her goal - "thanks to all the wonderful people who have so graciously donated funds".

Anyone interested to help Jo Sarah reach her funding goal can find out more about it by clicking on the following link:  Crowdfunding Jo Sarah!

EU-Digest

Vatican And The Gay Community: Catholic bishops veto gay-friendly statements leaving Pope Francis the loser - by Lizzy Davies

Pope Francis appeared on Saturday night to have lost out to powerful conservatives in the Roman Catholic church after bishops scrapped language that had been hailed as a historic warming of attitudes towards gay people.

In the final report of an extraordinary synod on the family which has exposed deep divides in the church hierarchy, there is no mention – as there had been in a draft version – of the “gifts and qualities” gay people can offer. Nor is there any recognition of the “precious support” same-sex partners can give each other.

A paragraph entitled “pastoral attention to people of homosexual orientation” – itself a distinctly cooler tone than “welcoming homosexual persons” – refers to church teaching, saying there can be “not even a remote” comparison between gay unions and heterosexual marriage.

“Nevertheless,” it adds, “men and women of homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and sensitivity.” They should not suffer from discrimination, it adds. But the shift in tone is clear. And, in a potentially stark sign of the discomfort provoked among many bishop, even this watered-down passage failed to pass the two-thirds majority needed for it to be approved.

Read more: Catholic bishops veto gay-friendly statements leaving Pope Francis the loser | World news | The Observer

The Netherlands: Dutch exporters find way via Turkey to circumvent imposed Russian Sanctions

The Dutch Fruit and Vegetable publication "Fresh Plaza" reports that Russia accuses Poland of illegal re-export, so it closed its borders last week for all products from Poland.

The Eastern European country is reported to transport Polish produce under a false label as re-export to Russia. Traders from other countries are also reportedly using smuggling routes.

The Netherlands and Spain were recently mentioned in the media in connection with the smuggling. The Canadian borders are opened to Belgian pears. The agreement was reached after efforts from Belgium and the EU For other EU member states, similar trade agreements are on the table. In the Czech Republic, apple prices have gone down to 30%.

The country is mainly hit indirectly by the boycott, and gets little compensation from the EU for that reason. Growers in Lithuania refuse to destroy produce, so they are not entitled to receive compensation. As a result, growers are in danger of bankruptcy. And negotiations between Russia and Jordan and Iran are still going. Both countries want to significantly increase export of fruit and vegetables to Russia.

EU-Digest

EU Personal Privacy Rights: Google Has Received Nearly 145,000 Requests to Be 'Forgotten' - by Brendan Sasso

Thousands of Europeans are scrambling to take advantage of a new legal right to force Google to delete search results about them.

Since the process began several months ago, Google has received 144,954 requests to delete 497,695 pages from its search engine, the company revealed in a report Friday.

But Google actually rejected most of the requests under the "right to be forgotten." The company granted 41.8 percent of the requests to scrub links.

Facebook was the most common site that people tried to hide from search results, followed by profileengine.com, a site that archives social-media information. Google's own YouTube came in third.

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were the top sources of requests to delete links, according to the report. 

"We believe it's important to be transparent about how much information we're removing from search results while being respectful of individuals who have made requests," Jess Hemerly, a public policy manager at Google, said in a blog post. "Releasing this information to the public helps hold us accountable for our process and implementation."

The top European court ruled in May that companies must delete "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant" pages. The ruling was based on Europe's privacy laws, which are much more expansive than those in the U.S. People argued they shouldn't be haunted for their whole lives by embarrassing Web pages.

Note EU-Digest: one of the many benefits of being part of the EU

Read more: Google Has Received Nearly 145,000 Requests to Be 'Forgotten' - NationalJournal.com