PA formulates policies to avert financial crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 12, 2011 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Al-Khatib said Thursday the PA was formulating ideas for next year's budget in order to avert a financial crisis. The objective is to increase local revenue and reduce expenditures without affecting health, education services or PA employees' salaries, Al-Khatib told Ma'an. The new policies are intended to compensate for the lack of promised funds from donor countries, above all Arab states. » Read more

Abbas tells US lawmakers: NATO role in Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 12, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told visiting US Congressmen on Thursday that the security of the future Palestinian state will be handed to NATO under US command, his adviser said Friday. The Palestinian state must also be "empty of [Israeli] settlements," the President said, according to official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA. » Read more

U.S. Threatens to Halt Gaza Aid Over Hamas Audits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - August 11, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The State Department sent a message to Gaza’s Hamas leaders on Thursday that it would withdraw some $100 million it is spending in Gaza on health care, agriculture and water infrastructure if they did not back off a demand to audit the books of American-financed charities operating there. The threat, delivered via an intermediary, came after Hamas officials suspended the operation of the International Medical Corps on Sunday for its refusal to submit to a Hamas audit at the charity’s site. » Read more